Alokas interviews

[KalleH]

@Sijoittaja-alokas

My latest interviewee, Kalle, is particularly well-known for his one-liners and sense of humor.

Thanks again for the interview. I had already forgotten that post of mine from over a year ago about there being beer at work.

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

Just for your information, Friday’s interview might be published very early Friday morning or at a completely random time, for example, late in the evening.

I’ll be traveling all day Friday from morning until night, so I won’t really have time to check the Forum, even to publish the interview.

Friday’s interviewee is a quality writer who writes little, or rather infrequently, but all that “little” contains a lot of solid substance.

Have a wonderful Independence Day, everyone!

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

62. Tyhjatasku

This guy doesn’t write on the Forum all that much, but whenever he does, it is always very high quality and most of the time educational stuff as well. Based on what I’ve read and private messages, I can gladly call him a gentleman and a quality writer.

I wanted to interview Tyhjatasku because I thought he would have things to say that would give one food for thought and tools for one’s own investing activities, but on the other hand, I wanted to highlight a forum member who might not be much in the spotlight, but of whom there are more on the Forum who easily remain in the shadows simply due to a moderate post count.

He gets points for openness and honesty when telling the big picture of his investments, including mistakes. He also reasons his points very comprehensively and with great arguments, rather than black-and-white gut feelings. He likely does well in investing thanks to, among other things, his diligence, willingness to learn, and self-reflection.

1. Tell us in thirty words who you are.

A 27-year-old guy from the Helsinki metropolitan area pursuing an MBA degree. I work in the cosmetics industry, where I ended up by accident. Besides investing, I like reading, gaming, and craft beers. I don’t know what I’ll be when I grow up, but I want a big stock portfolio .

2. Tell us three things that forum members don’t know about you.

I enthusiastically grow chili peppers in the summer. When I was a teen, I ran a chili-themed blog that had a surprisingly large readership. At my peak, I had seeds of over 100 different chili varieties and 40–50 plants in the greenhouse. Nowadays things are a bit more chill.

I have collected stamps for almost 20 years. My grandfather and father have also collected them, so I guess it’s a family thing. History has always been close to my heart, so it was a pretty natural subject of interest. I specialize in the post of the period of oppression in Finland, and my dream is to someday compete with my collection.

I have unlocked nearly 30 platinum trophies on Playstation. My biggest sources of pride are Bloodborne, Final Fantasy XV, and Skyrim. Bloodborne is also one of my all-time favorite games, Verneri praised it in the latest gaming pod as well. Worth trying.

3. What interests and hobbies do you have? You are not allowed to mention anything related to investing.

I already mentioned a few hobbies, but besides those, I read a lot. I spend a couple of hours a day reading books. In addition to that, of course, I read the forum, analysis, Kauppalehti, and company publications. I read a wide range of books. Investment books of course, but the topics vary: psychology, business, marketing, philosophy, and biographies.

I also listen to a lot of podcasts. The latest interesting podcast discovery is the Founders podcast. I have a continuous urge to learn new things. I’ve often thought that perhaps the meaning of life is continuous learning, because the moment the surrounding world no longer interests you, you become passive.

I exercise to the extent that I walk quite actively. Walking is an excellent hobby in the sense that it’s a good way to switch off your brain and listen to pods. I also like spending time in nature. Mushroom picking and berry picking are an annual highlight for me.

4. What is a normal weekday like for you?

I wake up at 7 and put the coffee on. For breakfast, always a plate of porridge with blueberries picked in the summer. I take a quick look at US futures, market news, and the forum. To the office at 8. Kauppalehti is out during the day. I check the forum and markets during the coffee break. Workdays vary a lot, I do quite a bit of marketing stuff. I leave work at 4 PM. Once or twice a week to the gym (Stam1na is normal gym music), on the days I don’t go to the gym I go for a walk (podcast playing). After that, cooking, following the markets, researching companies, or gaming. At 8:00 PM, my significant other and I watch an hour of anime, currently we’re on a Naruto binge. From 9 PM to 11 PM I read books, and 11 PM is bedtime. The exception is the weeks when I am at school. I study part-time, so every now and then evenings are spent in lectures, either remotely or on campus.

5. Could you describe what kind of investor you are?

I would like to say that I am calm and patient, but this is more of a goal than reality. Sometimes I mess up really badly and often the result is bad. I would say, however, that I have improved in calmness. Instead of FOMO, I have started enjoying JOMO (Joy of missing out). I no longer bother chasing hot companies, but focus on my own execution. I have also avoided cheap companies, which I previously found hard to resist. Cheapness is tempting, but nowadays I realize pretty quickly that cheapness often has a reason.

I have recently steered my portfolio in such a direction that I could be calmer and avoid the aforementioned blunders. I am actually starting to feel like I could leave my portfolio unattended and sleep well at night. On the other hand, I feel that when the market offers opportunities, I buy actively. I have made 20 trades in the last two months, which is completely exceptional.

I have tried many kinds of investment styles, but I have found that owning already high-quality companies is the right way for me to invest. Assessing turnarounds and fishing for value companies feels really difficult to me. You have to pay a higher price for high-quality companies, but on average they create value for owners every day. Such companies are nice to own year after year. The future will then show whether I was able to recognize quality .

I would like to develop as an index investor. I have some indices, but unfortunately far too few.

**6. Could you elaborate on what kind of investment history you have?**My parents worked as regular blue-collar workers in the investment industry, so I guess it’s in my blood. They helped me get started with investing when I was very young. So a big thank you goes to them.

I remember when I was under ten, pooling my allowance so my mother could subscribe to mutual funds for me. I guarded my allowance carefully so I could reach the minimum subscription amount, which I think was fifty bucks. I remember having, for example, Robur Technology fund units subscribed from 1999. Later, when my father tried day trading, I remember following with real interest how real-time stock quotes flashed on the screen. It was using some old Eq or Nordnet trading software. Sometimes I also got to help him execute orders. It was really exciting.

I’ve actually invested in mutual funds my whole life; my parents started for me and I continued myself once I got an allowance. However, I got a bit derailed as a teen. Nothing serious, but work didn’t appeal to me and further education didn’t spark any interest. Investing was forgotten too. However, I got into a university of applied sciences to study and coincidentally got a job alongside school. At some point, I ran into the book Sijoita kuin Guru (Invest Like a Guru) at the Academic Bookstore. I was pretty reserved because I thought these were just some “get rich quick” scammers. However, I bought the book and started reading. I immediately got into good company since the book discusses Buffett and other characters. I found a couple of other investment books at home and devoured those too. I had never been interested in reading before, but this investing thing really started to spark an interest in reading! Since investing gets wonderfully easier if you have capital, working and studying started to interest me as well!

Studying investing progressed; I went to the library and borrowed whatever the local library happened to find on the subject. I read all those books, moved to a bigger library, and read all their investment books. Eventually, I started ordering books from other libraries, and when all the interesting ones ran out, I ordered from Adlibris. I had read a lot at this point, but for some reason, when I finally got around to starting to buy stocks at around age 22, I made all the basic beginner mistakes. I bought Nokia, among other things, which a couple of years later I swore I would never buy again. That promise has held. Eventually, about five years ago, I found Inderes’ analyses and forum, and I’ve been on that path ever since. Reading has continued and stock-picking techniques have evolved.

Through mistakes, I have developed and learned a lot. In addition, investing has given me a tremendous amount just by making me interested in the world around me, making me thirsty for knowledge, and motivated to study and work. I notice that my further studies have felt a lot easier because I have already read about a large portion of the topics we cover.

7. What kind of portfolio do you currently have? If you had to keep three stocks in your portfolio for five years, which ones would you choose and why?

The portfolio looks like this:

There are 26 rows in the portfolio. One company is currently up for sale as soon as the price is right. My goal is to keep about 25 companies in the portfolio, but if I find good enough companies, I’m not too strict about the number of rows. In addition to this, there are mutual funds saved from my youth.

Three stocks for five years:

Investor AB: The company has created so much value for its shareholders over the years that I can’t think of a reason why one shouldn’t own this for the next five years. I read a book about the Wallenberg family, and it highlighted Buffett-like preparation for a rainy day, which I personally appreciate.

Revenio Group: A Finnish success story. I still believe this is worth owning for the long term. The industry changes slowly, returns on capital are good, but growth must continue to justify the valuation level.

Marimekko: As someone who studied marketing, I can only admire the work done at Marimekko. A wonderful growth story that now seems to be shifting into a higher gear in Asia. I definitely want to be involved in seeing where the company is in five years.

8. Generally speaking, what kind of companies are you particularly interested in right now?

I especially study small caps with good return on capital, a competitive advantage, and a reasonable valuation. From Finland, I have found 1-2 interesting names that I am currently studying more closely. I have also found a few interesting targets in Sweden. I’m keeping the names secret for now because a few of these are completely unknown companies, but I promise to mention it in the Bought/Sold thread when/if I end up buying .

9. What is your stock-picking process step by step?

My stock-picking process varies greatly. Either I get a company idea from the forum, articles, or simply by screening companies. Once I spent a week of my free time superficially looking through all Nordic companies on the small-to-large cap axis. In such a boring way that I went through companies row by row on Nordnet, opened the company page, read the business description, and if it was of interest, checked Morningstar’s fact sheet. I made a watchlist of interesting companies, which has been good to have later.

When I have a company idea, I quickly test the company against the following criteria:

• Does the company have a high return on capital (approx. +15%)?
• Does the company have a sufficient gross margin (+30%)?
• Does the company make a sufficient EBIT margin (approx. 10%)?
• Would it be better for me to invest these funds in, say, Investor, which has returned about 17% p.a. over the past 20 years?The purpose of these criteria is to quickly weed out weak companies to save time. If a company passes these criteria, I dive deeper into its business, income statement, balance sheet and cash flow calculations, management, insider trades, etc. I read analyses and check out the investor relations pages. Price is, of course, important, but I often ponder this only as a last step. Sometimes paying a high price can be justified and can only be evaluated when all the pieces fall into place.

If I think a company is a good investment, I start building a position with quite a small sum. Then I wait for, say, the upcoming earnings report and gradually build up the position size if the signs are still pointing in the right direction. I am willing to take the risk that the stock price runs away. I am young and inexperienced enough as an investor that I reduce risk by staggering my purchases over time.

10. If you had to choose three valuation multiples for the rest of your life, which ones would you choose and why?

I’ll cut corners a bit because I think I only need one valuation multiple, but many other metrics are important to me.

• EV/EBIT: I think it’s better than P/E. It tells me accurately enough what sphere the company’s pricing is in.
• ROIC or ROE: Return on capital is important. If a company cannot achieve a sufficient return on capital, it destroys shareholder value. I can’t think of a reason to own value-destroying companies for the long term.
• Gross margin: Inflation taught me the importance of gross profit margin. A sufficient gross margin helps keep the company profitable. It also gives some indication of the industry structure and pricing power. I especially monitor the trend of the gross margin: is the company able to raise prices?

11. Analyze these three companies in thirty words per company.

Admicom: Quality business in Finland. The construction sector’s challenging market environment has hit the valuation level, which I think is an opportunity for an investor. However, it is important to remember that success in Finland does not guarantee success abroad.

Harvia: Strong brand and interesting growth opportunities in the USA and Asia. In Europe, replacement demand should be sufficient for the coming years. The company is, in my opinion, in an interesting situation. Question marks are raised by how much demand will ultimately slump.

Tokmanni: The Dollar Store acquisition was an interesting opening for internationalization. A good decision to keep the Dollar Store brand. It will be interesting to see how Dollar Store grows in the coming years. Tokmanni’s own business is boringly steady, and good for that.

12. You seem to follow the Swedish market a bit, mention three of the most interesting companies from there and tell why they interest you?

Yes, but I am still a bit shy in that market. I am trying to calmly research and think about whether I should invest in individual companies or if it’s better for me to buy Investor or, say, Svolder, which invests in small caps. One reason why Swedish companies interest me is the weak krona. Another reason to be excited about Swedish companies is the wide range of offerings on their stock exchange. There are all kinds of companies and a lot of things you can’t find on the Finnish stock exchange. Many companies also lack analyst coverage. This also means that you need to be careful about what you buy.

Teqnion: A small serial acquirer that buys strong cash flow B2B companies. The company has a strong track-record and I like their Berkshire Hathaway-like operation. Well-known investors can be found on the owner list, but apparently not a single analyst follows this. I recommend reading their earnings reports; they are weird and fun.

Lifco: A slightly larger serial acquirer that owns 211 companies. Lifco is chugging along, organic growth has taken a hit, but profitability has remained high.

Swedish investment companies: There are many quality investment companies in Sweden that are well managed. Many of these have created significant value for their owners. Maybe sometimes it’s also good to outsource decision-making to those with a strong track-record?

13. What are your five favorite investment books? (mention at least two Finnish ones, because I don’t know English)

Ouch, a really tough question. Nowadays I read very few Finnish books because I don’t like translations… but let’s go with these:

• Investing for Growth, Terry Smith
• The Joys of Compounding, Gautam Baid
• Richer, Wiser, Happier, William Green
• Viisas Sijoittaja, Esa Juntunen
• Pikku-Guru, Hämäläinen, Oksaharju and Random Walker.

These are traditional investment books that I would recommend if you can bear to read a maximum of 5 books. However, I would encourage reading broadly on various topics. So I wouldn’t limit reading only to investment books. Lessons can be drawn from various topics and areas, you just have to think about how you can utilize the ideas in your own work. For example, I am currently reading a book called The Te of Piglet, which is about Taoism in the Hundred Acre Wood and how it is emphasized in Piglet. You can draw inspiration from this book as well on how to act in the markets.

I think the most important thing is to be interested and open-minded. I don’t remember who said this (Charlie Munger?), but if you can buy a 20-30€ book into which one person has condensed their entire life’s lessons, the ROI of the investment can be significant. (Even higher ROI if you find the book used)

I’ll throw in a few more bonus book suggestions for those interested, trying not to mention the ones everyone recommends: The Davis Dynasty, Thinking in Bets, Quality Investing, The manual of ideas, The five rules for successful stock investing, Alchemy The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing conformity.

14. You have kept an investment journal, what have been its biggest benefits?

Two significant benefits came to mind:* When you write down your thoughts, you have to process them in a whole new way. You create pathways between thoughts and quickly realize if you don’t know enough about the subject. I often find myself believing I know something, but when I start writing about it, the fact materializes that I cannot write a clear, cohesive whole about the matter. Then I have to go back to the original source of information and supplement my knowledge.

• Once you have written something yourself, you cannot run away from what you have written. For example, if you write down your investment ideas or investment criteria in your own handwriting in a notebook, you have no one to blame but yourself if things go wrong. I find that writing in my own handwriting is more effective because it is more personal than typing on a computer.

15. What are the most important threads on the Inderes Forum for you? Mention at least three and justify your choices.

• “Ostin/Myin juuri äsken” (Just Bought/Sold) thread: I like reading well-justified investment decisions in particular. Sometimes you can find ideas there on which companies to research next.
• Inderes Investment Meme Thread: Sometimes a good laugh helps when the rigged market hits your portfolio.
• All company threads: In my opinion, an excellent way to follow news and thoughts about companies.

16. Analyze these guys:

• KimiH: I appreciate his long-term investment style and great writings. Kimi’s blog is closely followed.
• NukkeNukuttaja: We share the same views on many companies. I appreciate his writings and am always excited when I see he has written a new post in a thread.
• SijoitusSeppo: A truly analytical investor who knows what he’s talking about. I appreciate his insights on many companies.
• Erkki_Vesola: A professional analyst. I appreciate his experience and calmness. Machinery companies are rarely in my portfolio, but I still eagerly follow his analyses, especially regarding Norrhydro.

(ping @anon38833097, @NukkeNukuttaja, @SijoitusSeppo and @Erkki_Vesola I tagged you so you’d notice - Alokas)

17. How do you handle your emotions in investing? How do you manage your emotions in investing so that you don’t, for example, experience unnecessary FOMO?

When I notice that something is getting too emotional, I go for a walk. Fresh air and being outdoors help reboot my brain. Sometimes investing gets emotional, especially when the rigged market hit a bit too hard. That’s when walks helped. I always combine that with listening to podcasts; the Richer, Wiser, Happier podcast in particular has been an excellent tool for processing emotions. Many of the interviewed individuals have a very long investing career behind them. They know how to put things in the right order of priority. An investment journal is also an excellent tool for processing emotions. Sometimes it feels good to write that I have a crappy mood. Then, when the sun starts shining on my portfolio again, you can appreciate the good times in a completely different way.

I notice that the longer I have been in the markets, the calmer I become. When you have seen multiple crises or events, their shock value starts to get lower.
To avoid FOMO, I often sleep on it. Especially when it’s a new company or a selling decision, I sleep on it for several nights, research, and ponder.

18. What kind of concrete goals do you have in investing? How have you enjoyed the wealth gained from investing?

• My goal is to build a portfolio worth six figures.
• My second goal is to beat the OMXH25GI index over the long term.

I cannot say I have financially enjoyed the wealth I’ve gained yet, because my journey is just beginning and the returns after the rigged market are quite small. The biggest enjoyment is mental, because investing feels to me like a certain kind of game. I enjoy the excitement when I find new investment targets, I enjoy the small successes, and I enjoy that investing has created a tremendous amount of mental wealth for me in the form of knowledge and interest.

19. Give three tips for Alokas on keeping an investment journal.

• I am strict about spending money, so this tip hurts to say, but: start by buying a slightly more expensive notebook. I started my investment journal in something like a school notebook because it was cheap to buy (you could even get three for the price of one). The end result was that I never wrote anything. My partner bought me a more expensive notebook as a Christmas gift and I have written a lot in it. This must be some psychological thing, but for my part, it has worked.
• Write whatever comes to mind. You are writing for yourself, so it doesn’t matter what you write in your diary. Thoughts, ideas, annoyance, analysis, portfolio updates, emotions… let creativity guide you. These are fun to read afterward.
• Don’t be ashamed of what you write. Sometimes you get a stupid feeling when reading old notes: “Damn, I was stupid back then.” This is actually a great thing to notice! If you don’t get this feeling, that would be truly worrying, because it would mean you haven’t developed, and that would be a wretched thing indeed.

20. Who do you want to especially thank from the forum?

For everything. In a way, I am an introvert; I prefer to listen rather than speak. I believe I have a lot to learn and I learn by listening. That’s why I also prefer to read others’ thoughts rather than shout my own. Even though I haven’t been terribly active in discussions, I have read the forum a lot over the years.

I am by no means a master investor, but without the forum, I wouldn’t have learned everything about investing that I have learned. I wouldn’t have dared to start investing in smaller companies, nor would I know how to do company analysis independently. I wouldn’t have found many investment-related books or podcasts. The forum has also grown my ambition in investing because there are truly skilled people here. I want to be just as good a stock picker as they are, so that motivates me to put in the work. So I am truly grateful that this forum exists and all of you make this an awesome place. Thank you!

—Kiitos Tyhjatasku, et pettänyt ollenkaan vastauksiesi laadussa!

Aika paljon sijoittamisessa puhutaan oppirahoista… niin virheistä oppiminen on hyvin tärkeää, mutta virheistä ei opi, jos ei itsereflektoi ja myönnä avoimesti omia virheitään. Jos tekee asioita mutulla ilman kunnon perusteita, niin pitkässä juoksussa sijoittamisessa pärjääminen heikentyy merkittävästi, vaikka muutaman vuoden tai viisikin vuotta voi pärjätä hyvinkin tuurilla.

Katse peiliin ja kohti hyvin perustein tehtyjä osakepoimintoja + mukavaa perjantain jatkoa!

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

Thanks once again @Tyhjatasku, the folks in Ruoholahti highly praised your answers.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

[Tyhjatasku]

Thank you and everyone who has reached out regarding the interview! This community is truly awesome.
Just reflecting on the questions alone was a very educational experience. I tried to do some soul-searching and think about what kind of investor I really am. Sometimes you just keep chasing the next investment opportunity without stopping, but this kind of “self-reflection” can be very rewarding.

But none of my thoughts are new; they’ve all been copied from people wiser than myself.

On another note, tomorrow I plan to go dig through some books at second-hand bookstores. Hopefully, I’ll find something to contribute to the forum’s literature threads

And for some light relief:

I have to say, if the presidential candidate of the Dividend Party starts following me, maybe I tweeted something sensible, or maybe this is just part of a vote-fishing campaign, who knows Thanks @Verneri_Pulkkinen and for goodness’ sake, man, get a PlayStation so you can play Bloodborne properly. Then we can bond over our worst boss fight experiences sometime.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

My next interviewee is an analyst who currently follows two very different sectors. Not exactly the newest Inderes analyst, but maybe on the newer side.

I think this guy is very analytical and someone who, in my opinion, is particularly good at looking at essential things from different perspectives, and thus he can, for instance, smartly weigh the significance of various factors in the companies being analyzed.

Have a relaxed and easy-going rest of the weekend!

EDIT:
Quite a few people have the questions I sent, but they’ll respond when they have the time.

I always understand refusals, and if anyone changes their mind and agrees to be interviewed, they can definitely message me.

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

Hi!

One interviewee experienced the same problem as @Juha_Kinnunen and @Mauri - the answers don’t fit in a single message.

This relatively long interview will be published this year. However, I heard the interviewee might still update their answers… and I’m giving them permission to reply, even if it takes three messages.

All sorts of errors can pop up:

Every interviewee is free to answer as briefly or as long as they want.

Anyway… have a great week ahead!

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

63. Frans-Mikael Rostedt

Frans is quite alright, even though he is from Pori. Frans is genuinely a really nice guy, and out of all the analysts, he is the one I’ve chatted with the most face-to-face. Frans listens well and speaks well, and he is not the type to make a big fuss about himself.

I wouldn’t call Frans a bearish or a bullish analyst, but rather a “lyytikko” (analyst) who is neutral-realistic in a good way, and who in my opinion has a very sensible way of looking at things. I suspect he won’t easily make overly emotional decisions or give in to gut-feeling FOMO as an investor either.

I’m one of those people who has a lot of words coming out of their mouth, but little (at least sensible) substance, whereas Frans is from the school of thought where you speak clearly about the matter at hand without unnecessary chatter, without making excessive assumptions and black-and-white conclusions. He is an analytical analyst who has a down-to-earth and appropriately versatile way of looking at things – he has a very promising career as an analyst ahead of him!

1. Tell us who you are in thirty words.

A 28-year-old man originally from Pori, currently living in Lauttasaari with my girlfriend. This spring marks 2 years as an analyst at Inderes. Besides my loved ones, music and investing are the most meaningful things in life for me. I am an eternal optimist and enjoy the little things in life.

2. Tell us three things that forum members don’t know about you.

In the early days of the Stockmann thread (the thread was only created after the Q2’21 earnings) and before my Inderes career, I was one of the thread’s most active posters under the username @Pilotti. Stocka was also in my portfolio, at least by my standards, at times taking up an obscenely large weight, but for a good reason, because in the stock market bubble of that time, it was hard to find a target with a better return expectation

I won SM (Finnish Championship) silver in military wrestling in the team category. I’ve never wrestled as a hobby, but I felt I was relatively talented at the sport (perseverance gets you far). Verneri happened to mention at the afterparty in Ruoholahti that if he had to choose someone from Inderes for a fight, he would choose me because I seem so laid-back. Perhaps the exterior is a bit deceiving, even though I am very laid-back.

I lived in France before coming to work for Inderes. I applied for a job at Inderes in the spring of 2021, but back then I was left on the reserve bench at the very finish line. After this, I sealed my decision to move to France with my girlfriend, where she finished school and I finished writing my master’s thesis. My intention was to graduate and look for work in France. However, Petri G. called me quite soon after my move in the autumn of 2021 and asked if I would still be interested in the position, but this time I turned it down because my intention was to settle in France. The thought still lingered, though, because Inderes had always been the absolute number one employer candidate for me. When a new position opened up, I decided to ask if my application would still be valid, and here I am.

(ping @Petri_Gostowski regards, alokas)

3. What interests and hobbies do you have? You are not allowed to mention anything related to investing.

Listening to music, playing music, and going to concerts is clearly the most important hobby for me nowadays. I play the piano and the guitar, and I’m not particularly good at either. I’m a bit bad at practicing to improve. Almost whenever I start playing, I end up playing some very simple compositions of my own or whatever comes to mind. Still, I thoroughly enjoy playing and I also understand a tiny bit of theory. Now the idea would also be to learn music production and maybe record something someday, if I manage to create something I consider decent. Playing and music is probably the best possible counterbalance to an analyst’s job. Nothing turns off the rational hemisphere of the brain quite like playing music. On the other hand, I notice that when work is busy and stressful, it effectively kills creativity and then I play noticeably less. My own thermometer for stress levels is how much I enjoy music and get excited about new artists/albums/songs.

Nowadays I listen to genres pretty much all across the board. But as an overarching category, I listen to rock the most. My most-played artists on Spotify this year have been Muse, Gojira, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Placebo, Sting, Radiohead, Cage the Elephant, and The Beatles. Many of the finest memories and feelings in my life are from live gigs. In my opinion, there aren’t many better feelings in the world than when a live gig totally pulls you in so that the whole surrounding world disappears.

I’ve played football my entire life, but it ended as a regular hobby after university and after moving to France. All kinds of other sports (swimming, running, tennis, badminton, gym) are also things I do, but nowadays not (frequently enough). Nowadays, football leans towards armchair sports, and even that has decreased over time because there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time. Nowadays I regularly follow the Italian Serie A and especially the performances of AC Milan.

I used to actively play poker online and at casinos. Now active playing has taken a backseat, but I never turn down games if a friend asks, and every now and then I end up dropping by a casino.

As my newest hobby, I’ve been attending an acting/theatre course once a week for a year, which has been really fun. Part of the reason is that I’ve wanted to go to a course like this for a long time because I get severe performance anxiety and I thought this might be useful. It has been useful, even though I’m still a severe anxious performer. I also really like good movies and TV shows.Reading could certainly be counted among my hobbies, although it goes in waves depending on how busy I am with work. Before I started working as an analyst, the fact-to-fiction ratio was probably 60/40. Nowadays, since I constantly read factual texts at work, after-work hours make me want to turn off my brain, and the ratio is probably around 80/20 in favor of fiction.

4. What is a normal weekday like for you?

I typically wake up between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. If there is a morning review or some other work to do, the wakeup call is often a bit earlier. I seem to need more sleep than average and, if possible, I try to sleep 9 hours a night. After waking up, I jump straight into the shower, after which I make myself an espresso and breakfast, and a cappuccino for my girlfriend. In the morning, I tend to follow the news feed, but I like to take mornings easy and rather read a book or play some music to the delight of the neighbors once it’s late enough. Often, work still starts at home by building/checking the morning review, writing a comment, or reading a report. I aim to be at the office between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. on normal days.

At work, I do various analysis tasks depending on the day. Right now, a lot of time goes into getting to know the real estate sector and the companies in the sector, for example. The day’s agenda can change quickly along with the news flow. Earnings release days are very different from other days, where the whole day is built around the results (writing the morning comment, participating in the earnings presentation or webcast, meeting and interviewing management, the analysis itself, and writing the report). I typically wrap up the day between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. depending on the workload and how early I started in the morning. At home, the rest of the evening is usually spent with my girlfriend or pursuing the hobbies mentioned above.

5. How would you describe yourself as an investor?

Before I started working at Inderes, my trading was relatively active and I made hundreds of transactions a year. At the beginning of my investing career, I came perhaps more strongly from the value school of thought, from which my strategy has since molded more towards GARP. However, for a long time, I haven’t classified myself into any school of thought, but rather consider myself a chameleon who tries to adapt to the situation at hand. I seek returns where return expectations look most attractive and fair value is available at the greatest discount. Over time, I have learned to appreciate diversification more and more, especially in long-term holdings, because all companies involve risk that is simply impossible to fully grasp. Only at Inderes can I justify a really heavy weighting to myself.

I also try to keep a 0–5% share in high-risk investments that have multi-bagger potential. Currently, there are no such targets, but in history, I have, among other things, owned cryptos. Just in case anyone is interested , I burned my fingers on cryptos in 2017–2018, but the 2021 bull market brought good returns, even though I sold my cryptos way before the peaks.

I want to buy companies either at a clear undervaluation or quality companies at a reasonable price. Since being at Inderes, my investments have more and more heavily leaned toward the latter and long-term ownership. On the other hand, also because with our trading rules, owning turnaround/value companies isn’t very sensible. Over the past year, quality companies have also once again been nicely available at reasonable prices. I have always been and still am bad at owning highly priced companies, and the sell button quickly starts to tempt as the valuation rises or when the return expectation I defined materializes. Perhaps in the future, I will once again aim to diversify my holdings more abroad and increase the share of potentially shorter-term holdings.

Overall on Nordnet, my return over the past 5 years has been around 13% on average. The return curve strongly resembles a model portfolio in recent years. I have shared my equity savings account on Shareville, if anyone wants to follow it. Nowadays, all my other holdings can be found in the equity savings account except for the majority of my Inderes shares. As can be seen from the holdings, this year the portfolio’s holdings are divided quite heavily between bombs and good hits, the sum total of which has ended up pretty close to the Helsinki Stock Exchange index return.

6. Could you tell us about your investment history?

My godmother bought me a couple of grand’s worth of Nordea funds when I was young, through whose annual reviews I learned about how the stock market works at a very young age. After the military in the fall of 2015, I liquidated my fund holdings and opened an account with Nordnet. I felt I understood something about investing after reading for business school entrance exams. This assumption was quickly proven wrong.

My first purchases were Caverion, Nordea, and CleanTech Invest (formerly Loudspring, currently Eagle filters). I bought Nordea because it looked cheap based on valuation and dividend yield. In Caverion, the purchase decision was reinforced by Kauppalehti’s list at the time, where all analysts recommended buying the stock. I invested in Cleantech Invest, on the other hand, because I was very interested in companies fighting against climate change and it had stakes in interesting companies at the time. Purely speaking, a gut-feeling purchase.

Out of all three, I ended up paying heavy tuition fees. In Caverion and Nordea, the timing hit pretty close to the stock peaks at the time, and the valuation that had looked low quickly became expensive when challenges began to emerge in the business. From Caverion, I immediately learned that just because all analysts recommend buying a stock, it doesn’t directly mean it’s a good investment target, but rather your own research is everything. In both companies, I also realized pretty quickly that I didn’t actually understand much about the companies’ businesses or drivers. The key realization was that with the companies I own, I want to deeply understand what they do and what their valuation is based on. Cleantech Invest, on the other hand, went excellently at first before the money got stuck in Africa with Nocart.I would say that my skills as an investor really started to grow when I discovered Inderes in 2016. Since then, the stock market has been a fairly integral part of my life. In 2018, I bought my first and so far only investment property together with a friend.

7. What kind of a portfolio do you have, if we leave out Inderes holdings? If you had to guess which current holding will give you the best returns within three years, which company would you guess and why?

Here is the portfolio without Inderes holdings:

The Swedish outdoor clothing D2C player RevolutionRace (RVRC) has managed to creep up to become the largest holding in the portfolio driven by a strong price increase, even though part of the position was already sold. I think the weights of the largest holdings in the portfolio are still quite reasonable relative to the total investment wealth. The portfolio’s other current mainstays are Gofore, Admicom, Efecte, and Puuilo. I believe these companies are long-term value creators that are nice to hold under our trading rules.

In addition to stocks, I own an investment property.

Let’s pick Gofore as the best-performing one, which is found with the second-largest weighting. I believe Gofore’s strong organic profitable growth will continue and that the company will succeed in making a few value-creating acquisitions, of which it has a good track record. The potential for internationalization also starts to look very interesting. There is uncertainty associated with the near future, but if the company is able to perform even moderately well in the future relative to its history, I also see upside in the valuation.

8. How have you benefited the most in investing from being an analyst?

From continuous sparring with colleagues and the good ideas you hear at the office. My ability to analyze companies and their markets in depth has taken huge leaps forward in analytical work and will certainly continue to do so. The work has also greatly deepened my valuation expertise and general understanding of the stock market. We have such competent people working here that by closely following their train of thought, I have also learned immensely.

9. What does your stock-picking process look like step by step?

I often get interested in a company first based on its numbers/valuation. Nowadays, you hear a lot of interesting ideas at work that you end up researching. After that, I usually put the figures into Excel and try to understand the company’s key drivers. I run simple scenarios from a fundamentals and valuation perspective, from which I aim to form a return expectation. Often I get excited about a company and buy a small slice, after which deep research begins. For Finnish stocks, I chat with the analyst and nowadays pick stocks that I want to ride with potentially for a very long time.

10. Selling stocks is talked about too little in my opinion, so I’ll ask you, what does your stock-selling process look like step by step?

Good question, and the honest answer is that there is no official process. Especially because of our trading rules, the lion’s share of the portfolio cannot even be touched, even if you wanted to. If the investment is more of the value category (nowadays mostly foreign stocks), I usually determine a rough level at the time of purchase (based on valuation) at which I think I will sell my holding. The level, of course, moves along the way and with the fundamentals. My clearest process is when a stock exceeds a 10% share of the portfolio, I start seriously considering trimmings. I am probably on average an overly hasty seller and bad at selling into a falling stock price.

11. If you had to choose just three valuation multiples for tracking the IT services sector, which ones would you choose? + Same question but for the real estate sector?

For the IT services sector: EV/EBITA, P/E, and EV/S.

For the real estate sector: P/EPRA NAV, EV/EBITDA (adjusted to correspond to cash flow) or P/(A)FFO, Dividend yield-%

12. Tell us in thirty words per company what you think of these stocks:

- Aiforia Technologies

One of the most interesting early-stage growth companies on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Seems to be one of the world’s leading players in the emerging AI-based image recognition market for digital pathology. Plenty of potential and risks. I recommend keeping an eye on it.

- Investors House

An entrepreneur-led real estate sector dividend company. Has made good moves in recent years and is well-positioned in terms of its balance sheet in the current market turmoil. The profitability level of the service segment needs to be turned around in the coming years. The “hidden value” of the Kukkula project supports the valuation.

- LeadDesk

A growth company in an interesting stage of development, for which expectations have been hammered down. The product is competitive and internationalization has progressed well. Clear upside in profitability, which together with organic growth forms an attractive return expectation. AI is both a risk and an opportunity.

- Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus

A reborn real estate development and investment company after a long and painful restructuring/transformation, which is well-positioned in terms of its balance sheet in the current market turmoil. A longer-term track record is still lacking for now. The “hidden value” of the Kukkula project supports the valuation.

- Witted

One of the winners of the IT services sector in the market during the talent war. Listed with high expectations, but with the market having changed, it has much to prove regarding its ability to adapt to the new situation. Raising profitability to a reasonable level is the main price driver. Expectations have dropped very low, and the potential is clear at the current price level.

**13. Mention three things you would recommend following if you are interested in real estate sector companies on the stock exchange:**Hmm, three things is quite few when considering the different types of operators in the sector. Let’s say the development of interest rates (long and short), the development of rents, and the development of construction costs.

I recommend following reports from KTI, for example. The nice thing about the sector is that you can get a very comprehensive amount of various relevant statistics just from Statistics Finland.

14. What do you enjoy most about an analyst’s work? If you had to drop one thing from an analyst’s job, what would you drop and why?

I enjoy being able to follow and analyze the stock market for a living. I would do many of the same things anyway, even if I weren’t paid a monthly salary for it. I’ll slip in a second enjoyment here as well. Chatting about stocks and various investment matters with top industry professionals at the office day in and day out is certainly one of the best parts of the job.

What I could drop is the constant monitoring/being on standby. Especially during otherwise busy times, unexpected news can cause gray hairs.

15. You have to hand over your portfolio for five years to one Inderes member who is not an analyst, two analysts, and two forum members. Who would you choose and why?

This is a tough one, because there would be plenty of excellent options in every category.

Yu Gong. Yu’s track record speaks for itself. I think Yu has an exceptional ability to grasp trends and winning companies.

Juha Kinnunen. I dare say that Juha is probably one of the best analysts in Europe. In my opinion, Juha is also an excellent investor and appropriately humble, which is why I believe he continuously develops into a better investor.

Atte Riikola. Atte is a truly competent analyst and has earned his place in the model portfolio team. Atte also has the capacity for quicker tactical moves, and I trust that Riikola’s trading desk will make good tactical moves in the future as well.

Pohjolan Eka. It is always a pleasure to read Pohjolan Eka’s cutting-edge sharp analyses. Eka also seems insanely fast at researching and understanding things deeply. Sometimes there might be a bit too much speed and new ideas, but I believe Eka will challenge many of the other warriors I chose and bring numerous good ideas.

Contrafun. Contrafun often has comments and analyses on various companies that stand out from the crowd, which is why I like his style a lot. True to his name, I believe Contrafun will bring dissenting views to the group of five.

(tagging @Yu_Gong, @Juha_Kinnunen, @Atte_Riikola, @Pohjolan_Eka, and @Contrafun)

16. What are the most important aids you get from the community for your work?

Linking relevant news to the forum almost in real time and continuous sparring on companies and various investment-related matters. The forum constantly provides thoughts and insights that are useful for analysis. The forum also has many top experts from various fields who bring a tremendous amount of added value with their comments. The forum also brings a lot of concreteness to the readership of the analysis compared to just shooting PDF reports out onto the internet.

17. In an analyst’s work, it is surely important not to fall in love with one’s own sector or otherwise get “carried away” by emotions, stock prices, or guesswork. How do you strive to manage your emotions in your work as an analyst?

This is indeed important. I hate being wrong, which acts as a natural filter in this case. Sparring with colleagues is also one of the most important ways to question one’s own views. The performance of recommendations is monitored at the analyst and company level, which helps in emotional management, as every new recommendation must be given from a clean slate.

18. Do you have concrete investment-related goals, such as euro-denominated or percentage targets? How have you benefited from the wealth brought by investing and saving?

Previously, I aimed for a 20% annual return when my trading was more active. Now I aim to beat the index and achieve a 10–15% annual return.

I haven’t managed to get fabulously wealthy here yet, but accumulated savings already bring peace of mind.

19. Alokas finds it particularly difficult to make scenarios for IT service sector companies (well, I suppose it’s more or less difficult for everyone), would you give three tips on how Alokas could get started when trying to make his own future estimates/scenarios regarding this sector?

1. Unless it is a turnaround company or a company in transition with low profitability, investment stories are built around organic growth and changes in valuation multiples. Be careful with scoping out the potential of acquisitions, as integrating the acquired company is often not easy. Historical track record matters here, too.
2. Profitability in the expert business does not scale beyond a certain point. There is also natural quarterly fluctuation in profitability due to changes in billing rates. Some companies manage this better than others, and things like customer structure and service areas also have a big impact on this.
3. If you are making a scenario about improved profitability, try to figure out whether the improvement comes through gross margins / scaling of fixed personnel costs (non-billable personnel) / improvement in billing rates, or through the scaling of other business expenses. Figuring this out is not necessarily easy, as companies often do not report these directly.

20. Who do you particularly want to thank on the forum?

I created my first user profile on the forum in 2018 relatively soon after its launch. Right from the start, the level and discussion culture of the forum stood out from all other forums I had used previously. It would be hard for me to imagine the investment hobby today without the forum, as it has become such an inseparable part of everyday routines. I want to thank you for the good discussions, ideas, challenging, and humor. The forum is also one of the best news sources, for which thanks belong to the active users.

---

Thanks for the answers, Frans!He really knows how to think about things rationally, as you can tell from his answers. He doesn’t make things unnecessarily complicated, but knows how to focus on what matters… unlike me.

I do the same thing as Frans:
“Brainstorming with colleagues is also one of the most important ways to challenge one’s own views.”
Well, not with my colleagues, but if I’m considering a company very seriously, on average about 4-5 people get a flood of messages from me about that company. I recommend brainstorming with others, it really helps a lot.

Thanks everyone and have a relaxing weekend!

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

It was really nice to chat with Sippola and Frans for a long time in the evening at the office in Ruoholahti. A competent analyst, a competent investor, and then me – three very different types of investors having a discussion; I really get a lot out of conversations like these. After all, I rarely get to talk about investing face-to-face in person with anyone, as so few people in my inner circle invest.

This December, I might be able to publish an interview with a CEO of a listed company and then a marathon interview, which will have to be published in two parts.

Not much else to add, have a relaxed Friday evening!

[Monte_Cristo]

Alokas, could you calculate the average age of the interviewees sometime? It’s not a must.
I could dig it up myself, but I’m too old and tired

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

@Monte_Cristo

Alokas, could you calculate the average age of the interviewees sometime? It’s not a must-have thing.
I could dig it up myself, but I’m too old and tired

Thanks for the question!

Hmm… I can sometime; I don’t have everyone’s exact ages, but I know the approximate age for clearly the majority of them.

The typical respondent is a 30-40-year-old man, so there are quite a few of my bromances or man-crushes. Well… there are others in the mix too.

It looks like there’s only time for two more interviews this year, so likely the marathon interview and the CEO interview. I can’t say for sure what the order will be.

[Frans-Mikael_Rostedt]

Thanks Alokas for the interview. This was a pleasure and an honor. This interview series you’ve created is one of the best I’ve come across.

Likewise, it was really nice chatting with you and Sippola. I can confirm to those who haven’t met him in person that Alokas is just as nice and likable a guy as he seems on the forum I also dare say that he is quite a competent investor these days

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

Thank you, Frans - the pleasure and honor is all mine!

Thanks also for the nice feedback in general. The interview series can’t match more professional YouTube channels or some media outlets, but at least these are unique/different, so they stand out. The absolute strength of my interview series is the interviewees, naturally.

@Frans-Mikael_Rostedt

I can confirm to those who haven’t met him in person that Alokas is just as nice and likable a guy as he comes across on the forum

Thanks for this as well, it was really nice to hear. I’m a real person, but of course it’s sometimes hard to convey your own personality and thoughts through text, and in general, misunderstandings about things and personality can easily arise when writing. So it’s nice to hear if someone thinks I’m nice + likable both in my writing and in person.

---

EDIT:

Next week’s, i.e., week 51’s interview, will likely be published quite early due to various scheduling reasons.

God bless the Helsinki local!

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

@Sijoittaja-alokas

This December I might be able to publish an interview with a CEO of a listed company and then a marathon interview, which has to be published in two parts.

That marathon interview will be published earlier than usual on Friday due to scheduling reasons, and otherwise I will be away from the Forum more than usual due to being busy and some small pre-Christmas parties.

The interview with the listed company CEO is being moved to January for understandable reasons.

Next week it will be the turn of a forum member who has opened company threads for some quite interesting companies and otherwise shares information about companies that others don’t really write about.

Have a nice Thursday, everyone!

[Kale-possu]

64. Investor Rookie, Part 1/2

Many who have joined the forum over the past couple of years might have wondered in their early days whether Sijoittaja-alokas (Investor Rookie) is really a single person, or perhaps a pseudonym backed by multiple moderators, information sharers, interviewers, and memesters. He is the forum’s most diligent worker bee, making sure practically every day of the year that this is a friendly and high-quality place for all of us. His smiling balloon face symbolizes the potential inherent in people to have respectful and good-humored discussions on the internet behind pseudonyms.

Ever since Alokas started this thread last autumn, people have occasionally asked whether he ever plans to interview himself or if someone will interview him. After a year had passed and he was nominated as Nordnet’s Investor of the Year, I asked him via private message if there still weren’t any concrete plans for his own interview. Since there weren’t, I dared to ask if I could interview him.

Alokas always writes a summary at the end of the interviews he conducts, but I am leaving it out. This time, the final words in this thread belong to him once again.

The interview will be published in two parts.

Warm-up

1. Could you tell us in 30 words who you are.

I am a single man in my late thirties who works two jobs remotely. The time left over from work goes into following investment topics, gym workouts, and educating myself in various ways, for example by following the news and watching documentaries.

2. Tell us three things that forum members don’t know about you.

1. According to a psychologist, I have moderate depression, and scores from various tests administered by another specialist point to even more severe depression, but the results of individual tests, even when answered honestly, don’t always tell the whole truth. This is common and everyone always has all sorts of things going on in their lives, you certainly learn to live with these things.

2. I have been in a relationship for about six months of my life. I want to be with someone who genuinely feels right for me, I suppose I should raise my market value in some way… Well, I’ve been myself and tried my best, so at least I don’t have to dwell too much on “what ifs”.

3. When my grandmother lived less a than a kilometer from my workplace, I normally visited her 5–7 times a week for several years.

3. What hobbies or interests do you have? You are not allowed to mention anything related to investing.

I have worked out for about a quarter of a century of my life. As an early teen, I recall doing low reps with 20 kilos on the bench press, but when you train without breaks and continuously with a strong focus on goals, you certainly achieve something over the years. My personal best in the bench press is around 162 kilos, which was double my own body weight, and my lifting technique was truly ugly, though cleaner at least than those of some worst cases. In the deadlift with lifting straps, over 260 kilos while my morning body weight was under 80 kilos, and in the squat as an 80-kilo lifter with knee wraps 210 kilos, but the depth wouldn’t pass in competitions. I’ve done about 40 pull-ups, which wouldn’t pass in competitions either, but they weren’t ugly. I still train hard and eat clean, but I don’t train with specific performance goals.

I educate myself with the remaining time by reading the news, watching documentaries, and reading widely on various topics. Before I started investing, I read the news for several hours a day and over 50 non-fiction books a year. I have learned that even if you read thousands of pages of non-fiction on certain topics and have followed these topics for years, you still don’t necessarily know very much about the subject relative to the big picture. I wish that callers to Kansanradio [People’s Radio], people on the internet, and especially people in the financial world on Twitter would arrive at a Socratic realization about themselves… and I will now drop this Wikipedia link here: I know that I know nothing – Wikipedia

The beginning of my investment and forum career

**4. What was your initial spark for stock investing? Do you still remember your first investment?**

I have always been interested in financial matters and in keeping my personal finances in good shape. I got my first permanent job in 2008. Before that, I had studied, done odd jobs, and summer jobs. That same year, I bought my first apartment and paid off the loan at a brisk pace, but then I found a sweet apartment, so I sold the old one and bought a new home for myself. I then started paying off the loan for this new, i.e., current apartment at a fast pace as well, and after a few years, I realized that most of the loan had been paid off and a lot of money was consistently left over as savings. Investing had always been a bit on my mind, and I felt that now or never, since my personal situation was so excellent and so many people seemed to be doing it. So there wasn’t really a single sparking flame, and it felt somewhat inevitable that sooner or later I would start investing.

I don’t remember the exact details, but among the first ones were monthly savings into Nordnet’s zero-fee index funds (Finland and Sweden), and the first individual stocks were Biohit, Nordea, and YIT.

5. It took a relatively long time from the beginning of your investment career until you joined this forum. Could you tell us a bit about those early days?

At first, I followed investment and financial matters through “standard media,” such as Kauppalehti, etc. For stock picking, I used Google, which often led the results to the websites of familiar financial magazines or various discussion forums. In the early stages, I checked my portfolio quite often and chatted a bit with investing friends, but I didn’t hang out on discussion boards much.

6. Then in July 2020, you created an account on Inderes. How did you end up on this specific forum? Do you remember any first impressions?

I ended up on the Inderes forum, firstly, because so many Google search results led here, and secondly, because this was an investment-themed discussion board that didn’t have much political-thematic discussion, which especially on the internet is always something that people who actually know about things usually prefer not to get involved in (I’ve read a few interesting articles on this topic). Thirdly, the discussion here was high-quality and sensible: no fighting, no chat-like messages, and no black-and-white know-it-all attitude.

The first impressions of the Inderes forum were good because there was a lot of staff involvement, and additionally, all sorts of information and excellent links that I wouldn’t easily find on my own had been gathered here. There was also a nice and fun atmosphere here.

Becoming a Subcontractor for Inderes

**7. The year 2021 is remembered as a crazy year on the stock market, and for you, it meant transforming from an occasional writer into quite a phenomenon. Reflect a bit on your memories from that turning-point year.**

I genuinely believe that most people thought this euphoria would crash down hard and fast soon, even though many of us hoped for some strange new normal in the stock market… That was hope, but who genuinely believed in it? I knew I wasn’t good, and yet my portfolio rose massively; then I looked and saw that almost everyone’s portfolio rose, and most people’s specifically led by certain “copy-trading stocks.”

A strange year, especially for a fresh investor all in all; I didn’t understand a single thing about what was happening and why… well, okay, to some extent, but on the other hand, everyone else was a bit baffled too, and those who thought they understood what was happening were the most clueless of all.

What stuck in my mind from that year were the massive portfolio gains and, in particular, the crowned king of debt stocks, Hyzon, which I bought after a few beers just as a FOMO-driven impulse, knowing mostly that it somehow related to hydrogen, which was a big deal back then. I bought it at over 16 dollars and then sold it after the year of madness at 3.5 dollars.

I noticed there were nice and smart people on the Forum, so I dared to join the conversation by asking questions and chatting. At some point, I thought I needed to show appreciation for good writings and the great vibe, so I wanted to thank and highlight quality writers as well as Inderes’ very competent staff. I also felt it necessary to remind the forum members of the optimistic and positive aspects, because at times it felt like people didn’t always realize what a wonderful place and community this is.

Sometimes the vibe felt a bit too serious, and as a cheerful, child-likely energetic ADHD person, I thought I’d cheer up the Forum folks with my memes and silliness. Since many of them liked and enjoyed them, I got inspired to keep making them a bit more. I also found a good way to highlight people in my memes. As many have surely noticed, the familiar characters visiting my memes are all smart and/or good producers of investment-related content.

I also wanted to show, by writing about my own mistakes and stupidity, that things happen to others too and not everyone is doing well in investing, but despite all setbacks, it pays to be optimistic and positive and keep a long-term view of the future.

Probably many of my memes and writings highlight that it’s worth taking a look in the mirror and understanding others, even if you don’t accept all things, people’s actions, or opinions. I am not naive, even though some take me for one, and I don’t recommend naivety to anyone :D, but I emphasize and have emphasized that it’s worth examining things with appropriate openness and criticality from many different perspectives without black-and-white thinking. Sometimes it’s quite good to understand one’s own limitations and flaws in both knowledge and skills—self-reflection could be practiced more, especially when discussing politics on FinTwit (taloustwitter) or internet discussion boards.

8. At the end of 2021, you started as a contractor for Inderes, with tasks including moderation and serving the forum. How did you end up in these gigs?

I applied for a job at Inderes with an open application, but I certainly didn’t think I’d get hired there, because I don’t have the kind of qualities, knowledge, and skills that are needed at the Ruoholahti office. But Inderes seemed like a really good employer, plus the crew there seemed wonderful, and as the cherry on top, I would have gotten to be surrounded by investment topics all day long.

Off went my open application, and apparently, they even discussed there that Sijoittaja-alokas had applied for a gig here. If I remember correctly, in my signature or at the end of my application, I put that I am a Recruit (Alokas).

I don’t know, but apparently Verneri, without asking others, contacted me and asked if I wanted to become a moderator. If I remember correctly, he emphasized my character… optimism and maybe eagerness, too(?). Well, I was ready (=really excited) and thought I’d be quite suitable for the job because I feel I am a bit like a Finnish police officer: I don’t get provoked when provoked, and furthermore, I have spent my whole life dealing with very different people without conflicts. I also want to help people in various ways, and my close circle, both friends and acquaintances, consists of similar people; that has shown in these people, for example, during the Ukraine war: no boasting or shouting emotional remarks, but helping concretely in various ways while keeping a cool head. Mauri’s writing about me; reference to the Finnish police officer.

9. Describe a bit what a typical day of yours on the forum is like nowadays.

On a normal weekday, I spend the longest times on the Forum between 6:00 AM–9:00 AM and 6:00 PM–sometime deep into the night. Of course, those time slots include daily routines, gym visits, and other leisure activities, such as reading investment stuff outside the Forum, following the news, and otherwise educating myself.

I also check the Forum between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. I spend the longest moments on the Forum then when I have brewed coffee or are eating food. I have concentration issues, and I’ve noticed that short micro-breaks, for example within even just an hour, help me focus if, say, I’m writing a long text or trying to solve some problem or something. During these micro-breaks, I visit the Forum.

Most of my forum time is spent reading, and on the other hand, outside the Forum, I hang around a lot on various media, platforms, and elsewhere readingstuff related to investing. I don’t easily share English-language content because I don’t always fully understand them. Then some of the time goes into writing posts, sharing various things in the form of summaries, and of course also moderating, for which the time spent is barely visible to the outside. The worst stuff is moderated so that 95–99.9% don’t have time to see it. Major outrages are such that the first viewers already flag them out of sight — thank God (even for the writer’s sake). Daily on the admin chat channel there is banter, which is mostly pleasant, but practically all the most difficult cases are gone through there more or less.

Every day I think several times about what I could do more for the investment community. I don’t represent any specific group, but want to support different investors from beginners to average Joes (mikkomäkisiin). I want to understand everyone and listen to people’s feelings, especially those who are a bit quiet and don’t really make a noise about themselves. This is how I am in the rest of life too.

Investment Profile

**10. How would you describe yourself as an investor right now? What are your strengths and weaknesses?**

In a way, I am an “ersi”, a different kind of investor. I read really widely and a lot, but on the other hand, my ability to absorb information and my memory are what they are, and I partly have ADHD to thank for that: I don’t have deep expertise in anything, and not necessarily shallow expertise either, but a small intuitive grasp of everything. If I had to describe what kind of an investor I am, I am to some extent like most others, meaning I belong to that group that doesn’t clearly profile into a specific genre. My portfolio is perhaps slightly leaning towards defensiveness with small speculative “bumtsibum” spices and topped with some better quality companies.

My strength in everything is that if I have some thing going on, I do it to the max. For example, at the gym, I’ve been working out to the max since early adolescence without breaks, in high school I might read for a few dozen hours for a single exam, and nowadays as an investor, after work and investment readings and walks and gyms, there is hardly any sofa time left. Almost all time goes into goal-oriented activity.

I also feel it is my strength that I look at things very broadly from different perspectives and I have very often received feedback on how I am able to evaluate myself.

For an investor, a high savings rate is considered a big deal, and out of the familiar figures in the investment world that I know, I am clearly the most frugal. Surely there are even more frugal investors out there, I don’t doubt that at all. I also genuinely know poor people who cannot be blamed for their poverty, even if someone intentionally wants to spin it that way, although the reasons for their poverty are not visible on the outside… So generally speaking, don’t judge people who are not doing well. In Finland, there are a lot of people who have to live on less money than I do, and many don’t have the abilities and opportunities to get their affairs in order (alone).

My weakness is everything. I don’t really have good substantive expertise or deep expertise in anything else either. The basics need improvement and the numbers are very challenging, plus I have a poor memory, reading skills, and concentration, so in the end, I don’t know or know much about investment stuff.

11. Could you describe your investment process a bit? How has it evolved over the years?

I’ll go through a bit of how things usually go. If a company feels cheap to me, it already means I know the company somehow, in which case it is almost invariably a company under Inderes’ coverage. In this case, I have looked at the materials produced by Inderes, such as videos, commentaries, extensive reports, company reports, and of course the company thread as well. So from this kind of a baseline, I start, and perhaps I have also read articles from other investment-themed media about the company and thoughts from various people in the investment world.

If I genuinely feel interest towards a company, then I read the company thread, re-read the latest extensive reports and company reports, and also watch the videos. Then I google and visit the company’s website, plus I tell about five people if I’m interested in some investment target, and through these discussions, I get more information. I don’t run Excels or otherwise engage in DCF stuff.

And how have I evolved as an investor? Very much, even though I’m still not even a decent investor. In the beginning, I bought with a complete gut feeling and funny reasons. Over the years, I began to somewhat grasp the basics and the big picture, so the amount of gut feeling has dropped significantly. From there, I have slowly started to internalize things even better and look at the big picture more analytically. I have perhaps internalized quite well that I don’t really know or can do almost anything, which is probably my strength in life otherwise as well.

Slowly moving forward and trying my best, you really can’t do more than that. I don’t have any mega-fast learning curve. I am at the point in six years where it takes many only months.

12. How would you summarize your investment year 2023? What succeeded, what went down the drain?

I succeeded this year in getting rid of companies in my portfolio that I don’t understand well enough.
I have evolved as an investor this year as well, so I was able to buy various stocks into my portfolio with better arguments and more objectively, such that I understood fairly well what was being bought.
Then I have learned to suitably add and reduce, whereas before I only focused on buying and selling entire positions.

In a way, as a mistake, I’ll say that I still hold a tiny bit of cryptos, but on the other hand, that is perhaps my entertainment for the rest of my life, unless cryptos die. I think it would be justified if someone considered my purchase of PayPal a mistake, because I wasn’t able to and didn’t know how to properly research it as an investment target. On the other hand, I got help from various quarters on the most essential parts. Whether it turns into a 10-bagger or a giant loss, I think it’s more or less a mistake if you buy something you don’t fully understand and don’t genuinely grasp the different scenarios with reasonable accuracy.

Alokas interviews

**13. How and when did you come up with the idea to start this thread?**

I have always been interested in people, and in addition, I am interested in investing and have wanted to know in more detail what kind of investors certain people are, how they operate, and so on. I have learned a lot by asking questions and discussing with other investors, but I didn’t want to bother people with numerous private messages.

I also wanted to delight the forum members by doing something new and different, from which as many investors as possible could get something nice and useful. This was perhaps also in a way a thank you to Inderes for giving me such an opportunity to act as a servant of the community.

14. How much work does a single interview require on average?

@JHeiskanen would do a better interview in an hour. But it takes me surprisingly long…

1. I think about and research who would be a suitable interviewee.
2. I discuss with the interviewee.
3. Depending on the interviewee, I do more or less background research.
4. I start making questions, most of which are standard questions (copy+paste) and questions that would suit almost all interviewees, but even for those, I consider which ones would fit each person. The remaining questions take a bit more time, but not impossibly so.
5. I send the questions.
6. I write the intro text.
7. I receive the answers, which I read a few times.
8. I write the outro text.
9. Final check.
10. Publication.

I just can’t rush through all the work phases, but I have to ponder and think. One interview definitely takes a full workday, which includes a couple of coffee breaks and a lunch break, although I spread out the making of the interview over several days.

I often think that I give too little to others, at least here in the investment community, but on the other hand, if I spend a workday of my free time on these interviews, I suppose that counts for something…

15. How would you describe the significance of the thread to yourself? What are the feedbacks that have stayed in your mind the most?

One of the biggest achievements of my life! I study investing in various ways, and the Alokas interviews (Alokas haastattelee) thread that I started is an important part of my learning process. We learn quite a lot through various examples and role models, and there is a bit of the same idea here. I think my thread has succeeded in not leading into the world of FOMO, but instead giving a lot of good food for thought and various “tools” for one’s own investment activities. Oh, and it’s amazing to be able to interact with the top names of the Finnish investment world through the thread But the absolute best part is that so many read it with interest and get both joy and benefit from it!

As for feedback… all the feedback has been really nice. It somehow warms the mind in a special way, especially when people who don’t write/are silent on the Forum send feedback via PM… that feels nice.

If various people from the investment and financial world say they have read my interviews, that also feels pretty nice, when experienced professionals in these fields get utility and joy out of my thread. Similarly, it feels good when respected public figures have said that they consider it a matter of honor to be featured in my thread… of course, those words feel nice coming from anyone’s mouth!

Feedback where some have expressed that my interviews are uniquely good in a positive way and offer something new has also strongly stuck in my mind.

I also see it as indirect feedback when I have at least imagined that some larger entities have started using “Alokas-style” questions in their interviews… well, maybe just imagination, but a nice thought at least.

The interview continues in part two.

[Kale-possu]

64. Investor Recruit, Part 2/2

5 x 3

**16. In your opinion, what are the three most interesting stocks on the Helsinki Stock Exchange right now? Could you briefly characterize each?**

• LeadDesk. Sure, there is risk in this company, but it also has a good manager and good software. In addition, it scales well and manages acquisitions. The company has a broad customer base, no debt problems, and it can use its own shares in acquisitions. There are risks, but it might be capable of growing in the near future inorganically, organically, and quite profitably to boot!

• NoHo. Discounted due to prejudices? Times have calmed down, balance sheet issues are in order, and the outlook is okay. The company is growing and profitable. The dividend yield is also quite good. There are risks too, but they would have to materialize very strongly.

• Relais. A company that I don’t feel is very risky and that operates in fairly stable sectors. No major customer risks either, but still the stock is very much “rehabilitated”. A serial acquirer with growth potential. What’s the problem here… unsexy and inconspicuous?

(The companies were selected at the beginning of December.)

17. You know the Inderes forum and materials better than anyone and, being a jovial man, you give a lot of praise. Now, however, I would ask you for three critical observations; what could the company do better regarding its community?

1. The Forum

In my opinion, the Inderes staff is commendably active on the Forum, but the importance of the Forum cannot be overstated. Once I am the supreme commander-in-chief of Inderes, leading Inderes dictatorially (Miksu moves to head the meme department), I would highlight the Forum like this:

Steve Ballmer Runs Around Like A Maniac On Stage (Motivational Presentation)

and like this:

“Forumites, forumites, forumites!”

Steve Ballmer: Developers

I hope that many of the staff have secondary accounts for the Forum or read without accounts, because with many official usernames, the reading time is so low that they cannot know what the forum community is like, what this community wants, and what it thinks. You can’t get as good a feel for the community on Inderes’s other channels as you can on the Forum.

For those Inderes employees whose work has even a little to do with the community, I would give as homework that they should write at least one message to the Forum per week, and if the reading time per month is an hour or two, that’s just not enough.

2. Communication

A lot of material comes out and excellent material at that, but here is an example of Inderes’s communication: I know that many who are even big fans of Inderes do not know that comprehensive reports on Inderes’s client companies are available for everyone to read. Nor, on the other hand, that those large companies that are followed by Inderes but are not client companies do not get comprehensive reports at all.

Comprehensive reports are one of Inde’s most important things, and yet the aforementioned things are unclear to many.
This report example of mine is just one of many communication problems. Inderes has a huge amount of staff who work diligently and well, producing a lot of excellent material every weekday, but shouldn’t they focus a bit more on how people can find all the excellent material easily and conveniently, so that even a recent user can find these things?

3. Inderes back closer to the community

Many community members and perhaps some Inderes employees themselves miss the times when videos were filmed at the office with a somewhat homemade vibe. Now almost all videos are filmed in the studio and polished to perfection. A really great thing, but there could be more of that vibe when filming and moving around the office with a camera in hand. Social media channels like Insta and TikTok have a bit of this vibe, as do a few shorter YouTube videos. More of these on the YouTube channel. More of that old vibe, where filming happens at the office by the flipchart or between workstations. In a way, has Inderes distanced itself slightly from the crowd in this sector?

By utilizing these thoughts of mine, Inderes will be an even better investment destination.

18. Which three forum members would you hire to manage a model portfolio of a forum investing with real money? How would it perform compared to Inderes’s model portfolio over the next ten years?

I won’t choose anyone writing under their own name, because then I would choose @Mikko_Makinen x three.

• @DayTraderXL I don’t understand technical analysis and trading very much, but I know DTXL masters it exceptionally well. He possesses rare and unusually strong expertise related to these, so choosing him was a no-brainer.

• @NukkeNukuttaja A veteran who I see as having the kind of broad-based wisdom and patience with which one succeeds in life and investing, especially over the long term.

• @Pohjolan_Eka A quite unique investor who is really tough in the matters that he takes an interest in, and he is interested in fast and big returns. Well, who wouldn’t be, but he even succeeds in these sometimes, and in addition, he is able to do this nicely even over the long term, beating the index.

19. You have done less meming this year, but as an emeritus memelord, you probably still follow the field with a keen eye. Which three forum members were, in your opinion, the most inventive meme makers of 2023?

• @Divinesia He knows how to bring Hesuli böThe line blurs between unreality and memes, and in the end, you find yourself wondering which they are more of: memes or genuine, lifelike observations of us fellow investors.

• @LakeBoodom He has a broad range of cunning and depth in his memes.

• @Spaddu He has the most beautiful memes, possessing a delicate memetic quality that few are capable of. Sometimes they are even moving in their own way.

20. Mikael Rautanen has invited you and the rest of the moderation team to his cabin for the weekend to bake pizza, with the strict rule that the internet stays off. Which three forum members do you recruit to handle moderation in the meantime? Would the forum still be standing on Monday?

Sorry, I know the interviewer might not like this, but I choose you. In moderation, it’s useful to be cultured and possess emotional intelligence, and that’s why I would choose you. During the weekend, political discussion experiences a renaissance, black-and-white extremist thoughts from various sides decrease, and in their place comes an open-minded, empathetic, and fact-based, fruitful, content-rich quality discussion.

@Lyly_ja_Immo Brings security and sincerely good spirits. Tough guys are just like this: They are smart and strong enough to be kind to others. His presence and writings ensure that no one wants to throw a tantrum. He is a Finnish police officer x 10.

@Mauri Well over a thousand messages and practically not a single justified flag has come his way. Thanks to him, company threads feature even more objective substantive discussion, where opportunities, risks, and threats are openly discussed in the same way. No one belittles or laughs at others, but everyone gives their best while respecting and supporting each other.

I’m breaking the rules and taking a fourth:

@JHeiskanen A guy who has that appropriate sense of justice and straightforwardness to put that one per mille in line who are sometimes in a bit of a black-and-white extreme mood.

After the weekend, the Forum has risen to a new level and @Mikael_Rautanen fires Verner and Alokas. @Johannes_Sippola gets to keep his post because the moderation team needs a fresh perspective to support the boomers.

Sisu

**21. You have mentioned that you had major difficulties in school. Could you tell us a bit more about this?**

At school (too), in a bit of everything in life… Already in kindergarten, I was clueless about what was happening, and I stressed out every single daycare day about what new thing was coming up next.

At school, I was actually bad at everything. I was always out of it in everything we did and busied ourselves with; the teacher’s words and instructions went completely over my head. It felt completely pointless to sit in school when I learned almost nothing there. At home, I crammed by myself, and as my mother said: She and my father have had to go through elementary school all over again. Well, in my opinion, they also got to go through high school with me, which I barely scraped through.

It was frustrating when I studied for exams for a few dozen hours and someone even helped me prepare for the exam, and I still got a bad grade. It was also frustrating that I was consistently bad at all school subjects; there wasn’t a single one where I was even mediocre. Sure, sometimes with brutal cramming and my parents’ support, I got an eight on a high school exam, but if I had studied alone for less than ten hours, I hardly would have even passed.

Often, people who are doing better give obvious advice and don’t believe that you tried your best. It has been comforting now in adulthood to hear from various professionals that I did try and do everything I could, and my parents did too regarding me.

Often I think about people who have even more various problems and whose diagnoses don’t show on the outside. It’s a shame if manual skills, reading skills, or other skills are poor for various reasons. That makes life a bit challenging. Many people’s diagnoses and difficulties don’t show on the outside. You can’t always know what your best friend has going on in the background… So don’t judge people who aren’t doing well. Well, fortunately, few people actually do that.

22. You have mentioned that you have recently been undergoing examinations regarding your specific traits. Would you like to update us on where things currently stand?

Thanks for asking. I’ve probably known for over fifteen years that I have a hyperactivity problem, but I didn’t seek help for it because I didn’t understand how it could be treated. Furthermore, years ago friends of mine who went to seek help said that you had to wait a long time and there were a lot of “health visits,” so it sounded very difficult to me.

Some years ago, ADHD became an exciting and interesting topic in the media, and it was talked about more and more. There were a lot of stories telling how people who got help saw their lives improve significantly; on the other hand, the stories often shone through the fact that those individuals weren’t the worst kind of hyperactive. However, I thought, what if you actually get help from professionals, why wouldn’t you try.

I’ve had visits and whatnot quite a lot since then. I have very clear ADHD. I got medication, after which the dosage has been increased three times, and they have indeed helped. I don’t notice a radical difference, but still genuine benefit nonetheless. It is luxury after all to get help for something that has been a problem for 38 years, even if the help isn’t mind-blowing.

It has been suspected that I might have more than just ADHD, because I have all kinds of other small problems too. Maybe those will also be looked into more closely at some point, but now the focus is on this hyperactivity thing. If previously I interrupted a TV show maybe 10–30 times, nowadays maybe only 5–15 times. If previously I could concentrate on some text/matter for 1–15 seconds, now it’s 5–45 seconds. (These are not exact figures, but working estimates.)

With medication, I am more articulate and don’t fidget as much or seem as scattered, but the ADHD is still visible and palpable in me even with the meds. It’s hard for me to relate to those ADHD people who get high grades and are capable of doing and learning all kinds of things. I can perhaps better relate to those ADHD people who have become marginalized. The spectrum is so vast in this diagnosis too, and of course, we “spectrumites” are defined by a lot of other things besides just this diagnosis.

23. You would very much like a family and are looking for the mother of your future children. How is that front coming along?

I’m on Tinder and keeping my eyes open. In this field, it’s the same as always, meaning nothing new. Tinder was a bit easier in my thirties than now in my forties. I have to say that I have good taste in women and others have said so too. My problem is that my market value is not very high, and I’m kind of picky about what I want. Not picky “on paper” in the sense that there would be some strict criteria list. Certain personality traits are indeed very important to me, I can’t deny that. Let’s put it this way, I have fallen for, especially now that I’m more mature, women who are strong, truly empathetic, and just really nice. It’s hard to talk about these things in a way that everyone understands what I mean.

Of course I would like a family, but many others are in the same situation, and some don’t even have close ones, meaning no friends or anything. So I am not in any exceptionally sad situation.

24. How do you see yourself in ten years?

I think that with the help of ADHD medication, I will get new opportunities in my life. I will get peace in my head and I already have a bit, as the meds have calmed me down in that natural way that I still get to be myself. I will certainly grow as a person anyway and I think I will genuinely become a better person.

I hope and believe that I will still be involved with Inderes at that time and I hope I get to work, work out hard at the gym, and be around investment stuff. In ten years I will have over a million euros in debt-free net worth. At that time I will start looking for a comfort cabin on a gorgeous plot of land for myself where I perhaps live with a couple of dogs.

Most of all I would hope that I would have maybe three children and a wife. I do part-time remote work for Inderes and get to be involved in my children’s lives. I also hope that my parents get to spend a lot of time with my children.25. What greetings would you like to send to the forum members?

Don’t give up, be patient. I don’t know anyone who has regretted continuing to invest persistently. I only know those who have stopped investing and regret it. Usually, investing has been abandoned right at the bottom of the dip.

Especially in the long run, the forum and Inderes Premium offer good, positively compounding things that you can’t get anywhere else. The forum is an excellent place whose opportunities are worth utilizing. If you want to thank the community, the best way to do that is by improving the community spirit through your own positive actions and sharing content-rich material to help other investors. Giving gives more than taking.

Life is here and now, and good things compound; it is never too late to do things that bring well-being to oneself and others. I don’t remember anyone regretting how nice they have been to other people in their lives. It rewards you in life if you can look in the mirror and try to understand others.

I won’t start mentioning names or usernames because the list would be absurdly long, but:

Thank you Inderes for all the support and for letting me be part of your team.

Thank you to all the forum members for the good times and everything possible.

I also thank you who read silently, either logged into the forum or not. You represent the largest group - you are all kinds of people, and I wish you all the best of luck in life. You must not be forgotten, and I won’t forget you.

Kindly and warmly,
Your Alokas

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

Thanks to Kale for the interview!

Thanks to the readers, the likers, and those who gave nice feedback!

I’ve been quite busy today, and for the rest of the day, I’ll only be popping in for a quick look at most, as I’m heading to a small little party. So I probably won’t be replying to many messages today, and sometimes in a rush, I’ve missed some messages when notifications and such have been popping up from here and there. I’ve sometimes noticed some messages only months later, and there are surely messages that I’ve missed entirely. Apologies for these!

It was quite difficult to answer those questions, and the most challenging part was facing this “publication day”. I shared quite a lot about myself and aimed to give as accurate a picture of myself as possible, for better or for worse. Hopefully, my interview gave something positive to as many people as possible, even though I don’t always know how to express myself the right way.

In my life and even in investing (!), things are going quite well at the moment – moving forward one step at a time. I can’t really complain, even though I do complain sometimes.

Just in case, I’ll wish everyone a peaceful and harmonious Christmas already, even though I’ll still be hanging around the Forum myself during the Christmas days. I wish every single reader of this message all the best in life and… maybe a little bit in investing too!

P.S. For a Christmas present, I’m wishing for high-quality, thoughtfully written posts in the company threads.

[Kale-possu]

Thank you from me as well! I hesitated for a long time before suggesting the interview because I thought it was quite a big responsibility to be the one drafting the questions for Alokas, especially since there are many on the forum who know him better than I do. I tried to choose questions in a way that would portray his story, which gives hope and peer support to many. The questions in the final section are, of course, strikingly personal, but I mentioned several times that he naturally had a right of veto over any question or the entire final section.

Alokas seemed particularly nervous that he might be perceived as playing the victim when talking about his problems, but that’s not what it’s about at all, which I’m sure is evident from the interview. The numerous positive messages posted on X and in the Kahvihuone today show that everyone understood Alokas correctly.

For me, the best part of the project was getting to know Alokas better through many background discussions and a long phone call. He radiates positive energy and a “can-do” attitude, and he is funny and sharp, which comes across even better in person than on the forum. I believe he will become a well-known and respected investor and investment influencer in Finland. I hope his dream of a family also comes true.

Happy holidays to Alokas and the forum members!

Best regards, Kale

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

A few people actually suggested you to be my interviewer, and it made me smile when you offered to do the interview yourself. You chose the questions very nicely from my perspective and they were well-phrased, so it was easy for me to answer. You gave me space and exactly that right of veto that didn’t need to be used. I suppose I’m quite a particular person in my own way, and I have to say that Kale has an excellent psychological eye.

It was specifically the fear of being perceived as playing the victim, along with a couple of other things, that worried me, so now I can say that this turned out really well.

Based on the video call, I can say that even in person, Kale is Kale – perhaps nothing more needs to be said, as I’m sure you understand what I mean. Kale is an absolutely great guy, but even more awesome in person, and I felt really comfortable and a sense of trust with him.

I still want to thank everyone for all the kind feedback I’ve received – all of it has felt really good and has boosted my self-esteem.

In a good way, the interview left me feeling like there was nothing left to say.

What’s making me laugh in a pleasant way right now is that Kale’s two most-liked posts are about me.

[DayTraderXL]

Thanks for the mention @Kale-possu
I’ve come to notice that you have a sharp insight into company fundamentals and seem to understand companies’ backgrounds. In my opinion, this is the most difficult area of investing – understanding what a company does and how it operates. And through that, the significance of management.