Investing in Stocks, Ventures, and Memories

One week closer to New Year, and more and more Christmas trees are appearing everywhere. Well, yesterday, this festive rally arrived at our apartment. We try to collect different baubles and figurines for our tree from each vacation, country, and town we've visited. So, these decorations not only bring a holiday vibe to our home but also give us a chance to remember our tours, journeys, places, and moments. Investing in holiday decorations might be rare, but our portfolio this year also includes more typical investments.

At the beginning of this year, I decided to create a long-term investment index fund and happily chose the S&P 500 ETF. I expected returns of 5-10% per year, but luckily, I got 20%, which creates a challenging context for making 2025 investment strategy decisions. I'm still believing in the global economy in the long run, so I’ll probably continue to invest in the S&P 500 in a disciplined manner. To create a balanced portfolio and capture more opportunities, I’ve also spent some time and money on a couple of venture projects this year.

At the start of 2024, I was considering creating a tangible business. Most of my projects and products are heavily IT-related and don’t have a physical presence. As a student, I used to work for Zara selling children's clothing. I combined this experience with the current AI trend and thought that selling t-shirts with AI-generated designs could be a good idea. I created a financial model to explore how I could scale this business and create a valuable asset. I even considered buying a fancy t-shirt printer. Thankfully, I didn’t go through with that purchase and instead focused on testing my hypothesis at a reasonable cost. I created designs for t-shirts inspired by famous artists, bought a domain, and spent a couple of hundred euros on marketing. Unfortunately, this effort resulted in no sales, so I decided to stop this venture.

At the same time, another venture branded “OddsMavericks” went live in the middle of the year. Our bookmaking products help clients boost revenues and retain their customers more effectively. Currently, we have three clients who are purchasing our products, generating a couple of hundred thousand euros for us annually. This allows me to say that we’ve found product-market fit. The next challenge is scaling our sales activities to bring these products to more bookmaking and casino operators. I'm starting to realize that finding my own unique approach to sales pushes me out of my comfort zone — a potentially powerful step in my journey and development. I’m looking forward to taking on this challenge.

In closing, I wish all of us a balanced investment portfolio, the right level of risks and challenges to push us forward, and a reminder to invest in experiences, emotions, and memories that will last a lifetime.