Year: 2015

Wine as an Investment

Published by Anna Kazakova

Monday evening my friends and I went to Grappe wine Storage located at Grevgatan 5, Stockholm for wine tasting and a seminar called ”Wine as an Investment.” You probably already know about my passion to invest, so obviously I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity. Grappe wine storage is founded by Carl Jan Granqvist, the famous Swedish restaurateur, wine connoisseur and television personality. He explained to us the history of wine, taught us how to taste wine and most importantly talked about recent trends in the wine market. After wine testing, I and my friend – lawyer Casandra Christiansen, successfully kidnapped Carl Jan from the group and asked him some more questions about investing in wine. So here are great tips from the most famous Swedish wine expert Carl Jan Granqvist: Anna – So, I decided to invest in wine! How do I begin? Carl Jan –  Interest in wine First, whatever you do, you need to love what you invest in. If you invest in wine, you need to love wine. It should be …

The Future of Finance: More Women = More Money.

Published by Anna Kazakova

“What does the financially confident woman look like? Well, I’d say she is much more economically literate than ever before, and not just a “caretaker” of somebody else’s money<….> she is fiscally confident and it shows in her investment knowledge, salary, performance bonus and stock options.” The Future of Women in Finance, 2015.   Right before International Women’s Day Nordnet gladly presented the business-minded women of Stockholm some valuable insight. Nordnet, which provides brokerage and banking services in Scandinavia, invited Barbara Stewart, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Cumberland Private Wealth Management and a researcher, to present her latest white paper The Future of Women in Finance. Barbara started her research five years ago. (Last year Life as an Investment published an article about Barbara’s research How does smart women invest in 2013?) Ultimately, she was not satisfied with how the media portrayed women in finance. Everything she read was negative, and in contradiction with her experience as a portfolio manager. Then Barbara decided to nix negativity and focus on the positive. The Future of Women in …

Startups: How to get funding?

Published by Anna Kazakova

Sooner or later all startups need funding, and cash is the fuel to get it driving in the right direction. But where will that cash come from? There are a lot of variants involved—such as size, age and industry in which the startup will operate. These elements as well as desired growth expectations will need to be defined before pinpointing and attaining financial resources. For those who are in the beginning phase (seed phase), finding the right partnership with an investor is crucial. A solid and trustworthy partnership with an investor takes time and effort. Again, it’s a b**** because you need to minimize failures and maximize successes. You need to know HOW to choose your target group of possible investors. Ok, you are at the beginning of making your business a reality. You have a clear picture of how it’s supposed to work….and maybe you have already developed the product (or service). And now you need the fuel. The best investors are actually 1. Your clients! Make your clients pay you first, explains Anna Söderblom, …

Hot Estonian Start-Ups Mafia

Published by Anna Kazakova

Life as an Investment has asked Anastasiia Linnas  – a finance and marketing consultant, start-up lover and blogger, to be our guest author and  introduce our dear readers to Three Hottest Estonian Start-ups… We wrongly supposed that there are only three… When I was asked to write an article about three Estonian start-ups, I was a bit puzzled, because straightaway I could name 33* of them (my Mac actually froze after opening their home pages). During the last 10 years, Estonia has managed to build a strong matrix of start-ups.  And, the most significant contributor to this system is probably Skype.  Today, the most successful start-ups in Estonia are founded by the so-called “Skype Mafia.”  So, I did my best to come up with a list of three that IMHO, fit into the Life as an Investment philosophy. Save! TransferWise is one of the most well-known start-ups that originated in Estonia and is often a guest on TechCrunch news, a popular digital information source providing PR strategies and a wide range of general news. I don’t know about your …

HOW MUCH DOES A TRIATHLON COST? PART III: RUNNING

Published by Anna Kazakova

– Run! Run faster than the wind! – It’s a nice phrase, but a triathlete in the middle of a bike-to-run transition will probably punch you in a face if you yell that out loud! After so many kilometers on a bike, the legs just don’t move the way they should after hopping off the bike. But they are hard as stone….and only want to rest. Running gear plays a massive role in this process! Triathletes normally use extra-light running shoes like ZOOT—probably the best triathlete gear in the world. They also uses Asics, but I find them to be hard on the legs, a bit heavier and quite narrow. I have a pair of Asics gel – Tri Noosa 9, but I can’t say that I really like them. For the coming season, I’m willing to try those Swiss engineered Cloudracers. The prices for quality running shoes don’t vary much—basically $100 to $250 on the average. Here’s a tip: choosing the right running shoe for a triathlon should depend on distance and the framework of …

HOW MUCH DOES A TRIATHLON COST? PART II: BIKING

Published by Anna Kazakova

Once upon a time 365 million years ago, the early Tetrapod (Ichthyostega), a fishlike amphibian,  a meter-long creature that had the limbs and skull of an amphibian, crawled out to the groud from the water – evolution captured in transition. I think about evolution every time I crawl out of the water after swimming part of triathlons. My legs and hands don’t listen to my brain. I literally need to voice commands like “Take off goggles!” “Take off cap!” “Unzip wetsuit then run!” It is better to train before as many times as possible.   Speaking of transitions, imagine a triathlete transitioning from one part of the race to the biking part of the race. It’s a crucial section of a triathlon that requires a small investment. Biking is the most expensive part of a triathlon costs. And yes, it can be done with a single- speed or even the same bike that takes you to the grocery store and back—but most guys cannot resist the temptation of buying a brand new one for competing …

How to Begin Saving Money

Published by Anna Kazakova

I love investments and I consider myself lucky to find pleasure in it. It’s funny when my boyfriend Robin tries to make heads or tails of all the “financial stuff” I talk about. But at least I know he’s a good listener. The other day he asked me about investment opportunities and how to save to invest. Unfortunately, the  Millennial or Generation Y (Robin and I are contemporaries) framework of spending behaviour  leads us down a path of over consuming and spending money that didn’t exist. So, to spend less we need to change our life-style from consumers to…. something else. We need to change our routines and habits, and that’s the difficult part. The most over-consumed products for young professionals living in cities are clothing and restaurant food (Read more about other most popular spending accounts here). So, changing our life-style and spending habits means buying less of both. But, be prepared to feel a strong sense of emptiness. The power of spending is strong and when it disappears, desolation takes over. Get creative …

HEALTHY EATING: A CHEAP ALTERNATIVE?

Published by Ksenia Samoteeff

Do you share the common belief that eating healthy is costly? If you do, you may be surprised to know that it is not. By eating healthy, you can—in reality—save some bucks while improving your health.   EAT LESS Although choices are available when dinning out, like portion size, menu choice, and price, opting to eat at home is not only a money-saving strategy but also healthy. Did you know that our stomachs are maxed-out with two handfuls of food? Think about that the next time you gorge yourself at a Swedish buffet. To prevent undigested food from sitting idle in our intestines, we should only eat when hungry and stop when satisfied. If we use the hunger scale 0-8, where 0 represents “total hunger” and 8 represents “completely stuffed,” you should begin your meal somewhere at level 3 and stop at level 6.   STOP SNACKING Eat three meals a day and nix the snacking bit (snack only if you need to; like if you’re diabetic or work long hours). If you snack out …