Hello and welcome to this first newsletter!
Most of you already know me as Stefan from CryptoExplorer, but it's still a good idea to introduce myself. 6 years ago Andreas and I founded CryptoExplorer to help people get started with crypto.
It started with a small Instagram page, but over the years we grew into one of the world's largest sites. We were able to bring our vision to life.
Today, we continue to work on our mission to make digital assets accessible to everyone - regardless of how much time, money, or knowledge someone has.
But there's a bigger idea than crypto that's out there. I'm talking about an idea so big that without it, the world as we know it today would not exist. And that idea has shaped my life since I was 16 years old.
Well enough teasing, I know I should finally reveal what I mean.
I am talking about investing. A concept so old that people were doing it already 3700 years ago! You may think this is new, but in ancient Mesopotamia there were already laws for investments!
But enough about ancient Mesopotamians! Let's talk about the future! What can you expect from this newsletter?
🤔 What is The Erben Report
In this weekly newsletter, I want to take you all on a journey and talk about investing, finance, and crypto. I want to share my thoughts with you, motivate you to start investing if you haven't already and learn something new along the way. Stay tuned for entertaining stories, interviews with people in the industry, analysis of current trends and helpful tips & tricks.
Investing, money and finance have always been a passion of mine. And I want to help people take control of their financial future.
So I thought, why not turn it into a little side hustle and share my knowledge with others? I'm only struggling to find a good and unique name for the newsletter haha… Any ideas? 👉 Send them over!
But searching for the perfect name shouldn't stop us from starting this journey together!
💰 Why is Investing so important?
I have a clear opinion on this: EVERYONE should invest!
You should take your life into your own hands, and that includes your financial future! Let's be honest: We live in a time where it has become very difficult for the average person to provide a nice life for their family.
And this situation will only get worse in the coming decades. I want to make sure that people understand the problems that are going to come our way, and that they take responsibility and do something about it.
Because one thing I can tell you is that the government will not be able to help you 😬
Look, I don't want to be a doomsday speaker. But look at the demographic distributions: You should think about whether you're going to have a pension! There are a lot of other reasons and we'll talk about them in later editions of the newsletter.
Okay, we now know the why, but who am I?
⭐️ About myself
Most of you may know me from CryptoExplorer. Andreas and I co-founded it almost 6 years ago. We created one of the largest crypto Instagram sites in the world and an online e-learning community. But I don't do only crypto 😀
It all started when I was 16. I wasn't old enough to invest and I had no money to invest. So I started a lot of side hustles, trying to make money on the internet and saving every penny I didn't have to spend. As soon as I turned 18, I started my first investment. Investing in other people's loans on Mintos, a European platform for credit-based investments. It's a bit hard to explain, but basically I gave others a loan that they paid me back with interest. A few months later, I started buying into my first mutual fund, bought a bond, and then my first stock. When I turned 19, I started investing in cryptocurrencies.
Over the next few years, I always had one simple goal: make more money, save the money, invest the money. Today I'm 25 and I finally have a portfolio that I can work with and that generates a nice cash flow. Is that enough to retire or sell you on the dream of financial independence? No, I'm not there yet, but for 25 I'm in a very good position.
Over the years I have learned a lot about investing. Through my own investments, a personal interest in finance and my studies in Business Informatics. Oh and I passed all the exams to become a state-certified investment advisor a few weeks ago. But in this newsletter I will not act as a financial advisor - that has to be said!
🎯 Conclusio
From now on I will publish a newsletter every week. I am curious to start this journey together with you all. If you are reading this, please hit "Reply" and let me know you have read it. If you'd like, you can also let me know where you are on your investment journey! I'm happy to connect with you all and I will reply to everyone!
Thank you all for your support and I look forward to starting this journey together with you!
Until next week 👋
Stefan
Update: I have received information that some of your replies are not deliverable! There seems to be a problem with the email newsletter provider (Substack) when it comes to me receiving your replies! I have already contacted Substack and hope to receive all your replies in the next days despite the technical problem. In the meantime, please reply to stefan@erben.eu.
If you haven't heard back by now, it's because I haven't received your reply :(
Loved it!