Good day fellow investors! As discussed yesterday, today we'll talk about my network and how it went over time. And that's coming from a comment of yours. So Ramzi said that I should share my network and how much it came from investing as a distribution to really be transparent. I first was hesitant because, okay, it's where I come from, you usually don't share your network, but I said I thought about it but said, why not? I think it really can motivate and it's always good to be transparent with whatever I do. So let's start. So the first thing is I come from an ex-communist country from a 2000 person in small place in Croatia on the Mediterranean Sea. It's beautiful, but calculate that where I come from, the GDP per capita is 5 times smaller than where I live now in the Netherlands or anywhere else in the developed world. And it was even smaller during the war in Croatia that I grew up. So my start is really from zero in, let's say, a poorer country. So that's one. Nevertheless, at 16 years old, I was at zero. So my savings, okay, I had some savings about perhaps 500 or 1000 bucks, which was a lot of money to have as a high school kid than in Croatia. Then I didn't look for a job that was paying about two bucks an hour. All my schoolmates were working for two bucks an hour. I started to do something for myself. And that was to dive and catch the bobbit worm that I was selling to all the fishermen in my small place. And he also exporting to Italy. So I would come back from school, rush to the sea, dive through the winter and save, sell those worms, which are about two meters long, and sell them, sell them. And during from 16 to 19, I accumulated about, I don't know, 7,000 bucks, which in my currency would be around 50,000 in the Croatian currency. Then at 19, I started investing. And I invested at a great time in my life. And I was really lucky to be there at that point in time and started investing. If you look at the Croatian stock market index, where I invested, you see that in 2002, when I started investing was about 1000, and then it went up to 5000 in 2007. I entered the market in 2002, was adding up to 2005. So I was adding at a great point in time, about 80% of what I made, I was saving, 80% saving rate. Then I was selling mostly everything 2006, 2007, I sold everything. I could have made more money on the way up, but I had one 10 beggar that started with a dividend of the 43%. It was a very illiquid stock, but I didn't know what illiquidity means. And that's why I was the premium. It worked out well. I had one 6 beggar and then another I think 2 beggar based on the 6 beggar. So I had 2 let's say 10, 12 beggars, which made my 50,000 and additional investments go to about 1 million. So at 23, I was 24, I was a millionaire. However, in my currency, which would be around 150,000 networked in US dollars. However, I didn't like that because everything that I did was oriented to savings, save, save, save, save, which let's say I didn't like the lifestyle. I prefer to develop as a person than to accumulate network. So I sold, I think all my stocks, just about a small part, that I invested in the American market in 2008. So I sold all my money, I wasn't cashed and I spent on a boat, I bought a very nice boat, I dive across the Mediterranean, traveled, so I spent a lot of money on traveling, developing myself, diving courses and things like that. That I really enjoyed and really added value to my life. Then in 2010, I started my PhD that I financed by myself. So I invested really in that and that took apart from the tuition a lot of time and a lot of money for other things. So I invested in the PhD and let's say spent a lot in other things. And let's say from 2006 that halved my, I lost a little bit money in 2008 of course as everybody else. So that let's say halved with the spending that halved my network. In 2009, as you can see, I went back into the market but the stock market didn't do well. But I did extremely well because I invested in tourist stocks that were very cheap on the Mediterranean. You saw where I'm coming from and I really found them as a bargain. There were different deals of 10% and growth of 2015% per year. And that index did extremely well. So I had another five beggars and I was constantly adding till 2012. So from there I again did very, very well. So with the spending and everything, let's say the stock market appreciating the returns which were on average 18% from 2002 till now. Really gave me a good buffer to do the next steps in my life which were finishing the PhD. Moving to London, we moved to London and we didn't take a room in an apartment with 20 other people. We really take a flat. We lived nice. We spent a lot of money because it cost to live in London for the two of us. And I didn't get the job in London for the first three months because I didn't speak English. I invested in myself to go there to be in England and learn to speak English. When I learned, then I managed to get a job at Bloomberg that was paying very little money. So it didn't even pay the rent of the apartment we had. So a lot of money went out there. Then from London I decided to go back to teaching which will give me more time to develop something else that I want. An investment fund research what I'm doing now. So I again spent on moving to the Netherlands again finding a nice flat because we didn't want to renounce on our lifestyle. So that was an investment in us to make us resist living in all these new places. Then I got a nice job at the university. Then I got a nice job for a US investment firm. And my salary got good. Stock market returns got well. We bought a house. Invested again a lot of money in the house. But from 2009 to till now with all the spending, with all the traveling, with all that we spent family, car, or everything, we are now at somewhere around 300,000 is net worth. If I go back to my currencies about two something million. So if you put in perspective from my currency, I was a millionaire. I could have retired in 2006 and lived just of the dividends I would have now about 5-10% dividend yield on that million, which would be great for living in Croatia and having a fixed life. But I prefer a dynamic life where I invest in myself as I grow as a person. And my only goal is to have enough to have a security buffer to do the things I want. I resigned from a well-paying university job that I had two months of free time, a lot of holidays. And I was doing this very well organized. So I did have a lot of time for doing the US job for an investment firm that I resigned last week. So from now I am completely dedicated to doing my own research. So I hope that in about seven days the quality of the videos, the content, the added value of YouTube will increase exponentially. So that's my goal. The net worth is here around 300,000. We are planning to move again. So there will be again, depending the stock market might push it up down, the housing market, depend how it goes. But I'm not really that focused on the network. I'm focused on creating income, sharing what I do, developing my business, investing a lot in my business, investing a lot of money in and time in myself. Because the more value I get, gather as a person, the more experience, the more value I can give to you, the more will I create value over time. And that's why I don't really like the network comparison. Because it depends so much on external factors that are different within each of us. And we all have different goals. So just to share a little bit where I'm from, where I'm now, where I'm going. My goal is now to develop a business, scale whatever I do, add value to as many people as I can. Be it free on YouTube, be it premium on my in-depth research platform. So I think I'm doing a good job. I think I can share a lot of experience. And I have renounced very good salaries to develop this. And I'm now making much less money because that's how it goes. But I hope in the future I'll be happy with what I do. And that's the key. And the money, hopefully, will come. So this is in short part of my life. I hope I motivated you. There is so much I can talk about this because there is so much that I have done over the last two years. So I will keep sharing that with you with the goal that I add value to you and ease your financial decision making and planning so that you can reach your financial goals. Which can be different than which are different than anybody else's goals. And that's why you have to see the risk reward of what you're doing in relation to your goals. That's the key in finance. And that's also the key behind this channel. Thank you for watching. Looking forward to your comments. I hope to see interesting comments. Share your stories to add value to this thread. See you in the next video.