Gene Stowe
The teacher who taught Glen to write before Glen knew he’d need to.
Gene Stowe was Glen’s middle school literary teacher in Indiana. He taught writing the way it should be taught — not as a set of rules to memorize, but as a way to think. A way to take the noise in your head and turn it into something someone else could understand.
Glen was not a prodigy. He was a kid in Indiana who hadn’t figured out yet that writing would become the throughline of his entire life. Gene saw something worth investing in anyway. That kind of patience — teaching a kid who doesn’t know what he’s being given — is the hardest kind.
Decades later, they’re still in touch. Glen remembers every teacher he’s ever had. Gene is one of the ones he still talks to. That says everything about both of them.
Connect the Dots
Glen went on to write 300+ articles on SeekingAlpha, breaking down financial theses that moved markets. He wrote 8 books in the Fanniegate series, documenting the government’s seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He wrote the Act As If manifesto. He wrote 2,715 blog posts and counting.
None of that happens without a middle school teacher who convinced a kid in Indiana that words matter. Not grades. Not formatting. Words. The actual act of putting thoughts into sentences and sentences into arguments and arguments into something worth reading.
Glen will be the first to tell you: he’s not a natural talent. He’s a volume shooter who was taught the fundamentals by someone who cared enough to teach them right.
What One Teacher’s Classroom Produced
300+
SeekingAlpha Articles
Financial analysis
8
Fanniegate Books
The whole series
2,715
Blog Posts
And counting
1
Act As If Manifesto
The philosophy book
Glen says:
“Gene Stowe taught me to write. I don’t mean he taught me grammar or five-paragraph essays — I mean he taught me that writing is thinking. That if you can write clearly, you can think clearly. And if you can think clearly, you can do almost anything.
I was a middle schooler in Indiana who had no idea he’d go on to write hundreds of financial articles, books about government corruption, a philosophy manifesto, and thousands of blog posts. Gene didn’t know that either. He just taught me like it mattered. And it did.
The fact that we’re still in touch decades later tells you what kind of teacher he is. Not the kind you forget after summer break. The kind you carry with you. Every article I publish, every book I finish, every blog post — somewhere in the foundation of all of it is a classroom in Indiana and a teacher who gave a kid the tools before the kid knew what to build with them.
I take credit for the volume. Gene gets credit for the capability.”
Continue the Story
The Full Story
The complete arc — from Indiana to hedge fund to AI.
Read moreChapterPrologue
Where it all started. Indiana, curiosity, and the early wiring.
Read moreBookAct As If
The philosophy manifesto. One of the things Gene's classroom made possible.
Read moreWritingThe Blog
2,715 posts and counting. Volume shooting, taught by a teacher who taught the fundamentals.
Read moreIndexPeople
The people who shaped Glen's story. Every chapter has a cast.
Read more