My Investing & Substack Journey
When I published post #99 a few days ago I admitted that I had no idea what to do for the big 100. Some great reader replied with inspiring suggestions, and after sitting on them for a while I realised the most honest way to mark the milestone is to tell the story behind it: how I went from a clueless first‑time investor to writing about markets on Substack.
2012 – first pay‑cheque, first stock
In 2012 I had just finished my master’s degree in economics and joined an audit firm as an assistant. My first salary felt like a fortune and I wanted to do something sensible with it. I bought a handful of shares in Cancom SE, a mid‑cap German IT‑services company, on the simple logic that software was the future and Cancom helped firms adopt it. Zero research, 100 % luck—the shares went up and I sold for a tidy profit.
At the same time I set up a savings plan in an actively‑managed mutual fund. Coming from a family that kept money in the traditional Sparbuch (a passbook savings account), I still give myself credit for realising that owning businesses is the best long‑term path to wealth—even if my vehicle of choice was far from optimal.
2013‑2015 – discovering ETFs
Over lunch at a client site a colleague mentioned exchange‑traded funds and their low fees. The idea resonated instantly. I sold my active funds and switched to a basket of iShares ETFs. I still wasn’t analysing companies, but auditing taught me to read annual reports properly—something my university courses never quite achieved.
2015 – my failed detour into trading
For a while I flirted with technical analysis. Candlesticks, indicators, moving averages—if a charting package had it, I tried it. The appeal was obvious: quicker profits than boring old buy‑and‑hold. Reality, of course, disagreed. After a few painful losses I accepted that trading wasn’t for me.
2016‑2017 – moving to industry and meeting Mr Market
I left audit and joined the accounting department of a large German airline. Around the same time my interest in individual stocks really took off. I was still heavily home‑biased, digging into German companies, but I consumed everything I could find—Handelsblatt, investor presentations, 10‑Ks, blogs.
That Christmas a relative gave me Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor. I devoured it in three days and understood perhaps ten percent. The book felt underwhelming—wasn’t this supposed to be the bible? Only later did the concepts of Mr Market and margin of safety click.
What did excite me immediately were biographies and business histories: Buffett, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ray Kroc, Sam Walton, Bob Iger, Phil Knight. Stories bring numbers to life.
2018 – all‑in on value
Convinced that value investing matched my temperament, I sold my ETFs at the turn of 2018 and built a portfolio of individual shares. Strategy, position sizing, opportunity costs—none of that existed yet. I simply read reports, built ever‑growing spreadsheets and tried to buy quality at a fair price.
My definition of “quality” keeps evolving, but the core remains: strong economics, honest management, reasonable valuation. Simple, never easy.
2018‑2022 – from mega‑caps to small‑caps
Initially I hid in large, familiar names—supposedly safer. Over time I ventured down the market‑cap ladder, hunting for under‑followed compounders.
How I invest today
Dollar‑cost averaging. I run saving plans not only on ETFs but on individual stocks—my longest‑running one is Berkshire Hathaway, started mid‑2017.
Opportunistic lump sums. When fear creates bargains (March 2020, for instance) I write bigger cheques—recent examples are Uber and MercadoLibre.
Continuous learning. Every new annual report forces me to refine my view of quality and price.
2020 – lockdowns, chess and blogging
Covid put me on Germany’s short‑time work scheme (Kurzarbeit)—suddenly I had time. I revived a childhood love of chess and launched a German‑language investing blog on WordPress. It was a hobby that sharpened my thinking, even if the audience remained modest.
2023 – hello Substack
Hosting fees and the limited German niche pushed me to look elsewhere. In November 2023 I migrated to Substack and instantly felt at home. The community is vibrant, my subscriber numbers keep climbing and—most importantly—I’m learning more than ever by sharing my work.
Looking ahead
A hundred posts in, I still feel I’m just getting started. Thank you for reading, commenting and challenging me.
What comes next?
Stock Valuation List (paid)
Very soon I'll roll out a regularly updated Stock Valuation List for paid subscribers. It will launch with a small universe of companies—each showing my estimate of fair value and the implied discount—but will expand steadily as new ideas graduate from my research pipeline.
Free vs. paid content
Free readers will continue to get pieces like this milestone post, my Investing Journal, the Investment Compass series (financial insights & history), selected snippets from Deep Dives, and parts of The World’s Best Stocks. I’m also considering bundling my Substack‑only quarterly‑earnings notes into a single public post so that readers outside the app can follow along.
A hobby, not a job—yet
Remember that Substack is still a passion project. By day I work full‑time in Group Accounting at a DAX‑listed company; by night I juggle family life, chess, drones, books, movies and the gym—plus hours of research and writing. I’m happy to share a great deal for free, but some work will remain pay‑walled so the project is sustainable.
Here’s to the next hundred posts—and to compounding knowledge, friendships and returns along the way.
Congratulations, and keep going!! 👏
Great story!