Who we are?

Goal of the website

Investing in stocks should be fun and profitable. Unfortunately, people are often unaware of some essential basics. This led to the creation of this website, to share knowledge about investing and to help people to become successful investors. The website is focused on long-term investing and explains the techniques used by great investors to analyze businesses.

I owe much of my knowledge to Warren Buffett and the books that he recommended. Summarizing key insights, and telling how to apply these insights, will help to increase the probability of investment success over time. Investing insights will be shared through blog posts. In addition, book summaries and news discussions will be written. 

About myself

My interest in investing and finance developed around 2006. I studied psychology and economics (I have a MSc in Economics from the Erasmus University) but unfortunately the Finance classes at the university never really improved my investing skills. Luckily, This changed when I started to learn more about Warren Buffett and his techniques. I started to read his letters from the 1950’s until now along with books like the Intelligent Investor and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. I also worked on improving my accounting skills (the language of the businesses). The logic of Buffett’s way of investing makes way more sense to me than the conventional investing theory that is told at universities and Wall Street. 

Most of my time (besides my job) is now spend on reading about businesses (e.g. annual reports and presentations) and following the investment news on sites like CNBC and Seeking Alpha. I’m trying to apply this information in my articles and often link to the sources so you are able to check the information. Furthermore, I’m also investing in stocks according to the principles found in my articles. 

Some advice

Most of my readers will find that holding an index fund (ideally the S&P 500) will work best for investment success over time. This is because it will eliminate the need to research businesses and allows you to grow along with the USA over time. The only requirement is to hold on to your investment during the up and downs of the market and to have a long-term horizon (10 years+). This is also the advice of Warren Buffett to his relatives. See for more information: https://www.financeandinvestingfacts.com/an-introduction-to-etf-index-investing/

However, I believe that it does make sense to pick stocks for investors who are able to identify and research business economics. The strategy of focus investing described by Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Philip Fisher can increase the chances of investment success. A fair warning must be given that concentrating your investments only makes sense if you know what you’re doing. Significant decreases in one’s wealth are likely if you concentrate your investments in businesses that are unable to provide cash to the shareholders over time. Additionally, overpaying for even the best business is another dangerous act. It can take years for even the best business to get back to a high market valuation (e.g. like we saw around 2000 in the Tech bubble). 

I would recommend reading my two main articles (the first 2 blogs that I’ve written) and some of the books that I’ve read and recommend as good books for starters (see best investing books). Reading 3 to 6 books should give you the basic understanding of investing. The rest of the knowledge should be required through reading about the businesses and industries of your interest. The investor relation pages are the best source as you can find the annual reports and the SEC fillings there. Please always do your own research and remember that the businesses used in my articles are just examples (see my disclaimer). I do try to select and describe very strong and established businesses as examples. 

I hope you enjoy the articles and can benefit from the information! I would consider this website to be successful if it can prevent you from making big investing mistakes. Having the right independent mindset and knowing some basics about businesses can greatly decrease the chances of large mistakes. 

Best of luck and enjoy investing!

Best,

Will