Trading 212 Stocks & Shares ISA Buys In February 2025

Episode Overview

• The speaker details his £750 investment for the month, part of a five-year habit of investing regularly after getting paid.
• He outlines his long-term investment philosophy, which prioritizes high-quality, founder-led businesses with strong competitive advantages and high insider ownership.
• The episode covers three specific investments made this month: a significant position in Alphabet, an addition to a diversified global ETF "pie," and a smaller investment in the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.
• He provides a detailed breakdown of the business model and investment thesis for each of his individual stock purchases, focusing on their growth drivers and market position.

Key Concepts

• Long-Term Investing Philosophy: The speaker's strategy is centered on a long-term (3+ years) holding period, focusing on high-quality businesses that are founder-led and have "skin in the game" through high insider ownership.
• Alphabet's Business Model: He breaks down Alphabet's three core pillars: Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud. He highlights the advertising-driven revenue from Search and YouTube and emphasizes the immense growth and increasing profitability of Google Cloud as a primary reason for his investment.
• Diversification Through ETFs: The speaker uses a "Global Pie" on Trading 212, which consists of two ETFs: the Invesco FTSE All-World ETF (for medium and large-cap stocks) and the iShares MSCI World Small Cap ETF. This combination provides instant, broad diversification across thousands of companies of all sizes globally.
• CrowdStrike's Cybersecurity Platform: CrowdStrike protects "endpoint devices" (laptops, phones, etc.) through its cloud-native Falcon platform. Its business model thrives on upselling additional "modules" (services like identity protection and cloud security) to its existing customer base, making its product increasingly sticky.

Quotes

• At 00:37 - "I have a long-term view, meaning I aim to invest in companies for at least three years, and I try and look for the highest quality businesses out there with strong, sustainable competitive advantages and clear room for growth in the future." - The speaker explains the core tenets of his investment approach before detailing his purchases.
• At 03:18 - "To be honest, this is probably the main reason why I decided to invest such a substantial amount of my £750 pounds in Alphabet this month, because I think Google Cloud has huge potential." - He emphasizes that while Google's other segments are strong, the rapid growth and improving profitability of Google Cloud are the key drivers behind his investment decision.
• At 11:13 - "In CrowdStrike, we have a company that is an industry leader, has a product so deeply embedded in its customers' systems that it makes it very hard to switch, it continues to become more embedded and grow revenue by selling new solutions to its customers..." - He summarizes his investment thesis for CrowdStrike, highlighting its market leadership, high switching costs, and successful upselling strategy.

Takeaways

• Invest in Businesses with Multiple Growth Levers: Companies like Alphabet demonstrate the power of having several distinct, high-growth business segments (Search, YouTube, Cloud), reducing reliance on a single product and creating multiple opportunities for long-term success.
• Use ETFs as a Portfolio Cornerstone: Building a core portfolio with broad-market, low-cost ETFs provides a stable, diversified, and hands-off foundation. This allows you the flexibility to make more concentrated investments in individual stocks you have high conviction in.
• Assess Company Resilience After a Crisis: When a company experiences a major negative event, such as the CrowdStrike software outage, it's crucial to look beyond the immediate headline. Evaluate how the business weathers the storm, focusing on customer retention and management's response to gauge its long-term strength.