All posts tagged: featured

Investment Real Estate Strategy #1: Buy–Rent–Sell

Published by Anna Kazakova

(This is the second article from Real Estate Investment collection. Read previous here) There are a lot of ways to make money in real estate. As an investor, let’s take a look at some of the ways to receive a POSITIVE RETURN on your investment. There’s more than one  exit strategy and scenario in order to achieve realistic, sustainable returns on real-estate investing. We will discuss this with a global perspective, and of course cover the Swedish market—as well as touch upon current regulations. Investor’s role Everybody is an investor. If you are into building, renovating, or even cooking, sooner or later it will become your profession and consume most of your time—thus, time is an investment. So, making financial decisions also require an investment in time. You will need to read and understand financial markets, local regulations, geographical areas, building codes and perform market research. But, it is the type of investment that will determine how much of a time-investment effort you need to put in. When you place assets into an investment, it …

Does Real Estate Investment Work in Sweden?

Published by Anna Kazakova

As a matter of fact it does. So why continue reading this article if you already know the answer? Read on and learn why real estate investment works in Sweden. Historical data. Swedish real estate prices were far less volatile than, for instance, Norway and Holland between 1875 and 1957. However, since 1981 Swedish real estate values have consistently risen—even during 1991-1994 when economies around the globe suffered.Overall Swedish real estate value has increased 13.2% over the last 120 years. Between 1995 and 2011 real estate prices grew at the average rate of 5.7% annually. Compared even to the USA (0.4% annual increase 1892-2004), this is a surprisingly optimistic number! Big city power! Stockholm and Gothenburg are right now seeing tremendous growth rates. In 2014 and 2015, Stockholm has expanded its real estate worth by 17 %, Gothenburg 19%, and Sweden as a whole 14 %. Location, location, location! Since 2005 the magic number is (+) 61%! This increase in real estate prices is a reflection of a stable, growing economy.And most native Stockholmers would …

September is all about Real Estate Investments

Published by Anna Kazakova

Sweden is a great country—five weeks summer vacation…every year! Summers in Stockholm are quiet and calm. And it’s so obvious that everyone is on vacation; most likely up-north camping, or abroad grabbing some culture. This is the perfect time to RECHARGE THE BATTERY by stepping out of the workplace, completely. What a system, thanks Sweden! But it must be late August now because Stockholm is starting to hustle and bustle again. So roll up your sleeves, login, and get to those emails! Life as an Investment welcomes back our treasured readers with a new design…and a special announcement: The entire month of September will be devoted to Real Estate Investment! We will talk trends, historical data, prices, timing, real opportunities, covering the Stockholm/Gothenburg markets. If you have questions, or would like to discuss real estate investment opportunities, please email me at anna@kamishi.se and I’ll answer all inquiries in our Properties FAQ section. All the Best, Anna Kazakova (Author and Editor-in-chief) P.S. Thanks for all of your impressive feedback! We also appreciate you sharing personal stories about achievements and personal development. When we hear stories about our readers training more, saving more, …

How to be successful? THE SELL by Fredrik Eklund

Published by Anna Kazakova

THE  SELL by Fredrik Eklund is an inspiring account of an isolated Swedish guy who takes a dream-chasing journey toward success in a big American city. Packing your bags, saying goodbye to loved ones and moving {alone} to “the city that never sleeps” (NYC) is a huge endeavor that not only requires careful planning but also a passion for the journey. This is the story of a blue-eyed Stockholmer who firsthand shares with you the pain of being a homesick, lonely stranger in a huge city where nobody cares about you. He also shares with the reader the positive side of successfully following a dream. If you are thinking about taking the plunge into the unknown world of moving abroad, or maybe you’re already there, than read this book. It will most definitely cheer you up. Eklund understands because he has walked in these shoes before. Ironically, the shoes he wore on his first day at JC De Niro Real Estate were shabby, old sneakers. Today his feet stand in the best shoes money can buy. …

Maltese Start-Ups Do Exist

Published by Anna Kazakova

Life as an Investment has asked again our dear friend – Anastasiia Linnas  – a finance and marketing consultant, start-up lover and blogger, to be our guest author and  introduce our dear readers this time to Maltese start -ups.  If you haven’t heard of Maltese start-ups, you soon will because right now they are major players in Europe’s hub of start-ups. In Malta, there is an impressive range of start-ups emerging, and in this article you will learn about the more significant ones which contribute to the islands start-up DNA. Similar to Estonian’s start-up scene with Skype at its centre, the Maltese start-up concept is quickly catching on with the help of GFI Software. GFI Software is now a global IT company valued at approximately $500million (2013), with one of its divisions planted in Malta and responsible for key developments and progressions. GFI is probably best known for its TeamViewer product (acquired by Permira in 2014), as well as security, anti-malware and cloud services. One very successfull start-up in Malta, Altaro, was founded in 2009 by two …

Men's Individual Fashion

Men’s Wardrobe Planning Guide – Spend Less, Look Fashionable

Published by Anna Kazakova

The clothing market is huge! There are roughly 7.1 billion people on this planet who own at least one pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Now, go to your wardrobe and tell me how many pairs of jeans you have…. Do you wear all of them? The issue we have here is that women usually have “nothing to wear” and men don’t know “what they’re wearing.” This leads me to believe that most of us have too much in our wardrobes or too little of the “right” clothes. Either way, there is a solution to getting the most out of what we wear and how to wear it. I decided to talk to Christian Frosch, founder of Men’s Individual Fashion, regarding men’s wardrobe planning. Here’s what his guidance on this matter. SHOES Shoes are the basis of an outfit, both physically and in appearance. Never try to save money on shoes, make it an investment instead. Go for Goodyear welted shoes—and properly take care of them. Remember, good shoes will cost you more, but in the …

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 …