Bondora Superstars is our exciting new blog series! You’ll get to know the people who are working to make Bondora the best online investment platform in Europe. This series will showcase their passion for what they do, their personal investment experiences, and a few fun things you didn’t know about them. Curious to know more? Read on to see what our first Bondora Superstar learned from one crucial investment and how he’s investing today:
Bondora Superstars #1 — Valmar Moritz
🧮Bondorian since: 2018
👨💼Role: Data Analyst
📈Team: Marketing Analytics
Wise words: “Don’t believe anything just because someone says so. Study, learn and analyze things from all perspectives and make up your own mind.”
Captured by Daryna Purina, our very own pro photographer.
Let’s talk Bondora
Valmar has been a proud Bondorian for nearly 3 years, but his journey with Bondora started long before then. Back in 2009, when Pärtel was raising capital for his idea of an investment platform, Valmar decided to invest in Pärtel’s startup (which eventually became Bondora!). As a shareholder, Valmar has technically been a part of the company from the beginning.
Fast forward to now, and Valmar’s role as a Data Analyst in the Marketing Analytics team. Bondora is a data-driven company. And in their team, as in all the other lines of our business, they strive to be as specific and spot-on as possible, targeting precisely the right audiences at the right time, with a message that results in the best conversion.
“For me, the most rewarding part of my job is when big business decisions are done based on the analyses we have done in our team. Considering how big marketing’s role is, these decisions carry a lot of responsibility.”
The world of investing
Valmar started investing when the Tallinn Stock Exchange opened in 1997. Everyone was riding the wave of a newly opened economy that came with Estonia’s independence six years prior. Liberal capitalism was the way to go, which brought privatization of real estate, property, industries, etc. This opened up opportunities for new local and foreign capital to enter the market. He bought Tallinna Farmaatsiatehas shares at a price per share of 7 kroons (the currency used in Estonia before adopting the euro). Lucky for him, they soon rose to over 100 kroons per share.
But soon after, he learned the age-old marketing lesson of ‘what goes up must come down, and a lot faster too’. In October 1997, the Tallinn Stock Exchange had their first big sell-off that was later called “Black Thursday”. The Tallinna Farmaatsiatehas shares fell to 20 kroons per share and never fully recovered. Luckily, Valmar had cashed in his shares for a trip to Hawaii just before the crash. Lucky!
Investing in 2020
Two decades later, Valmar is still in the investing game and going strong. His next move is to sell some real estate because his portfolio currently carries too much of it. He’ll then put the capital into his Go & Grow account. He’s predicting that there will be a stock market crash due to COVID-19, and Go & Grow feels like a secure investment choice to him.
📚 Valmar’s must-read book for finance enthusiasts:
Letters to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc by Warren Buffett https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
Valmar’s strategy:
Through his years of investing, he believes this is the very best strategy for any investor: Analyze all the investment classes available; such as, equities, fixed income, property, P2P lending, precious metals, etc. Then weigh their risk/reward ratios and decide on a mix most appropriate for your risk appetite and liquidity requirements.
And a last tip: Don’t underestimate risk! There is no such thing as a high return no-risk investment.
And that’s it from our first Bondorian Superstar. Stay tuned for the next one, coming soon!
The views and opinions expressed in this article is that of the individual, and not Bondora’s official view.