56. SuomenBuffet
Finland’s very own Buffett is an active, playful, remarkably quick-learning young investor who consistently makes great points. He possesses a fairly solid knowledge base as well as the kind of insight that serves an investor well. Especially considering his young age, he is an exceptionally solid investor—and even without taking age into account, I would definitely describe him as a smart investor.
In my view, his traits are particularly well-suited for investing, as this pursuit definitely benefits from the ability to learn, boundless enthusiasm, and a good memory. By the way, I’ve noticed that many competent investors have great memories, which certainly speeds up and simplifies decision-making, helping them see the bigger picture.
I also have to mention Mr. Buffett’s diligence. I’m pretty sure I’ve read almost all of his posts, and I’ve gotten the impression that he genuinely tries and keeps grinding forward. Diligence doesn’t always guarantee a university degree, a high salary, or other massive achievements, but almost without exception, it can greatly improve one’s circumstances in life—starting from whatever hand one was dealt. With diligence and the other traits I mentioned, I’m confident Buffett will do exceptionally well in investing, too.
1. Tell us who you are in thirty words.
I’m a 19-year-old former national championship-level soccer player from Uusimaa. My life previously revolved entirely around soccer, and I even “moved” abroad for it. Nowadays, life is much more diverse, and happier because of it.
2. Tell us three things the forum members don’t know about you.
- I studied and played soccer in the United States for a year.
- As a child, my dream job was to be a freestyle skier. Those dreams were crushed the very next winter when I realized I lacked the courage/recklessness required for the tricks. Downhill skiing is still great fun, though!
-I’ve studied French for over 5 years, but I really can’t speak or understand the language at all.
3. What are your interests and hobbies? You’re not allowed to mention anything related to investing.
-Sports are still a big part of my life, even if the serious competitive days are in the rearview mirror. I still do sports/exercise daily. It could be running, cycling, the gym, table tennis, regular tennis, badminton, or even outdoor pond hockey. So there’s a lot of variety, as I always go by whatever I feel like doing.
-Sports’ trusty companion, spectator sports, is also “important” to me. I still spend a lot of time watching soccer from the couch these days. Sunday evening Premier League matches watched with my dad and brother are weekly highlights.
-Traveling. I’m lucky in that I’ve been “dragged” abroad since I was little. And the trips haven’t always been your typical Tenerife holidays; I’ve seen quite a few different corners of the world. I’m actually writing this part of the interview at 4:55 AM at Tirana airport in Albania. Seeing new places and meeting new people makes every trip unique. I think I’ve visited a bit over 30 countries so far.
-Math and physics. In high school, I finally found “the” subjects for me. Nowadays, I’m not really interested in other subjects. Entering middle school, I wasn’t anything special in them, nor did I care much, but early in high school, I had a few “aha!” moments. Now I spend a considerable amount of time each day calculating, exploring, reading, and admiring those subjects.
-Video games . I don’t really watch TV series, whereas an hour or two can easily slip away playing video games. Lately, I mostly enjoy CS2 together with friends. I used to grind on PlayStation more, but nowadays I’m a proud PC nerd.
-Coding . This interest has fallen a bit behind the others. The interest is still strong, but I haven’t had the desire/motivation to practice enough. Come spring, I should probably get back to properly learning the ropes of coding. It’s fun stuff in the end, at least at the grassroots level.
4. What does an ordinary weekday look like for you?
My daily routine varies a lot. I’m in my final year of high school, and I might only have a few hours of classes a week now. Sometimes I also work night shifts in retail if I don’t have school the next day. But let’s take a so-called normal school day from recent times.
9:00–9:15 Wake up. Right after getting up, I like to eat a hearty breakfast. Oatmeal, eggs, a smoothie, a glass of water, and milk. A morning shower is naturally always part of the routine. During/after the morning routines, I like to quickly browse the most important threads on the Inderes forum and possibly skim through financial results if any were released.
10:00 School typically starts around this time, usually with math or physics.
11:15 Class ends, and my entire school day might already be over by this point.
11:30–12:30 After school, it’s nice to eat some healthy home-cooked food and simultaneously watch YouTube videos related to either investing or sports.
12:30–14:30 Usually after lunch, I aim to study school or investing topics. I don’t set strict time goals; I just go with the flow. Sometimes I “waste” this time lounging around, and sometimes it’s serious studying with my butt glued to the chair.
14:30–16:00 In the afternoon, I like to work out. I’ve gotten into a good groove this fall. It’s nice to go for a run in the nearby woods in the afternoon. Runs vary from 3 km to 15 km (rarely the upper end). (On days I don’t feel like running, I hit the gym at this point.) After the afternoon workout, I like to have egg sandwiches and a smoothie.
16:00–19:00 Early evenings tend to vary a lot. Sometimes I hit the gym straight after running, sometimes I might read about different topics. At this point, I might also lose myself in the wonderful world of Counter-Strike.
19:00–23:00 We usually have dinner at home before eight, and after that, I enjoy my free time. I might watch sports, scroll through Twitter, play PC games, or read the forum. I try to get to bed before midnight so I can get a full 9 hours of sleep. Doesn’t happen often enough, though.
5. Could you briefly describe what kind of investor you are?
As an investor, I guess I’m a bit of a jack-of-all-trades right now. Probably not a good thing, but that’s how it is. I don’t want to pigeonhole myself into any specific box, so I chase returns like a headless chicken.
Mainly, I try to be a fund investor until I have actual proof that my stock-picking hobby is profitable. Stock picking is fun, and much more entertaining than boring index funds. In terms of building wealth, I see a fund-weighted strategy as the be-all and end-all for me right now. I have sooo much time ahead of me that index returns are more than enough.
With individual stocks, I try to capitalize on market overreactions and play the contrarian a bit. If the construction sector is getting hammered, you’ll probably get above-average returns from it in the coming years. Of course, when investing in beaten-down sectors, the key is finding the gems for whom the tough years are just a minor hiccup in a great overarching story. Lately, I’ve also tried to monitor quality stocks that have taken a severe beating over the past year.
6. Could you briefly tell us about your investing history?
I started investing in the spring of last year. A month after turning 18, I bought three shares of Nokia, which cost me €5 in fees. It wasn’t necessarily the best investment, but at least I got started. The reason for investing was probably that I had too much idle cash sitting in my account, and I’d heard about investing from an acquaintance.
The first 6 months were pure chaos. I did no background research or thinking before buying. Harvia, for instance, ended up in my portfolio, and I kept adding every time the price dropped, assuming it would bounce back near the €50 levels. Needless to say, it never got anywhere near that.
Then in September of last year, I think I stumbled upon this forum. And that’s when the “real” investing started. I was forced to start digging in just to understand the discussions taking place here. The hours spent on investing-related matters grew exponentially, and I definitely learned a thing or two. The fun part about investing is that the learning shouldn’t stop anytime soon, because the scam markets always tend to catch you off guard 
7. What does your portfolio look like right now? Which two holdings do you trust the most and why?
My equity portfolio currently holds only 3 stocks: Qt, Tecnotree, and YIT. I bought YIT holding back vomit, so I’m definitely not mentioning that here.
So I guess the answer has to be Qt and Tecnotree.
With Tecnotree, the appealing factors are the sentiment and the depressed valuation. A major deal announced earlier this week was rewarded by the market with nothing but further drops. It feels like most people abandoned the company after the directed share issue was announced. Granted, I also wonder where that money is being funneled. Right now, however, I see no reason to distrust the company management, who have massive skin in the game with their own money. The valuation has drifted so low that even a small profit warning wouldn’t make this expensive by any means. The stock could rebound quickly to a fair valuation if the company surprises the market even slightly in a positive direction. There are definitely people waiting and watching what Tecnotree is doing.
Even though the last earnings report was a disappointment, Qt is easily one of the highest-quality companies on the Helsinki exchange. Now that the valuation is starting to look reasonable again, I just had to take the plunge. I believe the slowing growth rate will only be a temporary drag on the stock’s valuation. Interest rates will surely come down eventually, allowing these quality stocks to be valued at nicer levels again. With Qt, we could certainly see further drops, so I’m ready with my spare change to add if good opportunities arise.
The portfolio is definitely going to “balloon” over the coming months because there’s so much to buy in Helsinki. All sorts of things are starting to look very reasonably priced, so I’ll need to start digging into all my childhood piggy banks soon.
8. What are your two most recent stock sales and what were your rationales for selling?
I sold Mandatum last week. What started to bug me about Mandatum was that I didn’t understand it well enough. Questions started piling up when I was reading Inderes’ extensive report. Ultimately, I couldn’t convince myself why I should be invested specifically in Mandatum, so I decided to sell. The good thing was that the position was at a 10% profit, but I would have sold it just the same at a loss at that point. It makes no sense to invest in things you don’t truly understand or can’t properly justify holding.
Before that, I think I sold my entire equity portfolio. Talk about going from zero to one hundred real fast…
The last proper position sale before liquidating the portfolio is a bit of a question mark. I did trim Nordea in the early fall when the price had climbed back well above the €10 mark. I had bought those shares in the €9.9x range.
9. You’re a young guy; do you take on more risk in your investing because of your youth? Why or why not?
Earlier this year, I still thought that taking “extra” risk was fine for me, since I have plenty of time and my capital is still quite small. I don’t think like that anymore.
Taking extra risk could certainly give me a nice head start, but I don’t really need it. The rapid growth of a small pile of capital doesn’t outweigh the thought that bad picks could force me to “start from scratch” if I decided to invest in the next Duell or Voxtur. I’d rather let my portfolio do the work in the background while I focus on maximizing the accumulation of fresh capital.
This also keeps me from obsessively staring at stock prices, knowing that if funds collapse, I probably have bigger things to worry about. That, in turn, makes it easier to avoid unnecessary trading and simply sit on my hands with stocks in my portfolio.
10. What is your step-by-step stock-picking process?
I don’t have a rigid process set in stone. Sometimes I might skip certain “steps,” while other times I track a company for a much longer period before buying. I read a lot about investing and economics, and that’s how I come up with my own “ideas” from time to time.
Most of it, however, involves reading the Forum or Twitter regarding a stock or industry that catches my interest. After spotting something, the thorough scrutiny and reflection begin. Why could this stock be a profitable investment? Why this specific stock in this sector? Why invest in this sector at all? If I can answer those, that’s when I start figuring out suitable entry prices for myself. At what point does the upside become too compelling? I usually like to build my positions patiently and in multiple tranches. Because of this, even large single-day price swings don’t affect the holding too much.
Alongside a buy plan, an exit plan is a vital part of my selection process. It’s always good to have an exit plan based on either fundamentals or TA. If the price action looks completely rotten based on the technical picture, I’ve definitely sold stocks for that reason before. There’s no point in holding onto a falling knife when that capital could be working elsewhere.
On the fundamental side, I try to identify what specific trigger would cause me to exit the position. An example might be being invested in a company whose stock price has drifted down with the broader market, only for it to be revealed that the company has severe internal issues—like the growth story grinding to a dead halt. Those are prime moments for me to step to the sidelines and wait for better times.
11. What is your greatest success in investing and what did you learn from it? What is your biggest failure and what did you learn from it?
I suppose I could give the boring answer of simply starting to invest. But nobody wants to hear that, so let’s highlight a specific case. My investing journey is still so short that I don’t have stories of multi-bagger hundred-percent gains to tell.
I wonder if exiting Voxtur counts as a win? Then again, getting involved in that mess in the first place was a pretty big mistake, so taken as a whole, it wasn’t much of a success.
My best success might be “trusting” Nordea. During the “banking crisis,” I correctly sensed that the market was clearly overreacting to the whole debacle. Nordea was getting battered from every angle, even though it was performing brilliantly. Of course, there was a slight chance that the issues at the distressed banks would actually spread everywhere, leaving a more permanent mark on Nordea’s stock price. So I bought quite a bit of Nordea at €9.xx prices, and ultimately the story had a happy ending when I trimmed the shares around the ten-euro mark. Even though the profits weren’t huge in euro terms, you could call it a big mental victory. For the first time, I genuinely saw that you can actually “beat” the market if your head can handle the market swings well enough.
My biggest failure is Witted. Catching a falling knife is never a good idea because it’s painful. First buys were above €4, and I finally got out at €2.xx. A large percentage loss, and in monetary terms, I took a serious beating. Where I failed with this case was that I couldn’t fathom the bear case. I kept assuming the market was simply mispricing the stock. I was too confident that Witted would hit its 2025 targets, and Harri’s typically positive comments certainly didn’t help temper that. This isn’t a dig at Harri, but rather a blow against my own naivety, because I failed to question anything myself.
Red flags had been flying around the investment case for a long time, and the valuation was never cheap once the market vanished completely beneath them. I’m following Harri & Co.'s moves with interest, and maybe I’ll return as a shareholder someday if things start rolling smoothly again. Still, I took away plenty of valuable lessons from this, even though it resulted in a heavy loss!
12. Which investors have you learned the most from and what did you learn? Name at least three.
The forum is full of great investors. I could name so many people here, but I have to highlight a few personal favorites.
Pohjolan Eka is the most legendary “character” on this Forum for me. I remember reading his posts with a furrowed brow right from the start. I certainly don’t understand everything the guy babbles about, but you can still glean something useful from his writings. From Eka, I’ve picked up the idea that returns can be dug up from the most unexpected places. The man has, or has had, money tied up in so many different things that it’s mind-boggling. Sure, he misses the mark sometimes, but that happens to everyone. If I could just develop the same knack for digging up investment cases as our safari tamer, I might even make some money here every now and then.
Secondly, I have to mention everyone’s favorite: Sijoittaja-Alokas (Investor-Rookie). Alokas leads by example, showing everyone that anything is possible in investing. He chugs along like a muskox, even if he occasionally struggles to grasp certain concepts. He also talks openly about all his mistakes as well as his wins, which is great to see here on the forum so people don’t get the illusion that everything always goes smoothly. Alokas puts in more work than 90% of investors, and in the long run, that will show in his returns. A great guy, even though I initially thought he was a chatbot.
Third would be the spokesman of our dividend party, Verneri “Vartti” Pulkkinen. Verneri seems to know how to tackle the most important topics, and with nice depth to boot. He can see the bigger picture and build strong arguments for his views. I’ve read old posts from Verneri in company threads because they really dig deep into the business fundamentals. No fluff, just pure high-signal content. If only Verneri would return to the world of real investing and ditch those boring boomer dividend stocks, I might even like the guy. For now, I’m content playing the role of a hater who secretly admires him.
(pinging you so you notice @Pohjolan_Eka and @Verneri_Pulkkinen cheers, alokas)
13. Tell us in thirty words per company what you think of them right now.
-Harvia is in an interesting spot. The sauna boom didn’t seem to last, and the valuation is back at a reasonably sensible level. The US is performing strongly while Europe stalls. Once Europe starts “opening up,” is it clear skies ahead again?
-Incap has been a harsh example of growth stock valuations adjusting when growth hits a wall. How will the largest customer’s issues be resolved? Strong growth is desperately needed from elsewhere. If the Pukk-party continues in the future, these are delicious buying levels.
-Kemppower is Helsinki’s “the” growth stock right now. The valuation is through the roof, but the company also holds massive potential. While the growth story is fantastic, even the slightest crack in the narrative will leave a major dent in the valuation. We haven’t seen such a crack yet. (Except today’s (Thursday) rather weak earnings report)
14. Analyze a forum member
-DayTraderXL is the forum’s TA wizard. I’ve read every single one of his TA posts from his earliest days multiple times, because you can always learn a lot from the masters. Everyone would benefit from learning at least the basics of technical analysis.
-Lexus is a versatile talent on the forum. You can read Lexus’s excellent thoughts across many different threads, and I always read them carefully. He seems to examine things as broader entities, which helps him make the right calls more often across various cases.
-Telemaster is one of those forum “Big Bosses.” Reading Telemaster post about his buys serves as a good reminder of how different the stages of people’s investing journeys are here. I don’t know if he used to post more previously, but it would be nice to read more of his posts, as he clearly has valuable insight to offer.
(pinging you so you notice @DayTraderXL, @Lexus and @Telemaster cheers, alokas)
15. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned from the Inderes Forum? What is the best thing about the Inderes Forum?
I’ve easily learned 80% of everything I know about investing so far from here. The forum is packed with experienced investors who are worth listening to and whose writings deserve a careful read. Just by listening to others, you will definitely learn new things here on the Forum.
Perhaps the most important thing, though, is that every investor is different, and everyone walks their own path. Some discovered this great (and expensive) hobby only in adulthood, while others here are still in high school. Some can invest €15 a month, while others put away several grand. There are many differences, but everyone here shares the same interest. And that is investing, and building wealth through it. Everyone has their own style here, and no one’s way of investing is inherently better than anyone else’s, as everyone has their own return targets and risk tolerances. You can admire others, but you shouldn’t compare yourself too much to their situation or journey. Taking the first step and starting to invest is the best move you can make!
As for the best thing, I’d say that aforementioned diversity. You get to read posts on so many topics from such diverse writers that it’s mind-blowing. There are knowledgeable people here on the most complex topics imaginable, so it’s definitely worth reading forum posts even if the subject doesn’t immediately interest you. The posts might not always lead to investment ideas, but your knowledge bank will undeniably grow.
16. If you could teach the forum members one thing about investing at the press of a button, what would it be?
Everyone would truly benefit from knowing the absolute basics of technical analysis. It explains a lot of the underlying reasons behind price behavior. Using TA, you can potentially avoid the worst bouts of FOMO, which means buying at the absolute peak won’t happen nearly as often. Not everyone needs to make decisions based on TA, but it can easily support your thinking alongside fundamentals. The basics are also relatively easy to learn, so there’s no reason not to.
17. How do you manage your emotions in investing, or do you manage them at all?
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. More so nowadays, because I only allocate about 10% of my total portfolio as a “speculative pot.” It feels like I don’t have the constant urge to overthink and read about companies non-stop when the bulk of the money is doing its job in index funds anyway. I’ve noticed that patience has definitely increased a bit with experience. Once you’ve pissed away a substantial sum of money into the market during a single day a few times, you slowly start using common sense.
18. What are your goals in investing… and in life?
In investing, building wealth. I don’t know if that’s possible when investing even part of your money in Finland, but let’s hope for the best. My forum bio probably says the goal is to live off the portfolio by age 35.
I’m not quite on that pace, but still making good progress. My goal with investing is to gain freedom and security. If working at age 40 no longer appeals to me, I can leave the workforce or at least cut down my hours without it affecting the rest of my life. There are so many better things to do in the world than work, so achieving my goal would be really sweet.
Life must be enjoyed. That is the most important thing. Even right now, I’m on a trip that could have alternatively bought quite a few shares of Qt. Investing is great, and getting wealthy is too, but you have to be able to enjoy your money. If you love traveling, investing in a trip beats stock market investing a hundred times out of a hundred. You never know what tomorrow brings, so I at least try to get something fun out of every single day. You don’t always succeed, but trying is half the battle.
19. Do you have any tips on how Alokas could learn to FOMO less?
I’ve definitely suffered from FOMO myself, so I might not be the best person to give advice here . This isn’t my own tip, but one copied from someone on the forum: it might be worth sleeping on the decision before hitting the buy button. That way, you don’t make emotionally driven decisions, and you can likely bring at least a little reason into the thought process. And that usually does a world of good.
Then again, you have to indulge in a bit of FOMO from time to time to keep the fun in the hobby 
20. What would you like to specifically thank the forum members for?
This forum makes investing and tracking everything related to it so much easier. You don’t have to scour the depths of the internet for all the information yourself; you can conveniently read it right here in the company threads. A huge thank you is owed to everyone who contributes any kind of content to this Forum (except for the Politics Corner). And we shouldn’t forget Inderes’ work either. You do an awesome job for the Finnish investing scene!! Thanks and out.
Thanks, Buffett, for the smart and interesting answers!
I usually don’t care to dwell on age discussions, but when it comes to young investors like this, you just have to marvel: if someone has already absorbed this much knowledge and carries this much enthusiasm at this stage, how far are these kinds of people going to go…
I must say, Buffett showed high-quality common sense and broad-minded thinking in his answers… I respect that. I should practice that kind of thinking more in my own investing, but it’s so easy to overcomplicate things and view your own companies strictly through rose-tinted glasses.
Thanks everyone, and have a great rest of your Friday!