by Christoph Mayer is once again one of those financial books that are bursting with promises. In this case, readers are actually supposed to learn how to discover the most extraordinary stocks. Those that not only yield ten or twenty percent, but can multiply your investment a hundredfold.
Does this short introduction already make you feel like you're in the wrong movie or on the phone with Jordan Belfort? Then you'll feel like I did when I read the first few pages of this book. Because the author starts directly from zero to one hundred and reveals one of the most incredible insights in financial history: there are shares that can turn every euro invested into 100 euros. But of course he doesn't want to leave it at that. He shows his readers exclusively how they can find these shares unerringly.
Seemingly priceless knowledge on the six in the financial lottery - and for just 29.99 euros. The experienced observer will certainly immediately investigate whether Christoph Mayer is related to Mother Theresa or Santa Claus. But unfortunately this is not the case. Rather, one could make a connection with the Sandman, because he is passionate about constructing castles in the air. High in the clouds and deep in the dreams of readers and investors, whose patience with the marshmallow experiment would have been on a par with the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.
But now back to the book and again with a little more seriousness. Every now and then I get carried away with books like this. But it's always fascinating to see what kind of trash gets a place in our seemingly so analytically reflective financial journalism bubble.
Basically, this book is really clearly structured. In terms of content, it begins with an introduction to the concept of the 100 baggers. These are the stocks that have grown enormously over time. Amazon or Apple are commonly cited as examples here. You won't find much more, even with intensive research. It would be a mistake to believe that 100-bagger stocks are the rule. Instead, many other gurus in the scene tend to be satisfied with 10-baggers. In other words, shares whose value has increased tenfold over time.
At this point, I'm lost for words again. Because Christoph Mayer must have had a sales training course where he was told to bake really big rolls. "Shoot for the moon" and so on.
Interestingly, his book resembles this image exactly. After all, the mantra is: "Even if you miss, you will land among the stars." With this in mind, the author quickly qualifies his claim. He explains that his readers will benefit from his book even if they never find a real 100-bagger. Because at least they will have a better understanding of how the stock market works after reading it.
To be honest, I would not have expected such a level of reflection in the book so quickly. Perhaps the author just wanted to stand out with his title. Another book about 10 excavators would certainly not have attracted as much attention as his book about 100 excavators. Perhaps I should write a book about 1,000 excavators and then focus on cryptocurrencies.
In terms of content, the author analyzes historical case studies and tries to find patterns and common characteristics. For him, there is no question that every investor can find such outstanding stocks and hold them in their portfolio. Regardless of experience or education. Of course, he leaves out the fact that the human mind is absolutely great at finding correlations, even when there are none. Perhaps he is simply not familiar with the books by Rolf Dobelli, Daniel Kahneman and Nate Silver.
"When Mayer examined the 100 dredgers of the past, clear patterns emerged."
from the back cover
Christopher Mayer is all about structured, simple and replicable stock selection. This tries to focus on the essentials in order to avoid losses. At the same time, it should offer significant growth potential. To this end, he presents a number of techniques to help his readers make better decisions. This should enable them to take advantage of opportunities that others may miss. Readers can look forward to some rock-solid financial tips. But it's nothing that you couldn't read elsewhere in a more successful setting.
In addition to theoretical concepts, the author tries to liven things up with examples, stories and anecdotes.
Although it sounds strange, he naturally appeals for a long-term perspective and warns against short-term thinking and market timing. In his view, this is the main reason why investors miss out on potentially lucrative investment opportunities. Instead, he proclaims a strategy of "buy and hold". He was inspired by investors such as Thomas Phelps, whom he also pays tribute to in his book. However, buy and hold is not a recipe for success and requires regular monitoring, especially for individual stocks. But this no longer occupies such a central place in the book.
This is why Christopher Mayer is convinced that the search for 100 excavators is not a game of chance. Rather, for him it is a systematic process supported by sound analysis and research. He urges his readers to be patient. They should back companies that create real added value and can be successful in the long term. It all sounds very grandiose, but unfortunately it does not stand up to scientific scrutiny. Similar to the salesmen of shovels, maps, boots and jeans. They didn't tell the gold seekers that it was pure luck to get rich. And for the vast majority of them, it didn't end well.
"This book is about 100-baggers. These are shares that yield 100 dollars for every dollar invested. That means that an investment of 10,000 dollars turns into a million dollars. In this book, I want to show you how to find them. I know, I know. It sounds like an outrageous endeavor with extremely unlikely odds of success, like trying to hit a royal flush in poker. And I probably would have agreed with you not so long ago. But then I started looking into these 100-baggers. You can recognize clear patterns. (...) There are only a few ways to get to the top, and we'll show them below."
Christopher Mayer
At this point a few words about the author:
Christopher Mayer is one of the many investment gurus and, frighteningly, also a bestselling author and publisher of several investment newsletters. With his book Invest Like a Dealmaker: Secrets from a Former Banking Insider* he has made a name for himself. Mayer used to be a banker and now searches the world for the best investment stories to share with his readers.
The cover, title and binding of the book are very appealing at first glance. However, for just under 270 pages and a very unadorned interior, the 29.90 euros are a little too much for me.
I found the quote from the author on the back cover a little disconcerting, as it looked like a testimonial at first glance:
"This book will change the way you think about investing forever."
Christopher Mayer
For my taste, this unfortunately sounds too typical of investment pornography. As a rule, such promises are only made by authors of financial books whose works subsequently fail to convince across the board. On closer inspection, the subtitle is also in the same vein: "Stocks that multiply a hundredfold - and how to find them." It doesn't get much more dubious than that.
Just to be clear: the author is not promising a return of 20 %, which would be absurd. Rather, he promises to show readers how to find stocks that generate returns of 10,000 %. And not just possibly, but systematically.
Of course, I was very excited to see what would follow in terms of content.
However, the blurb provides further information very early on. As is so often the case, the author looks in the rear-view mirror at what has gone particularly well. And then he tries to filter out similarities between these shares. Needless to say at this point that our human brain is a genius at recognizing connections where none exist.
But his readers can rest assured that Christoph Mayer has scrutinized these 100 excavators for them. And not just him. Of course, he has also invited a few people to agree with him and his paint-by-numbers analysis.
The most important thing that readers need to internalize right at the beginning: "The next 100-bagger is already waiting for you!" You read that right. The next Amazon share is waiting for you. All you have to do is follow the typical pattern and eat out of the guru's hand. Of course, he doesn't need to find the next 100-bagger himself. Unfortunately, no one is waiting for him, he's just waiting for you. He'd rather write a book about it and earn 1 to 2 euros per copy sold for the tens of hours of work.
"Do you know 100-bagger, Verhundertfacher? These are shares that turn every euro invested into 100 euros. So 10,000 euros becomes a million. These shares really do exist - and Chris Mayer will help you find them."
from the back cover
Does that sound plausible to you? Not to me, anyway. And that's precisely why I strongly advise you to keep your distance from such investment pornography. Even when gurus talk about 20 % risk-free returns like Philipp Müller, that's absurd nonsense. But someone wants to help you systematically find the jackpot in the stock market lottery? Then the probabilities are generally even worse than in the shop around the corner.
In the end, two stars, because you can at least learn a lot about companies and their shares between the lines. Even if you completely ignore the author's grandiose promises and never find a 100-bagger.