After a long time, I am writing an article about something other than the dividend income of my dividend portfolio on the blog. Some things have changed, not so much in the world but mainly in my personal life. So, time for a TEV Blog update.
What has changed
I am now the father of a son (TEV junior) and am changing jobs. From being a lawyer in an Anglo-American law firm, I am moving to the legal department of a scale-up company. I’m trading little sleep and big money for a better work-life balance and stock option plan. I am particularly interested in the latter to see if the trade-off will be financially worthwhile.
For the time being, this will leave me with somewhat less liquidity than before. But that’s okay. I haven’t worked for the last six months since I have been taking care of my son. The transition was relatively easy, and I realized it doesn’t take much money to be happy.
Of course, I will continue to invest, but probably not as much as last year.
What was and is the reason for my laziness in writing?
I have neglected the TEV Blog since February 2022. I use the blog mainly to document the development of my dividend income. But even though I hardly take care of the blog, some visitors still stray here, which is nice :).
But what was the reason for my laziness?
Well, the TEV Blog has always been a matter of the heart without me wanting to earn money with it. Nevertheless, with a public blog, you become part of a community. For me, that is the financial community, including Fintwit, etc.
Unfortunately, I quickly realized how self-referential, follower-obsessed, and rudimentary much of the financial blogging world is and that what I do makes me part of it. I didn’t want to serve this echo chamber with my valuable time.
At some point, it’s just annoying to hear the crash prophets every time there’s a slight drop in share prices. It’s just as annoying when the other half always talks about buying opportunities and discounts.
Furthermore, everyone wants to be like Warren Buffett and invest like Warren Buffett, but in the end, they all follow the same trends. And in the long run, no portfolio will do better than an MSCI world ETF. And, of course, my portfolio won’t make it either.
But why the show every time? It’s about clicks and the dream of earning money with them. However, the war in Ukraine acted as a trigger for me. I simply had no desire to continue this blog as before.
What happens next?
I will continue to use the TEV Blog to document the development of my dividend cash flows. It is intended to give me an overview and show that long-term asset accumulation over several years and decades is successful. In addition, as far as my dividend portfolio is concerned, I will show the purchases and sales of my shares.
Beyond that, well, let’s see. I have a few ideas :). In any case, I’ll be tweaking the blog here and there, reviewing old articles, and doing all the inefficient puzzle work that goes into an enthusiast’s hobby.
But what will certainly no longer be there are exclusive TEV Blog stock analyses. Guys, if you need the work of others to make your investment decisions, you have missed the point of investing and skin in the game.
So whenever I publish analyses on other platforms, it is simply because I want to generate some extra income. Neither I nor any other author or analyst is primarily concerned with making the world better or passing on knowledge for free. Therefore, fide, sed cui, vide (look carefully at whom you trust).
In this sense, best regards
Stefan
