Get them started early!
I was born in the right country and my parents got me started early in figuring out the power of compound interest.
I consider myself lucky.
I was born in the right country and my parents got me started early in figuring out the power of compound interest.
Albert Einstein famously said “Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”
At the age of 16, my parents gave me and my brother a small amount of Deutsche Mark.
They had one requirement. We had to invest it.
I had never heard of Peter Lynch back then but intuitively went with a company that I had used and was intrigued by in my personal life — eBay.
Shortly after the IPO in late 1998, I invested my modest sum and that is how it all started.
Since then, I have always paid attention to the markets in some way. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
The naivete of being young helped me survive the Dot Com Crash, and by the time the financial crisis of 2008 rolled around, I was already quite seasoned in letting Mr.Market do its thing.
Why start writing about my investments?
By forcing myself to write down my thoughts, it ensures that I don’t get lazy and stick to my #1 rule “know what you own, and know why you own it”.
Even if no one reads this, I will benefit.
I am a big fan of Open Source Software and believe that the same underlying principles are transferable to Stock Picking.
The crowd will challenge my thinking and make me smarter.
If my network of interesting people gets bigger, even better.
What do I invest in?
Stock picking is a hobby and I enjoy doing it. Simply investing in ETFs would bore me at this stage of my life.
Around 30% of my portfolio is invested in 2 ETF’s: All World and Emerging Markets
The remaining 70% is invested in individual stocks — Tech & Gaming Stocks
Tech and Gaming are the industries that I am knowledgable in.
I’ve been working in the Video Games space for almost 20 years now. It’s not surprising that some of my biggest gains have been made in companies that I can assess most accurately.
As for Tech, at times it may seem like the Big 5 (Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon) own it all already.
However, I believe that the digital transformation of our world hasn't finished and will continue to offer an abundance of opportunities to take advantage of.
I try to find these in my quest to outperform the market.
As for eBay, I did sell all but one share in 2015, when the company spun out PayPal. Sentimentalism prevailed over common sense, and that one share will always help me remember how it all started.
PS: I continue to be invested in PayPal
I just started to follow you because I liked your clarity of thought and transparency in how you invest. I agree that technology is the new way to the future of investing. My compliments to your parents to putting you on the right path. I look forward to reading your future articles.