Martin Filkuka · Brno · independent investor
This is my personal writing. Instead of reacting to the daily noise, I work on a long horizon and with some analytical discipline. I write about companies I study closely – whether I end up putting my own money into them or turn them down – and about the wider world those decisions sit in. Writing forces the thinking into order, gives it distance, and puts a date on it.
What I write about 04
About
I invest my own money. Not anyone else’s. I don’t give advice and I’m not trying to convince anyone. Everything here is a decision I made, a thought I had, or a mistake I made. If someone asks what I think, I’ll gladly say – but the decision and the risk stay theirs.
I don’t forecast what the market does tomorrow. What interests me is why things move over the long run. That means reading financial statements, but just as much history, politics, psychology and how technology shifts underneath all of it.
The market sits at the very end of a long chain of events – and analysis that stops at the numbers has stopped too early.
I write about being wrong, too. Not out of performed humility, but because without the mistakes on the record, investing turns into a collection of success stories.
I enjoy investing, but I don’t do it just to watch a number climb forever. Capital isn’t the goal, it’s the instrument – a way to support projects, ideas and people who deserve it and who make the world a little more worthwhile.
I’d rather be judged on what gets done than on what gets announced, so for now this is a direction rather than a detailed plan. It is, though, the reason to do the whole thing properly and with a long horizon.
Valuation
A price target is fortune telling, and I’m no good at it. Fair value is an estimate of what the business will generate for its owners over time. The uncertainty never goes away, so every company gets three scenarios: bear, base and bull.
What matters most is the spread between them. The wider it gets, the less I understand the business – and the smaller the position I can justify.
What gets calculated 03
Three routes to one answer. When they land near the same number, it’s a sign my assumptions hold together.
Process
Why step six matters: The hardest part of any analysis is naming the strongest argument against my own purchase – and writing it down before I reach a conclusion. Skip over that, and everything after it turns into a search for reasons I was right.
Writing
Sometimes it’s a company I hold, sometimes one I worked through and passed on – and the second kind is usually the more interesting read. Alongside that: earnings commentary, introductions to businesses nobody writes about, and in between, pieces on current events, geopolitics or technology. The company work follows a fixed structure; the rest can’t and shouldn’t, because there the point isn’t the calculation but the connections. What they have in common is that you see the whole line of reasoning, not just the conclusion.
Straight up
A good deal of what the investing world sells is deliberately missing here. Some of it doesn’t work in practice, some of it skirts the rules, and the rest is marketing. Everything I write on this site is free and will stay that way. If a paid course or seminar ever appears, it will sit clearly alongside the writing, not in front of it.
Contact
Short notes on what’s happening
My profile
© 2026 The Venerables · Martin Filkuka
The views expressed here are my own personal opinions and reflect my own portfolio decisions. This content is for informational and educational purposes only — it is not investment advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own research or consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.