Employee years 

Equipped with several internships in consulting, finance and regulation and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Humboldt University of Berlin (my hometown, by the way 🙂), I stepped out of my comfort zone and left Berlin for Brussels – home of the regulatory institutions of the European Union (EU).

A previous internship in his staff office opened the door to work again for a Member of the European Parliament – now as Parliamentary Adviser. Oh yes, spending lots of hours at meetings and conferences was an essential part of my work during my whole Brussels Years (and yes, I love coffee to the max 🙂).

During the next 7 years, my colleagues and me shaped EU regulation dossiers – with particular focus on Open-End Investment Funds, EU Financial Markets Infrastructure, Rating Agencies and the Small Business Act for Europe.

Afterwards, I spent another 7 years as a Public Affairs Associate at the EU Office of the G. I. F. A. where I monitored relevant EU regulation dossiers on Asset Management, Financial Education, Pensions and Corporate Governance, subsequently representing the industry’s respective interests towards the EU institutions.

My retail investor journey so far

The areas of investing, pensions and financial education became very crucial also for my personal life. During my years as a young professional, I became more and more aware that relying solely on state pension won’t be sufficient to enjoy a decent retirement life. It will be worth rather pocket money.

So I set myself the clear goal to become financially independent one day.

In 2013, I began to invest in stocks, in order to take my private old-age provision into my own hands. Like any ordinary rookie in this field, I made “quite some mistakes” 🙂 in the beginning, but managed to become better and better in my investment decisions – thanks to profound self-education.

This should pay off especially during the short Covid-19 stock market crash in 2020 – my first one that I ever experienced.

My reaction when I realized that my diversified investment portfolio of high-quality stocks and ETFs turned out to be apparently very robust: “Wow, that was a successful baptism of fire!”

After years of constantly improving my investment strategies, I would take the liberty to call myself a “professional retail investor”.

Am I financially independent (FI)? Well, it entirely depends how you define that term.

If FI means having a large sum invested in stocks that allows me to completely live off dividends (a.k.a. passive income)? No (well, not yet 🙂).

If FI means having a very robust and ever-growing investment portfolio as a financial nest egg, in addition with multiple income streams ongoing? Yes.

A life changing decision

The years went by. But as much as I loved my personal life in Brussels (international environment, meeting lovely people from across the globe who became longtime friends, joint activities, travelling, seeing the world…), I didn’t feel any progress in my professional career. Realtalk: It was a dead end.

So I took lots of time to reflect on what to do next with my career life. I spend hundreds (or maybe even thousands?) of hours on researching alternative career paths.

And finally I found an interesting one: The world of Online Course Business

Putting my knowledge and experience in stock market investing into digital products and creating added value for customers? I began loving this idea more and more.

After considering the Pros and Cons, I finally made the decision:

Leave my comfort zone again, take the risk, go all-in, transform from employee to self-employed, and set up an online course academy for wealth creation, investing & personal finance.

After quitting my job, I moved back home to Berlin in late 2021 to reboot my professional life and to set up my online business. 

Happy to devote my professional career now to help my customers becoming their own professional retail investors.

Welcome to the 365 Alpha Academy! 🙂

My Online Business journey so far…

In 2022/2023, I started on a small scale with a small self-learning online course on ETFs and stocks, serving a small audience.

Parallely, I also hosted hybrid and in-person sessions on personal finance.  

What are the 4 key characteristics of my work?

• A clear system of blueprints and step-by-step guidance.
• A profound qualitative and quantitative analysis fundament.
• The “Core-Satellite-Strategy” as my investment philosophy.
• The mindset of entrepreneurial investing.

With gaining more online business experience, I am now switching my business from the pure self-learning concept to providing a mixture of online courses, group programmes and a community.

Happy to be close to my customers and work together with YOU on your wealth creation & investment strategies!

My personal advice to you (based on my experience)

1) If possible, try to focus on making, saving and investing money as early as possible.

For what? For your financial independence, your old-age provision, for living a self-determined life to the fullest, and for supporting your loved ones financially (if needed). That should be incentive enough 🙂

2) If possible, try to create several (at least two) income streams from labour.

For what? On the one hand, to have a backup in case an income source fails. On the other hand, to further accelerate your wealth creation process more forcefully. Try to find professional activities that you love and where you can add value for others.

3) Always think in long-term dimensions.

Wealth creation and financial independence take time. Years, not months. You will make mistakes on your way (that’s normal). You will learn and improve a lot during that process. Stay focused.

See you!

Axel
(Founder and Operator, 365 Alpha Academy)