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The 18-year-old turned his hobby into a 6-figure trading company that he runs out of a Ridgewood office building.
Using only $2,500, he launched Investor's Corner out of his childhood bedroom.
“Some people consider it impressive," Bruggemann said. "But to be totally honest, I just happened to get good at trading stocks -- and now I make a lot of money doing it.”
Bruggemann starts his day at 7 a.m. by checking the market. Then he grabs a bagel in his BMW.
He mans a 100-user chatroom from his newly-renovated North Broad Street workspace overlooking the village train station -- complete with a big-screen TV, floor-to-ceiling windows and black office chairs.
“There were certainly a lot of question marks around me [from other investors] when I first started,” he said. “Thankfully I was able to prove them wrong.”
The youngster turned nearly $10,000 into $370,000 since launching Investors Corner, an online platform that teaches people about the marketplace.
The company was recently acquired by Los Angeles-based Profit.ly, but “it wasn’t a straight line to success,” Bruggemann said.
“I almost had everything taken away from me,” he said, noting that he lost close to $40,000 in three months. "I thought I had it all figured out."
Although corresponding with veteran businessmen has accelerated his maturation, Bruggemann said he still gets to act his age when he visits his friends at colleges around the country.
“It’s definitely a little different than what my friends do,” said Bruggemann of his daily routine.
He's taking his first year of college off to grow his business.
“I found what I love to do at 16 and I’m running with it.”
As for his love life?
“I have no complaints,” he said.
STAY TUNED: Bruggemann will be featured on a reality television series on a major network in December about people who suddenly made a lot of money.
CLICK HERE to see Bruggemann's trades.
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