Warning: Long post.

Investing has been a long journey for me. I am probably older than many of you. I learnt a lot from very many. And yet, I am still learning.

Do not diss employment but learn from it. Give it all you can. It helped me understand the inner workings of some businesses. The risks and joys. What to look out for. What dangers lie ahead. I used to get a "guaranteed" salary (mwisho ya mwezi) but I also saw the stress on the owners. Bless the businessmen who sweat to pay rent, bills and salaries.

During the Moi era, investing on the NSE was bleh. Then came Kibaki and between 2003-2008, the gains were easy. I felt like a genius but a rising tide lifts all boats. The reality and pain came later on (2009 onwards) and I became a more critical investor. Read a lot more. I moved on from formal employment and never looked back.

I still give thanks to past employers but the path was clear for me at that point. At times, I wanted to return to a "salary" but I stayed the course.

Over time, I developed the "Core Investments" approach heavily influenced by Warren Buffett's writings/interviews. I also moved away from "trading" to "investing" during this time.

I went to AGMs, Investor Briefings, asked questions, joined discussion groups and READ. Being on my own allowed me this luxury. It is not for everyone though.

I still made mistakes. MANY mistakes.
Yet my "wins" beat the "losses" and it worked well.

It is not all roses. No get rich quick schemes. Management isn't your friend.

Some notable wins over the years:
Access (Takeover but minorities did well)
KPLC (Kibaki era)
Cables (Kibaki era under Kibati)
I&M (City Trust to I&M)
KK (Let's just say )
Unga (even with the drama, Seaboard has been good for me )
Equity (Need I say more)
Safcom (It always came back)

Losses:
KQ (Opportunity loss was much higher than real cash loss since I didn't sell much earlier)
ARM (100% cash loss)
ADSS (90% cash loss)
FTG (Paper loss but still a loss)
Olympia (Huge cash loss for me. My first big hit. I learnt TRUST and INTEGRITY of Management are very important)
KPLC (Uhuru era)

And many, many others in between.


So when people say it is DIFFERENT this time, step back.
Value investing isn't static but it is fundamental.

Traders can ignore fundamentals but not INVESTORS. Of course, these fundamentals can change over time. Look at NMG. KPLC. ARM.

Be wary of snake-oil salesmen who claim to have the cure-all. Don't buy into "guaranteed return" schemes that sound too good to be true. FOMO is dangerous. Don't live beyond your means. And save, save, save.

Most of all. ENJOY the journey. Be careful. Don't get overly greedy. Avoid FOMO. And READ.

And have fun. Money is but a means to enjoying life. There's much more to life than a large portfolio.



May your journey never end until you want it to end. Peace out.

Yes, along with many other counters - see below - over the years. I didn't start investing in 2009. I started during the Moi era but the Kibaki's first term is when the real money was made which also gave me the ability/confidence to leave formal employment.

Sensible investing, barring crazy stuff e.g COVID, is interesting. It just compounds. Haba na haba...

I made stupid mistakes e.g. Olympia, ARM, ADSS when I became impatient and had FOMO. That wiped out some of my gains.

I remain a VALUE investor. It's a mindset. It means different things for different people but the core tenet remains investing based on the perception of a discount on value. It requires patience. And it pays off.

COVID-19 has crimped my lifestyle but the travel restrictions are being lifted. I love regular dividends. Some go back into shares. Some to fund my lifestyle.

Thank you Warren Buffett.
Thank you (first term) Kibaki.
Thank you Somens.
Thank you Ohana.
Thank you Seaboard.
Thank you Shah.
Thank you King James.
Thank you MJ and (late) Bob.
Thank you the many friends, advisors and teachers along the way.

Others I should mention include SCBK, EABL, Williamson and DTB which were bought and sold over the years and gave great dividends and/or capital gains.

Value investors have to learn to drown out the noise.
Even the legendary WB is laughed at (in the 90s, the dotcom boom, the BTC era and even today) and yet he does his thing and wins.

Value Investors should ignore the kelele ya chura which starts and ends during the rainy season

I never discuss specifics since it is my money.
Apart from the tax authorities, I owe no-one any details

I will provide more info as a learning tool for others just as others have shared information and taught me. There are many whose ideas and processes e.g. @Stockmaster I have learnt from.
Even @Obiero whose Exchange Bar is
Then there is @young's slow but sure approach with focus on dividends as we head to retirement.
@Maka and others who helped me understand the problems at KQ better.

It is my obligation to pass on what we have learnt works and does not work to the next generation.

1) Multiple factors came into play before I quit. The economy had also turned. By 2009/10, I had other sources of income. Family. Life. New experiences.

2) I have never said I got in at the lowest prices or exited at the top. That's your active imagination and lying Trump-style. . VALUE INVESTING doesn't time markets but does like discounts.

The takeovers happened when they did. There's an extensive thread on KK somewhere. I had KK for years. Good times and bad and back to good times. One day I expect my (few) Stanbic to be bought out. Even my Unga. I can wait.

3) I do not need to know them personally but the "gaggle of names" were in charge when I had the shares in the firms that did well. I have never met Warren Buffett yet I consider him one of my gurus. I read his letters. Watch his interviews. And also the AGMs.

I saw Ohana (& Segman before that) every year at the AGM. I stayed behind for the informal discussion. Learnt a lot about the business.

Collymore gave many interviews. His CEO letters were informative too.

I know you do not understand VALUE INVESTING and it is OK. That's why there is still value out there. My responses are to help others who may be taken in by your "Trade in FX with me, buy 50x100 from me", etc newbies. It's my obligation to teach as I have been taught to avoid snake-oil salesmen like yourself.

I made losses. Lots of them. It's out there. In many firms. I will make more.

VALUE INVESTING requires discipline. Research, a process and action.

Why do I (or value investors) sell?

a) The price is higher than what makes sense to me at the time. Or disillusionment with the firm. KQ comes to mind. Olympia.
b) Rebalancing. Diversity to mitigate unsystematic risk. For better or worse, I have reduced my exposure to banks over time.
c) Exchange. I will sell some shares to buy others in the same sector especially banking depending on the discount to value. Recently I sold some I&M to buy DTB.
d) Valuation. I look at the future. I have limited funds. So I will sell others to buy what I think has the better future return for me. Sold some TPSEA when COVID hit and bought more Centum in the 20s and Kenya Re in the 2s.
e) Cash inflows. I redeployed Access cash into other shares. KK cash into Centum and Kenya Re.

It is a FALLACY that Value Investors are BUY TILL YOU DIE types. Buy & Hold is a great strategy for Buffett when execution and CGT come into play.

Without CGT in Kenya, we can buy, sell and buy again when valuations get out of whack. Value Investors look for value. We attempt to sell over-valued shares and buy under-valued shares

As for being in Top Ten lists...
I leave that for people like you. I am happy with my lot in life.
I take it you are in one somewhere?
Do share!

I enjoy my travels. I fly ECONOMY. Yes, no business class for me. And I am grateful for the opportunity.

Even my "friend" WB, lives a more modest life than those fake millionaires we see in the news.

I was born, raised and live in Kenya.
I have my retirement place picked out not too far from Nairobi.
Summer bunnies wakae pale na Trump na Bojo.

Wazua was StocksKenya. Most Wazuans, I believe, are Kenyans and live in Kenya and invest in Kenya.

I am open to learning from you about VALUE INVESTING in the USA (or anywhere else) but you better be in a top 10 list with WB.

So now after your tanga-tangaing and ad hominem attacks, let's revert to VALUE INVESTING.

1) It requires hard work and a lot of reading, interpretation and understanding what's happening. Stay away from get-rich-schemes and FOMO. Except for your age, the prices/opportunities will return.

2) PATIENCE. I cannot stress that enough. It does not mean you should BUY and IGNORE. It means you work through the process and then let the harvest mature. Do not make your broker rich at your expense.

3) Diversify but do not over-diversify. Unless you do it full-time or love it to bits, there is a limit to how many firms you can keep track of.

I chose 5-10 (currently 90% of my shares value) with 5 core (70-80%). Allow for flexibility. Keep in mind you don't want 3-5 firms in one sector as part of your core holdings.

4) Feel free to sell out when circumstances change and prices to sell remain higher than they should be e.g. KQ (losses, COVID), ARM (debt stress, economic problems), TPS (COVID), etc.

5) Make sure what you have allows you to sleep at night. You should want to look at your portfolio and not hide from it.

Have fun and enjoy life!!!!

@Amorphous I take it your goal is to be better at wealth creation than your "perceived competitors". No one is stopping you from going about achieving that goal as you please. You don't have to denigrate @VVS, @AA and others here to achieve your goals. We are not at war here.

Forget about this kijana, he will keep on changing his names in wazua while calling others fake. We know better.

Then trying to bring people you don't know down assuming. He will make noise, disappear and reappear as some one else. Meanwhile we will still be hear in wazua daily moving on with life.

The day i realized he puts fixed deposits on mswari i gave up on his panganga investment skills.

GL having a descent conversation with him.