von Sebastian | Feb 8, 2023 | Blog
Ok, here is something interesting from my (daily) world of business and financial psychology:
When I started out in 2007 it was always quite “funny” to me, when people offered me their books with the remark, that “this book belonged to my grandmother and is 100 years old” – and with an asking price which was way out of line (compared to the current market situation). I always knew that emotions play a major part (maybe the only?) when buying, but in selling I couldn’t make sense of it – despite desperation for money, of course.
(mehr …)
von Sebastian | Dez 6, 2022 | Blog
Happy 75th birthday to the one and only Scrooge McDuck! I bet his celebration party is a low-key affair – maybe a hot dog lunch and a leisurely stroll in the park with the fam. But let’s be real, with a fortune estimated at „one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents,“ he could throw the party of the century and still have enough left over to buy the moon.
If we analyze his fortune, it is pretty cool that he keeps almost everything in cash – he doesn’t have an account (very sceptical about banks), doesn’t have stocks, no hedge funds, no bonds, and of course no crpyto, no credit card, no online business.
According to the books, his investments seem to be in some oil- and company stuff; but we never really know what is going on. Yes, there are some shady deals in there, too – but beyond that?
(mehr …)
von Sebastian | Okt 9, 2022 | Blog
Do you currently suffer from sleepless nights about your investments and/or your capital because of all the turmoil in the world and the market? What’s the strategy?
Here is a corny statement right at the beginning (which is true tough):
In EVERY epoch there is a bull and a bear market.
There is always something going up and there is always something going down somewhere. There is always something outperforming and there is always something underperforming.
Yes, ideally, you want to adapt your portfolio to the current situation. More precisely: Capitalize on each epoch, and that is what creates the (consistent) returns. Easy theory, right?
I know, we are in a time, where the upswing is very hard to find. I’m talking about the 5-8% return p.a. portfolios – consistent 5-8% return makers.
And inflation being higher than these numbers… – you see where the journey is going, right?
(mehr …)
von Sebastian | Apr 28, 2022 | Blog
So what happened? If you havn’t read Part 1, you can check it out here.
Again: WHAT HAPPENED? I just purchased an awesome book, had exactly ONE noble customer since (or shall I say: visitor?) but now everything seems to be upside down.
I searched everything. Of course, the book had to be picked up by this gentleman and just been put somewhere else. Even though the back of the brown binding was rather unimpressive, I was sure I’d spot it out immediately if I just kept going through the shelves.
Bye, bye early closing time, I’m not going to leave until the book is back at its place! However, and spoiler alert: I couldn’t find it!
(mehr …)
von Sebastian | Apr 1, 2022 | Blog
Let me tell you a little story that happened at my business:
One day, around six years ago, an elderly man came into my store. He was very eloquent, kind and talked about specific books which signaled me that he knew his subject. He said he was only temporarily in town that day, maybe tomorrow, too, and would like to look around if I don’t mind. Sure enough, I let him browse through my shelves while I went back to my desk to continue my work of cataloguing books, sorting papers, and answering phone calls. (mehr …)
