Power Players
In "Power Players" Haroon Bokhary chats with the brightest and boldest entrepreneurs, CEOs, finance gurus, authors, and business titans about their rise to the top. From epic wins to crushing failures, we'll explore the guts, grit, and glory behind their success stories.
Power Players
Jussi Askola – Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business on Seeking Alpha
Jussi is the CEO of Leonberg Capital, a REIT advisory firm. He writes the #1 REIT investing newsletter on Seeking Alpha, where he has over 60,000 followers. His firm provides research services to over 2,500 institutional clients.
Jussi is one of the most well-respected names in the REIT industry. He has authored award-winning academic papers on REIT investing, and been featured on numerous financial media outlets.
Jussi holds a BSc in Real Estate Finance from University Nürtingen-Geislingen (Germany) and a BSc in Property Management from University of South Wales (UK).
In our conversation he tell us the story of how he started writing on Seeking Alpha while in the Finnish army. He gives a crash course on REITs, and why he has more than 50% of his net worth invested in them.
He tells us how he expects REITs to fare in a rising interest rate environment and also gives his top REIT investment pick.
Show notes:
(0:00) Intro
(1:37) REITs intro and interest in real estate
(2:52) Difference between REITs and real estate
(4:30) How he started investing in REITs
(5:42) When he started his firm
(7:52) How you make money on Seeking Alpha
(9:20) Journey to 0 to 60k followers
(11:04) Did people in the army know about your side hustle
(11:48) Writing on Seeking Alpha
(12:50) Types of articles he writes
(14:22) What his firm looks like, # of people etc.
(14:48) P&L of his firm
(16:30) Scaling plan for his firm
(18:36) More than half his net worth in REITs
(19:38) REITs/real estate investing in high interest rate environment
(21:15) Were you ever not bullish on REITs
(22:22) Names/geographies covered
(23:35) Real estate markets that interest him
(25:20) Is it a good time to a buy a house
(27:08) View on interest REITs
(28:10) What he would change about the REIT industry
(29:07) Passing all the CFA exams
(31:50) Done with studying?
(32:33) Why he started a YouTube channel
(33:33) Advice for entrepreneurs
(34:40) Why he lives in Tallinn, Estonia
(37:30) Handle/manage stress levels
(38:44) Next travel destination
(39:21) Advice he would give to his younger self
(41:22) Legacy for personal and business life
(43:00) Rapid fire questions
Jussi Askola links:
Seeking Alpha
LinkedIn
YouTube
Twitter
My links:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
Blog