Jakob and Tobias Schober: The Youngest Portfolio Managers in Europe

Talking Billions with Bogumil Baranowski

Jakob and Tobias Schober have been called the youngest portfolio managers in Europe; they are two out of five brothers. They grew up around business and investing and started earlier than most. I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with them in Zurich last summer. They shared with me stories that I knew belonged on Talking Billions, including a transition from running a family business to managing a portfolio of investments and beyond. It was one of those conversations that truly stayed with me, and I feel very blessed and fortunate to be able to continue our discussion here today. Their TIP (The Investor Partners) is an Austria-based value investment firm, inspired by the Buffett’s partnership. In their beginnings, the Schober brothers have been awarded several prizes in stock-picking contests. As someone who loves complex questions being broken down into sound equations, Tobias is a great fan of Bruce Greenwald‘s theoretical work. As such, he specialized in stock buybacks and issuance, since their simplicity tends to confuse the investing crowd. As a former race driver, it is easy for Jakob to stay calm in turbulent times. Today, we talk about the very early fascination with investing, family dinners with stock discussions, and a story of a family business that preceded it all. They share how they discovered the power of compounding and decided to start before they became teenagers. We touch on the topic of age and what it’s like to venture into the investment world at such a young age. They might be young, but they have a few crises under their belt, including getting started before the 2008/2009 financial crisis. My guests tell me what kind of businesses they look for. Stay tuned until the end when Jakob and Tobias share some fascinating research around buyback policies, when companies return capital to shareholders. When we recorded, I found Jakob and Tobias in Germany at a stock investing competition where their brother was accepting and award, we talk about it as well. https://www.tip-invest.com/ NEVER INVESTMENT ADVICE.