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…
Category: Wealth
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…
The Key Principles of Value Investing
The style of investing that speaks most to me is value investing, as practiced by Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham. I’m often asked: “What is value investing exactly?” Here is my understanding of the core principles: Have more purchasing power in the futureThe goal of all investing is laying out money today, so that you…
What I Learned at Warren Buffett’s 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting: Plus A Complete Guide on How to Attend
It took me 11 years after becoming a Warren Buffett enthusiast to finally attend my first Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Here are my notes and my guide for first-time attenders. Key Learnings from 2019 Meeting Write down your thesisBefore you buy a stock, write down: “I’m buying this company for [insert market…
Why I created a Facebook page
Inspired by Rolf Dobelli’s book, I stopped using Facebook six months ago. Mainly because I was addicted, and also because the constant social comparisons and the instant gratification treadmill became toxic for me. (I’m still using Messenger/WhatsApp for one-one-one contact.) The downside of leaving Facebook was that I lost a distribution channel for my content,…
15 Years of (Failed) Side Projects
When writing about the hyper-niche strategy, I thought back to all my own side projects. In this post, I offer a brief post-mortem for each one, so you can learn from my mistakes and don’t repeat them. (There were even more projects, but these were the main ones.) Webmaster forum (2003-2015)While this started as a…
Why You Should Go Hyper-Niche
Since the agricultural, and more recently the industrial revolution, specialization has been one of the key drivers of human economic progress. It allows for a unique win-win situation: You focus on what you do best. I do what I do best. Then we trade. In total, we produce better and more things, which keeps increasing…
Audio Is Titanically Important
I am a huge believer in audio. These days, more than ever. I started listening to audiobooks 11 years ago, inspired by a friend (thank you, Rouven!). I had a portable MP3 player. First, I had to buy or lend a CD, then convert the CD into MP3, and then load them onto the device….
The Cost per Use Principle
Do you want to spend less money than you earn, so you can save more, invest more, and ultimately achieve financial freedom? Then I suggest you pay attention to the Cost per Use Principle: For each material possession (especially the most expensive ones), calculate and minimize your cost per use. Crave a swimming pool? Then…
31 Takeaways from START Summit 2019
My main motivation for going to START Summit 2019 was to meet old friends and acquaintances from the St. Gallen area, but also to learn from the talks. I was positively surprised. It ended up to be one of the best and most innovative tech/startup conferences I have ever attended. Check out the opening video…