One of those basic truths in life that I've finally come to understand, at the grand old age of 43, is that nothing is quite as lucrative as regularly spending time thinking about your investments!
During the past six years of taking a break from writing this blog (which I had operated continuously from 1998 till 2012), I've done a whole raft of interesting stuff. E.g., I managed a scientific research station in the middle of the Pacific, and also managed to spectacularly get fired by a bunch of benighted academics running its board! It's all been a good laugh and introduced me to the many weird and wonderful things that are out there. The truth is, though, it's all been a bit of a waste of time. At least from a purely financial perspective.
Nothing beats putting your head down to find and research undervalued investments; putting money into them; and watching your portfolio grow.
Case in point, my well-timed but under-utilised call on Bitcoin.
Why did I not make 19 times my money with this one, easy investment?
Back in December 2016, I fired off a call on Bitcoin being one of the investments to watch for 2017. The German serial entrepreneur, hacker, and enfant terrible, Kim Dotcom, retweeted my tweet about it. That was when Bitcoin was trading at $788. 
Fast forward a year, and the cryptocurrency is trading at $19,783 (+ 1,875% to be precise).
If you are too busy with day-to-day operations, you tend to lose sight of your investments.
Not only did I not have enough exposure, but I also sold too early. Outside of having a pretty strong gut feeling about Bitcoin being the next big thing (and gut feeling still is the most reliable indicator anyway!), I simply didn't have the time to carefully consider it all. Being "too busy" with other stuff cost me dearly regarding lost opportunities.
I spent the better part of this year managing businesses, advising boards, fixing problems for other people. The truth is, had I just spent a disciplined, focused 2h to 3h per day on managing investments on my own behalf, it would have been a much more profitable year.
If you are too busy with day-to-day operations, you tend to lose sight of your investments.
Lost opportunities no more!
Which is why as of today, I'll return to writing my investment blog. Not as a full-time occupation, but as something I'll pursue seriously, i.e., through a weekly e-letter and one investment research report per month.
Public commitments are a powerful way of putting yourself into a straight-jacket. Issuing a public promise to producing one research report per month, there is no way for me to wiggle out:
- Weekends are now reserved for investment research.
- When I take planes or sit in taxis between meetings, I'll write a weekly e-letter. These never take long to write, you just have to make some time in between other obligations.
- At certain times of the year, I'll organise get-togethers of interesting readers.
It's what I did for nearly two decades earlier in my life, and truth be told, I wish I had never stopped. I'll continue managing a few select other projects. However, in amidst all this, stocking this blog with fresh content on a weekly basis is now one of my official diary obligations.
Bigger, better, brighter
The good news is, my years in the wilderness of doing all sorts of other stuff have laid the foundation for this relaunched blog being better than anything I have ever done before.
- Damn, did my network grow! If you thought I was well-connected ten years ago, then you ain't seen nothing yet in terms of whose brains I can tap, how far my binoculars can see, and what I can get moving for the benefit of my readers.
- I've made lots of mistakes, which you won't have to do because you'll be warned, informed and inspired by my writing.
- Blogging and the internet have moved to the next level, and there are more tools than ever before to make this a fun, engaging and exciting website that is growing a global audience (sorry, German friends, no more reports in deutscher Sprache).
It's great to be back
On this note, welcome back to undervalued-shares.com!
You'll soon see the first new research report going online (in October). I am also going to launch a few new ideas and partnerships. Watch this space, it's going to be exciting!
Best regards
Swen Lorenz
Founder, www.undervalued-shares.com
Did you find this article useful and enjoyable? If you want to read my next articles right when they come out, please sign up to my email list.
Share this post:
