I have a love-hate relationship with content marketing. I’ve been doing search engine optimization (SEO) since 2002, blogging since 2006, tweeting since 2007. I also co-founded one of the first influencer marketing companies in Europe in 2006. But to be honest, while getting some pieces right, all this time I had trouble to grasp the…
Category: Wealth
Keeping a Long-Term Perspective
In January, I wrote about my hopes and expectations for the new decade: “Something big will hit us. If not this decade, then one of the next. It will come out of the blue. A new vector. A bio attack, a pandemic, cyber warfare, eruption of a huge volcano. Something we won’t be expecting. Something…
12 Takeaways From Charlie Munger At The 2020 Daily Journal Annual Meeting
Charlie Munger, business partner of Warren Buffett, recently spoke at the 2020 Daily Journal Annual Meeting. You can watch the full recording here. It turned out to be a great one, full of wisdom and juicy punches. A 96 year-old with a sharp mind and snappy tongue! Takeaways: #1: Take the high road, because it’s…
What People Don't Understand About Tesla
Note: This is not investment advice. At heart, I’m a value investor, and Tesla is no value investment. I view it as a binary venture-type bet. I am a shareholder. I believe that Tesla is one of the most misunderstood (and most exciting) tech companies right now. After I rented a Model S for a…
Real Estate Investing Framework
[This is a talk I recently gave at The Frankfurt Conversation 2019 by MOI Global.] I’d like to summarize some of the lessons I learned from helping to run a buy and hold real estate portfolio: Lesson 1: Find a framework Before my involvement, I had no prior experience in the real estate industry. So…
Investing Lessons from Running a Startup
[This is an edited version of a talk I recently gave at a MOI Global event.] I’d like to share some of the lessons I learned from being a startup founder, and how these can be applied to investing: Lesson 1: I’m a better investor because I was a founder As Warren Buffett famously said:…
How to choose a money manager?
You’ve inherited some money, or sold a business. What now? Most people don’t have the skill, time, or willingness to manage their own investments. One option is to entrust your funds to a professional money manager. But how to choose one? I would recommend the following checklist: 1. Skin in the gameThe first question I…
How to Identify Great Capital Allocators?
This was the topic at the recent MOI Global Zurich chapter dinner I attended. Here I summarize my notes and thoughts on this topic. I understand capital allocation as follows: How do companies spend their limited resources, be it capital, time, or mental resources, so that they create the maximum amount of value per invested…
Consider Using a Pen Name
We live in a time where the default is to use your real name for writing. This was not always the case, as I learned in Benjamin Franklin’s biography. 300 years ago the default was to use a pen name. For good reason, as speaking your mind could be dangerous. This got me thinking. Why…
Peer-to-Peer Microlending: Review of Zidisha.org
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” — Maimonides I love microlending. Here’s how it works: You give an entrepreneur in a developing country a loan for his business, e.g. to buy a water irrigation system for his…