Crowdinvesting has advantages and disadvantages - like any asset class. Crowd investing is a high-risk investment. The high risk also means that you should expect your few winning companies to be able to generate a multiple of your original investment. Then, including the expected losses, the total return can still be clearly positive. Due to the high risk, only a small part of your own assets should be invested in crowd investing. How high this percentage of total assets can be depends on your personal circumstances and risk profile. I recommend investing no more than 10-15% of your own wealth in crowd investing.
I report in my blog about my personal assessments and experiences, but give none Investment recommendations. I recommend every reader to inform themselves extensively and comprehensively using various sources, since ultimately the decision for or against an investment class/an investment must be made independently by the investor.
Non-binding tips for your own risk management in crowd investing:
- Note the Risk Warnings the platform you are investing on.
- Expect a total loss of your investment with some companies. Only invest money that you can afford to lose entirely.
- Only invest funds that you will not need for anything else in the long run.
- Only a small proportion, e.g. a maximum of 10-15% of your assets, should be invested in high-risk investments such as crowd investing, P2P loans or cryptocurrencies.
- Diversify your investments and don't put everything on one or a few investments (avoid cluster risk).
- Set a limit in advance for how much you want to invest annually or in total and stick to this limit. Think about how many investments of what size should be derived from this and make sure not to use up your entire budget in a short time.
- Expect a significant proportion of loser companies in your portfolio that will file for bankruptcy or where you will not recover your invested capital.
- Be aware that crowd investing is basically an illiquid asset class that you can almost never get out of in the short term.
- Assume that you have to keep your money invested for the long term until you can realize significant increases in value with the winning companies. Personally, I calculate at least 5 years in the best case, but usually more like 10 years of investment
- Spread a few small investments relatively broadly at first. For example Seedrs can be invested in most companies from as little as £10 (approx. €12) per investment.
- Start with small amounts and, if necessary, invest in a company again at a later point in time in a subsequent round or via a secondary market if you are still convinced of the development.
- Follow company reporting and define criteria by which you can evaluate your company and its development over time.