On a beautiful day when stocks are doing well…

There are two things I would like to share in this blog:

1. When the world is chaotic, should we continue investing?
2. The time when I decided to buy Nvidia…

Now, the first point…

Over the past few months, stocks have been suffering from a lot of uncertainty, especially with the escalation of war in Iran.

Markets have always been affected by events like this: COVID, Middle East conflicts, elections, etc.

And I have to admit, it was not very pleasant to look at my portfolio during these times. But the good thing is that, because I have been investing monthly for almost 5 years, my portfolio is strong enough not to go into the red (knock on wood ^^)

So the question is:

Should we continue investing during uncertain times like this?

It depends a lot on how you see the world. If you have hope in humanity and believe that the world will continue, then you will understand that things go up and down in life. I am more on the optimistic side when it comes to this (I can be very pessimistic about other things though hahaha), so I did not stop investing. I just continued as usual.

Over the past few days, things have gone back to “normal” in the investment world — or at least in my little investment world — and I am now (or today) seeing my portfolio at +49%.

In life, I follow this motto: “If I die tomorrow, do I regret anything?” If the answer is “no,” then I know I am making good decisions. And “Do I need to bring anything with me?” If the answer is also “no,” then everything is good as it is today.

When deciding whether to continue or stop investing, ask yourself:

What do you fear losing?

It is okay to have fear. But your answer will guide your decision.

I have been doing this for 5 years — not very long, but not very short either — and I have seen some patterns that help me stay calm during chaos. The best way to learn something is to be in it.

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And second, the day I decided to buy Nvidia…

It was 5 years ago. I did not know what Nvidia was.

Back then, people were talking a lot about coins and crypto, and I was not really into that. But I had a thought: “For coins to grow, what do we need?”

I did a bit of research and discovered that we need powerful computers, as people will continue mining coins. Then I asked: “What makes a computer fast and powerful?”

At first, I found that it was the CPU. But the more I read, the deeper I went down the rabbit hole hahaha. I came across names like Intel and AMD. And the more I researched, the more questions I had:

“What is the profile of someone who wants to mine coins?”
Maybe they also like gaming. Maybe they are willing to invest heavily in their computers.

That is when I discovered GPUs. I searched for “best GPU companies” and saw names like NVIDIA and AMD again.

Another investment principle of mine is:

“Get to know the CEO.”

So I went on YouTube and watched many interviews with Jensen Huang. Many, many of them.

My conclusion: “He is great.” So I decided to invest.

That is when I started buying NVIDIA at a very low price. Today, it generates the highest return in my portfolio.

So, did I also buy Intel and AMD? Yes — but not as much as NVIDIA, because at that time I had not yet watched interviews with their CEOs :)))
Later, I did with AMD and also found their CEO to be excellent, so I increased my investment there. Plus, the computer I use has an AMD graphics card.

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So why am I telling you this story?

When you build your own portfolio, it is good to learn from experts, but you must be the one doing the hard work — the research.

I know many people talk about key metrics like P/E, D/E, cash flow, etc. And honestly, that can be boring — at least for me, since I do not have a background in finance. I am a bit lazy when it comes to numbers.

So my approach is different: be curious.

Buy things that will sustain a market, not just follow what is trendy. Instead of buying coins, I chose to invest in what helps that market grow.

To put it simply:

if everyone is fascinated by gold, invest in the tools that help people find gold — like shovels. Then go further back: what are shovels made of? Steel, metal… and so on.

Also, spend time getting to know the CEOs of the companies you invest in. Read about them, listen to how they speak, observe them, and try to understand what they value — and whether they are consistent (this is very important).

At the end of the day, whether a company grows or not depends a lot on its leadership.

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And finally, as I shared in my blog about “The first stock I bought”:

Start small, with something you believe will still exist in at least the next 10 years.

Something you use and understand the quality of.

Right now, people are talking a lot about AI, and big companies like OpenAI or Anthropic going public (maybe soon?). You might be thinking about buying their stocks.

If you apply what I shared in this blog — investigate backwards and study the CEOs — not just by reading headlines, but by really learning — you will make better decisions.

I am currently reading Supremacy to learn more about AI leaders, and so far… I think I like Google more :)))

And if you do not know where to start, here is the first step — more relevant for those living in Germany, but the same principles apply everywhere.

To be continued… :)) Have a GOOD day!

P.S Maybe next time I will write about “On a normal day when stocks are NOT doing well…”