Welcome to the Wolf of Harcourt Street blog. As this is my very first post I have decided to start off by explaining my story.
So first off, who am I?
I am 28 years old and from Ireland. I have a degree in Business Studies and I am also a qualified accountant currently working in the Financial Services industry. Outside of investing, I am equally passionate about sport, particularly Gaelic Games and soccer (football to most other Europeans).
The alias Wolf of Harcourt Street is, as many of you might have guessed, a play on the film The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Harcourt Street is a famous street here in the heart of Dublin for a variety of reasons.
My investing journey started within the last year. Despite possessing business acumen from my studies and profession, I had never considered investing from an earlier age because it was simply never discussed or encouraged. In fact, for some time I had a perception that investing in the stock market was equivalent to gambling. I have since changed this perception and now believe that gambling is typically a short-lived activity, while investing can last a lifetime. The area of personal finance is one that I feel is being severely neglected in school and university.Â
As I started to earn more money and I progressed in my career, I began to become frustrated with the bank deposit interest rate of 0.05%. Yes, you read that correctly! I was earning a decent salary and saving money but it was doing nothing except loosing purchasing power due to inflation. As an illustrative example, €10,000 deposited at the above rate would result in €5 in interest received for the year. The inflation rate in Ireland was 0.94% for 2019 meaning that something which cost €10,000 now costs €10,094 a year later. The bank has only returned €5 in addition to the initial €10,000 so we have lost €89 or 0.89% in purchasing power by putting the money in a deposit account. In comparison, the S&P returned 31.49% in 2019.
At the same time, proposals were being drafted here in Ireland to increase the retirement age from 66 to 68. This made me realise that I would have to work for the next 40 years. I then began to think about how I could increase the value of the savings sitting in a bank account to enable me to retire earlier and live life on my own terms.
I started researching ways to increase my net worth and soon discovered that all the wealthiest people on the planet have one thing in common. Their wealth is derived not from cash or a salary but from owning company stocks. From here, I started reading a tonne of books and listening to as many podcasts as I could around investing and stock markets before starting my own official investment portfolio earlier this year.
My Investing Style
I would consider my portfolio to be a hybrid with roughly 60% growth stocks and 40% value/dividend growth stocks. My strategy is to acquire positions in companies that I believe will be bigger and better in the years to come.
I am not a trader and I do not look to buy and sell stocks to make a quick buck. I invest monthly using a flexible dollar cost averaging approach. I do not have a strict rule in terms of portfolio size but I am aiming to have at least 20 but no more than 24 individual stocks.
I let my winners run and add to them where I can. I am in this for the long haul and believe that high quality companies with momentum are hard to beat. I am always open to learning so the above is my investing framework at this moment. It may evolve over time.
My Goals
I have set up this blog to document my journey to achieving financial freedom. What does financial freedom mean? For me, financial freedom means having enough income to cover my living expenses for the rest of my life without having to rely on formal employment.
I plan to achieve this in 15 to 20 years and this blog will serve as a key tool in achieving this goal as it will keep me accountable and prevent me from swaying away from my investing goals.
From following my journey I hope that you will learn a thing or two about investing and also be inspired to start your own journey if you have not already done so. If you like what you have read please hit that subscribe button below if you have not already done so in order to receive the latest content straight to your inbox each week.
Happy investing
Wolf of Harcourt Street
Disclaimer: Whilst I may be an accountant by nature, I am not a financial adviser and I am not here to give specific financial advice. There is no substitute for doing your own due diligence and building your own conviction when it comes to investing.
Hi Wolf ;)
Just discovered you and signed up my email and looking forward to read more from you.
I have a question, though. I'm a beginner investor with the goal of having my dividends to support my lifestyle by the time I retire (which, according to past ages of retirement every year in my country, will be at 70 yo in 40 years time). Coincidentally, I'm now 30 yo and will retire at 70 in 40 years.
Now to the question: you mentioned "I let my winners run and add to them where I can. " I struggle at adding to my positions that are already running, due to that leading to higher average cost, even when I really really like them. Is there some mantra or tip that could help me get over that issue?
Thanks a lot, looking forward to read a lot more from you ;)
DV