I did not originally write this handbook “for the market”. I wrote it for my children, Rosalie and Ferdinand. And if I am honest, I also wrote it for myself. For the 14-year-old Peter who sat in Graz with the feeling that something big was happening out there, but no one was explaining it in a way that actually worked in real life.

In my environment the picture was very clear: stocks were gambling. Something for people who either had too much money or too much time. That did not scare me off, it made me curious. I wanted to know what was really true. Where the truth was. And why it looked as if some people were building wealth with a system, while others were being pushed around by headlines and gut feeling.

I had no mentor, so I did what you do in that situation. I tried to teach myself. I ordered books, read them and ordered more. For years. So many that I sometimes smile about it today, because in hindsight something very simple is obvious: if I had invested just a part of the money I spent on books directly into a good company, that alone would probably have been the best “lesson”. That realisation is a bit bitter, but it is exactly these moments that move you forward.

Then came my civilian service at the regional hospital in Graz, and I ended up, of all places, in the endoscopy unit. After a while there I knew very clearly that my professional life should take a different direction. I went into dentistry, built a practice and a life that was already full enough on its own. But the stock market never let go of me. In fact, the less time I had, the more I started looking for an approach that does not depend on staring at prices for hours every day.

At some point one sentence stuck with me and sorted everything out: price is what you pay, value is what you get. On the stock market most people only see the price. Numbers flashing on a screen. News that is always loud. Charts that jump up and down. What is missing in all of that is the value. And if you do not know the value, you almost automatically make decisions based on emotion. Sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of greed, sometimes out of the feeling that you might miss out.

That is exactly why I built a tool that answers one question cleanly for me: is this stock currently cheap, fair or expensive. No magic trick, no crystal ball, no “get rich quick” promise. Just an honest compass. That is how the Fairvalue Calculator was born. First for myself. Then, step by step, for others as well. Always with the goal that people can follow the logic. That it stays transparent. That you do not have to believe, you can understand.

This e-book is the essence of that. Not as a textbook, but as a clear shortcut. You get a principle that you can apply in a normal life: buying good companies at reasonable prices for the long term. Not timing the market. Not gambling. Not chasing the next hype. Instead, having a system that keeps you disciplined when things are calm and steady when things get rough.

If you only take one thing from this, let it be this: you do not need a finance degree. You need clarity, rules and a way to separate emotion from decision. That is exactly what this handbook is for.