The journey to Financial Freedom with the Stubbs Twins

Consistency and Commitment 

Born and raised in Johannesburg, the Stubbs Twins (@YoungInvestor03 and @GenZInvestor4) have been aiming for gold in their finances from 12 years of age. At the age of 19, these EasyVSTRs have taken to the streets of Twitter, spreading awareness about financial literacy to ordinary South Africans.

Raised by a single mother, the twins are taking fate into their own hands and taking responsibility for their financial future. Given the stock market's 'wealth building' track record, "investing has been a great teacher for our own personal finance. Through investing, we learned how to budget, save, research stocks and other great money habits," they said.

Some of the companies they've invested in include: Purple Group, Renergen and Sibanye Stillwater

Purple Group - "The people's stock" has solved a real problem in our society by democratising access to building wealth through the EasyEquities platform. This is something we truly believe in and has changed our lives and many others. The leadership & management is quite remarkable, with Charles and the team making significant decisions over the years. We believe that the team has something that many businesses lack: the passion for the service they provide. Additionally, Purple Group has a patent for fractionalised shares in South Africa, which will protect them against competitors for a little more than a decade. This means that they have a massive head start in the space. We are excited to see the expansion of EasyEquities into West Africa as well as the Philippines.

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Renergen - Renergen is an emerging helium producer and the only vertically integrated helium business in the world. They have a helium deposit that blew the minds of those involved in the helium world. Recently, Renergen had a massive de-risking event where they partnered with Ivanhoe Mines and secured funding for the next phase of their project. We believe that if everything goes to plan, Reenergen can have great potential for years to come.

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Sibanye Stillwater – Recently, factors such as strikes, poor production results and many more, have resulted in the stock falling from its all-time highs of R75 a share to R44 a share. The business is a leading precious metals mining company with a diverse portfolio of platinum group metal operations in the United States and Southern Africa, gold operations and projects in South Africa, and copper, gold and PGM exploration properties in North and South America. They are the world's largest platinum producer and is ranked #3 in the world for gold production. Sibanye is well-positioned to deliver into a market underpinned by solid fundamentals, has long-life assets, a competitive position on the cost curve, and a unique geographical diversification.

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For research, they added that "Of course, we do not blindly invest in stocks without doing some research". A company's leadership and management are essential. "We like to see if the company is founder-led and willing to confront the brutal facts to keep the business going", explaining further. Revenue growth and EPS are other aspects they look at when picking a company. An exception to this includes startups and explorers like Renergen, "Renergen is an exception since they are still in the early stages of their project that we believe has massive potential". Investing in businesses with no 'economic moat' is something the Stubbs Twins don't have in mind to do, and since it's about the long term protection against competition may also be something worth looking into; for example, "Purple Group have a patent for fractionalised shares and Renergen have a massive helium deposit.

"These are things that other businesses cannot do. Other examples of economic moats include first-mover advantage, high switching costs, a strong brand and many more."

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Both are also invested in ETFs; these include Coreshares Total World ETF, owned by GenZInvestor, the ETF tracks over 9 0000 companies in both emerging and developed markets. YoungInvestor owns the Sygnia S&P 500 ETF; this ETF tracks the top 500 businesses in America by market cap. Aside from consistency and commitment during one's journey, the twins added, "Investing is taking up ownership in your favourite brands worldwide and ultimately learning and earning from it.

"For all the new investors out there, stick to the path. Nobody can teach you more about the stock market than the experience of investing for yourself. Money is not the only thing that compounds; knowledge does too."