Frequently asked questions

Undervalued-Shares.com has a broad range of readers, spanning every age group, portfolio size and geographic area.

Each reader will have their own investment goals and priorities. Someone who reads Undervalued-Shares.com in Switzerland and is covered by a relatively secure state pension will have very different priorities than someone who is based in Argentina and aims to build a portfolio that protects against inflation. I have readers who have put 20% of their entire portfolio into one individual stock, as well as readers who would never put more than 1% into one stock.

I have done a lot of thinking about how I can best serve such a diverse group of readers from around the world.

Everyone should stick to what they do best, and things are best when they are kept simple. I have a talent for generating and researching new investment ideas. I'm less experienced (and interested) in providing portfolio advice.

Hence one of the guiding mottos of this website

"I research. You decide."

It is true that comparable services charge USD 500, USD 1,000 or even USD 2,000 for the kind of research that I provide.

At just USD 49 per year, my service is unbeatably affordable.

As one of my readers put it (hitting the proverbial nail on the head), I'm the "IKEA of investment research":

• Affordable prices.
• Used by a global audience.
• You have to assemble your portfolio using the parts I deliver.

I want my research to be available to anyone anywhere in the world. Even if you have a small portfolio size or study in a developing country, you should be able to afford and sign up to my Annual Membership.

The free Weekly Dispatches provide you with an eclectic mix of articles relating to investing. I sometimes cover individual companies, but only in a superficial way and without a guarantee that I'll ever refer back to this company (usually, I won't).

The Weekly Dispatches are a way for you to learn about investing, for free. They also give you a chance to get to know my work without having to commit to anything.

If you are looking for hard-hitting investment research that you won't find anywhere else, you should sign up to one of my two Membership levels:

• The Annual Membership gets you my 10 best investment ideas each year, in the form of detailed research reports and updates. All of the stocks covered in these in-depth reports have been researched a LOT, and I will report about them on an ongoing basis. To make it easy for my readers to buy and sell these securities, I only feature stocks with a market cap of > USD 1bn.
• The Lifetime Membership gets you all the benefits of Annual Members, plus 4 additional small- and mid-cap investment opportunities each year (USD 20m – USD 999m market cap). You will also enjoy priority booking of reader events and much more.

Unsure about the Membership? Read this free sample report (PDF, 4MB) first.

If you enjoy my Weekly Dispatches, I advise you to invest at least USD 49 to get an Annual Membership (or, if you want even deeper engagement, become a Lifetime Member). Anyone who thinks it's smart to read the free Weekly Dispatches and not buy the Membership will only find they are losing out – saving a few bucks can quickly make for false economy if it's about investing your nest egg.

As the name suggests, Lifetime Members make a one-off payment rather than annual payments. Where is the benefit in that?

Actually, there’s a range of additional benefits that Lifetime Members get to enjoy:

• 4 additional investment opportunities each year; sourced from small- and mid-caps (i.e., less liquid markets).
• Priority booking of reader events and trips.

These privileges for Lifetime Members will evolve and expand as Undervalued-Shares grows. This new Membership level was only launched in February 2020, and building out its range of benefits is a work in progress.

If you are undecided, try the Annual Membership and then upgrade whenever you are ready. Unused Membership fees are deducted when you upgrade.

Simply log into your account, navigate to tab "Subscriptions" and click "Change Membership Level". 

The remaining balance from your Annual Membership will automatically be deducted from the total payable price at checkout. This enables you to seamlessly switch to Lifetime Membership.

Of course!

Whenever my thinking on a stock changes, an update will go out to my Members.

Please keep in mind, though, that I only provide ongoing reporting for the stocks that I cover in the research reports for my Members.

As explained in point 3, the free Weekly Dispatches do not provide any form of ongoing coverage. They are an eclectic, off-the-cuff weekly column about things that caught my interest that particular week. A stock that you read about in my Weekly Dispatches may never be mentioned again on my website.

If you want to benefit from ongoing reporting, you need to purchase the Membership.

It's as simple as that.

If you buy my Membership, you won't automatically receive the Weekly Dispatches.

How comes?

Because of the EU's "GDPR" legislation, I need to offer each issue of the Weekly Dispatches with an option to unsubscribe from the list. If I didn't have a separate list for both Membership and Weekly Dispatches, it could lead to readers unsubscribing from the free weekly column and finding that they also stop receiving the Membership products.

Hence, I had to separate these two lists, which can be a bit confusing.

It's quite simple, though:

• If you want to read the free Weekly Dispatches, you need to sign up to them through the website – even if you have purchased a Membership!
• If you only want to benefit from my best investment ideas each year but don't bother with my random weekly musings, do not subscribe to the Weekly Dispatches. You will then only receive email alerts about new reports and updates on previous reports.

The primary goal of my website is to show you investment opportunities that are easy to invest in.

As part of that, I focus on companies with a market cap of > USD 1bn (and often, a lot larger). These stocks are listed on major international stock exchanges, and you will find it easy to buy and sell them.

If you purchase an Annual Membership, you will receive 10 research reports about such opportunities.

However, I sometimes come across investment opportunities that are less liquid or only trade on more specialised exchanges. It'd be a shame not to highlight such opportunities – hence the 4 additional research reports that I make available to my Lifetime Members. If you are keen on small- and mid-cap opportunities, you should consider the Lifetime Membership.

I love meeting readers. 

Drop me a note to let me know where you are.

If the winds take me there, I'll let you know in advance so that we can have a beer or coffee.

Rather than publishing the kind of (skewed) statistics that everyone else uses to blow their own horn, I let my work speak for itself. 

Each of my reports shows what price the stock was trading at when I first wrote about it. It's all very transparent.

My website's motto is: "I research. You decide."

I don't provide a tip-sheet service but a source of inspiration and background information. I prefer to focus on finding and researching the best investment ideas, which anyone can then take a look at to make their own informed decision.

In 2006 and 2007, I published two books. These were in German, and the titles translated loosely into: "Travelling notes of a stock market professional", parts 1 and 2. They became niche bestsellers and are now sold out (but do occasionally appear as collector's items, and I've made them available as eBooks on my personal blog).

Going forward, there'll be not just one new book, but three - and I want to make them the best books I've ever written:

• Book #1 (in 2023:) Discovering exciting investments around the world.
• Book #2 (in 2024:) Collected thoughts on investment strategy.
• Book #3 (in 2025): Trendspotting to predict the next ten years.

For each one of them, I'll offer both a German-language and an English-language version.

If you liked my 2006/07 books, you'll will certainly LOVE these ones. I want them to be more than just my musings put into print, and I do have a number of ideas to make them extra special.

The books will first be published as "Special Editions". Each book will be handmade, using rare, unusual materials, and only a limited number of these books will be made available.

The complete trilogy is now available to pre-order - and you can even participate in its making.

If you pre-order now, you'll get the chance to help create a set of outstanding books, learn something new, network with other investors, and add a valuable collectible to your bookshelf.

If you aren't interested in actively contributing at all, you can of course still place a pre-order, and have the books delivered on publication. I'm planning to include one or the other timely investment idea, so getting them early might also turn out profitable.

There are clever workarounds to buy stocks that are not traded in your home country, and I can also recommend a few international brokers (based in the US, Switzerland, the UK and similar countries).

Watch my chat with Mikkel Thorup (Expat Money Show) for two very simple solutions to help you get access to all the world's capital markets at once.