My Worst Investment Ever Podcast (Andrew Stotz)

BIO: Laurent Lequeu is a multi-asset investor dedicated to assisting High Net Worth Individuals and Retail Investors in achieving financial success through actionable investment insights derived from comprehensive global macro trends and meticulous bottom-up analysis.

STORY: Laurent thought he could outsmart all the hedge funds and the most brilliant investors by shorting NVIDIA before the first quarter results. His thesis was that the stock was an extended and overcrowded trade. However, people were still interested in the stock, so the price didn’t fall as Laurent expected. Consequently, he made a loss.

LEARNING: Sizing is crucial, especially in a short position. Apply risk management when investing. Accept that you’re going to be wrong.

“You have to admit that you’re wrong and that the market is always right.”

Laurent Lequeu

Guest profile

Laurent Lequeu is a multi-asset investor dedicated to assisting High Net Worth Individuals and Retail Investors in achieving financial success through actionable investment insights derived from comprehensive global macro trends and meticulous bottom-up analysis.

Laurent is a global citizen with a mission to enhance financial literacy and empower individuals worldwide through education.

Worst investment ever

Not too long ago, Laurent thought he could outsmart all the hedge funds and the most brilliant investors by shorting NVIDIA before the first quarter results. His thesis was that the stock was an extended and overcrowded trade. However, people were still interested in the stock, so the price didn’t fall as Laurent expected. Consequently, he made a loss.

Lessons learned

• Sizing is crucial, especially in a short position.
• Apply risk management when investing.

Andrew’s takeaways

• You have to accept that you will be wrong, and when you get it wrong, be willing to exit, particularly in a short position.
• If you don’t admit you’re wrong, the market will admit it for you.

Actionable advice

Before you enter the trades, know how much you can lose. Knowing what you can lose is more important than knowing what you can win. Also, admit that you’re wrong because there’s nothing wrong with being wrong. This is an industry where you must be right more often than wrong, but you will be wrong eventually.

Laurent’s recommendations

Laurent recommends focusing on personal learning and personal development regarding financial literacy.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Laurent’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to be fully dedicated to his new company, which is focusing on improving financial literacy for everyone. He also wants to democratize and demystify macro investing.

Parting words

“Unlock your individual financial success and learn to be financially independent.”

Laurent Lequeu

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Connect with Laurent Lequeu

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube 

Kirk Chisholm is a known risk taker when it comes to investing and alternative investments. Being a person of full will and perseverance to know the ups and downs of the market, he has learned a lot through experience – good and bad. Currently, he is a principal and wealth manager at Innovative Advisory Group, an independent registered investment advisor (RIA) in Lexington, Massachusetts, in the United States.  Since 1999, he has used his influence to promote change in different aspects of the wealth management industry, manage risks and provide options for investors.

Kirk has been acknowledged by different investment sectors for his passion for learning and imparting them to others. His ideas are frequently sought out by the media. In fact, Kirk made it to Investopedia’s top 100 - at number 7 - as the most influential financial advisor. Moreover, Investment News recognized him as one of the top 10 social media all-stars in the financial services industry. He also is the host of The Money Tree investing podcasts, which aim to teach listeners how to have their money work for them.

“The best investors will acknowledge that [truth] and they’ll tell you: ‘I’m wrong a lot. I’m just quick to make a change when I’m wrong’.”

Kirk Chisholm

Worst investment ever

Analyst perspective and promising reports

Kirk can has had numerous bad investments, but just like any of us, one will always stand out. Considering its pertinence to the present global economic situation, he shares his story of investing internationally, in a Chinese coal company.

Ten years ago, a friend of Kirk’s, who happens to be a financial analyst, visited a coal company in China. His friend and his team saw directly how operations were carried out. They talked to people, did extensive research, and finally drew the conclusion that this investment had a potential for growth once it was regulated and operated by more astute parties.

Having read the reports and in the belief that it is always best to have a reliable team of analysts, Kirk was attracted to investing in the company. For him, researching is one of those tasks that must include a lot of due diligence and should be done by more than one person so it can produce thorough and accurate information.

Analyst reports on China investment hide painful truth

While every box was checked and all operations had been carefully looked into, a short-seller’s report came out of the blue. At first, Kirk did not take this as a serious warning to reconsider his decision about the investment. Based on his experience, short-sellers are not always reliable. He was also looking for a yield potential of 36% on selling. However, at a certain point, the company halted trading and he tried to limit his losses but to no...

Cristiana Tudor is a successful social media coach whose goal is to empower women of any income level to start and scale their business to the next level through effective branding, storytelling, and social media coaching.

She incorporates mindset coaching within her programs and helps her clients break out of old patterns, transition into a healthier emotional state, and shift into positive thinking.

“Do not invest money that you are not ready to lose.”

Cristiana Tudor

Worst investment ever

Christiana is an avid learner. She got an MBA and even took financial classes. However, she never got an education in investing, even though she was really interested in starting to invest.

Avoiding the shortfall risk by investing in Bitcoin

Christiana was aware of the shortfall risk of putting money into a bank account and gaining nothing in return. So she took her savings and invested it all into Bitcoin.

While Bitcoin is not a bad investment, Christiana’s biggest mistake was investing in something that she did not understand. She had not done any research before putting all her savings into this one investment.

Getting caught up in taxation

Christiana did not know that Bitcoin was just like real estate, whereby you get taxed for every gain and also for every time you withdraw your profits. She also did not know that there were other better investments that allowed you to defer your tax. Christiana, therefore, lost some of her gains to taxes.

Then came COVID-19

When COVID-19 hit the world, the price of Bitcoin collapsed overnight, and then the next morning, when Christiana woke up, she had lost everything. She was utterly devastated and did not know what to do.

Christiana was worried about her financial security because, at the same time, the company that she was working for was not doing well, and now all her savings were gone.

Lessons learned

Never invest more than you are ready to lose

No matter how lucrative an investment seems, never invest money that you are not ready to lose. It is essential to understand how much you should be investing out of the money you are making. So do not invest all your savings, and when something happens, you have nothing to fall back onto.

Pay yourself first before you invest

Pay yourself first, then invest. You can start by investing just 10% of what you earn per month. This way, you will have money work for you while enjoying peace of mind, and you can focus on other important things in life.

Invest strategically, not emotionally

Whenever you invest, do it strategically rather than emotionally. Do not just focus on the fact that your money will grow and get to enjoy the money. Remember, to grow your wealth; you have to do it strategically.

Andrew’s takeaways

Research. Research. Research.

One of the most critical aspects of successful investing is doing thorough research before committing to an investment. However, this is the one thing that most investors overlook.

Assess and manage your risk properly

Another vital part of the process of investing is understanding the risk. Understand both the potential and the risk of your preferred investment.

This allows you to remove emotions from the process. Also, manage your risk by investing just a portion of your money and not all...

BIO: Marina Krivonossova is a Russian-American currently based in the Netherlands, pursuing a master’s degree in political science.

STORY: Marina was looking for accommodation in the Netherlands when she met a fellow Californian lady on Facebook. They decided to move in together. Marina made the mistake of leaving her in charge of the lease. One day, she came home to find the lady had canceled the lease and didn’t want to live with her anymore. Marina was left homeless and a few thousand dollars poorer.

LEARNING: Never trust anyone with your money unless you have a legal contract in place.

“Don’t trust anyone else with your money unless there’s a legal contract.”

Marina Krivonossova

Guest profile

Marina Krivonossova is a Russian-American currently based in the Netherlands. She moved there to pursue a master’s degree in political science after completing her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Irvine. Though her most recent work has been in marketing and writing, Marina’s ultimate goal is to work for the government in anti-human trafficking policy development and implementation. In her free time, Marina is a fan of traveling, hiking, and baking.

Worst investment ever

Marina was craving for something new, and so she decided to study in the Netherlands. She found a program that she liked and started looking for a place to stay but couldn’t find any through the websites she was using. She decided to turn to Facebook, where she found a lady who lived near her in California. The lady also wanted to do that exact same program, at the exact same time, at the exact same location. They got in touch and decided to meet up. They got along fine, and they decided to be roommates.

The lady had an Airbnb account, so they found a long-term rental and moved in together. The two ladies lived in harmony, but there was just something off about the lady. However, Marina didn’t think much about it, and she wasn’t home most of the time anyway.

Marina spent most of her free time traveling in and out of Netherlands. For her birthday, Marina went to visit a friend in London, and on getting back, her roommate informed her that she didn’t want to live with her anymore and had canceled their Airbnb lease. The lady refused to refund her the money she had paid for the lease.

As if that was not enough, they had booked a trip together to Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, and now they couldn’t go. Everything had been prebooked and was nonrefundable.

Marina was homeless and also lost thousands of dollars on a trip that she never got to take. Her biggest regret was trusting a stranger too fast and allowing her to have access to her money.

Lessons learned

• Don’t trust anyone else with your money unless there’s a legal contract.
• Make sure everything you book is refundable, or at least partially refundable.
• Make sure you’re always in charge of your situation, and nobody else is influencing it.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Never lose control of your money or let another person get access to it.
• When moving to a new location, use your friends as a reference or starting point.

Actionable advice

Do thorough research before moving to a new country. Don’t be so trusting and never let anyone take control of your money.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Marina’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to finish a book she’s been working on.

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Connect with Marina Krivonossova

Ralph Woodcock is a Partner with St. James’s Place and based in Shenzhen, China. Ralph is an ACIS member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and has worked in the offshore financial services industry for over five years. He is very passionate about delivering tailored and holistic solutions to his clients and committed to building long-term relationships by providing a source of trusted advice dependent on their financial needs. Because of this, Ralph is also an active member of the expatriate community in China.  Ralph’s focus is on ensuring his clients receive the best help possible providing expertise with the design and implementation of customized investment solutions. These goals can vary from wealth management, retirement planning, education planning or specialized insurance needs. Ralph believes that investing doesn’t need to be complicated and it’s up to St. James’s Place to make it simple and transparent.

Outside of work Ralph likes to spend time with his family and explore the historical landmarks throughout China and visit their many hidden treasures. Originally from England, Ralph also enjoys following the Premier League and Formula 1 Racing.

In this episode, Ralph shares his bitcoin investment story, the due diligence challenges involved in his venture, his sentiments about his losses, the preventive measures he should have made and the lessons he learned from the experience. Catch this very relevant story and determine why you should not follow the crowd into the bitcoin disaster.

“Make sure we understand the assets we're investing in and how something that looks so good can fall over. And then, we regret that.”

– Ralph Woodcock

What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast?

Tell us here!

Resources: 

• My Worst Investment Ever Book
• myworstinvestmentever.com

Topics Covered:

03:07 – Ralph recalls how his bitcoin investment in 2007 

04:44 – Cryptocurrencies and ICOs: challenges in its the due diligence

05:51 – Ralph’s sentiments in his losses, the preventive measures he should have made

07:07 – The lessons our guest learned from this investment

08:03 – Andrew sums up his takeaways

10:45 – One great advice from Ralph: “Just sit down with a professional, whatever you want to say, whether you agree with them.”

Main Takeaways:

Lesson 1: “In the case of cryptocurrencies, it's tough to do their research because there's very little to grab onto and you could.”– Andrew Stotz

Lesson 2: “The lesson I learned from it is not to pick my asset class.”–...

Md. Nafeez Al Tarik is head of research and investment at City Brokerage Limited in Bangladesh. He has eight years of research and investment experience in the equity markets of Bangladesh and provides his research to foreign and local institutions. Prior to working at City Brokerage, he served as the chief investment officer at Asia Tiger Capital Partners Asset Management Limited, where he was responsible for several mutual funds valued at around US$12 million. In 2015 and 2016, his flagship fund generated cumulative performance, with respect to the benchmark, of about 8%. He also had experience and expertise in asset-liability management, having worked for the treasury department of Eastern Bank Limited and as an assistant vice president in Royal Bengal Investment Management Company Limited. Nafeez holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dhaka, from the department of finance within the faculty of business studies. He’s also a CFA charter holder and a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). In his spare time, he’s an entrepreneur running the financial coaching institute, Professional Finance Studies, where he provides training in the fields of financial modeling, equity evaluation, risk management, advanced excel skills, and CFA and FRM preparation. He also has been a guest lecturer at the finance department of Jahangirnagar University, where he’s taught financial engineering and advanced financial engineering courses in the BBA and MBA programs. Finally, he’s also a CFA Society Bangladesh volunteer.

“I should have trusted the market and should have done some more due diligence to understand why the stock was falling with such large volume … I probably would have found that the asset quality was very poor compared to what I had thought, and from there I could have cut my position and taken a stop loss.”

Md. Nafeez Al Tarik

Lessons learned

1. There are many value traps in the market so don’t fall for them.
2. Most of the time, the price is right. You have to look at the price action and you have to go deeper than the mere appearance of the market, as price could be pointing to an internal problem.
3. Particular due diligence is required...

BIO: Chris Ball started his career in 2004 as a tax adviser with KPMG LLP. He then transitioned and founded Hoxton Capital Management in 2018. The group’s sole emphasis is helping HNW and UHNW clients with borderless global financial advice. Chris’ specialty is assisting individuals with their retirement planning needs.

STORY: When Chris started his career young and fresh, he got into spread betting. That didn’t go so well, and he lost 10,000 pounds, which was a lot of money in 2008. In terms of business, he wasted over $750,000 on bad hiring decisions.

LEARNING: Don’t enter markets that you don’t understand. If someone is not 100% right, don’t hire them.

“Hire and fire fast. If they’re not right, and you spot it, don’t keep giving people chance after chance or trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, which doesn’t work.”

Chris Ball

Guest profile

Chris Ball started his career in 2004 as a tax adviser with KPMG LLP. After seven years with KPMG, Chris moved to the Middle East to join the deVere Group, where he continued his work as an IFA. He started in their Abu Dhabi offices and eventually headed up the Qatar operations for the group, which dealt with HNW and UHNW individuals.

Chris then transitioned and founded Hoxton Capital Management in 2018. The group’s sole emphasis is helping HNW and UHNW clients with borderless global financial advice. Chris’ specialty is assisting individuals with their retirement planning needs.

Chris has three children with his wife.

Worst investment ever

When Chris started his career young and fresh, he got into spread betting. That didn’t go so well, and he lost 10,000 pounds, which was a lot of money in 2008. In terms of business, he wasted over $750,000 on bad hiring decisions.

Lessons learned

• Don’t enter markets that you don’t understand.
• If someone is not 100% right, don’t hire them.
• Playing at things never produces good results. You have to be 100% dedicated and focused on your work.

Actionable advice

Hire and fire quickly. If someone is not suitable and you spot it, fire immediately. Don’t keep giving people a chance after chance.

Chris’s recommendations

Chris recommends using his recently launched Hoxton Wealth App, available on iTunes, Apple App Store, Google Store, and the company’s website. It’s completely free. The app enables people with accounts in different countries to live link those accounts and view them in a currency of their choice. It also has cash flow modeling, which enables people to see if they have enough money saved for various goals.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Chris’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to launch a wealth app and attract 100,000 users.

Parting words

“Thank you very much for having me on. I really enjoyed it, and I wish you all the best.”

Chris Ball

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Connect with Chris Ball

• LinkedIn
• Facebook

BIO: Anthony Iannarino is a writer, a speaker, an entrepreneur, and an author of three books.

STORY: Anthony invested $1,200,000 in two brothers working on a revolutionary nanoparticles project. When they needed more money, he found the brothers a good investor, but they decided to go with another who required them to move from their hometown. Halfway through the project, the brothers decided they didn’t want to work on it anymore and moved back home, killing the project.

LEARNING: When getting into a high-stakes investment, have a solid contract that makes you part of the decision-makers.

“Whenever you go into an investment, you’re not betting on the horse; you’re betting on the jockey.”

Anthony Iannarino

Guest profile

Anthony Iannarino is a writer, a speaker, an entrepreneur, and an author of three books on sales; The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, The Lost Art of Closing, and Eat Their Lunch. He writes and publishes every day at www.thesaleblog.com.

Worst investment ever

Anthony happened to know about two brothers who were working on a revolutionary project around nanoparticles. What they were doing with nanoparticles was something that no one else had been able to do. No one seemed to believe in their project, but Anthony did. His company invested $1,200,000 in the project, and they started building the equipment they needed.

They realized that they needed more extensive equipment along the journey, which meant more money. Anthony’s company didn’t have the cash injection required, but they agreed to help the brothers find investors.

Anthony found them a $10 billion company that would give them everything they needed for the projects. They would even provide them with a bridge loan to ensure that everything would be okay during the entire process.

Unbeknownst to Anthony, the brothers talked to another person in northern Ohio who wanted to own the whole project. He promised them $500,000 and a salary of $150,000 salary each. But, the brothers had to move to northern Ohio to be near all of the equipment. Anthony advised them against this deal, but the brothers took it.

After a few months, the brothers decided that the salary was not enough for them and they didn’t want to live there anymore. It became impossible to see the project to the end without the brothers’ input. And just like that, Anthony lost his $1,200,000 investment. Someone leaked the IP to someone who created a different way to do the nanoparticles project.

Lessons learned

• When getting into a high-stakes investment, have a solid contract that makes you or your representative part of the decision-makers.
• Whenever you go into an investment, you’re not betting on the horse; you’re betting on the jockey. And so, if the jockey is unreliable, you’re betting on the wrong jockey.
• Be careful about the sunk cost fallacy.

Andrew’s takeaways

• When investing in businesses, particularly startups, keep in mind that a tremendous amount of resource management is involved, so every decision matters.
• When deciding on an investment, consider, at the very least, if you trust the owner, if their idea is viable, they’re able to execute the vision, and they have the capital.

Actionable

Don Moore holds the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include overconfidence, including when people think they are better than they are, when people think they are better than others, and when they are too sure they know the truth. He is only occasionally overconfident.

He is the author of Perfectly Confident: How to Calibrate Your Decisions Wisely.

“We let ourselves get carried away when we think that somehow believing in ourselves is enough to ensure success. It’s not.”

Don Moore

Worst investment ever

Unleash the power within

Don found himself at a Tony Robbins course, Unleash the Power Within that he believed would change his life. The life coach had been enormously influential in lots of people’s lives. Don had read his books as a young man and was thoroughly inspired.

The four-day course challenges those in attendance to think big about their goals and their lives, to confront the challenges that are holding them back. To help them figure out how to break through those challenges so they can live their highest ideals and the best life that they could imagine for themselves.

Walking on fire

At the end of the course is the famous final firewalk. Before it started, Tony Robbins whipped the crowd into such a frenzy. The people in attendance were practically exploding out of the convention center, ready to walk across hot coals. They marched outside to find these huge burning pyres and embers laid with glowing coals that they were to walk on.

Blinded by overconfidence

In his enthusiasm, Don somehow failed to take account of the cautionary safety warnings that Tony Robbins had offered. Don was confident and ready to prove to himself and the world just how brave I was. So he marched bravely across the bed of hot coals.

At that moment, overcome by enthusiasm and overconfidence, Don burned the hell out of the soles of his feet. It turns out that those glowing embers stick to the tender flesh.

Tony Robbins had instructed them to get their feet hosed down and wipe them off thoroughly. But in his bravado, Don felt that he didn’t need to do all that. And so he suffered for his overconfidence.

Lessons learned

The time to take a pause is when everything is going right

Whenever you find yourself feeling ready to cross the finish line victoriously, and you feel sure that success is guaranteed, that’s the time to take a pause and ask yourself, how might this go wrong? How might I fail, and is there anything I can do to protect myself now against those risks? What are the other competitors thinking about their chances?

Learn to imagine failure

When you’re confident that you can do it, that you can succeed, stop for a moment, and imagine failure. Imagine your investment has turned out to be a catastrophe, you’ve lost money, you’ve disappointed your investors,...

Gillian Perkins is the founder of Startup Society and the host of the Earn More, Work Less podcast. She also hosts a popular entrepreneurship-focused YouTube channel that has received over 20 million views to date.

Gillian teaches people how to start and build profitable online businesses that allow them to earn passive income and live a flexible lifestyle. She runs her company with a primarily remote team, enabling her to travel the world with her family and homeschool her four young children.

“Focus on the most important things that have the biggest impact.”

Gillian Perkins

Worst investment ever

Gillian’s worst investment happened a few years back when she started an online business. At the time, she was running a local business and wanted more flexibility and freedom. So she thought an online business was the way to go.

She started tinkering around, created a website for her business, and got heavy into that online marketing world.

Getting help from the gurus

In a bid to grow her online business, Gillian watched a webinar about growing an email list. The coach promised that by growing an email list, one would have a machine that can produce cash at any point in time. You can just tell your email list about whatever you’re selling, and they will buy it with no questions asked.

Gillian thought that this sounded pretty good and precisely because she already knew that she wanted to sell online courses. Gillian is a teacher at heart. So she felt this was a good fit for her and was pretty much sold on that idea.

The course cost $2,000, and at the time, Gillian was living paycheck to paycheck. But, she spent $2,000 that she didn’t have because this sounded like a good and helpful thing to have in her business.

Getting ahead of herself

Now the course wasn’t bad at all. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, it was a good course. The problem was simple; Gillian didn’t understand what she was buying. She did not know anything about building an online following or marketing her business, two things that were paramount for the course to work.

The course was mainly about optimizing her email list, yet she didn’t have an email list to begin with. She had bought a tool for her tool belt when she didn’t know how to build things yet. Needless to say, Gillian didn’t get much of a return on investment, and her $2,000 went down the drain.

Lessons learned

Don’t commit too fast

Try to fully understand what you are getting yourself into before you sign up or commit to anything. Don’t let the scarcity mindset make you think that you must have it right now. There is going to be another opportunity so take your time to think things through. So be patient, take it slow, take it easy, and keep doing some research.

Growing your business require you to take action

Moving forward and taking action is a crucial part of growing your business. You don’t have to have all your ducks in a row; just move forward.

Andrew’s

Sarah Larbi specializes in helping take the mystery out of homeownership for Canadians who thought real estate investing was out of reach. She has earned their trust and respect by having the drive and focus to embark, build and grow a seven-figure, 10 property investment portfolio by her early 30’s.

Sarah’s goal is to inspire and train other fellow Canadian’s to realize their property-owning dreams by sharing her 7-step investing process through her online training programs.

Her results-oriented approach has been featured in The Toronto Star, 1010 News Talk Radio, and Canadian Real Estate Wealth Magazine as well as numerous online media. She is an invited speaker at the Canadian Real Estate Wealth Investor Forum and is often a guest on numerous North American finance-focused podcasts.

Sarah is the co-host of two podcasts related to the Canadian real estate market.

“In this real estate game, it is about time in the market, not timing the market. So just do your research, jump in and keep learning along the way.”

Sarah Larbi

Worst investment ever

Desire to be wealthy

Sarah had a great desire to be wealthy and she wanted to find out how she could retire at 40 while still enjoying financial freedom. So she did some research and real estate investing kept coming back over and over and over. While she came across other ways of creating wealth, she was drawn to real estate.

She managed to convince her boyfriend to join her and buy real estate property. She took a second job and cashed in some of her vacation money to be able to have enough downpayment to buy the cheapest house that they could afford.

Mistake no.1: Renting to family

At the time Sarah and her boyfriend were looking to buy their first rental property her sister needed a place to live closer to her daughter's school. So they decided to look for property in that area with plans to rent out the house to her sister.

They didn’t do any kind of research they simply asked the sister what kind of house she wanted and could afford. That’s the only information they worked with to buy their first rental property. They didn’t research the location or make any price and property comparisons.

Mistake no.2: Not using a local realtor

Sarah used the realtor that was originally helping them in a town about an hour away to find their rental property. They kept going back and forth because the realtor didn't know the market and neither did they.

Mistake no.3: Borrowing from the bank instead of a mortgage broker

Once they got a property they went to their bank for financing. The bank wanted 35% downpayment forcing her to look for a mortgage broker but at this point, she’d wasted a lot of time trying to negotiate with the bank.

Making the math work

Luckily, Sarah happened to listen to several real estate investing podcasts and she learned that she needed to figure out how to at least break even or make some cash flow from her real estate property. She worked out that she needed to collect $800 in rent per month to break even. What she didn’t...

A recovering, hard-driving leader with over 35 years of sales, marketing, educational and entrepreneurial experience, Professor Pete Alexander successfully battled the negative effects of stress head-on and developed the LIGHTEN™ stress management model that will motivate you and your team to take action in only a few minutes per day.

After learning the stress management techniques, participants can better become leaders teams want to follow rather than hide from.

Professor Pete has an Amazon best-selling book titled LIGHTEN Your Day and hosts a popular 7-minute podcast on LinkedIn titled Winning at Business and Life.

“Not all stress is bad. There’s good stress, and there is negative stress.”

Pete Alexander

Worst investment ever

Pete was interested in investing in real estate and happened to have a friend living in California who knew a real estate agent who could help him find a property to invest in. Pete’s friend made arrangements for the agent to come from Arizona and talk to Pete and other friends interested in real estate investing.

Cheap government houses

The agent told them that the federal government was offering houses for 1% down because these houses were mortgaged to military personnel who got moved, and now they were open and vacant, and they had to get rid of them.

The agent gave them brochures on the different houses and information about how much cash they stood to make. There was also the added benefit of, besides being a real estate agent, the gentleman was also a property manager, and his company would be able to get renters for the investors.

Additionally, Pete and his friends would not have to put a lot of money down, and the renters would pay the mortgage for them. The deal was a no brainer. They were sold on the idea.

Real estate investment deal too good to say no to

Pete and his wife went ahead and took a second mortgage out on their house and invested $100,000 into this opportunity. Lo and behold, they ended up with three houses in Phoenix and two houses in Las Vegas because there was a mixup in what the agent said they thought Pete wanted and what they bid on for him. So now he had five houses. Interestingly, Pete and his wife only physically saw one of those five houses, and that one house was the only one that they didn’t lose money on. The other four were an absolute disaster.

The property manager who couldn’t do his job

Three of the four houses were almost impossible to rent because the property manager’s office was so far away that people who wanted to look at the houses couldn’t manage to drive to him and then go to the house. So logistically, it didn’t work. The property manager would also not respond to renters who were having issues with the homes. So people would get fed up and leave the houses in a mess.

Cash flow nightmare

So here was Pete with five full-price mortgages that had turned into a cash flow nightmare. It took him years to recover from that disaster.

Lessons learned

If it sounds too good to be true, it is

For any kind of investing, if it seems too good to be true, it is.

Hire the right property manager

If you’re planning to have investment properties where people lease your houses, make sure you hire a property manager that...

An award-winning analyst, Michael Mcgaughy has a diverse financial background spanning buy- and sell-side equity research, fund-of-hedge-funds, and private equity. He first came to Asia as an exchange student in 1985 and has been involved with the region ever since, having lived and worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore, for different companies including HSBC, the old Crosby Group and StoneWater Capital.  He currently manages a global value fund that looks for companies owned and controlled by quality people have structures that align minority and majority shareholder interests and trade at valuations that are below fair value if not outright cheap.  

In this episode, Michael shares his investment story which was getting it wrong in the Ukraine Stock Market. For the experience, he blames the currency that accounts for most of his loss. The Hryvnia declined by 65% vis-à-vis the USD since his initial investment in March 2014. The currency decrease hides the fact that he made real investment blunders. His biggest mistake was not sticking to his my investment process.

“[An old Rothschild's saying]

The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets.”

– Michael McGaughy

What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast?

Tell us here!

Resources: 

• My Worst Investment Ever Book
• myworstinvestmentever.com
• Investment Confessional: Getting It Wrong in Ukraine

Topics Covered:

05:47 – The circumstance that leads to Michael’s worst investment ever: missed opportunity to invest in Indonesia and the quick doubling of his money when he spent in Greece’s stock market

07:10 – Stock market opportunity in Ukraine that pops up in 2014, the Maidan Protests that lead to Ukraine stock market to dive cheap. A crisis that did not work out, Michael losing 65% of his portfolio in the next 18 months of investing

08:45 – The fall of the Ukranian currency against US dollars

08:56 – The lessons Michael learned from his investment experience

10:22 – Andrew asks Michael about the qualifications he considers for his chosen stock market venture and how did he knew that the currency would not devalue, what are his parameters and metrics

12:18 – Andrew’s takeaways from Michael's story

14:39 – Michael’s one action to recommend to the listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate: “If you're going to go and look at really cheap assets look for really cheap assets. It's probably good to wait for the crisis to occur rather than get in before.”

Main Takeaways:

Lesson 1: “I think there's a lot of key takeaways. I guess the first thing is patience. One reason I'd like to go to the country is you can see the value and do a lot of research. Who is good and bad. Just by looking at kind of past IPO prospectuses or rights issues prospectuses, reading newspapers, talking to people. You get a lot of insight regarding what the...

BIO: Giuseppe Grammatico is a franchising advisor who has owned several Master Franchise licenses and has enjoyed a successful franchising career, guiding over 200 individuals through business ownership, many for the first time.

STORY: Giuseppe hired a full-service marketing company that managed everything from his website to emails and social media posts. Giuseppe gave the company complete control of his business, and his voice got lost. He also got virtually zero return from hiring the company.

LEARNING: Pick the medium that works for you and stick with it. Publicity doesn’t mean revenue.

“Just do your thing, have a plan going forward, and it’ll pay dividends down the road.”

Giuseppe Grammatico

Guest profile

Giuseppe Grammatico is a franchising advisor who has owned a number of Master Franchise licenses and has enjoyed a successful franchising career, guiding over 200 individuals through business ownership, many for the first time. In addition to two decades in franchising, he also has 20 years of sales, marketing, and management experience. Book a free call with Giuseppe here.

Worst investment ever

Giuseppe was looking to take some things off his plate, so he hired a full-service marketing company that did everything from website management to emails and social media posts. Giuseppe’s voice got lost in this process. He had given someone else control of his brand and what he was doing. It all got diluted. Giuseppe felt like he’d been thrown in a box with just about every other company in the marketing company’s portfolio. He also got virtually zero return from hiring the company. In fact, it ended up causing more confusion for his business. It took Giuseppe a long time to regain control of his brand and voice.

Lessons learned

• Pick the medium that works for you and stick with it. Then, create all your content around that medium. If it’s just videos, then so be it, or if you’re a writer, write books and blogs.
• Do your thing, have a plan going forward, and it’ll pay dividends.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Publicity doesn’t mean revenue.

Actionable advice

Write your 12 Frequently Asked Questions, record your answers for each question in a video, and release it on all platforms. Repurpose the video into a blog post, snippets, LinkedIn carousel, and more.

Giuseppe’s recommendations

Giuseppe recommends reading Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business to learn how to keep everything balanced. Even if you don’t own a business, the book will teach you about the intricacies of managing your KPIs daily.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Giuseppe’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to work less and help more people than he did in 2023. He’s outsourced his marketing by having someone produce, edit, and share the content that he’s creating.

Parting words

“Go for it. Life’s too short to be miserable. Take a chance on yourself, but do your due diligence and talk to people that own a business.”

Giuseppe Grammatico

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Connect with Giuseppe Grammatico

• Linkedin

BIO: Priya Kumar is an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker, bestselling author, and now screenwriter. She has written 15 inspirational books that have won 42 international awards.

STORY: Priya ignored the need to learn basic accounting and instead left her money matters in the hands of her accountant. The accountant took advantage of her ignorance and swindled all her money.

LEARNING: Learn basic accounts and finance. Analyze your profit and loss statement and balance sheet every month.

“Learn accounts so that you’re always aware of where your money is going.”

Priya Kumar

Guest profile

Priya Kumar is an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker, bestselling author, and screenwriter. She has written 15 inspirational books that have won 42 international awards. She has worked with over 2000 multi-national corporates across 47 countries and has touched over 3 million people through her workshops and books.

Priya has written over 700 columns for national and international publications. The media have extensively featured her work in India and abroad, and she has been invited as a celebrity guest on several business, entertainment & reality shows.

Priya was awarded the Times of India, Speaking Tree, and Good Karma Award as India’s most Inspirational Author.

Known as The Biography Specialist, Priya is currently penning the official biography of Mr. Pullela Gopichand, the Olympics Badminton Coach. Priya wrote the biography of Late Shri O.P. Munjal, the founder of the Hero Group, and Subhashish Chakraborty, the founder of DTDC, which made it to the most famous biography of 2015 on Amazon.

Worst investment ever

Priya didn’t know anything about finance or accounting, so she hired an accountant to manage her money. She didn’t know that he was stealing her money through forgery and deceit to the point that Priya had no money in the bank. The theft went on for a year and a half.

Circumstances aligned, and it came to Priya’s notice through her bank that she had issued some checks, which she hadn’t. She reported the whole thing to the police, and the accountant was caught. However, there was no way to bring the money back. It’s been six years, and the case is still in court. Priya is yet to get any money back.

Lessons learned

• When you delegate your accounts to somebody, put systems around it.
• Learn finances and accounting so that you’re always aware of where your money is going.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Make sure you get your profit and loss statement and your balance sheet every month.
• Reconcile your accounts at the end of every month.
• You don’t need to become a financial or accounting specialist. Just learn the basics.

Actionable advice

If you want to be wealthy and protected, invest in learning finance basics.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Priya’s goal for the next 12 months is to be centered and solid and do whatever it takes for her to find herself.

Parting words

“Be responsible. Whatever happens, it is your doing and your creation.”

Priya Kumar

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Connect with Priya Kumar

• LinkedIn

BIO: David Siegel is an entrepreneur who has started more than a dozen companies. He has written five books on technology and business, given more than 200 professional speeches worldwide, and was once a candidate to be the dean of Stanford business school.

STORY: David joins the podcast again, this time around discussing climate change.

LEARNING: It’s wrong to reduce climate change to a score. We need a better alternative to the UN’s Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement.

“You don’t have to do anything the way anybody tells you to. Go learn in the most irreverent way possible.”

David Siegel

Guest profile

David Siegel is an entrepreneur who has started more than a dozen companies. He has written five books on technology and business, has given more than 200 professional speeches around the world, and was once a candidate to be the dean of Stanford business school. He is a fintech leader, a leader of the open Metaverse movement, a business strategy coach, and an advocate for the scientific method. He writes and makes videos about climate change at www.climatecurious.com.

Worst investment ever

David is a previous guest who joined us on Ep98: Start-ups Should Start with Selling. In today’s episode, he tells us more about his research on climate change.

David’s penchant for climate change

David has been conducting research on climate change since 1988. He wrote his first book on climate in 1991. So David is not one of those instant climate experts. In 2015, he decided to really dig into the subject and spent an entire year doing nothing but climate research. During this extensive research, David realized that many scientists don’t understand climate change fully and that many people take it at its face value. He believes people need to understand climate change on its own merits and not as an overarching cause and effect. For this reason, David digs deep into research to present raw data and help people make up their minds.

In comes the UN’s ESG movement

The rigorous talks on climate change have metastasized into the global Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement that has been forced on us by the World Economic Forum and the UN. ESG is a UN program strongly endorsed by the World Economic Forum and has been going on for 20 years. The point of ESG is to give every company a detailed scorecard of their carbon footprint, water use, energy, pollution, and other practices that affect climate change.

Every public company in the United States pays $2 billion yearly for compliance, which could go to $8 billion. David believes this money is spent so the companies can get a high score regardless of their efficiency.

Transparency is good; it’s just being done the wrong way

David believes that while we must have transparency where climate change is concerned, it’s not okay to reduce it to a score given by some consultants. He thinks the ESG scoring system simplifies a complex subject into a single set of numbers that don’t represent reality.

Moreover, ESG scoring is done arbitrarily, based on political assumptions and a set of unclear rules by anointed consultants selling indulgences. According to David, coming up with one score on something is full of problems and creates terrible incentives. In this case, companies won’t be efficient with the goal of fighting climate change but simply get a good score. And with the amount of money companies are paying, it really comes down to paying for the ratings. So...

BIO: Riggs Eckelberry is a nationally renowned entrepreneur who deploys his personal Break To Build™ process to help rebuild the water industry, which has reached a critical breaking point in recent years despite being essential to the planet’s survival.

STORY: Riggs met this wonderful lady who asked him to sit down with her money manager. He showed up at this money manager’s office, who told him he had a great business going and advised him to go public. Riggs said that would be impossible because he wasn’t profitable yet. Turning down this opportunity turned out to be Riggs’s worst investment.

LEARNING: You have to get that monthly recurring revenue. Don’t enter any industry unprepared.

“Your greatest expense is the money you don’t make, the opportunity cost.”

Riggs Eckelberry

Guest profile

Riggs Eckelberry is a nationally renowned entrepreneur who deploys his personal Break To Build™ process to help rebuild the water industry, which has reached a critical breaking point in recent years despite being essential to the planet’s survival. As the founding CEO of OriginClear, Riggs has developed innovative solutions to help businesses face rising water bills by tapping into new investment markets. He is even pioneering the development of “water stablecoins,” a cryptocurrency backed by water assets. With a diverse background in nonprofit management, oceangoing navigation, and technology disruption, Riggs is uniquely qualified to bring change to an outdated and overrun industry.

Worst investment ever

In the early 1980s, Riggs realized that technology was going to be the linchpin for all change, and he wanted to be a part of it, so he moved to New York City. This was the period when companies were moving from the old safeguard ledger to microcomputer-type accounting systems. A lot of people needed help making that migration. Riggs created a series of companies that tried to help these people.

Riggs happened to meet this wonderful lady who asked him to have a sit down with her money manager. He showed up at this money manager’s office, who told him he had a great business going and advised him to go public. Riggs insisted that would be impossible because he was yet to be profitable. Turning down this opportunity turned out to be Riggs’s worst investment. Unfortunately, Riggs didn’t know that in this industry, they’re not very profitable at the outset, but the real money is in the monthly revenue.

Interestingly, Riggs gave the business to his best salesman. Years later, he told Riggs that he still had some of the accounts they opened together, and he’d become a millionaire from that recurring monthly revenue.

Lessons learned

• You’ve got to look for that monthly recurring revenue.
• Wall Street bets on the future.
• Don’t enter any industry unprepared; get to know the space first.
• If you have a great team, you’ll have a life.
• Put an engineer’s mind to the scaling problem.

Andrew’s takeaways

• You’ve got to be able to paint a vision of the scalability of your venture.

Actionable advice

You need to like what you’re going into because you will be stuck with it for years, especially if you succeed. Also, have a strong familiarity with the trade’s ins and outs.

Riggs’s recommendations

Riggs recommends reading The Innovator’s Dilemma. The seed of the destruction of every enterprise is in that enterprise, and the...

BIO: Barry O’Reilly is an entrepreneur, business advisor, and author who has pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design, and culture transformation.

STORY: One of Barry’s oldest friends sent him a video about investing in Ethereum. He watched the video but didn’t understand it, so he didn’t invest. The investment turned out to be a success, and Barry missed out on the opportunity.

LEARNING: Trust your curiosity, especially in venture building. Don’t focus too much on that missed opportunity. Learn from it.

“Keep improving your system. Identify the things that went the way you hoped and mitigate the ones that didn’t.”

Guest profile

Barry O’Reilly is an entrepreneur, business advisor, and author who has pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design, and culture transformation.

Barry is the co-founder of Nobody Studios, a crowd-infused, high-velocity venture studio with the mission to create 100 compelling companies over the next 5 years.

Barry is the author of two international bestsellers, Lean Enterprise and Unlearn.

Worst investment ever

In 2015, one of Barry’s oldest best friends sent him a video he was convinced he had to watch and was going to change his life. The video was of a young guy talking about an idea called Ethereum. This unique technology was going to transform the way people interact and transact.

Barry watched the video seven times, and he didn’t get it every single time. So he didn’t invest. His friend invested and made millions from the investment.

Lessons learned

• Trust your curiosity, especially in venture building.
• Take small steps to get started and learn your way through new ideas.
• Be very conscious about how you invest your energy, capacity, and focus.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Don’t focus too much on that missed opportunity. Learn from it.
• Start small and build up your investment portfolio as you gain more experience.
• When you’re investing in startups, invest in many, knowing that some of them will fail, some will succeed, but you’re going to learn from all of them.

Actionable advice

Keep improving your system. Identify the things that went the way you hoped and mitigate those that didn’t.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Barry’s goal for the next 12 months is to be the first venture to ever offer equity crowdfunding.

Parting words

“Just keep up the great work Andrew.”

Barry O’Reilly

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Connect with Barry O’Reilly

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Books

BIO: Jason Hsu is the founder, chairman, and CIO of Rayliant Global Advisors (RGA), a global investment management group with over US$15+ billion in assets managed using its strategies as of June 30, 2022.

STORY: Jason bet against the GameStop short squeeze and learned that John Maynard Keyens’ saying that “markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent” still holds true.

LEARNING: The market can be crazy for longer than you have the conviction to stay invested. Apply position constraints and diversify.

“In the short run, the market can really stay crazy for longer than you have the money to stay on. And if you forget that, the market will remind you in as painful of a way as possible.”

Jason Hsu

Guest profile

Jason Hsu is the founder, chairman, and CIO of Rayliant Global Advisors (RGA), a global investment management group with over US$15+ billion in assets managed using its strategies as of June 30, 2022. Rayliant applies quantitative methods to access behavioral-based alpha prevalent in inefficient markets like China. Jason also co-founded Research Affiliates, a smart beta and asset allocation leader with over US$143 billion in assets managed using its strategies.

Worst investment ever

GameStop is a sleepy, almost dead brick-and-mortar retail store selling video games that come in a DVD ROM you put into your laptop to play. It sells cartridges for your Nintendo. In a world where online games are reigning, GameStop is definitely a dying business, and the stock price shows it.

Two years ago, the stock price was trading at a couple of bucks. A forum on Reddit started hyping the stock and convincing everyone that hedge funds shorted GameStop since they had realized the company would declare bankruptcy. The forum insisted it was a good time to do a short squeeze and screw the hedge funds. All this started as a joke, but in no time, the share price got to as high as $300.

When Jason first caught wind of this, he thought the situation would make a fascinating case study. Jason would do a case study and use it to teach his MBA class about how markets can become inefficient and how these prices clearly violate any rationality.

After a while, the stock price started pulling back and gradually falling. By that time, most people had recognized that it was just a crazy short squeeze, and now things were going back to normal. Jason figured the stock price would drop to $30 or $40. He decided to make a bet on that. This was when the second wave of the leading stock rally on GME happened, and the stock, for bout a two-three day run, went from $40 to $200. Jason lost a lot of money on that bet.

Lessons learned

• The market can be crazy for longer than you have the conviction to stay invested.
• Be diversified. Don’t research one stock and bet big on it. Have lots of research and lots of uncorrelated possibilities.
• Apply position constraints so your portfolio is well diversified.

Andrew’s takeaways

• The market can wear you down, but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong. It just means that your timing was terrible.
• Stop losses is a great way to protect you from an inefficient market.

Actionable advice

Apply risk management through a stop loss or position constraint. It doesn’t matter how convinced and sure you are about a stock; size it so that if you lose the entire position, you won’t commit suicide because...

BIO: Guillermo Cornejo is the CEO of Riders Share, the Airbnb of motorcycles he started while attending grad school at UCLA.

STORY: Guillermo had an insurance company handling claims for his customers. When he realized the insurance company had a 50% profit margin, he decided to start his own insurance business. This became a costly and challenging venture because he had no experience handling claims.

LEARNING: Don’t underestimate the value of experience.

“Whenever somebody is talking to me about any industry, I'm all ears. I know I know nothing.”

Guillermo Cornejo

Guest profile

Guillermo Cornejo is the CEO of Riders Share, the Airbnb of motorcycles he started while attending grad school at UCLA. Before that, he worked in analytics roles for GM, Nissan, and Hyundai. He grew up in Peru and enjoys anything that makes your heart race.

Worst investment ever

Guillermo launched his company in 2018, and it grew immensely. The company booked over a million dollars in rentals within the first year. Guillermo was on top of the world.

The company was working with an insurance partner with pretty good rates but was providing terrible service to Guillermo’s customers. It took many months to handle the claims. When Guillermo looked at his company’s history of accidents and measured the cost of paid-out claims and how much he had paid the insurance company in premiums. He found the insurance company was making a 50% margin in profits. This got Guillermo thinking he should do it himself.

Guillermo raised some capital and used most of it to set up an insurance company. This was an expensive venture (millions of dollars). The more the company grew, the more bad customers it attracted—from risk-takers to fraudsters trying to steal his motorcycles. On top of that, he realized how difficult it was to handle claims, and just like the insurance partner, it took him months to pay out claims.

Lessons learned

• Don’t underestimate the value of experience.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Don’t let overestimation bias mislead you into thinking you can do more than you’re capable of.
• Try to shift your mind from I think I know something to I know I know nothing.

Actionable advice

Don’t overestimate your skills, abilities, and knowledge. Work with advisors and connect with more experienced people who have done it before. They will help you understand how much you don’t know and then try to fill that gap.

Guillermo’s recommendations

Guillermo recommends reading Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, co-authored by a previous guest on our podcast, Anna Rosling Rönnlund.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Guillermo’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to double his company revenues while remaining profitable.

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Connect with Guillermo Cornejo

• LinkedIn
• Facebook

Scott Beebe is the founder and head coach of MyBusinessOnPurpose.com and author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters.

Scott hosts the Business On Purpose podcast sharing real stories of how he and the team are working with business owners and their key leaders. They’re building systems, process, and purpose using the Business On Purpose Roadmap to liberate businesses from the chaos of working in their business and help them get their lives back.

 “Where there is no vision, people become detached, people then scatter, and eventually people die.”

Scott Beebe

Worst investment ever

Success as he knew it comes tumbling down in an instant

One snowy Friday morning in February 2015, Scott walked into work and walked back home unemployed. He went home, ready to count his losses and figure out how to bounce back. Married with three kids, Scott needed to find his footing again and fast.

Taking his side hustle more seriously

At this point, Scott had already started Business on Purpose podcast. He figured he could take it a notch higher now that he had more time.

Scott called up two of his friends and asked them if he would coach them on how to create visions, missions, and values for their companies. The two friends accepted, and that’s how My Business on Purpose was born.

Instant business results

In just a few months, the business grew locally through word of mouth. Scott realized that the business had potential and so he decided to invest in marketing it. He hired someone to run Facebook ads for him.

Flushing money down the toilet

Excited to do more with his business, Scott forgot the tenets of what he was teaching other business owners, having a vision for your business. Scott left the Facebook manager to run things without a clear direction, and as expected, the marketing failed. The business never got any leads from this marketing effort.

Yep, $30,000 later, Scott never got a single lead from the Facebook ads. It was devastating, but he picked himself up and decided to follow his advice. He went back to the drawing board and drew up a master plan for his business, which is what he’s continued to use up to now with a lot of success.

Lessons learned

Vision is the most important thing in business

Vision is the most important thing in business. It’s not your financial health. It’s not making sure that you’ve got the right employees, it’s a vision. Without a vision, people scatter, and businesses die.

Have a business marketing master plan

Before you start marketing a business, have a master plan. Create everything from front to back. This is what people call a funnel, or a sequence or a...

Remember that CPI is not inflation

• Mar 2023 US CPI was 5%, down from 6% in Feb and off its June 2022 peak of 9.1%
• Mar 2023, the food component was up 8.5% but has come off its Aug 2022 11.4% peak
• Mar 2023, the energy component was down 6.4, a massive fall from its 41.6% June 2022 peak
• In Mar 2023, all other items were flat MoM at 5.6%, down from Mar 2022 6.5% high
• Without a surge in oil US, we forecast CPI could end 2023 at 4%

Two things that could derail YE23 4% …

• An oil price surge would push end-2023 slightly higher than 4%, but only slightly because it takes a few months for an oil price rise to impact CPI
• A US recession could quickly bring CPI below 4%

Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points

Andrew’s online programs

• Valuation Master Class
• The Become a Better Investor Community
• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
• FVMR Investing: Quantamental Investing Across the World
• Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
• Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
• Achieve Your Goals

Connect with Andrew Stotz:

• astotz.com
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube
• My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

BIO: Amit Kumar is the CEO of OLX Autos India. He is an entrepreneur, a business leader, and a speaker.

STORY: Amit took an employee under his wing and mentored him for a couple of years. The employee later found another opportunity and had to leave the company. Amit decided to offer the employee some feedback during his sendoff party. The employee didn’t receive his feedback so well. The employee shut him out, changing the course of their relationship.

LEARNING: Feedback is gradual. Offer feedback in the right environment.

“Feedback is not just about the annual appraisal; it’s more about being open to talking about it in your weekly one on ones.”

Amit Kumar

Guest profile

Amit Kumar is the CEO of OLX Autos India. He is an entrepreneur, a business leader, and a speaker. After his humble beginnings, Amit graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and built multiple internet eCommerce ventures in Asia, Africa, and Europe. He is a regular contributor to Leadership, Entrepreneurship & Economics. He is passionate about human evolution and is a psychology geek.

Worst investment ever

Amit’s company was scaling fast and needed skilled people to do this. They hired a brilliant young man who impressed Amit from the word go. He started investing his time mentoring the young man because he saw great potential. Amit believed that if the employee grew, the business would grow too.

After about a year and a half of mentoring and working with that particular employee, the business grew almost ten times in that period. The employee eventually found another opportunity and had to leave the company.

Amit decided to share some feedback with the employee at his sendoff party. The two were in the smoking room. Amit shared a few not-so-easy to hear things about the employee. They parted ways happily, and Amit thought everything was ok, but later realized that the employee had utterly shut him out. He figured it was the hustle of moving companies but, Amit realized that their relationship had changed after a few months. When he looked back, he realized that the feedback session was what had changed their relationship. Amit should have handled it better.

Lessons learned

• Don’t offer feedback suddenly and all at once. It has to be gradual.
• Enable two-way feedback.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Offer feedback in the right environment to be received well and be impactful.
• Put your principles before your personality whenever you’re getting frustrated with someone.

Actionable advice

Don’t wait until the annual appraisal to offer feedback. Do it as often as weekly during your one-on-ones. Put your verbal feedback in writing as well.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Amit’s goal for the next 12 months is to continue to become a better, healthier, and happier human being.

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Amit Kumar

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market

BIO: Paulina Tenner is an entrepreneur, angel investor, TEDx speaker, and author. Her company, GrantTree, specializes in research and development tax credits and grants. She is passionate about burlesque and used to perform as a showgirl!

STORY: Paulina’s company ventured into a new business area of renting out office space, a venture that almost killed the company.

LEARNING: Focus on your core business. Check-in whenever you delegate a project and ensure you put controls in place. Do not fall prey to overconfidence bias.

“Focus on what you are good at instead of trying to break into new territories.”

Paulina Tenner

Worst investment ever

About five years ago, Paulina’s company reached a point where the team was too big for their current office, so they needed a new one. They had the option to get an office that was a perfect fit for them, slightly bigger than the current one, so that they could grow into it. But there was also this genius idea of taking over an entire building, renovate it, and sublet to other companies with a similar culture to theirs.

Taking a vote

Paulina’s instinct told her to go with the smaller option instead of an entire building. But when the two options were put into a vote, there were two or three votes more for the building. So they decided to go with the idea of an entire building.

One colleague in Paulina’s company had big ambitions and a clear vision of what he wanted that building to be. So he found one. The company took over the building and paid a hefty deposit of about £300,000 or so. Then they started renovating it.

The costly mistake of delegation

Paulina and her co-founder decided to put the colleague with the big vision in charge of the entire project. They were not paying too much attention to the management of the project and thought because this particular colleague was in charge, everything would be fine.

So much money was spent on renovating the building. By the time Paulina and her co-founder put a hard stop to it, the company had spent over £600,000 on renovating that building. It was over the top and way more than they needed.

The desperate struggle to make a return on investment

After they were done with the renovations, they started advertising the building and looking for companies to take up the office spaces. That is when they realized that they knew nothing about the office rental space, it was not their specialty. Their specialty is finding government funding schemes to fit in with what their clients do.

It took many months, more than they anticipated, to find companies to use the space. At some point, they got truly desperate to get people into the building and share their ongoing costs with them, so they decided to rent it out at cost. So no profit whatsoever.

And as if that was not enough, when the company decided it was time to wrap up this crazy idea and get out of the building, they were charged enormous amounts of money for dilapidation. The landlord wanted the building in its previous state, even though they had made it better with all the renovations.

Paulina’s company lost so much money on the entire operation, it almost died.

Lessons learned

Focus on your core business

First, focus on what you are good at because it is tough to diversify and break into an entirely new industry before you get good at what you are doing. If you are a relatively small startup company, do not take on projects that cost a lot of money upfront.

Mistakes are part of learning; embrace them

Every founder will, at some point, make a costly mistake. It’s part of the learning...

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 05: Great Companies Do Not Make High-Return Investments.

LEARNING:  A higher PE doesn’t mean a higher expected return.

“A higher PE doesn’t mean a higher expected return. It may mean that you’re paying a high price for high expected growth and safety because the company is really strong.”

Larry Swedroe

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. The book is a collection of stories that Larry has developed over the 30 years or so that he’s been trying to help investors. Larry is the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.

Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss Chapter 05: Great Companies Do Not Make High-Return Investments

Chapter 05: Great Companies Do Not Make High-Return Investments

In this chapter, Larry explains why investing in great companies doesn’t guarantee high returns.

When faced with the choice of buying the stocks of “great” companies or buying the stocks of “lousy” companies, Larry says most investors would instinctively choose the former.

This is an anomaly because people think the whole idea of investing is to identify a great company and, therefore, will get great returns. But if you understand finance, that doesn’t make any sense because the first basic rule of investing is that something you know is only information; it’s not value-added information unless the market doesn’t know it. This is because that information is already embedded in the price through the trading actions of all marketplace investors.

Small companies versus large companies

According to Larry, if it were true that markets provide returns commensurate with the amount of risk taken, one should expect great results if they invest in a passively managed portfolio consisting of small companies, which are intuitively riskier than large companies.

Small companies don’t have the economies of scale that large companies have, making them generally less efficient. They typically have weaker balance sheets and fewer sources of capital. When there is distress in the capital markets, smaller companies are generally the first to be cut off from access to capital, increasing the risk of bankruptcy. They don’t have the depth of management that larger companies do. They generally don’t have long track records from which investors can make judgments.

The cost of trading small stocks is much greater, increasing the risk of investing in them. When one compares the performance of the asset class of small companies with that of large companies, one gets the same results produced by the great companies versus value companies comparison.

Why great earnings don’t necessarily translate into great investment returns

The simple explanation for why great earnings don’t necessarily translate into great investment returns is that investors discount the future expected earnings of value stocks at a higher rate than...

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew gets into part two of his discussion with Larry Swedroe: Ignorance is Bliss. Today, they discuss two chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this series, they discuss mistake 30: Do You Fail to Understand the Tyranny of the Efficiency of the Market? And mistake 31: Do You Believe Hedge Fund Managers Deliver Superior Performance?

LEARNING: Discovering anomalies or mistakes reinforces and makes the market more efficient. Hedge fund managers demonstrate no greater ability to deliver above-market returns than do active mutual fund managers.

“Unfortunately, the evidence is hedge fund managers demonstrate no greater ability to deliver above-market returns than do active mutual fund managers.”

Larry Swedroe

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew gets into part two of his discussion with Larry Swedroe: Ignorance is Bliss. Larry is the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.

Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss two chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this series, they discuss mistake number 30: Do You Fail to Understand the Tyranny of the Efficiency of the Market? And mistake 31: Do You Believe Hedge Fund Managers Deliver Superior Performance?

Did you miss out on previous mistakes? Check them out:

• ISMS 8: Larry Swedroe – Are You Overconfident in Your Skills?
• ISMS 17: Larry Swedroe – Do You Project Recent Trends Indefinitely Into the Future?
• ISMS 20: Larry Swedroe – Do You Extrapolate From Small Samples and Trust Your Intuition?
• ISMS 23: Larry Swedroe – Do You Allow Yourself to Be Influenced by Your Ego and Herd Mentality?
• ISMS 24: Larry Swedroe – Confusing Skill and Luck Can Stop You From Investing Wisely
• ISMS 25: Larry Swedroe – Admit Your Mistakes and Don’t Listen to Fake Experts
• ISMS 26: Larry Swedroe – Are You Subject to the Endowment Effect or the Hot Streak...

BIO: Troy Holt is a financial educator, an independent coach, speaker, trainer, author, and podcast host. He is also the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Troy Holt Consulting.

STORY: In 2014, Troy decided to quit a job that he no longer enjoyed and got another one that paid him a small salary and a commission. The money he was making could barely sustain his lifestyle. Instead of making lifestyle changes, he used money he’d received after his mom died as his fallback plan.

LEARNING: If money is tight, cut down your costs to a bare minimum. Put your trust in your family and friends, not money.

“Make money your tool and not your master.”

Troy Holt

Guest profile

Troy Holt’s more than 20 years of experience as a sales and account executive has led to his success in the areas of business growth, development, and financial planning.

As an innovative leader and effective communicator, Troy’s success is grounded in his impeccable work ethic and drive. Troy’s expertise allows him to work as both a financial educator and as an independent coach, speaker, and trainer.

Troy is a co-author of an Amazon best-selling book and is the host of the Troy Talks podcast. He serves as the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of his Troy Holt Consulting company.

Worst investment ever

Troy worked at a retail store as a sales rep when his mom died suddenly in April of 2014. At the time, Troy had worked this job for 11 years, but suddenly every day he came to work, he would feel pressured and did not want to be at work. He felt like he was in prison.

Troy went to see a doctor, and he was diagnosed with anxiety. He decided to go out of work under short-term disability for 60 days. When he went back to the doctor, he was told he was still not fit to work. Troy went back to his employer and submitted his paperwork for an extension, but he got denied. So he resigned.

Finding a better job

Troy found another job which started him off at a certain amount plus commission. After a couple of months, they reduced his salary by about 80% but with a higher commission. Troy’s salary was just enough to pay his health insurance and that of his wife and pay taxes.

Selling telecommunication systems was a long process, and Troy barely closed any deals.

Falling back on his money reserves

When Troy’s mom died, she left him some money. He planned to save and invest it later. However, when his job woes started, he started dipping into his money reserves bit by bit to sustain his lifestyle. In his mind, he thought he would be able to put back the money once he closed a deal and got his commission.

Troy did a lot of prospecting and working deals but barely closed anything due to the long sales process.

Things got tougher

Troy’s money reserves were dipping by the day. He figured it was time to get another job. He ended up having to take another job making less money, but at least it was not commissioned.

His reserves were drying out at this point, and he still had so many expenses to cover. Troy realized that his worst investment ever was continuing to live the same lifestyle despite his financial hardship. He should have cut his costs, but he did not, and now he had no money to invest.

Lessons learned

Money is not your source of happiness

The experience taught Troy that God is his...

BIO: Mariah Edgington BSN, RN is a retired critical care nurse who integrated holistic practices into her practice. Byron Edgington ATP, CRMI is retired military and commercial helicopter pilot, Vietnam veteran, award-winning author, speaker, and contributor.

STORY: Byron lost his pilot job in Kauai due to a minor medical difficulty. This brought the couple’s dream life on the island to an end. Desperate and lost, Byron invested blindly into real estate and made no money. He didn’t know that he’d have benefitted from disability insurance had he claimed it.

LEARNING: Don’t make decisions when you’re at your lowest point. Seek help from people you trust.

“Seeking a community that can help you is by far the best thing you can do for yourself.”

Mariah & Byron Edgington

Guest profile

Mariah Edgington BSN, RN is a retired critical care nurse who integrated holistic practices into her practice. Mariah found these tools so effective that after retirement, she integrated them into a mindset coaching practice. She is a soon-to-be New Your Times Best Selling author, speaker, and contributor to BizCatalyst360.

Byron Edgington ATP, CRMI is a retired military and commercial helicopter pilot, Vietnam veteran, award-winning author, speaker, and contributor to BizCatalyst360, and TravelAwaits Magazine.

Mariah and Byron co-authored the first in a series of books, Journey Well, You Are More Than Enough: (Re)Discover Your Passion, Purpose, & Love of Yourself & Life. Their book, guidebook, and online course will be available will be soon.

Worst investment ever

Byron and Mariah lived on the island of Kauai, where Byron worked as a nurse while flying tourists around the island all day long. The couple loved everything about living in this piece of heaven. Their life in paradise was short-lived. Byron lost his clearance to fly because he couldn’t get medical approval because of some minor medical difficulty.

Byron and Mariah were devastated. They packed their bags and left Kauai. Lost in the unfortunate turn of events, Byron forgot to follow up on disability insurance. His only concern was to move forward. In the process, Byron took the first way out he came across. He went into real estate because somebody suggested it. Byron put a lot of money into real estate, and it didn’t go well. Within a year or two, Byron was out of real estate without making anything out of the investment.

Lessons learned

• Whenever you’re feeling lost, don’t do anything for a while until you have a better idea of who you are, what you’ve lost, and what you would like to do going forward.
• Join mastermind groups with people who can help expand your thought.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Be aware of what’s going on in your life and what’s available to you. Don’t be afraid to take benefit of what’s available to you.
• When you’re struggling with an issue, one of the best solutions is to talk to people you trust about it.

Actionable advice

Wait and seek help.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Mariah & Byron’s goal for the next 12 months is to publish their book

Victoria Lynn Weston boasts more than 20 years of experience as an intuitive business consultant working with professionals and business owners to provide insight to help them make better decisions. This business intuition coach is also an entrepreneur who loves voice technology. She’s the founder of Studio Carlton, which produces and develops custom Alexa Skills for professionals and companies. Victoria is also a producer of PBS-featured documentaries such as America’s Victoria, Remembering Victoria Woodhull and the America’s Victoria Alexa Skill.

As an intuitive business consultant, Victoria offers a broad spectrum of insights to help individuals achieve their professional goals. She also encourages people to trust their own intuition. Fun Fact: She used to be known as a corporate psychic.

She founded AYRIAL to feature vetted lifestyle consultants such as Feng Shui experts, licensed therapists, intuitive consultants, etc. Individuals can find a consultant on AYRIAL.com or VOICE search via the AYRIAL “Positive Living” Alexa Skill.

“Intuitive insight can be invaluable when used as an adjunct to your facts and logic.”

Victoria Lynn Weston

Worst investment ever

Psychic business coach gets a vision

Having worked as an intuitive psychic business coach for more than 20 years, Victoria is indeed a master of helping professionals and business owners make better decisions. It is no surprise that now and then, she will have business visions and ideas that she pursues.

One of those visions was to produce the world’s greatest psychic reality show. She thought that this idea was going to work, and that it would be magical. Part of it, she admits, was intuition, and another part was a bit of wishful thinking.

She decides to trust her intuition

She went ahead and took time off her other businesses and concentrated on writing a proposal for the TV show idea. She put blood, sweat, and tears into the proposal, and it was indeed good.

She had the visuals and photos in her proposal. She also had this spectacular test that could be done to convince any skeptic that intuition psychology works.

She spent so much time analyzing and putting things...

BIO: Adrian Choo is a Career Strategist in Asia and the founder of Career Agility International. Sze-Yen Chee is the Executive Director/Co-founder of Career Agility International and is a top Singaporean career coach.

STORY: We look at their book The Great Career Paradox (When Pursuing Career Success May Not Lead To Career Happiness).

LEARNING: Your career is not everything.

“You’re more than your career. You can fail in your career, but you haven’t failed in life.”

Adrian Choo and Sze-Yen Chee

Guest profile

Adrian Choo is the One and Only Career Strategist in Asia and is the founder of Career Agility International. Sze-Yen Chee is the Executive Director/Co-founder of Career Agility International and is Singapore’s top Career Coach. Together, they wrote a great book: The Great Career Paradox (When Pursuing Career Success May Not Lead To Career Happiness).

In today’s episode, we’re going to do things differently. Instead of talking about Adrian Choo’s worst investment ever—we already did that in episode 495—we’ll talk about the book he’s co-authored with Sze-Yen Chee: The Great Career Paradox (When Pursuing Career Success May Not Lead To Career Happiness).

The book idea is born

Post-COVID, Adrian and Sze-Yen noticed a shift in values manifesting in the form of quiet quitting and the Great Resignation. Many people were still coming to terms with that. This led to the idea of writing a book to amalgamate and put together all the observations they’d made.

One of the reasons why the authors named the book The Great Career Paradox is because they noticed a fascinating trend where many believe that to achieve personal happiness, they must have career success. They work hard to drive their career success and don’t care about other things in their life, such as their health, family, hobbies, etc., that are equally important. Then they achieve success, yet they feel empty inside. To fill this gap, they work even harder in their career to get even more successful. And hence, a career paradox that you cannot achieve happiness through just your career.

Breaking out of the career paradox

Adrian and Sze-Yen wrote their book to help people break out of their career paradox. They use their wisdom to help their readers manage the little speed bumps people experience in their career journey.

The book will help readers take care of the career path aspects of their life or at least be aware of what they can do to manage their careers better. That gives them a lot more bandwidth, time, and mind space for the things that really matter—including family, hobbies, health, etc.

The book gives you clarity and introduces you to new logic and different points of view toward career progression.

Your career is not everything

One of the biggest things that Adrian and Sze-Yen want to dispel is that your career is everything. You’re more than your career. You can...

BIO: Laurie Barkman, the business transition sherpa, is the former CEO of a $100 million revenue company that was sold to a Fortune 50 company.

STORY: Though Laurie has had a flourishing career in the startup world, she regrets not spending that time building her own business.

LEARNING: Quit often, quit fast. Don’t hesitate, or stay in something that doesn’t bring you value. Pay attention to your instinct; don’t be afraid to act on it.

“Gravitate towards your strengths and follow your passions if you’re clear about what they are.”

Laurie Barkman

Guest profile

Laurie Barkman, the business transition sherpa, is the former CEO of a $100 million revenue company that was sold to a Fortune 50 company.

Laurie guides business owners through the often overwhelming process of transition planning. As a mergers and acquisitions intermediary, she facilitates sell-side and buy-side transactions in the lower middle market.

Laurie is the Amazon best-selling author of The Business Transition Handbook: How to Avoid Succession Pitfalls and Create Valuable Exit Options and hosts the award-winning podcast Succession Stories, rated in the top 2.5% of podcasts globally.

Laurie earned an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s from Cornell University. She received a professional designation from The Alliance of Mergers & Acquisitions Advisors.

Get a complimentary business assessment. See how an acquirer would evaluate your business, enabling you to focus today on what will be important down the road. Learn what changes could double the value of your business.

Worst investment ever

When Laurie was studying for her MBA, she also took entrepreneurship courses and was the president of the entrepreneurship club. Laurie was excited about graduating and going into entrepreneurship. But, she didn’t have the big idea or tech skills. This was in the late 90s when it was all about tech startups. Laurie also lacked the risk profile. So, instead of starting a business or buying an existing one after her MBA, she joined a startup, which in and of itself was a good thing.

Looking back at her career, most of the positions Laurie had helped her add value and grow professionally. But one or two roles made her realize that she should have invested her time in building her own business instead of going into employment.

Lessons learned

• Try to figure out what you’re good at, what you’re not, and what you enjoy and don’t before settling on a permanent career path.
• Gravitate towards your strengths and follow your passions if you’re clear about them.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Quit often, quit fast. Don’t hesitate, or stay in something that doesn’t bring you value.
• Pay attention to your instinct; don’t be afraid to act on it.

Actionable advice

It’s important to trust your instincts. If you’re feeling unsure about something, trust that little voice.

Laurie’s recommendations

Laurie recommends her book, The Business Transition Handbook, for business owners with questions...

Darryl Tom is a private wealth manager who delivers personalized comprehensive wealth management strategies and solutions to high-net-worth (HNW) individuals. Previously, he was a private banker at DBS and ANZ private banks and an investment manager with HSBC Australia, providing investment portfolio construction across multi-asset classes, including unit trusts, ETFs, equities, global fixed income and currencies. He provided investment guidance to relationship managers to meet the investment needs of their clients.

Darryl has worked as a financial planner for AMP, Australia’s largest wealth manager, and was also based in Tokyo, Japan, where he was a private wealth manager for a boutique wealth management firm catering to HNW expatriates and specializing in wealth management and asset protection. His experience includes business training and development for large multinational firms, such as Goldman Sachs, Pictet Asset Management, Baxter, Roche and Microsoft.

“I come across a common theme across all of my clients, which I guess if you were to boil that down into a simple sentence, it would be that clients are chasing the market or following the market as opposed to following a strategy.”

Darryl Tom

No.1 mistake witnessed as a wealth manager

Chasing the market rather than following a strategy

Darryl has been on the front line talking with a lot of investors and people wanting to protect and grow their wealth for future generations and one of the common themes across all of his clients’ mistakes has been chasing or following the market as opposed to following a strategy. He says investing is a very disciplined and patient game.

Investors’ styles likened to The Tortoise and the Hare

He also says investing is like the moral in Aesop’s: The Tortoise and the Hare fable. Consider the tortoise as being the slow, precise, and disciplined investor, just doing what he needs to do and staying the course. Meanwhile, the hare races ahead, but stops every five minutes to talk to people, responding to different information in the market, basically just being distracted. This is a common theme across most of his clients and as a private wealth manager,

BIO: Mark Venables, originally from the UK, is a serial entrepreneur and, among other companies, owns thecryptomerchant.com, offering the largest selection of crypto self-custody devices on the planet.

STORY: Mark bought crypto in an exchange, but ironically, despite being surrounded by 1,000s of cold wallets, Mark didn’t take his crypto and put it in a cold wallet. The crypto company got into some financial difficulties and went down in a blaze. Mark’s crypto was frozen for about two years.

LEARNING: You don’t need hundreds of thousands in crypto to get a cold wallet. Whether a veteran or newbie crypto trader/investor, habitually put your crypto into a cold wallet.

“Do your best to secure your crypto. It’s so simple and inexpensive, and it could actually be fun with some of these devices.”

Mark Venables

Guest profile

Mark Venables, originally from the UK, is a serial entrepreneur and, among other companies, owns thecryptomerchant.com, offering the largest selection of crypto self-custody devices on the planet. He is determined to get the word out about cold wallets and crypto security while encouraging people new to crypto to get involved and be secure. Use code DRSTOTZ at checkout to get 10% off your entire order on The Crypto Merchant.

Worst investment ever

Several years ago, Mark was excited about this company called Block Phi. It had a cool-looking crypto credit card that gave you rewards in crypto. Mark applied for one of those credit cards and would use it frequently.

The company also had an exchange. Mark put money into crypto on that exchange. Ironically, despite being surrounded by thousands of cold wallets, Mark didn’t take his crypto and put it in a cold wallet. The crypto company got into some financial difficulties and went down in a blaze. Mark’s crypto was frozen for about two years because he didn’t protect it. He was finally able to withdraw his crypto a couple of days ago. But he was only allowed to withdraw what the crypto was worth back on the 21st of June 2020, not its current value.

Lessons learned

• You don’t need hundreds of thousands in crypto to get a cold wallet.
• Whether a veteran or newbie crypto trader/investor, habitually put your crypto into a cold wallet.

Actionable advice

Do your best to secure your crypto. It’s so simple and inexpensive, and it could be fun with some of these devices.

Mark’s recommendations

Go to thecryptomerchant.com, poke around, and see what you like. If you have questions, contact the tech support or email Mark for prompt assistance. If you find something you want, use the code DRSTOTZ at checkout to get 10% off your entire order.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Mark hopes we’ll soon come out of this cycle of the crypto winter. So his number one goal for the next 12 months is to get some education together so that when people start wanting to get on board, they’ll find all the resources they need to learn what they need to know.

Parting words

“Use common sense, stay secure, and hold on for dear life.”

Mark Venables

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Connect with Mark Venables

BIO: Richard Moran is a Silicon Valley investment and operations veteran. He is General Partner at Tonic BioVentures, an early-stage life sciences venture firm.

STORY: Richard was impressed by the success record of a young man, so much so that he got his company to invest $6 million to build a business. A few months later, the young man misbehaved in front of customers. Richard reprimanded him, but he did the same thing again and had to be fired. Richard’s company lost $6 million.

LEARNING: Pay proper attention to the findings of the due diligence. Don’t be distracted by past track records. Be careful of key man risk where the success of your investment is hinged on one person.

“Sometimes past performance is not an indicator of future performance in investing.”

Richard Moran

Guest profile

Richard Moran is a Silicon Valley veteran in both investing and operations. He is General Partner at Tonic BioVentures, an early-stage life sciences venture firm. Previously, he was the President of Menlo College. His background includes serving as a Partner at Venrock, CEO at Accretive Solutions, Chairman of Portal Software, and a Managing Partner at Accenture. His track record includes successful exits in software, gaming, food, and life sciences. He is a  best-selling author with ten books to his credit.

His latest book is Never Say Whatever to be published by McGraw-Hill. He has a syndicated show, “In the Workplace” on CBS Radio, and is an “Influencer” on LinkedIn where he is a regular contributor but never reads the comments.

Worst investment ever

A young man, who had been very successful, wanted to start a new company and needed $6 million to start it. Richard was blinded by his success story and immediately got his company to invest in him. They gave the young man the $6 million he needed to build this company. The success of that company was all hinged on him because he was its core.

A couple of months later, the young man behaved inappropriately at a trade show. The partners went to Richard about what to do. According to Richard, the partners had two options. One was to fire him, in which case, they’d lose $6 million. The second option was to coach him; in this case, he might change or ignore it; if he ignored it, no one would want to be involved in his company.

Richard didn’t want to lose the $6 million, but he also didn’t want to keep him on. So he brought him into his office, yelled at him, and warned that he’d fire him if it happened again. The young man did something similar again. So he was fired, and Richard’s company lost $6 million.

The sad part is that there were hints of the young man’s bad behavior during due diligence before Richard made the first investment. But he ignored it.

Lessons learned

• Pay proper attention to the findings of the due diligence. Don’t be distracted by past track records.
• Sometimes past performance is not an indicator of future performance in investing.
• Whatever you do, know you’ll always get caught.
• Stay current.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Be careful of key man risk where the success of your investment is hinged on one person.
• Remember to talk to people who don’t like that company or have had a bad experience when you do your due diligence.

Actionable advice

Don’t go after the shiny objects that everybody wants. When doing your due diligence, it’s not just about the person or the company but also about the market. Find out what’s happening in...

Wilbert Wynnberg is an international speaker, award-winning author, and founder of the Think Act Prosper (TAP) Growth Conference.

Since 2015, Wilbert has touched the lives of over 100,000 people in more than 20 countries through his seminars, live programs, and award-winning book, THINK. ACT. PROSPER.: How Small Habits Can Lead to Massive Success.

“If you want to stay in the investment game for the long term, sometimes you just have to take a short break so that you can enjoy the game.”

Wilbert Wynnberg

Worst investment ever

Wilbert’s worst investment ever happened just a few weeks ago. As a prolific investor, Wilbert has been following the business cycles since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. He’s been tracking a lot of different indicators, data, and the underlying numbers.

He felt that in 2018, a lot of things had kind of picked up, but there wasn’t any reason for him to go in and take any action, whether it be long or short. So he kept watching the market.

Ignoring Coronavirus

At the start of the year, when Coronavirus started hitting the news, Wilbert at first wasn’t paying much attention to it. He thought it was the US probably overplaying the whole situation. Wilbert decided not to do anything about it unless he had further confirmation.

Getting ready to beat the market

By February, it was almost inevitable that the market was going to be shaken up. Wilbert could foresee a bear market. And so he started raising money so that he could pounce on the market.

As he was raising money, Wilbert was also tracking things like insider trading, whether CEOs were buying or selling companies, what hedge funds were doing, and more. At that point, his research showed him that it was not the right time to buy equities and go into the stock market. So Wilbert waited it out.

Taking the market head-on

Eventually, Wilbert found out that with this virus and a high unemployment rate, governments will have to start printing money. So he began to look at commodities. Oil prices started coming down as well. Now Wilbert was very confident it was time to invest. At this point, he had raised a decent few million dollars.

Oil stocks seemed like a good option, or was it?

Brent oil was at about $25, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at about $22. This was a two-decade low. However, everybody believed that oil, unlike Bitcoin, would never go to zero because people need it for everyday stuff.

So, Wilbert and his investment team were quite confident and stoked. They thought that this was going to be the trade of the lifetime.

So without much further ado, Wilbert entered the position and started buying oil stocks.

Falling flat on their faces

At some point, Wilbert received an alert saying that Saudi Arabia and Russia were...

BIO: Kim Barrett is a world-renowned million-dollar marketing strategist with a focus on Facebook. Kim is an international speaker and trainer, having taught marketing worldwide and helping businesses grow to six, seven, and even eight figures.

STORY: Kim had a successful start to his business. He was bringing in lots of sales, and he felt he needed more staff to handle these sales. The problem was that he spent too much on those people without looking at their achievements and his team’s capacity limits.

LEARNING: Have a clear understanding of your business numbers. Dive deep into the capacity that you have before hiring. Avoid a business model that makes it easy to grow costs and hard to increase revenues.

“My worst investment was in human capital people. Not because they were bad people, but because I didn’t need it.”

Kim Barrett

Guest profile

Kim Barrett is a world-renowned million-dollar marketing strategist with a focus on Facebook.

Kim is an international speaker and trainer, having taught marketing around the world and helping businesses grow to 6, 7, and even 8 figures.

Kim is the Founder and CEO of Your Social Voice, an Australian-based Digital Marketing Agency established in 2015. YSV helps businesses get heard on Social Media and, most importantly, build engagement and generate more leads and more sales.

Worst investment ever

Kim started his business when he was 25 years old and had a good start. In the beginning, Kim was good at marketing, and then he got very good at sales. He made many sales, and his team would deliver on his sales.

As he continued bringing in more sales, he felt he needed to hire more staff to handle all the sales. Being young, inexperienced, and running a successful business, Kim brought on people without paying attention to capacity or doing any quality assurance. At one point, he had many different people and had to expand and get a new office.

As Kim continued to hire more people, one of his first-ever marketing mentors sat him down and asked him if he was looking at his team’s capacity. He made him think about the price he was charging, his wage bill, and the profit margin left at the end of the day.

From this talk, Kim realized that he was paying so many people who, while at first useful, many of them weren’t doing much once the quiet months hit and there wasn’t a high volume of work. He realized he had to let go of a couple of people immediately.

Lessons learned

• Have a clear understanding of your business numbers.
• Dive deep into the capacity that you have before hiring.
• Be careful about the average employee. They can drain your business slowly.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Avoid a business model that makes it easy to grow costs and hard to increase revenues.
• Be careful when hiring people because some may not add value to your business, yet they’re generating costs that need to be covered by your revenue.

Actionable advice

Go to the people who have done what you want to do, ask them for advice, and listen to them.

Kim’s recommended resources

• If you’re new to the world of marketing and advertising and you do want to grow, Kim recommends reading Breakthrough Advertising. In the book, Eugene Schwartz shares excellent principles.
• Join Kim’s

BIO: Catherine Morgan is a multi-award-winning qualified financial planner and award-winning financial coach on a mission to reduce financial anxiety and increase financial empowerment and resilience for 1 million women worldwide.

STORY: Catherine and her husband bought a residential property at the markets’ peak. They sold that property for the same amount they purchased it seven years later.

LEARNING: Separate your sense of self from your money. Just take the next step, no matter how small.

“The more work we do on ourselves, the better financial decisions we will make.”

Catherine Morgan

Guest profile

Catherine Morgan is a multi-award-winning qualified financial planner and award-winning financial coach on a mission to reduce financial anxiety and increase financial empowerment & resilience for 1 million women around the world. She was featured as one of the top 32 female entrepreneurs to look out for in Business Insider. Top 1% global podcast host of the show In Her Financial Shoes.

Worst investment ever

Catherine and her husband bought a residential property at the markets’ peak. Now bearing in mind, she was a financial advisor, and her husband was a mortgage advisor. Seven years later, they sold that property for the same amount they bought it.

Catherine and her husband held on to so much self-judgment as financial professionals. They should have seen this coming. They should have known the markets were going to crash. Catherine held on to so much of that guilt for so long, which was the worst investment decision of her life. It was even worse than buying the property.

Lessons learned

• Separate your sense of self from money because the two are not intrinsically linked.
• Action steps don’t necessarily have to be big, gigantic, massive action steps. It’s the compound effect of making small decisions that build that momentum.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Just take the next step, no matter how small.

Actionable advice

Go inwards and reflect on your relationship with money. Think about where that came from, who does it belong to? How does it serve you? How does it sabotage you? Then, once you’ve taken that awareness and curiosity step, start practicing how to forgive yourself and others.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

For the next 12 months, Catherine intends to go from serving a million to a billion women. She plans to do this by forging stronger relationships, collaborations, connecting with wonderful people like Andrew, and supporting one another.

Parting words

“Be curious about yourself and the possibilities that exist to turn those lessons into opportunities for the future.”

Catherine Morgan

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Connect with Catherine Morgan

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Podcast

Somdutta Sarkar is the host of Intensify Humanity Podcast, a bestselling author, an NLP practitioner, a thought leader, a passionpreneur, and an Intensifier Mentor. Her book is called 7 STEPS from SHAME to being BACK IN THE GAME.

“Ignorance is not bliss; it’s a disease.”

Somdutta Sarkar

Worst investment ever

Living in the city of dreams

Somdutta moved to Mumbai, known as the city of dreams in India, where she got a job after finishing college. She was working a job that she loved and making a decent income. She was indeed settled in life.

A friendly soul

Somdutta is naturally a friendly person, so she made so many friends while living and working in Mumbai. She was always kind enough to help anyone who came to her in need of help, no matter what day or time they came calling. This happened over and over again.

Her kindness leaves her in debt

Somdutta’s friendly nature soon enough landed her into trouble. One day a friend came to her in need of financial help, and in her true nature, she accepted to help him. She took a bank loan in her name and gave the money to her friend. When the time to pay the loan came, her friend went quiet. He blocked her, making it impossible to reach him. She tried all possible ways to get him to pay the loan, but he never did.

Somdutta’s worst mistake was trusting her friend, who left her with a debt of $35,000.

Rebuilding herself

Somdutta suffered greatly mentally and emotionally. She felt enormous shame for having made what she thought was the most stupid decision of her life. During this phase of her life, she lost so many friends.

After a few months of suffering, she decided to work on herself, her mind, her awareness about society, psychology, finance, everything. She worked on her self-development, and she was able to pull herself out of that phase. Now she is helping people who are stuck in that kind of stage in life to revive and relive their life again and gain back the freedom and power they never had.

Lessons learned

Ignorance is part of our system

Ignorance is a disease in our society these days. We are taught from childhood that ignorance is bliss.

Every problem has a hidden meaning in it

Through self-development, you’ll be able to find this hidden meaning, and in return, you will be able to solve the problem.

Sometimes you have to jump in the deep end

You’ll never know your full potential until to jump into the waters.

Avoid the shortfall risk

If you are not taking calculated risks, you’re putting yourself at risk. There is simply no way to exist without taking on risk.

Andrew’s takeaways

High risk is not...

Robert “Bob“ Seawright is the Chief Investment & Information Officer for Madison Avenue Securities, LLC, an investment advisory firm and broker-dealer headquartered in San Diego, California.

Bob’s blog, Above the Market, has received “best of” recognition from a wide variety of sources, including The Wall Street Journal and the CFA Institute, and is the #7 rated advisor blog in the country based upon readership, linkage, and influence.

And don’t’ miss The Better Letter Newsletter that he writes about markets and life and comes out every Friday morning.

“Good advice wrongly applied isn’t any better than bad advice.”

Robert Seawright

Worst investment ever

Beginner’s luck

Bob’s worst investment ever, like for most investors, was when he was starting as an investor.

At the time, Bob was working on the fixed income trading floor for a big Wall Street investment house trading bonds all day every day. So what he knew and understood was bonds.

Bod had learned from the bigwigs of investing, such as Peter Lynch, to invest in what you know. So Bob allocated his investment money heavily toward bonds. Thanks to beginner’s luck, he did just fine with his bond investments.

Missing out on higher returns

While Bob never lost any money for investing in bonds, he played too safe and missed out on other investments that he should have made early in his life. Such investments, with compounding they could have had a lot more returns.

Luck and randomness have always been his saving grace

In the course of his life, Bob has made a few more bad investments that somehow have turned out well for him, thanks to luck. For instance, he bought a house at the wrong time, but as random as this decision was, it turned out great for him.

Bob also went against financial planning advice and paid for his kids’ education. Bob had not been able to go to college, where he wanted because his parents didn’t have the money. So it was a very important value for Bob to provide the best education possible for his kids. This is even though he knew that would mean working longer and having less in retirement. Bob knew from an investment standpoint, it was foolish, but he did it anyway.

Lessons learned

What...

Verawat Kirinruttana holds an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Chulalongkorn University with first-class honors and gold medal. Verawat is currently a vice president of investment advisory services at Siam Commercial Bank (SCB). In his role, he provides asset allocation strategies and investment recommendations for private banking and affluent customers. Prior to this, he was a vice president of corporate strategy at SCB where he shaped the direction for the bank by developing strategic and tactical business plans and drove many transformation initiatives, such as the national e-payment. Before joining SCB, he was a management consultant at the Korn Ferry Hay Group (now Korn Ferry) at its Southeast Asia office, where he spent more than four years in human capital management, organizational development, and performance management. 

“With a lot of analysis and valuation you would believe that found a diamond but management, the corporate governance of that company might not be good at that at the level on the status”

– Verawat Kirinruttana

Lessons learned 

2. When investing in foreign markets, expect the unexpected. Things can happen that are beyond the mind’s ability to comprehend, events way beyond your control. This can be the case of a management decision and can happen even after a lot of analysis and careful valuation, which you believe puts things within your power. Management or corporate governance of a target company may not be good and when you try to even try to figure out what happened, the unclear nature of the market and the how you access the information can be very really limited.  

Solution: Cut losses as soon as possible but in frontier markets, liquidity can be the problem and may not be able to sell your position.  

Andrew’s takeaways 

2. Be careful about frontier markets. They can be very attractive, but the actual performance of an investment target may not turn out as good as is shown by the underlying economy. If you can access that market, it does not mean that it will also give you access to the same returns as those that exist in the market. Also the flow of information can be non-existent or scarce so that you don’t really know what is going to happen, even of you know people on the ground.   
3. 
   
5. Liquidity issues are key. A company that is the target of investment should have about US$ 1 million dollars a day in average daily turnover, or else it is too dangerous to put money into.  
6. 
   
8. Using a stop loss methodology for quantitative strategy doesn’t always...

Is global CPI going to follow the US CPI slowdown?

Global Markets

Global CPI has leveled off and is slowing in DMs, but still rising in EMs

• Economies across the world have GDP of about US$90trn and an average CPI rate of 7.4%
• The developed world has GDP of US$52trn and CPI of 6.9%
• And the emerging world has GDP of US$38trn and a higher 8.2% CPI rate

World Jan. 2023 CPI was 7.4%, up 2.1ppts YoY; MoM DM continues to fall, while EM is rising

• DM Jan. 2023 CPI was 6.9%, up 1.5ppts YoY, but falling slightly MoM
• EM Jan. 2023 CPI was 8.2%, up 2.9ppts YoY, and is rising MoM

Key points

• Global CPI was 7.4% in January, up 2.1ppts YoY, but it was flat MoM
• Developed world CPI was 6.9%, up 1.5ppts YoY, but falling slightly MoM
• Emerging world CPI in January at 8.2%, up 2.9ppts YoY, and it rose MoM

Developed Markets Regions

CPI is contained in DM Americas, peaking in DM Europe, and rising in DM Asia

• With in the Developed Markets, DM Americas is the largest with US$25trn of GDP and 6.3% CPI
• Developed Europe has US$15trn of GDP and a higher 8.3% CPI
• Developed Pacific is smaller at US$8trn and has the lowest CPI of the developed regions at 5.1%

DM Americas CPI falling, DM Europe peaking, DM Asia rising

• 12 months ago, DM Americas had a 7.4% CPI which is now down to 6.3%, a 1.1ppts fall
• This means that CPI went from 2.1ppts above the global average to 1.1ppts below
• DM Europe rose from 4.4% 12 months ago to 8.3%, up 3.8ppts
• This means it went from 0.9ppts below to 0.8ppts above the global average
• CPI is racing up in DM Pacific from 1.5% 12 months ago to the current 5.1%, that’s a 3.6ppts increase
• It has gone from 3.8ppts lower than World CPI to 2.4ppts lower

Key points

• DM Americas 6.3% January CPI is down from 7.4% 12 months ago; and has now shifted from being 2.1ppts above the global average to 1.1ppts below
• CPI nearly doubled in DM Europe over the past 12 months from 4.4% to 8.3%, shifting from about 1ppts below to 1ppts above the global average
• CPI in the must smaller DM Pacific region raced up from 1.5% 12 months ago to the current 5.1%; despite that massive 3.6ppts increase, it remains about 2.4ppts lower than the global average

Emerging Markets

EM CPI rising in Asia, Middle East and Africa, and Frontier markets on fire

• EM Americas had a small GDP of US$3.8trn and CPI of 7.9%
• EM Asia had a massive GDP of US$25.7trn and 3.2% CPI
• EM Europe had US$3.9trn GDP and a massive 23% CPI
• EM Middle East and Africa had a small US$1.7trn GDP and a high 10.2% CPI
• Finally, Frontier markets had US$2.9trn GDP and 30% CPI

EM CPI rising in Asia, Middle East and Africa, and Frontier markets on fire

• EM Americas CPI was 7.9% in January, down slightly from 8.5% 12 months ago
• EM Asia CPI went from a tiny 1.9% 12 months ago to 3.2% and is still 4.3ppts below the World CPI
• Most notably, this has ticked up slightly MoM
• EM Europe CPI was 23% and over the past two months has been falling; though it is still 15.5ppts above the World average
• EM ME&A CPI was 10.2% compared to 3.7% 12 months ago. It has now risen to be 2.8ppts above the world average compared to 1.7ppts below 12 months ago
• Consumer prices are on fire in Frontier markets up 30% YoY in January; this is double where they were 12 months ago; CPI keeps rising MoM and is now 22.5ppts above the world average

Key points

• EM Americas CPI was 7.9% in January, down slightly from 8.5% 12

Marcus Luer is Asia’s #1 Sports Marketing Entrepreneur and the Group CEO of Total Sports Asia (TSA), Asia’s global sports marketing agency, which he founded 23 years ago in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Marcus is a sought-after industry expert and speaker and has been featured on CNBC, BBC News, Bloomberg Asia, regularly presents at major global sports conferences, and has contributed to many international newspapers and industry magazine articles. He recently launched his Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast series featuring top sports executives and entrepreneurs from around the world.

“Pivoting is important, but I think you also got to be careful not to distract yourself too much.”

Marcus Luer

Worst investment ever

Inspired by Netflix, Marcus started his own over the top platform SportsFix. SportsFix is a live sports streaming platform. He felt very confident about this platform because he knew the sports industry in and out. Given his over 20 years of experience, he knew where to buy content and what the audience was looking for.

Launching the platform with confidence

Marcus put a team together, put in some of his money into the platform, and even brought external investors. He launched the platform in 2018, believing it would be a gamechanger. SpotsFix was at first available in Malaysia, and then after about eight months, it launched in Indonesia.

Why this very good idea never succeeded

While SportsFix was and remains a good idea, Marcus and his team made a couple of mistakes that crippled the idea.

Marcus and his team did not understand the consumption habits in Asia. He assumed the Asian market would consume online content the same way people in the West do. But there is a vast difference. People in Asia were not ready to sign up and pay for content, given that there is a lot of free content available.

Another thing that Marcus overlooked was piracy. He did not realize there was a massive amount of piracy out there, which the team could not stop.

Trying to pivot

After learning that he had overlooked several vital factors, Marcus tried to change the business model. At one point, he changed the model from a subscription model to an ad-driven model. The constant pivoting saw Marcus get distracted from the original SpotFix idea.

In trying to make the business idea work, Marcus ran out of money before he could get the confidence of his investors.

Lessons learned

Keep your eye on the ball, and do not get distracted

Building a business is not easy, and you may want to keep pivoting as you find your ground. However, be careful not to get distracted from your primary goal as you pivot.

Find success in your local market before you go global

Do not be too aggressive in your growth strategy. Begin by winning your local market so that you have a strong foundation to expand globally. If your home market is weak and you try to go global right away, you will have a hard time cracking the global market.

Andrew’s takeaways

Should you pivot or shut down your idea?

As a business owner, always evaluate your business idea critically before you decide to pivot. Sometimes a business idea could be a bad idea....

BIO: Cesar Hasselmann is an author, mentor, coach, and business consultant.

STORY: Cesar started a very successful gas and supermarket distribution network when he was only 16 years old. Unfortunately, about three years later, his country’s president stole public funds and caused most businesses, including Cesar’s, to suddenly collapse.

LEARNING: Challenges make you a better entrepreneur. Everything has a time. Understand the macro environment.

“Make your business and life work for you, not the other way around.”

Cesar Hasselmann

Guest profile

Cesar Hasselmann is an author, mentor, coach, and business consultant. After helping multinational and international companies adjust and succeed in their projects, he began to branch out and help small to medium business owners achieve success and founded AMH Consultancy.

Worst investment ever

When Cesar was 16, he started his first distribution business in Brazil. His family knew some business people who owned industries, and he got to distribute their products through different channels. One of the most successful channels was a small gas station he’d started.

Later, Cesar opened several gas stations and now had a successful network. This opened more opportunities for him, and he started selling for all the big gas station brands, like Shell. Cesar asked his brother to join him in the business as a partner. His brother left his job at Coca-Cola and joined him. The brother took over the supermarket distribution channel.

The business grew, and they started adding more products. The two brothers were experiencing great success until the president stole public funds with the excuse of paying the country’s debt. Everything started to collapse, and the whole country was scrambling. The only money businesses could hold was the new money coming in because the money they had saved was gone—this crippled Cesar’s business.

Lessons learned

• Challenges make you a better entrepreneur.
• Everything has a time—be mindful of making decisions too late or too early in the process.
• Don’t start a business if you don’t know where you’ll end up or how it will impact your life in the next 20 years.
• Work today on the things you want to see happen. Don’t wait for tomorrow. It’s too expensive, time-consuming, and stressful.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Understand the macro environment.
• Understand the currency you’re using and what’s going on with it.
• Investing is about risk, and sometimes bad things happen without warning.

Actionable advice

Know your magic numbers. Also, have your plan in place. So if you have a family business, you must have a succession, acquisition, or sales plan. You need to be ready to sell every day.

Cesar’s recommended resources

Cesa recommends reading his upcoming book, The Life Break Through (available in the next 30 days). This book is about business, family, and personal cycles. Cesar broke down these cycles to allow people to understand their different emotions and their impact on their businesses.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Cesar’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to have two properties—100% percent paid out—and $1 million in his bank account.

Parting words

“Make the best use of my experience to put...

BIO: Peter Ricchiuti is a graduate of Babson College and began his career with the investment firm Kidder Peabody in Boston. He later managed Louisiana’s $3 billion investment portfolio while serving as the assistant state treasurer.

STORY: Peter made the mistake of falling in love with a particular stock and hyped it to his clients. The company had no moat and couldn’t stand the competition. Peter’s reputation was severely affected after the stock price fell significantly.

LEARNING: Don’t fall in love with a stock. Diversification is key.

“If you meet a money manager and they tell you they’ve never had any big losers, just run because losses are part of the game.”

Peter Ricchiuti

Guest profile

Peter Ricchiuti is a graduate of Babson College and began his career with the investment firm Kidder Peabody in Boston. He later managed Louisiana’s $3 billion investment portfolio while serving as the assistant state treasurer.

From Memphis to Mars (PA), Peter has addressed more than 1,200 groups in 47 states and several countries. He has been featured in BARRON’S, Kiplinger’s, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He also hosts a popular weekly business show on National Public Radio in New Orleans called “Out To Lunch.”

Worst investment ever

Peter got interested in a new company making soft soap that would replace the bar soap, which it did. The stock was trading at around $19 a share, and Peter just fell in love with it. He got many blatant signals that this would not work, but he ignored them.

At first, the stock performed very well. However, the company had no moat. So the stock started falling. It got to $9, and Peter was beside himself because he had the stock in many client accounts as a speculative stock. The stock price just kept falling.

As a broker, Peter’s biggest loss was not the money but the fact that his entire clientele and institutional salespeople wouldn’t believe him anymore.

Lessons learned

• Diversification is crucial.
• Don’t fall in love with a stock.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Just because a company or a CEO has an idea and is implementing it well doesn’t mean they can hold on to it.

Actionable advice

Think of all the downsides before you take a position.

Peter’s recommendations

Peter recommends reading How to Invest: Masters on the Craft to learn more about investing.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Peter’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to dig deeper into a few stocks he liked a couple of years ago and are now selling for much lower prices.

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Peter Ricchiuti

• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14...

Nick Bradley is a business scale up specialist helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses to create freedom, build wealth, achieve their mission, and live life more on their terms. He is the founder of the Fielding Group, a growth accelerator that helps companies improve business performance. He works with private equity firms across the UK and the US, leading business turnarounds, mergers, acquisitions, and scale-ups.

Over the last decade, he has bought, built, and sold multiple businesses creating significant value for shareholders. Nick is also the host of UK’s number one business podcast on iTunes, Scale Up Your Business. His mission is to help bring an entrepreneurial skillset and mindset to people all over the world as a driving force of progression and prosperity.

Originally from Australia, Nick is a dedicated family man who has a strong background in physical fitness, having completed 67 marathons and 24 ultramarathons worldwide. He's also a qualified personal trainer and performance coach.

“The worst time to make an investment decision is when it's based purely on emotions because you're not seeing the bigger picture, and you're not being objective.”

Nick Bradley

Worst investment ever

Starting his entrepreneurial journey

Nick’s entrepreneurial journey started when he was 18 years old when he started a gym. Personal training back in the late 80s was still a new idea, so in some ways, he was innovating, but he felt the need to get out of the environment. So he sold that business to a friend for a little bit of cash, packed up all his belongings, and left the little town of Adelaide, South Australia. He ended up in Sydney with about a month's worth of cash.

Jumping into the corporate world

Left with barely any money to survive on and about to move back to Adelaide, he was lucky enough to bag a job as marketing manager of Men's Health magazine. His new job earned him some good money. He loved his job and did everything he could to get ahead in his career as quickly as possible. Sometimes he had to step on people to get to where he needed to get.

Board member before he was 30

Nick’s drive to succeed saw him become a board director of a company in the UK before he was 30. So he left Sydney and moved to the UK after he got transferred there by one of the media companies he was working for.

Grinding his teeth, literally

All this corporate work was stressing him up. One night he was quite stressed and wasn't feeling great. He was taking some of that stress out on his young family as well. So this night, he had a whole heap of stuff going on with the company he was working in. The stress had him grinding his teeth in his sleep. He woke up and realized that he had cracked all his back teeth on the right side. He had ground his teeth right down to the point where the pressure of the clinch broke his teeth.

BIO: Drew Neisser is the founder of Renegade and CMO Huddles. Drew has helped dozens of CMOs unleash their inner renegade via multiple award-winning campaigns.

STORY: Drew made the mistake of increasing his staff from 40 to 100 and tripling his office space. Then one of his clients refused to pay the $500,000 owed. He was left with a real estate and cash flow problem.

LEARNING: Be conscious about recurring versus non-recurring revenue. Be careful not to lose your business focus while chasing revenue.

“Sweat, then figure out where that opportunity is.”

Drew Neisser

Guest profile

Drew Neisser is the founder of Renegade and CMO Huddles. Drew has helped dozens of CMOs unleash their inner renegade via multiple award-winning campaigns and told the stories of over 500 marketers via his podcast Renegade Marketers Unite, Ad Age column, and two books. His 2nd book, Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands, was named the top B2B audiobook of 2022.

Drew is ranked among LinkedIn’s Top 15 marketing voices of 2022 and has been a featured marketing expert on TV, radio, print, and dozens of podcasts.

Says bestselling author Jay Baer, “Drew Neisser is among the strongest B2B marketing thinkers in the world.”

Worst investment ever

Renegade grew tremendously between 2005 and 2008. The company had 40 people, but it really needed 100 people to handle this brief moment. So Drew tripled the company’s office space, which soon became a problem.

In addition to being in this gigantic space, Drew had the genius idea that this was the moment to buy Renegade from the parent company. The plan was to fund the deal with pending payments. Forty-five days into the agreement, Drew got a client call saying they wouldn’t pay the $500,000 they owed because someone had scammed the client.

At this point, the company was over-extended in real estate and had too many product lines. At the time, the company was doing event marketing, guerilla marketing, website development, and social media. Then the financial crisis hit, and Drew had a real estate problem and a cash flow problem.

Lessons learned

• Don’t let the chase for revenue make you lose focus on what you’re really good at.
• Join a community first and get to know it well, and participate before you start your own.

Andrew’s takeaways

• The chasing revenue phase can take you to many exciting places, but eventually, it will overextend you.
• Be conscious about recurring versus non-recurring revenue.
• Consider joining and starting a community.

Actionable advice

Be real estate light, especially if you’re a service company since clients rarely visit offices now.

Drew’s recommendations

• Drew recommends checking out Renegade.com. There, you’ll find links to his podcast, a monthly newsletter that a lot of folks in business subscribe to, and a blog that’s constantly being updated and has transcripts from all the podcast episodes.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Drew’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to work four days a week instead of six. At the same time, he wants to grow

BIO: Manisha Thakor has worked in financial services for over 30 years, focusing on women’s economic empowerment.

STORY: From a very young age, Manisha equated her self-worth to her achievements. This led her to overwork herself almost to death—twice.

LEARNING: Don’t underestimate the incredible power of the net present value of your future earnings. Invest concurrently in your financial health and your emotional wealth.

“Investing concurrently in your financial health and your emotional wealth is the secret formula to maximizing the NPV of your potential future earning stream.”

Manisha Thakor

Guest profile

Manisha Thakor has worked in financial services for over 30 years with a focus on women’s economic empowerment. A nationally recognized thought leader around the issues of financial literacy and education, Manisha has been featured in national media such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, CNN, and CNBC. She has written two personal finance books for women in their 20s and 30s. Her latest book MoneyZen: The Secret to Finding Your “Enough,” comes out on August 8th, 2023. Manisha earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA from Wellesley College. She also holds the CFA and CFP designations.

Worst investment ever

Growing up, Manisha lived in a small town in Indiana. Being mixed race, she got picked on a lot, particularly in grades four, five, and six. Those formative years put her on the search for a sense of belonging. The cheerleaders and football players didn’t like Manisha, but the teachers did because she worked hard and got good grades. So Manisha started getting endorphin high from teachers’ approvals and getting good grades. She kept studying and going after those grades because they made her feel whole and worth something in a way that she didn’t feel socially.

When Manisha entered finance, she realized there were no teachers or grades, just bosses and money. And so, she developed a profoundly toxic relationship with work, money, success, and accomplishments. Manisha had come to identify her self-worth in her school years with grades. In her professional years, Manisha placed her self-worth in her net worth. Because Manisha was so locked into her identity and sense of self-worth as her achievements at work, she didn’t have friends or hobbies. She worked seven days a week and traveled 40 weeks a year for a decade.

One day she was sitting on a plane and had tears streaming down her face. She had piles of paperwork on her small tray that she was trying to work on. All Manisha could think of was that she had no idea how she would make it through the next 48 hours of meetings because she had no energy left.

A lady sitting across from Manisha came and gave her this look like she knew what she was going through. The lady opened this expensive-looking silver pill case and pulled out three yellow pills. She handed them to Manisha and told her to take just half a pill. Manisha grabbed the pills like candy. She didn’t even ask what she was putting in her mouth. Turns out it was Valium, and it helped. Manisha was able to calm down. She took another pill the following day and made it through her meetings.

Manisha kept this life going until she had two near-death experiences. Both times Manisha wished she’d spent more time with family, that she’d not missed her grandmother’s funeral or the many weddings because she had meetings that were so important.

The second near-death experience was her big wake-up call. Manisha had...

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew gets into part two of his discussion with Larry Swedroe: Ignorance is Bliss. Today, they discuss three chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this series, they discuss mistake number 32: Are You Subject to the Money Illusion? Mistake 33: Do You Believe Demographics Are Destiny? And mistake 34: Do You Follow a Prudent Process When Choosing a Financial Advisory Firm?

LEARNING: Understand how the money illusion works to avoid making financial mistakes. Focus on managing risk and not trying to manage returns. Past performance is meaningless for active managers.

“What amazes me is that I can’t think of anybody who has ever asked the advisor to show them how they invest personally. That’s an absolute necessity because if they’re not putting their money where their mouth is and eating their own cooking, why should you?”

Larry Swedroe

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew gets into part two of his discussion with Larry Swedroe: Ignorance is Bliss. Larry is the head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.

Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today, Andrew and Larry discuss three chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this series, they discuss mistake number 32: Are You Subject to the Money Illusion? Mistake 33: Do You Believe Demographics Are Destiny? And mistake 34: Do You Follow a Prudent Process When Choosing a Financial Advisory Firm?

Mistake number 32: Are You Subject to the Money Illusion?

According to Larry, one of the illusions with great potential for creating investment mistakes is the money illusion. Money illusion occurs when people confuse inflation returns, nominal or real returns, and how the economy is impacted differently. It has great potential for creating mistakes because it relates to one of the most popular indicators used by investors to determine if the market is undervalued or overvalued, known as the Fed Model.

The problem with the Fed Model, leading to a false conclusion, is that it fails to consider that inflation has a different impact on corporate earnings than it does on the return on fixed-income instruments. Over the long term, the nominal growth rate of corporate earnings has been in line with the economy’s nominal growth rate, and the real growth rate of corporate earnings has been in line with the economy’s real growth. Thus, the real growth rate of earnings is not impacted by inflation in the long term. On the other hand, the yield to maturity on a 10-year bond is a nominal return, and, therefore, the real return on the bond will be negatively impacted by inflation. The error of comparing a number that is not impacted by inflation to one that is leads to the “money illusion.”

Larry says the empirical evidence and logic are pretty simple: Corporate earnings grow in line with the GDP. If they grew much faster, they would dominate the whole economy, and there’d be nothing left for wages.

While gaining knowledge of how a magical illusion works has the negative effect of ruining the illusion, understanding the “magic” of financial illusions is beneficial to investors as it should help...

In this presentation, I will introduce you to our MSCI Sectors and their attractiveness

Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs

What do you think: Which of the global sectors is most attractive?

We use GICS sector classification

• GICS The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) is an industry classification system developed by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P) and MSCI in 1999
• GICS works well for the global financial community

MSCI separates stocks into 11 different sectors

• Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Information Technology, Communication Services, Utilities, and Real Estate

Then 25 Industry groups

• Some sectors such as Industrials have three Industry groups as follows:
• Capital Goods
• Commercial & Professional Services
• Transportation

There are 74 industries

• Within Transportation Industry Group there are five main Industries
• 1) Air Freight & Logistics, 2) Passenger Airlines, 3) Marine Transportation, 4) Ground Transportation, and 5) Transportation Infrastructure

There are 163 Sub-Industries

• Finally, within the Industrials Sector, the Transportation Industry group, the Transportation Infrastructure Industry, are 3 Sub-Industries
• 1) Airport Services, 2) Highways & Railtracks, and 3) Marine Ports & Services

GICS sectors include 1,508 Developed Market companies, total market cap is about US$53trn

• The largest sector is Info. Tech. at US$11trn market cap and consists of 183 companies
• The smallest is Real Estate with a market cap of US$1.5trn and 96 companies

What is your investment framework?

• Our investment strategies for ETFs and stocks come from our FVMR framework
• We backtest and optimize the strategy for the factors that have worked best in each market

We do all our research in-house

• We don’t rely on other people’s research
• We might of course get ideas from others, but we then test those ideas in our FVMR framework

The benefit of an investment framework is that it forces discipline when emotions run high

• Emotions from wild market events can cause you to make rash and costly decisions
• To avoid this, stick to a framework
• Our framework relies on data & structure, not just a feeling or opinion

Management

• Is responsible for producing earnings

Investors

• Set the price the company trades at

There are 4 Elements to our FVMR framework

• Fundamentals: Strong profitability shows a company is managed well.
• We prefer high or rising profitability.
• Valuation: Shows how the market perceives the stock.
• We prefer good fundamentals at relatively cheap valuations.
• Momentum: We try to avoid “value traps” by looking for positive price and earnings momentum.
• At times, low momentum signals an out-of-favor opportunity.
• Risk: We prefer low business and price risk.
• Not every stock is going to fly; some just provide stable returns and strong dividends.

Fundamentals

Info. Tech has a 23% ROE; Health Care, Cons. Staples, and Energy are each earning 20% ROE

• 15%

Mohsen Arjang completed a bachelor of science degree in industrial economics at Allameh Tabataba’i University in Iran and then started his work as an economic journalist at a local newspaper. Following that he continued his career as a foreign commercial manager at prominent corporations. In 2013, he started his own business as a digital marketing and branding consultant, working with enterprises, municipalities and city councils (engaged in city-branding projects). He established in 2016 the Iran Market Monitor (IMM) group, a leading consultancy with the mission to analyze the Iranian market and provide business solutions for corporations. His international experience includes presenting the “Urmia City Branding Project” at the 12th Metropolis World Congress 2017 in Canada and speaking at the World Wealth Creation Conference 2017 in Singapore alongside respected speakers such as Brian Tracy and Ron Kaufman.

“Do research and get help from specialists in the field in which you are planning to invest.” 

Mohsen Arjang 

Worst investment ever

Two friends involved in the automotive industry approached Mohsen in 2014 to collaborate on and invest in a new production line imported from Europe to make accessories for a car that had achieved great popularity in the Iranian market. While it was a new area for him, his friends had already started to produce one line of the parts and wanted Mohsen to invest in the raw materials, because they had the equipment already. Since he had known them more than five years and had already witnessed their considerable, he trusted their presentation and the facts and figures they showed him. All evidence supported the hope that the business would grow quickly in the near future and the car model’s sales were increasing. He thought there would definitely be good new ahead. We started to buy more raw materials and they built a better mold for the accessory.

Orders start to come in for the partner’s cheaper parts

Not long after, the partners started to face huge demand evidenced in a large number of orders from customers. This was happening because of the popularity of the car model and our product cost. As the trio were buying large volumes of raw materials, they were able to negotiate better deals and improve their competitive advantage in the market. Further, their production costs were among the cheapest in the industry.

Fortune turns as new model of car hits the market, draining their sales

However, after three months a brand new model of the same car was launched and sales of the model for which they were supplying accessories started to fade. Although their sales were not dropping sharply, they could see a steady decrease. After six months, their sales had been halved. As a result, the team could not afford production costs because the price also continued to decrease. Mohsen and his partners were astonished about what was happening.

Hard call made to stop production

Finally, they decided to stop production. From the onset, as they had failed to anticipate this change in their future, they were ill-equipped to adapt their plant to the new accessories for the fresh car on the block. Mohsen lose the whole of his investment.

Once bitten, twice shy, but the healing power of logic emerged

The ensuing emotional damage was that the...

BIO: Shashank Randev has acquired a depth and breadth of experience from working in large companies, being the founding member for a SaaS startup (acquired by a Fortune 500 Company), to an early-stage fund investing in technology-enabled startups.

STORY: Shashank was the lead investor of his angel network and was advocating for a startup looking for funding. They had an impressive conversational artificial intelligence assistant for retailers. Their one problem, though; they didn’t have proof of concept. Shashank was unable to convince the founders to work on proof of concept, so he pulled his support. A year later, the startup was acquired by a huge company. Had Shashank not pulled out, he would have made 7x of his investment in the acquisition.

LEARNING: Identify your buyer even before you create your product. Have different perspectives when evaluating an early-stage startup.

“You cannot possibly have one set of perspectives when looking at an early stage company because anything can happen; acquisition can happen at any time.”

Shashank Randev

Guest profile

Shashank Randev brings entrepreneurial and investment understanding with 15+ years of cross-functional expertise. He has acquired a depth and breadth of experience from working in large companies, being the founding member for a SaaS startup (acquired by a Fortune 500 Company), to an early-stage fund investing in technology-enabled startups.

Shashank is Founder VC at 100X.VC (x)-India’s first venture fund to invest in early-stage startups using iSAFE Notes. Go to https://www.100x.vc/ and submit your pitch deck.

He is also an Angel Investor and Advisor with a keen interest in B2B emerging technology startups. Additionally, he is a Member at PIOCCI (People of Indian Origin Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

Previously, he was the Founding member and Vice President of VCCEdge, the SaaS data platform by VCCircle (acquired by News Corporation in 2015). He launched the SaaS platform, led revenue, product development, and growth initiatives for close to seven years at VCCEdge. He has also worked with NIIT Ltd. and Zensar Technologies Ltd.

Shashank holds an undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Engineering from Nagpur University and an MBA from International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi.

Specialties: Scaling up Startups, Accelerators, Angel & Seed Investment, Venture Capital, Global Open Innovation, M&A, Cross-Border Transactions & Entrepreneurship.

Worst investment ever

Shashank was and still is very interested in conversation in commerce. In 2017, he met this company developing a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) assistant for retailers. The AI assistant could understand a customer’s needs through natural conversation, offer them relevant recommendations, and explain why that may be the best choice. This fascinating AI was a huge opportunity.

The founders of the company had previously built another successful startup that a famous Indian company acquired. So they were second-time founders, which was a colossal tickmark for Shashank.

Advocating for the founders to get funded

In August 2018, Shashank decided to lead the investment through an angel network. As the leader of this transaction, Shashank’s job was to convince...

BIO: Patrick Zulueta is a country pioneer for launching and managing technology brands. He’s helped Cashalo, PayMaya (Mai a), and BPI achieve millions of downloads and users, as well as triple-digit revenue growth in the first two years handling each of these brands.

STORY: Patrick’s worst investment was failing to invest in himself earlier in his career and only started doing so in his 30s.

LEARNING: Failure is an integral part of success, and the earlier you fail, the better. Start testing your ideas as early as possible.

“Open yourself to failures and be willing to accept the risks.”

Patrick Zulueta

Guest profile

Patrick Zulueta is a country pioneer for launching and managing technology brands. He’s helped Cashalo, PayMaya (Mai a), and BPI achieve millions of downloads and users, as well as triple-digit revenue growth in the first two years handling each of these brands.

Since then, he has become a Co-founder and Director for Growth at apper.ph, a tech company that helps businesses adopt new technology and innovation. Their clientele includes some of the country’s top digital companies.

He has over 13 years of experience in marketing strategy, branding, business development, and marketing communications. And Patrick’s mission is to continually empower the underserved via digital transformation.

Worst investment ever

Patrick’s worst investment was not investing in himself early on in his career. Many tech co-founders in Southeast Asia, Silicon Valley, and the greater regions of Europe typically experience success even in the 20s. But Patrick received his success in his early 30s. This is because he didn’t invest in the right mentorship, the right skill set, or trying out a tech startup earlier. He started doing these things when he was already 30.

Lessons learned

• The only way to learn is by trying it out, failing, and then getting back to it.
• It’s only when you put yourself out there will you learn and start to succeed.
• Be willing to accept that failures are essential before success comes, and the earlier you fail, the better.

Andrew’s takeaways

• You’ve got to start testing your hypotheses and ideas as early as possible.

Actionable advice

Take one idea, whether it’s a good one or a bad one, as long as you strongly believe in it and it’s something that you’re passionate about, go for it.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Patrick’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to continue helping shape the Philippine tech and cloud industry.

Parting words

“Listen to other people’s learnings and failures in investing so you don’t make the same mistakes. You’ll learn and fail forward sooner.”

Patrick Zulueta

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Patrick Zulueta

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How

BIO: Shreekkanth (“Shree”) Viswanathan is the founder and portfolio manager of SVN Capital, a Chicago-based, concentrated, long-only, global equity-focused fund.

STORY: Shree’s biggest mistake is an error of omission. That is, after studying a particular business, he decided not to invest in it for various reasons. The stock turned out to be a multi-bagger a couple of years later.

LEARNING: The qualitative strengths of a company are not always readily apparent in the financials. Get out and work in business; it will make you a better analyst and investor.

“If you don’t know who you are, the market is an expensive place to find out.”

Shreekkanth Viswanathan

Guest profile

Shreekkanth (“Shree”) Viswanathan is the founder and portfolio manager of SVN Capital, a Chicago-based, concentrated, long-only, global equity-focused fund.

After graduating from the University of Chicago, Shree worked as an investment banker for a few years before moving over to the buy side. Shree describes his investment style as Value investing with a Quality overlay.

Worst investment ever

Back in 2009, Shree was working as an analyst in Chicago. As the economy struggled to come out of the real estate-centered malaise, Shree studied a company called Copart Inc. Copart is the largest salvage yard company in the US. Its business model is pretty simple. When a vehicle on the road gets into an accident, it’s hauled to a salvage yard. The insurance company covering that vehicle will quickly decide if they will pay the policyholder for repairs or total the vehicle and send it to the salvage yard. For various reasons, more and more insurance companies send damaged cars to the salvage yard.

At the salvage yard, these vehicles are auctioned, and buyers will buy them to get parts, fix up their cars, or pull the parts and sell them. So, in any case, Copart is the middleman and gets paid from both sides.

From its early days, the founder, Willis Johnson, had decided to own the land on which the salvage yards operate instead of leasing it. Given that real estate was the epicenter of the 2008/9 financial crisis, many businesses were cheap. Shree had been studying Copart and was impressed by the price. The market cap was about US$350 million. At that price, Shree would be paying for just the land in all the salvage yards that the company owns (about 140 yards around the country). He’d be getting the operations for free. That was the hypothesis Shree was working off. He did more research and then concluded that he wasn’t only paying for the land at that price.

After reaching that conclusion, Shree decided to move on. There were lots of other options. Over time as the economy improved and Copart’s earnings and cash flow improved, the stock price reflected that improvement. Shree was just on the sidelines, watching the stock go up. By 2020, the stock was up 10x from 2009.

Lessons learned

• The qualitative strengths of a company are not always readily apparent in the financials.
• Try understanding the strengths of the management teams of the companies you intend to invest in.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Get out and work in business. It will make you a better analyst and investor.

Actionable advice

Investing is an individual sport, and we each have to play to our strengths.

Shree’s recommendations

Shree recommends finding ways that help you get the vision, courage, and patience to invest.

No.1 goal for the next 12...

BIO: Judy Weber is a women’s business strategist and scaling expert, helping six-figure female CEOs take their business to the next level with strategy, systems, and simplicity.

STORY: Judy always played small and allowed fear to hold her back from being who she truly wanted to be.

LEARNING: Don’t let fear stop you from pursuing your dreams.

“Courage is not the absence of fear; it is taking a step forward even in the midst of your fear.”

Judy Weber

Guest profile

Judy Weber is a women’s business strategist and scaling expert, helping six-figure female CEOs take their business to the next level with strategy, systems, and simplicity. Her global client base is outstanding professionals, experts, coaches, consultants, and creatives.

A former trial lawyer and c-suite executive turned serial entrepreneur, Judy overcame a lot to get where she is today. A small-town girl from humble means, she did what others thought was impossible as she pursued her dreams without apology. Featured on Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS, women seek Judy out to learn how to think like a CEO and scale to seven figures!

Worst investment ever

Judy’s worst investment was playing small. She lacked faith and didn’t believe in herself. Even though she was super driven and always wanted to be a lawyer, her lack of self-belief saw her study to be a music teacher instead of a lawyer. It took Judy five years after graduating from college to actually start law school because she was thinking small and didn’t believe she could be a lawyer.

Lessons learned

• Don’t let fear stop you from pursuing your dreams. Take action in spite of the fear.
• You’re perfectly imperfect, and you’re enough right now.
• It doesn’t matter your age, go for it and see what you can accomplish.

Andrew’s takeaways

• The possibility of what you can do is beyond your imagination. If you do the next best thing for yourself each day, you’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish.

Actionable advice

Open up your mind to possibilities, and just take “no” out of the equation. If there’s something that you have always had a burning desire to do or to pursue, don’t let anything stop you.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Judy’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get her two books written and published.

Parting words

“Pursue the impossible.”

Judy Weber

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Judy Weber

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Podcast
• FREE Joyful Scaling Strategy Consultation

Andrew’s books

Michael Michelini is an American social media, e-commerce, and SEO Specialist who has lived in China since 2007. He is a passionate business connector who helps companies do business in China as well as Chinese companies to work in overseas markets. Michael built Global From Asia, a cross-border e-commerce community, to help cross border business owners learn, network, make business partnerships, and grow global businesses. Most recently, he has joined as a partner at Alpha Rock Capital, which is an Amazon FBA investment company.

“Don’t get caught up in patents if you’re entrepreneur and investor. Of course, it’s important to have your IP, but I think the most important one is a brand trademark.”

Michael Michelini

Worst investment ever

Setting sail in China

Michael moved to China in late 2007 with interest in living and doing business there. A few months later, he met a businessman, Andrew, who was all too willing to take him under his wing. Andrew was a sourcing agency and a product specialist who had been in China for 10 years already.

He took Michael through the backstreets of China, and in the process, Michael got to learn all the insights of Chinese business. It’s in these backstreets that Michael got to know where the best deals happen, the inside scoop about manufacturing, who is who in business, and so much more information that helped him build on to his business plans.

Forging a business partnership

Andrew was impressed by Michael’s internet marketing skills and abilities. He had so many product ideas which he shared with Michael. One of the ideas that got Michael very excited about was a light-up, pour spout. This is a bottle top that you put on top of a vodka bottle or any kind of liquid, and when you pour, it lights up the stream of alcohol to the color of the LED.

Michael was already selling bar supplies through his e-commerce business and had customers and distribution pipelines. Andrew would help engineer it, and together they would produce and market it from China.

From an idea to a real product

They embarked on the journey to get the product ready. First, they brought on a partner with a legal background. Then they found the guy who had a patent to the product idea but had never made a product.

Hurdle after hurdle

Getting the patent was the first hurdle. They spent so much time going back and forth without reaching a compromise. The patent owner wanted more money than Michael was willing to pay to transfer the patent. Eventually, after months of arguing, Michael put his foot down and told the patent owner to take his offer or forget the whole deal. He accepted the offer.

The second hardball Michael faced was that his friend Andrew wanted him to use his friend’s factory. But he quoted an upfront fee of about $20,000 for the manufacturing of the product. This is not to make the product but just...

BIO: Corina Burton is the co-founder and co-owner of CPR Construction Cleaning, CPR Productions, and host of the Unstoppable podcast.

STORY: Corina returned to an old job and gave up a good salary even though her gut told her not to. The old employer could not pay her, causing her to hit a financial rock bottom.

LEARNING: Listen to your intuition.

“Business is not linear. Learn to pair your analytical and spiritual self.”

Corina Burton

Guest profile

Corina Burton is the co-founder and co-owner of CPR Construction Cleaning, CPR Productions, and host of the Unstoppable podcast.

She is a mother of 4, serial entrepreneur, brand builder, marketing expert, and industry/generational disrupter. She has over 15 years of industry expertise in business-to-business authentic marketing, sales and brand building.

Corina is an industry leader driven by her passion and skills in negotiating contracts, multi-seven-figure sales, business development, customer relationship management, event management, and brand recognition creator.

As a mindset coach and marketing expert, Corina lives her life believing and knowing she is truly Unstoppable.

Worst investment ever

Corina had been a stay-at-home mom for years. When she suddenly became a single parent, she decided to look for a job. Corina got employed in the construction industry, and she thrived. But soon, she felt like she had hit a glass ceiling. Corina decided to try something new when a recruiter in a different industry headhunted her and offered her a fantastic salary.

After a while, Corina’s old employer approached her and asked her to go back. Even though her gut told her to say no, she returned to her old job. The company started struggling in just a few months and couldn’t pay her. In about eight months, Corina had run out of her savings.

She was conflicted about what to do. If she walked away, she would lose everything and would never be able to recoup what her employer owed her. She would lose out on the time she spent and start over with another job. Eventually, after a year and a half, she decided to quit.

Lessons learned

• Listen to your intuition.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Have intuition awareness.
• Don’t be asset-rich and cash poor. If you don’t have the cash you need when you need it, you’re facing a liquidity crunch.
• Beware of the physical warning signs.
• When you invest in a business, make sure you have monthly complete financial statements (a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement). Close the books every single month.

Actionable advice

Not everything analytically correct on paper is going to work. So pair logical and analytical. Write it down and make sure it makes sense.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Corina’s goal for the next 12 months is to have a stronger outreach. She’s focusing on the Unstoppable brand so that she can reach more people.

Parting words

“Your circumstances don’t define you; your choices do 100%.”

Corina Burton

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Corina Burton

BIO: Vanessa Ho built a student-alumni-run angel investment network and educates students and fresh graduates on startup and private sector investments.

STORY: Vanessa invested blindly in a startup she was introduced to by an angel investor. She never did any research. There was no market for the company’s product, so it never made any returns.

LEARNING:  Dig deep into the business model and ensure the startup has a product that the market needs. Don’t invest in a company just because it’s popular and others do it.

“Learn the fundamentals of angel investing.”

Vanessa Ho

Guest profile

Vanessa Ho built a student-alumni-run angel investment network and educates students and fresh graduates on startup and private sector investments.

Formerly she was a venture capital analyst and a social media content creator and host. Currently, she is in a socialfi startup called So-Col doing business development and marketing.

Worst investment ever

An angel investor introduced Vanessa to a company dealing with paywalls for media outlets. The company looked good on paper, and Vanessa trusted the angel investor, so she didn’t do a lot of due diligence. She simply put money into the company blindly. She didn’t even read the investment contract.

Three months later, the company hadn’t made any progress, and the owners were getting worried about sustainability. Vanessa kept checking the news, and many months later, she realized that the company wasn’t going anywhere. She decided to write it off.

Lessons learned

• Don’t be swayed by big founder names and glamorous titles. Dig deep into the business model and ensure the startup has a product that the market needs.
• Do your due diligence even if other angel investors are backing up the startup you want to invest in.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Don’t invest in a company just because it’s popular and others do it.
• Don’t invest in a startup if you don’t have enough money to risk or if you’re new to investing.
• Weigh your risk before you invest in a startup.
• Invest in 10 startups, never in just one.

Actionable advice

Learn the fundamentals of angel investing before putting your money into it.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Vanessa’s goal for the next 12 months is to build a syndicated fund to bring value to private sector investing.

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Vanessa Ho

• LinkedIn
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points

Andrew’s online programs

• Valuation Master...

BIO: Miguel Rodriguez is the CEO of the US Presidential Service Center. He has retired from an outstanding US government career and is currently a facilitator with the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management Program.

STORY: Miguel was actively involved in developing government contracting with companies. Some of these companies would take his ideas and start side projects without his knowledge. This led him to learn the importance of protecting his intellectual properties the hard way.

LEARNING: Always have an NDA with you before pitching your ideas. Get compensated for your intellectual property.

“Protect your intellectual property right from day one when entering any business transaction.”

Miguel Rodriguez

Guest profile

Miguel Rodriguez is the CEO of the US Presidential Service Center. He has retired from an outstanding US government career and is currently with the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management Program as a facilitator.

Worst investment ever

Miguel was actively involved in developing government contracting with companies. He didn’t realize for a very long time that in the course of this consulting, he was exposing his intellectual properties to the companies he was working with. Some of these companies would take his ideas and start their own projects on the side without acknowledging Miguel as the owner of these ideas. It wasn’t until he learned just how much he was losing that Miguel started copywriting his intellectual properties.

Lessons learned

• Whenever you engage in any business discussion where you’re presenting your ideas or works, ensure everyone involved signs an NDA that protects intellectual property from going beyond that discussion.
• If there’s a need for anyone to own your intellectual property, ensure that you receive a monetary return from that.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Be careful when bidding for a massive project. Don’t let the excitement make you do anything to get it because you may lose something in the process and still not land the project.

Actionable advice

Protect your intellectual property right from day one when entering any business transaction. Before you give your pitch, let everyone know your deliverables and how you expect to be paid.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Miguel’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to develop strong relationships with other companies worldwide that will work together to build jobs and address food shortages in Africa and Latin America.

Parting words

“Don’t be discouraged by failure because it’s in failure that we learn. So take that failure and keep moving forward.”

Miguel Rodriguez

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Miguel Rodriguez

• LinkedIn
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the...

BIO: Eric Sim is the author of Small Actions: Leading Your Career To Big Success, giving 66 actionable tips to help one achieve career success.

STORY: Eric bought a condo with the hopes of selling it at a higher price. Unfortunately, the government changed, affecting the demand for condos. Eric is yet to sell the property or rent it for income.

LEARNING: Don’t let your past successes blind you when investing. Identify your buyer before you even buy that real estate.

“Never expect 100% of your investments to make money. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win.”

Eric Sim

Guest profile

Eric Sim is the author of Small Actions: Leading Your Career To Big Success, giving 66 actionable tips to help one achieve career success. He is a successful banker, having worked with Citi in Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong before joining UBS Investment Bank as a managing director.

Worst investment ever

Eric bought a massive piece of property north of Singapore. It was a 2,400-square foot home. It did well because demand was high. One year later, Eric decided to buy another property. The prices had gone up this time, and he paid a lot more for the second property. There had been plans to construct a high-speed rail from Singapore to Malaysia. This saw properties in Malaysia increase in demand.

About three years later, the Malaysian government changed. The new government put the high-speed rail plans on hold. This saw property prices drop due to low demand and high supply. Eric tried to sell his property but couldn’t as there was no demand. He wanted to rent it out, but it was just not worth it because prepping the property to rent it out would cost 1-2 years of rental income. He is still holding onto the property.

Lessons learned

• Don’t let your past successes blind you when investing.
• Before you buy property, seriously think about the demand. Who will buy that property when you want to sell it one or two years later?
• Never expect 100% of your investments to make money. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
• Don’t let one lousy investment ruin your life.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Sometimes investing in condos can be a trap where you just get into it because you’re excited and then get stuck in it because nobody will buy it.
• Identify your buyer before you even buy that real estate property.

Actionable advice

Do your due diligence and make the correct type of comparison. List down the facts and be your own devil’s advocate.

Eric’s recommended resources

• Read the Small Actions: Leading Your Career To Big Success for 66 actionable tips to help you supercharge your career.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Eric’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to use his money to create impact and to live a meaningful life.

Parting words

“Think big. Start small. Act now.”

Eric Sim

[spp-transcript]

Connect with Eric Sim

• LinkedIn
• Book

Andrew’s...

BIO:  Mark Longo is the Founder & CEO of the Options Insider Media Group. A former Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) member, Mark created the first options podcast over 15 years ago.

STORY: Mark was working as an equity puts trader on the floor of the CBOE when, one day, every broker on the floor started calling out orders for puts. Mark, however, was hesitant to join in the funfair. This caused him a few dollars but saved him a lot more because the S&P futures started tumbling, traders lost millions of dollars, and many lost their jobs after that.

LEARNING: Listen to your intuition. Don't be afraid to walk away from an option that looks too good to be true. There will always be other options to trade.

“When a trade is just too perfect, don't be afraid to look that gift horse in the mouth."

Mark Longo

Guest profile

Mark Longo is the Founder & CEO of the Options Insider Media Group. A former member of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), Mark created the first options podcast over 15 years ago. That single program has since grown into the Options Insider Radio Network - the world’s leading podcast network for options traders. Known as “the voice of options” for his pioneering work in digital media, Mark now hosts a variety of long-running programs, including Options Boot Camp, Volatility Views, and This Week in Futures Options, among others.

Worst investment ever

Mark was a new trader right out of college when he was recruited in Chicago, the Mecca, for trading options. Mark focused on the equity options. He got to break into the SPX pit, which was the biggest pit at the time. This was around 1999 when the Dotcom bubble was in full swing, and stocks only went up. This was when firms were recruiting massive D1 linemen to hold a physical presence on the trading floor. Physical presence was the thing. So Mark had to break into the back of this crowd of hundreds of men who did not want him there. Another firm wanted his spot, so they sent a former professional hockey goon to try to take that spot from him. And while all this was happening, Mark was trying to learn SPX.

Mark was finally breaking into the new trade. One day in early 1999—a quiet day as it often was on the trading floor—Mark was sure it would be a dull day, so he was sitting at the back of his spot waiting for something to happen. Suddenly the phone rang on the far side of the pit. A broker picked up the call and talked to his customer, and he started calling out a market for some slightly out-of-the-money puts in the S&P. Another phone rang, and another broker talked to his customer; he started barking out an order for similar puts. This was kind of strange. Mark thought to himself that it was just customers looking for puts.

Then more phones started ringing in the front of the pit, and those brokers picked up their phones, and they, too, talked to customers and started calling out orders for puts. Mark could see the ticker in the pit SPX wasn't moving, and the next thing every broker in the pit was lifting offers on these puts. Typically, a broker would get a call from a...

Dale Dupree is leading a sales rebellion against the mediocre ways of the status quo in order to put people over products, community over commissions, experiences over performing a pitch, and fellowship over negotiations.

“If you miss it at 30, and you don’t find it until 60, it’s okay. Being patient with your outcomes is what’s most important instead of trying to force them.”

Dale Dupree

Worst investment ever

When Dale was 23 years old, he had ambitions to become a rockstar. He rubbed elbows with big names in the industry, such as Lou Pearlman, a well-known record producer.

Meet the who is who in the music industry

One day, Dale got invited to Pearlman’s mansion for a hangout with the who is who in the industry. He was elated to receive the invite because this was his chance to network with the music industry big wigs.

The enticing investment opportunity

While at the mansion, Pearlman and other big wigs from Warner Brothers, Sony, and Universal Records did a video presentation of a product similar to Spotify where a user could access any album they wanted at a subsidized rate. Now in 2007, this was huge.

The big wigs invited those in attendance to invest in the product. One could choose to invest $50,000, $20,000 or $10,000. Dale liked the idea.

Here comes the pyramid scheme

After signing up for the investment, Dale got informed that he had to get 10 of his friends to sign up underneath him, and all their sales would level him up.

Then came the wait for returns. A year later, Dale had made nothing. Two years later, he still had not seen any return on his investment. Eventually, in 2012 the scheme was shut down by the government. Dale never made anything from this investment.

Lessons learned

Just because someone has a big name does not mean that they are credible

Be careful when investing in something just because someone famous has endorsed it. Just because a big wig has put their name on something does not give it credibility. Just because a celebrity says you should do something does not mean that you should. Always do your due diligence.

We control our outcomes much better than other people can

Never believe in a scheme that tells you to sit back, relax, and have other people make you money. If you want to be rich, you have to work hard. Do not depend on luck. Making smart, intentional decisions and being very aware of what you are doing will create the wealth you desire, not joining pyramid schemes.

Andrew’s takeaways

Know the difference between multi-level marketing and Ponzi schemes

There is a fine line between multi-level marketing and pyramid/Ponzi schemes. A Ponzi scheme involves getting paid out from what other people are paying, while multi-level marketing involves real products and services. There are legitimate multi-level marketing methods of distributing products. However, a pyramid scheme is illegal. It is, therefore, vital that you know the difference between the two. You do not want to find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

There is no legal fast way of making money

It takes time to make money. You have to invest it and let it grow slowly and compound. Do not go looking for shortcuts.

Question the motivation behind every opportunity offered to you

Everybody who is approaching you with an opportunity is doing so from a financial incentive perspective. Nothing wrong with that as it is just business. Whether they are a salesperson, or an entrepreneur...

Tariq Dennison is a Hong Kong-based manager of US and offshore retirement plans at his own firm, GFM Asset Management. Prior to GFM, he worked in the wealth management divisions of Société Générale in Hong Kong, CIBC in Toronto and London, Bear Stearns and JP Morgan in New York, after a few years in Silicon Valley. Tariq holds a master of financial engineering degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and the history of philosophy from Marquette University, and is a visiting professor of fixed income and alternative investments at ESSEC Business School Asia-Pacific in Singapore. Tariq is an IFPHK Certified Financial Planner and the author of Invest Outside the Box. He is a frequent speaker on RTHK Radio 3’s Money Talk program, HKIBN Cable News’ All About Money program. He has also presented on ETFs, investor education and retirement plans at multiple public conferences.

“The number one difference between whether or not someone has a million-dollar retirement account is whether they put money in the account early on, not whether they invested in stocks, or bonds, or international, or value, or growth. It was whether they simply had the discipline to save regularly and not do stupid things. And the second thing is just making sure that we have the proper tax structuring and we take care of accounts in the right way. There are enormous differences between having something in a taxable account and a tax-free account, being able to touch it and not being able to touch it.” 

Tariq Dennison 

Worst investment ever

Tariq offers listeners a tale in three parts, spanning the 20-odd years of his entire investment career. But like many investors Andrew speaks with in his podcast, Tariq says the challenging experiences made him the investor he is today.

Part 1: Pre-bubble Silicon Valley beckons

He started working, investing and made his first real money in Silicon Valley in the late 1990s. He was invested heavily in tech stocks of companies he truly thought he knew well as he either worked for them himself, or had friends working with them. He was buying the companies’ stock as he and his friends watched them prepare to go public, they were progressing, he thought he understood their business models and saw the path to success before them. And, like many others in the aftermath of the burst tech bubble, he lost money in those stocks. He points out here though that these would fail to make them his worst investments ever. It was early, the amounts were small and in total he lost less than US$10,000.

Part II: Not about what he lost but the gains he walked away from

His Silicon Valley forays happened before he learned proper...

BIO: David Hay has been employed in the securities industry since 1979 when he joined Dean Witter Reynolds, now Morgan Stanley.

STORY: A colleague told David about a business that was going to sell books online. David wasn’t convinced that the business had a competitive edge. So while his colleague invested $50,000 into this company, David chose not to invest. The company was Amazon. Had David invested then, he’d now be a multimillionaire.

LEARNING: Invest only what you can afford to lose. Keep challenging your thesis. Have a systematic quantitative framework to help you keep an open and agile mind when investing.

“One of the most important things in investing is range expansion.”

David Hay

Guest profile

David Hay has been employed in the securities industry since 1979 when he joined Dean Witter Reynolds, now Morgan Stanley.

And since 2022, David has been chief or Co-Chief Investment Officer of Evergreen Gavekal with a special emphasis on macro-economic research.

In 2022, David released his highly anticipated book, Bubble 3.0: Who blew it and how to protect yourself when it blows apart.

The book explores why he believes the financial markets are headed toward a third iteration of past market rotations.

Accordingly, he believes there are a number of investment areas/asset classes poised to benefit from what he has begun referring to as “The New World Disorder.”

Worst investment ever

In November of 1994, David received a call from a colleague. They were both portfolio managers at Smith Barney. At that point, they were investing side by side in virtually everything. The colleague told David about this guy who was starting a company, and he was going to invest $50,000 in it.

The colleague explained that the business would sell books online. David didn’t understand the business’s competitive edge, so he opted not to invest in it.

Six months later, the colleague told him the company was going public. Turns out, the company was Amazon. Had David invested in it when his colleague told him to, he’d now be a multimillionaire.

Lessons learned

• If the idea sounds great, invest only the money you can afford to lose.
• The bigger and longer the trading range, the more important the message of the breakout or breakdown is.
• Constantly challenge your thesis.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Have a systematic quantitative framework to help you keep an open and agile mind when investing.
• For every company that becomes a billion-dollar or trillion-dollar company, the good news is that 99.99999999999% of people missed it.

David’s recommendations

David recommends his free newsletter. You can also get a free copy of Bubble 3.0 by emailing him through Substack. David also recommends reading the Felder report by Jesse Felder.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

David’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to remove his shorts and go max bullish.

Parting words

“It’s always so much cheaper to learn from other people’s mistakes than your...

BIO: Adrian Choo is the One and Only Career Strategist in Asia and is the founder of Career Agility International. In three years, he helped more than one thousand clients successfully achieve clarity to enjoy a happier and even more successful career.

STORY: Adrian and his friend started a technology company that ran for three years. They had to call it quits when they couldn’t scale the business.

LEARNING: Don’t go into business just because you want to be in business; acquire domain expertise first. Entrepreneurship is a long game.

“Don’t they say the early bird gets the worm? Sometimes it isn’t true. It’s the second mouse that gets the cheese.”

Adrian Choo

Guest profile

Adrian Choo is the One and Only Career Strategist in Asia and is the founder of Career Agility International. In three years, he helped more than one thousand clients successfully achieve clarity to enjoy a happier and even more successful career!

Worst investment ever

Adrian wanted to start a business again after his first entrepreneurial stint. So he sat down with friends and brainstormed business ideas. They created a company doing electronic marketing. They got funded, ran it, and engineered many groundbreaking technologies in electronic marketing, data analytics, and lifestyle marketing.

Adrian and his friends ran the business for three years. They were successful at first but had difficulty scaling it. Eventually, they decided to call it a day and go their separate ways.

Lessons learned

• Don’t go into business just because you want to be in business. First, acquire domain expertise, have a solid business foundation or idea, and then go into business.
• Understand the market before becoming an entrepreneur, not the other way around.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Entrepreneurship is a long game. When you go into entrepreneurship, be prepared to dedicate the next five or ten years of your life or even your lifetime.
• Set a goal to get to $3 to $5 million in revenue as fast as possible, possibly within three years. This is enough money to cover the overheads of running a real business.

Actionable advice

You have to make mistakes to learn from them. But on the flip side of it, it’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes. If you want to go into business and be an entrepreneur, Adrian recommends that you watch all seven seasons of Shark Tank, the American version.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Adrian’s goal for the next 12 months is to help another 1,000 people get more career clarity and enjoy and refocus their lives around their careers and everything else that’s important to them.

Parting words

“Stay tuned to Andrew Stotz; he knows his stuff. So, learn a lot from him. He’s the best or the worst.”

Adrian Choo

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Connect with Adrian Choo

• LinkedIn
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth...

BIO: Mark Neuman is the CIO and founder of Constraint Capital. He is a CFA charterholder and creator of the ESG orphans index.

STORY: Mark talks about constrained capital, ESG orphans, and his work around it.

LEARNING: We can’t get to the future of energy without present energy. To win the renewable energy fight, we must put facts above feelings.

“We can’t get to the future of energy without present energy.”

Mark Neuman

Guest profile

Mark Neuman is the CIO and founder of Constraint Capital. He is a CFA charter holder and creator of the ESG orphans index. He’s a 30-year Wall Street veteran and former global equity derivatives trader with Merrill Lynch, Susquehanna, Jones Trading, and Bay Crest partners. He’s a former event-driven hedge fund partner. In his recent investment project, he spent 1,000 hours of deep dive into all things ESG over the past six years. His goal is to deliver truth in ESG to protect and help investors make informed decisions with measurable results when understanding risk and reward.

In today’s episode, Mark talks about constrained capital, ESG orphans, and the work he is doing around it.

Constraints on capital

According to Mark, constraints on capital is a pattern that exists in the market based on policy, investment themes, and philosophies. Most recently, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) has been the most prominent example of constraints on capital. Constraints on capital cause misallocation and malinvestment. In general, they are starving specific industries and flooding others.

For example, in ESG, constraints were heavily implemented on fossil fuels, nuclear energy, weapons, alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. Basically, ESG said those were bad. On the other side, they chose certain winners that were apparently good in ESG, leading to the misallocation of capital because, though these winners are considered great, they still have a considerable carbon footprint.

Ultimately, the constraints push capital to one place and starve capital to another. The ESG orphans are the six sectors, fossil fuel, nuclear energy, weapons, alcohol, tobacco, and gambling, that were routinely excluded. As they’re being cut off from capital, the value of their stocks falls.

Looming reversal flows for ESG orphans

In the last decade up through 2021, the Info-Tech space in the S&P 500 grew from 18% weighting to 36%. On the other hand, the energy sector shrunk from about 10% to 2.5% and became so cheap within the same decade. Mark indicates that we’ll see a reversion over a more extended period. As ESG gets called out, we’ll see reversal flows that will return to those excluded names.

Put facts above feelings

Mark insists he’s not anti-ESG; he’s simply anti the ESG bubble as an investor and a CFA charterholder. He says there’s significant value in many of these companies that have been discarded. We simply need a different energy plan. While Mark agrees we need to find a replacement for fossil energy, he believes that we can’t get to the future of energy without present energy.

Therefore, it makes no sense to starve Exxon Mobil, for example, instead of leaning on it to lead the renewable energy change. Mark thinks people putting feelings above facts on some level is a troubling aspect of ESG.

Mark has been doing a lot of ESG consulting, working with companies to help them understand the risks. If certain companies have been classified by ESG as medium risk or low risk, Mark wants to kick the tires and turn it over. He’s helping companies do their own due diligence and dig into what their ESG analysis...

BIO: Eric Simonson is the Founder and CEO of Abundo, a financial planning firm that teaches and empowers people to take action and own their financial lives.

STORY: In 2020, during the early days of COVID-19, Eric and his wife sold their home and bought a condo because they wanted to live downtown. They later sold the condo in 2023 and lost about 10% on that home purchase.

LEARNING: Not all real estate investments are made equal. Focus on location and build quality. Don’t expect to flip new builds into a profit immediately. Don’t bet on a recovery of a big macro event.

“Make sure you’re confident you’re gonna live in your new home long enough to recoup some of those initial buying costs.”

Eric Simonson

Guest profile

Eric Simonson is the Founder and CEO of Abundo, a financial planning firm that teaches and empowers people to take action and own their financial lives. After working as a traditional advisor for over a decade, Eric saw a need to help people who couldn’t work with a traditional financial advisor since most require having a certain amount of money to invest with them first. He left his corporate job and launched a different model, one where he was only paid for giving honest advice that benefited his clients, not him. He built Abundo around a Flat Fee and Advice-Only Financial Planning model, eliminating all conflicts of interest without overcharging for professional advice and using proven low-cost investments. His firm now guides over 450 clients in all areas of their financial lives.

Worst investment ever

In 2020, during the early days of COVID-19, Eric and his wife sold their home and bought a condo because they wanted to live downtown. They sold the condo in 2023 and lost about 10% on that home purchase.

Lessons learned

• The condo market behaves differently than the single-family home market.
• Downtown markets behave differently than suburban markets.
• Not all real estate investments are made equal. Focus on location and build quality.
• Don’t expect to flip new builds into a profit immediately.
• Don’t bet on a recovery of a big macro event. It’s hard to guess what’s going to happen.

Andrew’s takeaways

• It’s challenging to sell secondhand condos.

Actionable advice

Ensure you’re confident you’ll live in your new home long enough to recoup some of those initial buying costs. Don’t spend more on a condo purchase than you’re comfortable spending. Understand the rules around the rentability—what happens if you want to get out of it? Can you rent it out?

Eric’s recommendations

Eric recommends checking out his company’s blog for fresh content and valuable resources.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Eric’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to create the best culture and team he can make. If he does that, the team will work hard and serve clients well.

Parting words

“Thank you for having me, Andrew. I appreciate it.”

Eric Simonson

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Connect with Eric Simonson

• Linkedin

BIO: Marylen Ramos-Velasco is the Founder and CEO of Customized Training Solutions (CTS) Pte. Ltd. – “Asia’s Most Trusted Customized Solutions Provider.”

STORY: Marylen spent her life doing too much for people who didn’t deserve her time and effort at the expense of her health. She started taking better care of herself and creating boundaries when she suffered several gastritis attacks.

LEARNING: Strike a balance between taking care of yourself and others. Prioritize self-love and self-care. Always think about your value.

“Every one of us needs balance.”

Marylen Ramos-Velasco

Guest profile

Marylen Ramos-Velasco is the Founder and CEO of Customized Training Solutions (CTS) Pte. Ltd. – “Asia’s Most Trusted Customized Solutions Provider.” She has 15 years of experience in sales & marketing, customer service, events management, and operations in the hospitality industry. Since moving to Singapore, she has worked in event services focused on specialized training and summits.

With her gift of leadership and strength in partnership to drive clarity and change, she is living her purpose to make life easier for others. Her solutions include but are not limited to training, coaching, and consulting for leaders and organizations. While she helps trainers, coaches, speakers, and consultants with personal branding, sales, and marketing services.

Worst investment ever

Marylen’s worst investment ever was doing too much for people who didn’t deserve her time and effort. She also tended to forget about herself and was poor at setting boundaries, which caused her a lot of burnout, stress, and even depression. As a result, she suffered several gastritis attacks and had to get a hospital procedure done. This was when Marylen realized she had forgotten about self-love and self-care. She had failed to invest in her body and soul.

Lessons learned

• You cannot serve from an empty vessel. So take time to replenish your spirit so that you’re able to help others.
• Strike a balance between taking care of yourself and others.
• Prioritize self-love and self-care.
• Invest in the right people, and be sure to set boundaries.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Self-care means taking care of yourself first.
• Always think about your value.
• Always put money down when working with an accountability partner for motivation and accountability.

Actionable advice

Invest in your mind, body, and soul.

Marylen’s recommended resources

• Visit Customized Training Solutions for various resources, including blogs, online resources, and upcoming programs to help you handle or create balance in your private and professional life.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Marylen’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to create more win-win-win outcomes for herself, her clients, and partners through the work she does around education, empowerment, and inspiration.

Parting words

“Investing in yourself is the best investment you can ever make in your life. And continue to live with passion and purpose.”

Marylen Ramos-Velasco

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Connect with Marylen Ramos-Velasco

BIO: Shawn O’Malley is the chief editor and writer of the We Study Markets newsletter from The Investor’s Podcast Network, the world’s largest stock-investing podcast with over 110 million downloads.

STORY: Shawn wanted to hedge inflation during the COVID pandemic, so he invested in the Russian ETF at the end of 2021. The ETF performed well, and Shawn was happy. Then rumors of Russia invading Ukraine started. The invasion happened in February, and the Russian ETF stopped trading, taking Shawn’s investment to zero.

LEARNING: Understand how geopolitical events and domestic politics affect investments. You won’t be compensated for lack of knowledge.

“Investing is all about continuous learning and getting comfortable with the risks that we take.”

Shawn O’Malley

Guest profile

Shawn O’Malley is the chief editor and writer of the We Study Markets newsletter from The Investor’s Podcast Network, which is the world’s largest stock-investing podcast with over 110 million downloads.

He writes for an audience of over 30,000 readers daily, breaking down the most important stories in financial markets with longer write-ups exploring financial history, the economics behind everyday life, and insights from legendary investors.

Shawn hopes to help keep people informed about current news while adding the perspective of a long-term investor.

Worst investment ever

In April 2020, Shawn was sent home from school because of the COVID lockdowns. He was a junior in college at the time. He spent a few weeks doing nothing productive but soon realized this would be an extended lockdown. Shawn decided to find valuable ways to manage his time. He started taking long walks while listening to the We Study Billionaires podcast, which interested him in value investing.

At the time, oil prices were negative. Shawn didn’t understand the futures market or know anything about oil. Still, it felt like an opportunity since he believed oil prices wouldn’t stay negative forever. Shawn bought into some oil and gas stocks and held them.

Over the next year or so, Shawn developed this sort of outlook that some of the inflationary pressures of the lockdown would eventually manifest. So he started thinking more about how to hedge inflation to have exposure to energy prices. Shawn naively started looking for the most undervalued energy stocks in Russia. At the end of 2021, he bought into the Russia ETF as a creative and cheap way to play this inflation and energy price spike he was trying to foresee.

Shawn held that investment for a year, and things were looking good. The inflation manifested, and the energy stocks started to rally. At this point, Shawn thought he was pretty clever. In January 2022, all these rumors about Russian troops gathering around Ukraine for an invasion started. Shawn believed it was just a conspiracy theory. He played down the risk and held down his investment. The attack happened in February, and the Russian ETF stopped trading, taking Shawn’s investment to zero.

Lessons learned

• Understand how geopolitical events and domestic politics affect investments.

Andrew’s takeaways

• It takes time to become aware that risks are everywhere, and your first job is to understand them.
• You won’t be compensated for lack of...

Frank Agin works to empower small businesses to achieve more by helping them create dynamic professional relationships. He does this by operating a membership-based referral program called AmSpirit Business Connection and shares insightful content via his Networking RX podcast, articles, and books. Learn all about Frank here.

“Everybody I know can benefit from somebody else I know.”

Frank Agin

Worst investment ever

Frank worked for a while as a tax consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the most prestigious public accounting firms. He left the job and got paid his pension. Frank decided to invest that pension and 401k.

Working with the familiar

Frank approached a financial advisor he had met at PricewaterhouseCoopers. The man was on the board of some of the clients Frank had worked with. Frank, therefore, trusted him and chose him to be his financial advisor. Frank didn’t bother to find out more about him. Working for his former firm was enough credibility for Frank to trust him with his money.

The advisor with no advice

This was Frank’s first investment, and he didn’t know much about investing. He thus just went with the flow. The financial advisor would call Frank once every six months with a few updates on how the stocks were performing. He never gave Frank advice on how to improve his portfolio.

Whenever Frank would make suggestions, the financial advisor would brush them off. Frank ended up missing out on so many investment opportunities. The financial advisor didn’t seem to have time for Frank and wasn’t too bothered about getting to know him and what he truly needed as an investor.

Going for some who truly cared

When he left his previous job, Frank ended up in a smaller investment firm where he occasionally engaged with one of the financial advisors. This advisor would randomly offer Frank advice on how to best invest his money even though he was still working with his old financial advisor.

Frank grew to like the new financial advisor as he seemed to care more about his financial well being. Eventually, Frank decided to drop his old financial advisor and started working with the new one, who continues to be his advisor to date.

Lessons learned

Know your customers by building relationships with them

You need to know your customers and have a relationship with them and your vendors. We do business with those we know, like, and trust.

Andrew’s takeaways

Cheap is expensive

Going with the lowest cost supplier is probably the most expensive thing you can do. You may think you’re cutting corners, and you’re getting something cheap, but chances are, you’re getting it super expensive.

Actionable advice

You need to get to know whoever is in your world. Engage with people whenever you have the opportunity. When you’re vetting vendors or looking to hire somebody, make sure you engage with them to know them better.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Frank’s number one goal is to keep meeting people and grow his networks.

Parting words

Daniel St-Jean was born and raised in Montreal. Still, he has also lived in Whitehorse Yukon Territory, Vancouver BC, Ottawa, and now home is in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

He is an entrepreneur to the core, and the last time he received a paycheck as an employee was in 1986.

Over the 34 years since, he has owned several businesses, including an art gallery and framing shop and a publishing company. As well, he wrote and published two Canadian bestsellers.

He started investing in real estate in 2010 with his wife Laurel because they needed a source of income that was not tied to them living in Ottawa, where they were working as consultants.

They wanted to move to Ontario’s wine region, so Laurel could pursue a life-long dream of becoming a winemaker.

It took them only four years to be in a position to kiss Ottawa goodbye and move to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

In their 11 years in the real estate investing business, they have acquired 62 properties worth over $25 million. The fantastic part is that to date; they are yet to invest one dollar in that portfolio—100% financed with OPM–Other People’s Money.

How to do that is one of the many things they teach the members of The REITE Club that they co-founded in March 2017.

“We are now following our investing system to the letter, no exception for any reason whatsoever. Now we’re successful.”

Daniel St-Jean

Worst investment ever

Daniel and his wife kicked off their real estate investing career with the rent-to-own strategy. They built on it slowly and got some real success out of it. In 2012, they went to Nova Scotia to expand their market. They found some cool people who wanted to do a rent-to-own deal, and they decided to get into business with them.

Breaking their own rules

Daniel and his wife had a couple of rules that they followed when looking for property to invest in. One was to pick a house that they could quickly sell should the people renting it walk away. The second rule was always to take a deposit. However, they broke these two crucial real estate investing rules.

Facing the consequences

After two months of renting the house, the people moved out unbeknownst to Daniel and his wife. They were now stuck with a house in the middle of nowhere with snowbanks so high. It wasn’t the easiest house to sell, but they managed to, albeit making a loss of $25,000.

Putting in place a reliable investing system

After that loss, Daniel spent the next three or four months, setting up an investing system. This system had about 52 points, and this was the system he would always stick to when making investment decisions.

Breaking the rules again

In the Fall of 2013, Daniel did a refinancing deal with a family that he felt needed his help. He didn’t like the house much, and he also didn’t take a deposit, but he went ahead and bought the house because he wanted to help this lovely family.

The family, however, panicked and moved out just as the purchase was being closed. Now Daniel had this rundown empty massive house in a little town outside of Ottawa. The empty house cost Daniel $2,500 every month to maintain.

Finding the elusive buyer

In the Spring of 2014, someone approached Daniel...

BIO: Dr. Robert Glover, coach, speaker, and educator, is a relationship expert with over 40 years of professional experience.

STORY: Robert went shopping for a pop-up trailer, and when he found one, he bought it before inspecting it thoroughly. His gut told him this was a terrible idea, but he ignored it. The trailer turned out to be useless to him. He sold it off for half what he’d paid for it.

LEARNING: Listen to your intuition. Suffering is also the path to joy. Don’t get too attached to anything.

“Have a wisdom council that you go to when you have to make important decisions.”

Robert Glover

Guest profile

Dr. Robert Glover, coach, speaker, and educator, is a relationship expert with over 40 years of professional experience. The author of the groundbreaking, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Dr. Glover has helped thousands of men and women worldwide get what they want in love, sex, and life.

Worst investment ever

In the early 90s, Robert was a poor entrepreneur trying to build his counseling practice. Money was tight at the moment. His family vacations were camping. Robert really wanted something that would accommodate the family, but he didn’t have much money.

Robert decided to buy a camping pop-up trailer. He knew he couldn’t afford a new one, so he started looking on Craigslist and found one. Robert had saved up about $1,000. He took his wife, and they went to look at this particular trailer. It was an old Coleman hardshell pop-up that seemed like just what he was looking for. It was old but not terrible. Robert thought he could fix it and give his family something to camp in. So he talked with the owner, reached a deal, and signed off on it. When it was time to crank the trailer up, it refused. Robert felt uneasy but had already agreed, signed the sales paper, and handed over the money. He was already visualizing how he could pimp up the trailer and go on camping trips. But something just felt wrong. Unfortunately, he overrode that feeling.

Robert managed to get the trailer home, but it was a challenge to get the pop-up raised. He then started working on the trailer, got it fixed up, and finally, on the United States Memorial Day, Robert’s family joined some friends who had a pop-up camper trailer. They went out camping at the ocean shores in Washington State. It rained all weekend long. When Robert tried to get the pop-up down, it refused. The best he could do was to get the lid down. The cogs for the wheels that make it go up and down were faulty.

When the family returned home, Robert put the trailer in the garage. He tried to replace the faulty parts for weeks, but none of the dealerships sold them. So the trailer sat in his garage for a long time as a painful reminder that he’d ignored his gut. He advertised it, and luckily, somebody came in and bought it for about half what he’d paid for it.

Lessons learned

• Take advantage of opportunities when they come but don’t get too attached to a specific outcome and override your senses.
• Listen to the intuitive sense within you.
• Check in with people who know you well. Tell them what you’re thinking and feeling, and ask them for their feedback.
• Suffering is also the path to joy. The mistakes you’ve made that caused you to suffer can be transmuted into joy and better decisions.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Try to raise your awareness of intuition because that’s the first indication of whether something’s good or bad.
• Make sure you’re not attached to objects or

BIO: Anna Rosling Rönnlund is a Swedish designer who, with her husband Ola Rosling, developed Trendalyzer, interactive software for visualizing statistical information.

STORY: Anna and her husband bought a home after moving to the US. A while later, they had to move back to Sweden, so they decided to sell the house. This was during the financial crisis that hit the real estate market badly. So the couple lost a lot of money after the sale.

LEARNING: Keep your costs low. You don’t always have to buy a home.

“Spending time doing things you love is the best investment ever.”

Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Guest profile

Anna Rosling Rönnlund is a Swedish designer who, with her husband Ola Rosling, developed Trendalyzer, interactive software for visualizing statistical information. In 2005, with statistician and father-in-law Hans Rosling, she co-founded the Gapminder Foundation, where she serves as vice president for design and usability. In 2016, she announced Dollar Street, a website that imagines a street of homes to help visualize how people of varying cultures and incomes live around the world. In 2017, she collaborated with Hans Rosling on his book, Factfulness.

Worst investment ever

Anna and her husband moved to the US, where they were both working at Google. They decided to look for a place to stay close to the office. The couple had sold their apartment in Sweden, so they had some cash to purchase a house. They bought their home just before the real estate market crashed and then moved back to Sweden after it crashed. They decided to sell the house and lost quite a lot of money.

The home was just a few miles from where Facebook was building its new headquarters. Had the couple held onto the house for just a year or two after moving back to Sweden, they’d have gained quite a lot of money.

Lessons learned

• When investing, start from your dream or passion and then gradually diversify to other things.
• Keep your costs low, but still enjoy life, and make sure you do things you like—it doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Andrew’s takeaways

• One way to protect yourself is to keep your costs really low.
• You don’t have to buy a house, especially when you’re moving to a new city.
• Property can fall, and you lose for a while, but in the long run, it eventually comes back.

Actionable advice

If you’re not going to stay in a home for a very long time, don’t buy it—rent instead.

Anna’s recommended resource

Anna recommends reading Factfulness because it’s all about how to make sense of the world. It gives you a general overview of the biggest trends and proportions to make better decisions in life and work.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Anna’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to add the questions received from the general public and interactive video-led courses, the Worldview Upgrader. This is a tool she developed for people to check their knowledge and upgrade their worldview.

Parting words

“Good luck with your investments, and make decisions based on...

BIO: Neville Medhora has been starting businesses and side projects since high school and has learned a bunch about what works and what doesn’t work. He is an advisor to numerous software companies and teaches copywriting at his business, CopywritingCourse.com.

STORY: Neville started day trading in college and would try to get inside scoops to find cheap stocks that would explode. None of the scoops he ever got worked. Neville only made 5% return on his investment after a year of trading.

LEARNING: 99% of the inside scoop is unreliable secondhand information. Do your due diligence. It’s important to know when to sell.

“I realized that hot stock tips are terrible; none of them ever panned out. It’s when I did my due diligence that my investment worked out really well.”

Neville Medhora

Guest profile

Neville Medhora has been starting businesses and side projects since high school and has learned a bunch about what works and what DOESN’T work. He is an advisor to numerous software companies and teaches copywriting at his business, CopywritingCourse.com.

You can find him at “Neville Medhora” across all socials.

Worst investment ever

Neville was fortunate to have a little extra cash in college because he had started several businesses before. He started day trading stocks, and his plan was to pick a stock when it was cheap and then sell it when the price went up.

Neville would try all sorts of things to find cheap stocks about to go up. He’d wake up in the morning to catch the bell ringing and start talking to people about stocks just to get the inside scoop, but none of his tactics worked.

After a year of all the stress of trying to beat the market, Neville made just 5% gains on his investments.

Lessons learned

• It’s important to know when to sell.
• The market is crazy and erratic and doesn’t obey timelines.
• Buying a good business is better than trying to beat the stock market.

Andrew’s takeaways

• 99% of the inside scoop is unreliable secondhand information.
• Always do your due diligence before you invest.

Actionable advice

Don’t get caught up in buying something because it’s cheap. Instead, read the company statements and learn how to analyze a company.

Neville’s recommendations

Neville recommends following him on social media, where you’ll find much of the stuff he teaches. He also recommends joining his newsletter to get helpful marketing tips every Friday.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Neville’s goal for the next 12 months is to make sure that he is set up well to retire at 50.

Parting words

“Be well and prosper. Don’t make stupid mistakes, but when you do, learn from them.”

Neville Medhora

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BIO: Andrew Pek is an internationally recognized authority on innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship.

STORY: When Andrew started his first business, he hired the best of the best who also came with high salary expectations. The startup could not handle the payroll, and so Andrew had to let almost everyone go.

LEARNING: Starting a business from scratch requires you to be smart and strategic. Have the proper organizational structure to support your business model.

“Fail fast so that you can keep on winning.”

Andrew Pek

Guest profile

Andrew Pek is an internationally recognized authority on innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship. From start-up to mature companies, Andrew has helped organizations such as Bayer, Citi Group, Pfizer, and Steelcase become more innovative.

Andrew has been invited to speak worldwide, and his views on innovative leaders, change management, and design thinking have been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The New York Times, Investor Business Daily, and Chicago Tribune.

Worst investment ever

When Andrew started his business, DXD Partners, a big design thinking and innovation consultancy, he decided to hire some of the most intelligent and most interesting people. He went for people he had a good affiliation with. Andrew believed that these people would take his business to the highest heights.

A payroll larger than he expected

While his hires were great, they also came with high expectations in terms of salary. Andrew invested a ton of money bringing them on board.

A bloated payroll combined with the market crash in 2008 created the perfect storm for Andrew. He couldn’t keep up with the payroll and had to go through the painful process of letting everyone go except for his administrative person. It was brutal.

Being more strategic when hiring people

Looking back, Andrew admits that he should have been more strategic with the people that he hired. He should have made sure they were the right fit in terms of experience, skills, and even salary expectations.

Lessons learned

Starting a business from scratch requires you to be smart and strategic

When starting a business from scratch, understand what your customers want, have the right business model, and then develop the proper profitable structure.

A successful idea is desirable, doable, and viable

For your product or business idea to be successful, it should be desirable, doable, and viable. Besides understanding what your customers want, you should also have the proper organizational structure to support your business model. The wrong setup will affect the viability of your business.

Andrew’s takeaways

6 top mistakes startups make

1. Bad hiring decisions
2. Poor management of time and people
3. Ineffective teamwork and collaboration
4. Waiting too long to start selling
5. Weak accounting and finance
6. Low product quality

Actionable advice

Invest your time in understanding who your customer is, then come up with a minimum viable solution.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Andrew’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to scale a new product that he is working on. His strategy is to scale it through partnerships and...

Scott Royal Smith, Esquire, founder, and CEO of Royal Legal Solutions prides himself on successfully conveying the essentials in asset protection to audiences nationwide. Scott is no stranger to high stakes litigation and has spent his career deconstructing asset protection structures and developing strategies that serve both to protect what you own as well as leverage your income and maximize your tax savings.

With experience in entrepreneurship, starting several successful companies in owning real estate in 10 states in America, Scott pulls from his experience as a lawyer to put a new and valuable perspective on business ownership. No one wants to get sued. But if you plan to start a business, the question isn't if, but when you’ll get sued. Scott is the attorney who will have your back. He's smart, savvy, and he's got a great sense of humor. And he has a gift for simplifying the complex.

“Try to find someone like you businesswise and ask that person a bunch of questions about what you should be doing because they've already gone through it all once.”

Scott Smith

Worst investment ever

Launching his business idea

Driven by a sense to help people with things that he had already figured out, things he had spent the time to figure it out, he started to teach and do it for others. His law degree also came in handy, especially when advising people on how to launch a new business or choose investments.

Letting excitement get to him

People wanted his services. Within no time he had a really popular podcast. Then pretty soon he had a rapidly growing business. Everything was going too fast and was way beyond what he understood regarding the business. But the growth got him all excited and he felt pretty confident that he now knew just about everything and that whatever he touched would turn to gold. So he kept things moving fast.

Fast and big is not always good

His business continued growing fast and he got to a point where he realized he did not know what to do with all of that growth. He found himself having to solve problems that he didn't understand.

He was forced to hire people to solve the problems for him. Because he didn’t understand what the problems that needed solving were, he ended up hiring people that weren’t that great. He was hiring and firing people so fast.

He should have outsourced

It was only after he had spent over a quarter-million dollars that he realized that he was struggling to create a system or a solution to something that someone else already had out there.

He realized that had he taken a pause, slowed things down with the business, he’d have been able to figure out what the business needed and then hire an agency and offload things on them. But no, his excitement to keep things on a high saw him make his worst investment ever.

Lessons learned

Delay launching a new business

Yes, you have an awesome idea. Yes, you feel ready for a business launch. Delay that launch by at least three months. Take those three months to learn. Take a course on how to launch a business online, get someone to mentor

BIO: Flavilla Fongang is a Top 5 most influential tech woman. She is the author of 99 Strategies to get customers, International Keynote Speaker, BBC Brand Strategist, Brand Growth Coach, Branding & Marketing Agency MD, TLA Black Women in Tech Founder, and Tech Brains Talk Podcast.

STORY: When Flavilla started a personal branding consultancy, she made the mistake of charging by the hour. This made her lose money, and people perceived her low rates as a reflection of her services.

LEARNING: Don’t align yourself with followers who pay less. Align yourself with leaders who will pay premium rates.

“Align yourself with the leaders, not the followers.”

Flavilla Fongang

Guest profile

Flavilla Fongang is a Top 5 most influential tech woman. She is the author of 99 Strategies to get customers, International Keynote Speaker, BBC Brand Strategist, Brand Growth Coach, Branding & Marketing Agency MD, TLA Black Women in Tech Founder, and Tech Brains Talk Podcast.

Worst investment ever

Flavilla worked in oil and gas and then later decided to become a fashion stylist who self-taught herself. She read a lot of books and learned about becoming a fashion stylist.

Flavilla then quickly realized that people were very interested in personal branding, so she became a brand consultant.

Not following her own advice

Flavilla would often advise her clients to pick a niche, but she couldn’t bring herself to pick one out of fear of losing opportunities. She was working with clients in all sorts of niches. So she became a jack of all trade.

Another huge mistake Flavilla made with her business model was charging by the hour. People would comment about how cheap she was, and cheap is not good as it’s often viewed as a reflection of your value. Now the problem with the hourly rate is that if you are very efficient and good at what you do, you lose a lot of money. This is what happened to Flavilla. She realized that she was doing it wrong and started using value-based pricing.

Lessons learned

Don’t align yourself with followers; align yourself with leaders

If you align yourself with followers, you’ll be going for the lowest bracket instead of the higher bracket. When you charge people more, they tend to trust you more and see you as the best in what you do. So leave the time-wasters who are always looking for a bargain; go for the top-notch clients who will value what you do.

Andrew’s takeaways

Sell an outcome

People are always willing to pay a lot for transformation, but they pay a small amount for knowledge. So sell an outcome.

Actionable advice

Double your price to lockout time-wasters, and you will only have people that really enjoy working with you and value what you have to offer.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Flavilla’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get herself out of the equation. She believes she’s become her own burden as much as her own strength. People love who she is and want to work with her. But she needs to get herself less involved in the management of her business.

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Connect with Flavilla Fongang

BIO: Alistair Croll is an entrepreneur, author, and conference organizer. His book Lean Analytics has been translated into eight languages and is considered mandatory reading for startup founders.

STORY: Alistair needed to raise capital for his startup. He received a series A investment of $20 million and gave up 50% equity in his company.

LEARNING: Don’t scale prematurely. Capture your market’s attention first.

“Risk is a necessary component of progress.”

Alistair Croll

Guest profile

Alistair Croll is an entrepreneur, author, and conference organizer. His book Lean Analytics has been translated into eight languages and is considered mandatory reading for startup founders. He helped create the Data Science and Critical Thinking course at Harvard Business School and founded web performance pioneer Coradiant. He’s chaired some of the world’s leading tech events, including Strata and Cloud Connect, and is the co-founder of Forward50, the world’s biggest conference on digital government. He’s joining us from Montreal, Canada, where he’s hard at work on a new book Just Evil Enough, a still-stealthy mobile startup called Stroll, and launching the 2022 edition of Startupfest, Canada’s original startup conference.

Worst investment ever

Alistair started a startup in the business of running websites for people. So instead of having to buy dedicated hardware, web server, firewall, and so on to run your website, the company could have that stuff and let customers use a slice of it.

The company got a Series A investment of $20 million. In return, Alistair and his partners gave up half of the company. Alistair didn’t anticipate that this trend he’d foreseen was just the start of a much longer trend that led to modern-day cloud computing.

Alistair’s worst investment ever was receiving funding and giving up 50% equity in the company long before he had adequately understood the trend he was capitalizing on.

Lessons learned

• Don’t scale prematurely. Capture your market’s attention first.
• When pitching an idea, always ask yourself if you can change the behavior of a lucrative target market sustainably.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Your startup is not successful until you can sustainably keep people’s attention and focus on what you’re doing.

Actionable advice

De-risk the highest and most uncertain thing first.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Alistair’s goal for the next 12 months is to market his new book Just Evil Enough.

Parting words

“We move the world forward by taking risks. So figure out what risks are worth it and then plunge headlong into them and don’t pull your punches.”

Alistair Croll

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BIO: Almasa Alunni is a visionary global citizen, a mentor, and a seasoned consultant with a curious mind, acting as the pivotal trait d’union to align strategic alliances and cultures.

STORY: Almasa moved to Dubai, where she met a Filipino lady who became a very close friend. One day the lady borrowed a substantial amount of money which Almasa gave her without any questions. She trusted her as a friend. It turned out the lady was a con artist and never paid Almasa her money back.

LEARNING: Do your due diligence before lending anyone your money, including friends. It’s better to give than to lend, but do not give what you cannot afford to lose.

“Money comes and goes. But if you lose a friend, you lose a treasure.”

Almasa Alunni

Guest profile

Almasa Alunni is a visionary global citizen, a mentor, and a seasoned consultant with a curious mind, acting as the pivotal trait d’union to align strategic alliances and cultures.

She has a solid networking portfolio of HNWI, key players & decision-makers built over four decades of professional experience in the Luxury Lifestyle, Mega Yachts industry, Communication & Media environment.

Almasa is a multilingual elite PR advisor in brand strategy where she can connect the dots both backward and forwards. She has a real talent for human cross-cultural gathering and great knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa region’s social and economic environment.

She was appointed as UAE Humanitarian Global Goodwill Ambassador in 2018.

Worst investment ever

When Almasa moved to Dubai, she met a Filipino lady, a Catholic like her, and became close friends quickly. They become as close as a family, always celebrating stuff like Christmas together.

Helping a sister out

The Filipino lady was almost 70 years old but quite a hard worker, as Almasa thought. The lady told Almasa that she was engaged in a new business venture and needed some financial assistance.

Being the kind and generous person Almasa is, she agreed to give her the money. She transferred a considerable sum of money, the equivalent of two years of her living expenses, by bank transfer, no questions asked.

Turns out it was a scam

Months passed without Almasa getting any money back as promised. After chasing after her friend for months, she reimbursed her partially and at a plodding pace. Almasa decided to take action and went to the police station. Here, she found out that the lady had four other cases of fraud. It turns out she was a professional con artist who knows precisely how to scam people.

Abuse of trust

While losing the money was painful, what hurt Almasa most was how her friend abused their friendship and her trust. Because money comes and goes, but losing a friend is like losing a treasure.

Lessons learned

Do not give more than you can afford to lose

It is always safer to give and not expect anything in return. But even as you give, always give what you can afford to lose.

Andrew’s takeaways

Instead of lending a lot, give a little

If you are not willing to lend anyone your money, simply give the little that you can as a gift instead of lending them large amounts of money that might leave you in debt.

Ask for collateral in exchange for a loan

Before you lend money, ask the person to give you some collateral, such as a deed to a piece of land or a car deed; if they do not pay, you will have a way to recover your...

Chris Tate is one of the first people to ever release a share trading book in Australia. He is the best-selling author of The Art of Trading and The Art of Options Trading in Australia. He’s been running the 6-month repeat-for-free Mentor Program since the year 2000, and he’s also the founder of the Talking Trading podcast, a free weekly trading podcast.

With a background as an immunologist and his previous work as a bouncer, Chris’s life experiences will amaze you. When he’s not hanging out with his traders, he can be seen lifting weights at the gym, enjoying yoga, and trying to get a personal best time on his rowing machine in his garage.

“Time is more important than money because money can be replaced; time cannot.”

Chris Tate

Worst investment ever

Chris began his career as an immunologist and had a profession in academia mapped out for himself. However, he started to trade in the 80s bull market in Australia.

Chris made the mistake of thinking that because everything he bought succeeded, he was somewhat a genius. When his luck stopped, Chris thought he should learn about trading. He figured stockbrokers know best about stocks.

Joining a broking firm

Chris conned his way into a broking firm based on the fact that his background is reasonably quantitative. Derivatives were beginning to take off in Australia, and he seemed to have an affinity for understanding them.

Stockbrokers know squat about trading

As soon as Chris joined the broking firm, he learned that stockbrokers knew nothing about trading. He found out the person sitting opposite him had been selling shoes two weeks beforehand, and the person sitting next to him had been selling carpets.

Chris quickly learned that broking was a sales profession and not of analysis and execution.

Making the best of what he had learned

Now that Chris had realized that brokers would never teach him how to trade, he had to make the most of his situation. He was still working for a brokerage anyway.

Chris noted that being in a dealing room gave him access to information he did not have before. It also gave him access to a trading floor that helped him understand ebbs and flows very quickly. Chris also got to understand the cyclical nature of emotion that drives price. And so he thought he could marry his access to information and the trading floor together. Chris spent many years as a broker taking the opportunities presented to him to hone his skills.

There was an easy and quick way to learn about trading

In hindsight, working in the brokerage for so long was his worst investment ever because he just burned time, not knowing that time is precious. He now realizes that he did not think through the problem well.

Chris’s problem was his desire to learn how to trade, and instead of going back to school and take a degree in Finance, he went to work for a brokerage. A Master’s degree would have taken him between 18 months and two years, and it would have given him different connections...

BIO: Gary Belsky is co-author of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes—And How To Correct Them: Lessons from the Life-Changing Science of Behavioral Economics and the former editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Insider.com.

STORY: Gary waited for seven years to invest in the Berkshire Hathaway stock hoping the price per share would drop. He missed out on the compounding for the seven years and earned a 14% return instead of 18%.

LEARNING: A stock isn’t cheap because it’s $5. A stock is cheap if the Price-to-Earnings ratio is low.

“In the short run, people regret actions, but in the long run, they regret inactions.”

Gary Belsky

Guest profile

Gary Belsky is co-author of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes—And How To Correct Them: Lessons from the Life-Changing Science of Behavioral Economics. The former editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Insider.com, Belsky is president of Elland Road Partners, a storytelling consulting firm based in New York City.

Worst investment ever

Gary was working for Money Magazine when he got assigned to write a story about Warren Buffett in 1992. As he researched the story, Gary got convinced that Buffett was an investing genius. This convinced him to invest in the Berkshire Hathaway stock. However, the stock was selling at $8,000 a share at the time. Gary decided to wait for the stock price to go down. He invested in the stock in 1999.

Had Gary invested in the stock in 1992, he would have had an average annual return of about 18%. But since he waited until 2009, he only got a 14% average annual return. Over that period, the market was up by about 9%. So he still outperformed the market, but he also missed the compounding between 1992 and 2009.

Lessons learned

• A stock isn’t cheap because it’s $5. A stock is cheap if the Price-to-Earnings ratio is low.
• The way people lose money in the stock market is not nearly so much about making bad investments. It’s about trading too often.
• Long-term patience is the key to success in the stock market.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Take advantage of the compounding effect because even if you’re an average stock picker, you’ll still have a massive amount of return if you invest for the long term.
• When you learn something, write it down, internalize it and implement it. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll have achieved when you look back 10 years later.
• Bring people into your decision. Even if it’s just one other person, you’re almost assured the decision will become better.
• As a startup, produce a monthly financial statement of your P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow, and talk to your management team about it once a month.

Actionable advice

Ask yourself who’s the person that is most likely to annoy you if you asked them what they think about something and then ask them.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Brent’s goal for the next 12 months is to finish a project he’s working on.

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Deacon Hayes is the founder of WellKeptWallet.com, which reaches over 1,000,000 people per month. He has been a contributor for the US News & World Report, Investopedia, Clark Howard and more.

He is also the author of the book, You Can Retire Early! Everything You Need to Achieve Financial Independence When You Want It.

“Opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”

Deacon Hayes

My Worst Investment Ever

Life before the devastating investment

Hayes lived and worked in Phoenix, Arizona before his big fall and his subsequent rise from the ashes. Like most Americans, he had his fair share of debt but had so far managed to find a balance with his income. However, he loved his job and his life and lived by his philosophy of following his passions.

Until he came across the opportunity that changed his whole life.

Real estate fad covers country in early 2000s

The early 2000s were times of great financial stability. It was a time of prosperity and growth in the world of finance with all markets from the stock market to currency exchange achieving record highs. The real estate market, in particular, was doing really well, with that being described as the age of the real estate boom.

With emotions running high, Hayes decided to take a risk on the market. Investing for him meant the possibility of having a debt-free life, and it was too good an opportunity to pass. So having done his homework he decided to buy not one but two condos.

Investor gives in to ARM loans’ allure

The first mistake that Hayes made was taking a huge risk on multiple investments without being fully informed about the real estate market. He had a payment option ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) plan. In a nutshell, this would allow him to make a small minimum investment with variable interests which seemed like a good idea. In retrospect, giving in to this allure is the worst mistake he made given how much he ended up losing.

Financial crisis begins in 2007, put all his net worth at risk

Between 2007 and 2008, half of the U.S. suffered the worst market crash in real estate history. For a number of reasons, property values...

BIO: Aaron Velky is an entrepreneur, author, high-performance coach, and speaker from Phoenix, Arizona.

STORY: Aaron felt stuck as an entrepreneur and decided to find a quick-fix investment. He landed on forex trading, which seemed like exactly what he wanted. Aaron never took the time to learn about the trade and lost $56,465 in this venture.

LEARNING: Think through an investment before you commit. Detach yourself from your emotions when investing. Don’t get involved with forex.

“Speed doesn’t come from transaction rate. Speed comes from capital magnitude.”

Aaron Velky

Guest profile

Aaron Velky is an entrepreneur, author, high-performance coach, and speaker from Phoenix, Arizona.

He’s the CEO of Money Club, a movement-in-a-business believing that while money matters, financial intelligence matters more. Money Club offers employers a meaningful way to retain their talent, deliver amazing company culture, and empower their people, taking their team through a series of workshops on personal finance and wealth building. One part motivating and high engagement workshops and one part financial tools, courses, app recommendations and action steps to better their financial future. Money Club also has an online community, courses and content to help those ready to invest and grow wealth.

He’s a principle and a personal performance coach with The Quitter’s Club, an organization that helps men and women quit the life they thought would make them happy to build the one that will. They host online mastermind programs and retreats focused on personal development, providing a structure and formula for quitting what no longer serves you so you can build a life by design.

He’s coached several hundred athletes and released his first book called Let Her Play that guides parents and coaches through a framework that creates better communication, more psychological safety, and increased physical performance on the field and in the classroom.

Worst investment ever

Aaron was researching various investment platforms looking for something new to do. He felt like he’d hit a plateau and was struggling with this identity under the success of the Money Club. He felt stuck, so he found himself in this inquisition mode, looking around for ways to go quickly.

Aaron wanted something that would give him immediate success. He found forex trading, liked it, and started with a play account. He found a broker overseas, conversed with them, and immediately started working with them.

Aaron sent a couple of dollars to his forex account. He’d have these moments where this couple of dollars turned into a couple more quickly. There would be days when Aaron would put $100, and then it would suddenly be $300. So he put in more money. At some point, he started playing with serious swings and making a couple of thousand dollars daily. Aaron was having a field day. At one point, he’d be up five grand. The next day, Aaron would be down four grand, then up six, down three, and so on. This up-and-down rollercoaster saw his emotional turbulence hit the roof, and he was very unstable during this period. The more money he made, the more he kept investing in the forex account.

Then one day, Aaron’s winning was like 100 grand. He decided to stop here and pull out his winnings. Now he had a sizable account and was feeling good. The excitement made Aaron try one more trade. He did, and it tanked. Aaron was left with negative $12,000.

BIO: Tara LaFon Gooch is a 2X business founder and entrepreneur. Before entrepreneurship, she was a corporate sales director who got burnt out on corporate life and wanted to explore more possibilities.

STORY: Tara started a business with a partner who didn’t align well with its goals. This saw her do all the work, and she had to quit after realizing this wasn’t a partnership anymore.

LEARNING: Vet your partners well before getting into a partnership with them. Listen to your gut.

“Your business partner can dictate the progression, the strategy, the flow, and ultimately the success of anything you do.”

Tara LaFon Gooch

Guest profile

Tara LaFon Gooch is a 2X business founder and entrepreneur. Prior to entrepreneurship, she was a corporate sales director who got burnt out on corporate life and wanted to explore more possibilities.

Her background afforded her the ability to view problems from more than one angle, to be creative, and to apply out-of-the-box thinking.

Through her business, Best Branding Solutions, she helps executives and businesses improve their personal brand. Their improved digital footprint helps them be seen as visionaries in their field.

Tara offers 60-minute 1:1 business consulting or LinkedIn strategy calls.

Worst investment ever

Earlier this year, Tara had a business partner with this fantastic business idea. The customer base was there. Tara was excited to get started and had lots of energy. This was a new industry that she’d never been in, but she was not intimidated.

The two formed a 50/50 partnership. Tara’s title was Executive Vice President. The two took it from an idea to a national-level business in just seven months. The company was in home advertising, and they had a truck fleet that went nationally and was absorbed into every state in the United States within seven months.

Though the business was growing, Tara realized she was doing all the work. Her business partner was hardly involved and didn’t seem to align with the business’s goals. Eventually, Tara was tired of doing everything, so she quit the partnership.

Lessons learned

• In a partnership, both partners must be aligned with the business’s goal; otherwise, it will fail.
• Vet your partners and do thorough research before you make an investment.
• Listen to what your gut is saying instead of what other people say.
• There’s no secret sauce to success. Success comes from where you put your energy.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Move beyond the excitement of a new opportunity and do your due diligence.
• Pay attention to your intuition to avoid making big mistakes.

Actionable advice

Don’t rely on somebody else to give you success. Success comes from within. Take action steps every single day, and you’ll succeed.

Tara’s recommended resources

If you think success and wealth are not for you, Tara recommends reading The Science of Getting Rich to learn how to have the success and wealth you deserve.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Tara’s goal for the next 12 months is to achieve 100% financial freedom and independence.

Parting words

“Follow your gut and know that you have the power within you already. But take action and take it today. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone.”

Eric Choe started his investment industry career as a sell-side equity analyst in Korea, where he worked with Samsung Securities, ABN AMRO, and Deutsche Bank. After earning his MBA at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he worked at Fidelity Investments where he ran the Fidelity Thailand Fund. Currently, Eric manages multi-asset portfolios for high-net-worth individuals at a private bank based in Singapore.

“We must have an investment checklist … every investor has different factors they look for when they make investments and watch their investments. And I think everyone has to have a different checklist for what they’re comfortable with … (which) can evolve over time.”

- Eric Choe

One lesson learned

1. One item on Eric’s 10-point checklist: If a stock is trading at a price-to-earnings growth ratio (PEG ratio) of above one, don’t invest in it. (The PEG is a stock’s price-to-earnings [P/E] ratio divided by the earnings per share (EPS) growth for a specified time period). Now if he’s invested in a stock in which the PEG goes above 1.0, he sells it, and if it’s trading at about 1.0, he will not buy it.

Andrew’s takeaways

1. Avoid investing in a company that is competing against the government. However, one exception would be when the government is truly failing in its strategy.
2. The entry of the government into an industry isn’t the end of the world. But it can really affect the multiple of your target company and can lower the price that people are willing to pay for stock as their assessment of future growth will have fallen. Companies can survive, adjust and thrive, but their valuation will slide a little.

You can also check out Andrew’s books 

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
• My Worst Investment Ever
• 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points

 Connect with Eric Choe

• LinkedIn

Connect with Andrew Stotz

• astotz.com 
• LinkedIn 
• Facebook 

BIO: Jonathan Yabut is the proud Filipino winner of the hit Asian reality TV show, The Apprentice Asia. Today, he is Asia’s leading motivational speaker on topics involving leadership, talent development of Gen Y workers, and office productivity.

STORY: Jonathan won $100,000 as the winner of The Apprentice. He took a large chunk of the money and left it sitting in the bank. He regrets never investing the money because it never made much from the bank.

LEARNING: Your money won’t grow if you put it in the bank. Ask questions to understand how an investment works.

“Never hesitate to ask questions about your finances and investments.”

Jonathan Yabut

Guest profile

Jonathan Yabut is the proud Filipino winner of the hit Asian reality TV show, The Apprentice Asia. For winning the show, he served for one year as Chief of Staff of AirAsia, reporting directly to Malaysian business mogul Tony Fernandes based in Kuala Lumpur. Today, he is Asia’s leading motivational speaker on topics involving leadership, talent development of Gen Y workers, and office productivity.

Worst investment ever

As the winner of The Apprentice Asia, Jonathan got $100,000. That was quite a huge prize money for a 27-year-old. So apart from spending on things every millennial wants, such as shoes, travel, gadgets, he left a big chunk of it sitting in the bank.

Jonathan’s biggest regret now is that he never invested in investments such as stocks, bonds, money market, etc., way earlier. Had he invested that money as soon as he got it, it could have probably led to something more significant.

Lessons learned

• Expand your network and be around people who can nudge and advise you on where to invest your money and yield better returns.
• Never be ashamed of asking as many questions as you can, especially if you are entering or enrolling in a long-term investment.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Take advantage of the many investment options available now.
• If you put your money in the bank, you expose yourself to the shortfall risk because it doesn’t grow as it should.

Actionable advice

Never be embarrassed if you don’t know much about your finances and how it’s going to be utilized. You need to ask as many questions as possible until you have a reasonably good understanding.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Jonathan’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to diversify his assets further.

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Connect with Jonathan Yabut

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Blog

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock...

John Swolfs is CEO at Inside ETFs. Previously, he worked at BlackRock’s, one of the world’s largest asset managers, iShares team as a business development associate. In his previous role, Swolfs worked closely with both the Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and Independent Advisor community to help promote the use of ETFs and index investing. Before joining iShares, he worked as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch. Swolfs is a graduate of SUNY Albany, where he majored in U.S. history. And a little bit of trivia, John worked for two years for the New York Mets.

“Before you invest, get professional help. It's out there, it's accessible, take advantage of it.”

John Swolfs

Worst investment ever

John’s worst investment happened when, despite being an expert in investing, he started believing that he could time the market.

The financial advisor who wouldn’t listen to his advice

John is always talking to his clients about thinking long-term and investing for the future. He has always advised them to do what's right for their portfolio and not to worry about what's happening in the market.

He, however, took all of that knowledge and information and said that it was not for him. He ditched his thinking and decided to get tactical. He believed that he was smarter than anyone, i.e., that he was smarter than the market.

To his clients, he would have told them that they can't do that, that that's foolish. That they need to build a position that allows them to be diversified and ride the markets out. But when it came to himself making the investment move, he thought he didn’t need to follow his own advice.

Buying gold in a murky market

John invested in gold in 2012, a time when there were a lot of concerns about inflation as the world was still not out of the global financial crisis.

Against his better judgment, he bought $15,000 worth of gold, believing that the market would eventually pick up. The price of this investment has been going down since the day he bought it. It still pains him to have foolishly lost all that money.

Lessons learned

Stick with your allocations

If you are building a strategic plan for your asset allocation, stick with it.

Avoid personal bias

Don’t let personal bias or emotional attachment get you stuck with an investment for too long.

Diversify your portfolio

Opportunity cost is real when it comes to investing. Build an...

Bijay Gautam is the Co-founder of WYN Studio, a company that creates podcasts for brands.

He hosts one of the top podcasts in India, The Inspiring Talk. On this podcast, he chats with top entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, thought leaders, and celebrities about their journey.

As India’s first Podcast Coach and Consultant, he has coached over 100 people and helped over five organizations launch their podcasts. He has conducted podcast workshops and training across the country, reaching over 2,000 participants.

Bijay has been featured in various media and is a frequent speaker at conferences and events.

Before all this began, Bijay was working as a Research Scientist in a leading Pharmaceutical Company. He was losing motivation and drive in his life, and that’s when he started The Inspiring Talk. Within 15 months of starting his podcast, he quit his job to follow his passion for podcasting and inspiring people through his podcast.

“Don’t take advice from someone who has not walked the path that you want to walk.”

Bijay Gautam

Worst investment ever

A natural orator

Bijay was always that guy who loved talking and being in front of people. He’s the guy every club in high school wanted to emcee their event. Debate and public speaking clubs were his favorite. And so, naturally, Bijay knew that he needed to study communication and media and become a radio jockey, television presenter, or anything to do with putting his face out there and talking.

Seeking the best career advice

When Bijay completed high school and was preparing to join college, he spoke to a couple of people asking what they thought about media as a career. They advised him against it, claiming that media was going down and would have no secure career options. They told him that he’d not make a lot of money from it and he was better off picking a more popular course.

The interesting thing is that these people had no background in media and had no idea what they were talking about. But, Bijay looked up to them, and so he took their advice and enrolled for a course in pharmacy.

The ever-rising star

Bijay invested four years studying pharmacy. Even though he was doing well topping his class, getting scholarships, and also being awarded as the best student of pharmacy, in the back of his mind, he hated the choice he made. But he kept at it. He finished at the top of his class, and in the final year, he got placed at the top pharmaceutical company in India.

To the outside world, this was a huge success. Bijay had made it. His stellar performance continued even at his job. In the first year, he got recognized as the most promising candidate for his organization.

Quitting the act and staying true to his dreams

But even though he was a success, Bijay hated his job. After three years of working in a pharmaceutical company, he realized he was running a...

BIO: Nidhi Mohan Kamal is the director of NidSun Wellness, a chain of weight loss clinics with branches in Delhi and two other cities in India.

STORY: Nidhi’s worst investment ever was looking for superficial qualities in the people she got into relationships with. This left her with a string of failed relationships until she figured out the fundamental qualities she needed to focus on.

LEARNING: Look for fulfillment inward, not from other people. Be assertive with your truth.

“Have intentional love for yourself.”

Nidhi Mohan Kamal

Guest profile

Nidhi Mohan Kamal is the director of NidSun Wellness, a chain of weight loss clinics with branches in Delhi and two other cities in India.

She’s a Food Scientist with a Food and Chemical engineering degree and a specialization in nutrition and sports-specific nutrition. She is also a Certified Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Trainer. And a certified Strength Fitness trainer with a specialization in Rehab and Resistance.

You can find her writing and videos on blogs about food, fitness, and nutrition. She’s the brand ambassador of Puma Do You in India and was part of the Guinness World Record plank.

Worst investment ever

Nidhi’s worst investment was in the type of relationships she got in. Whenever she was picking a partner, she’d look at surface qualities that were relatively superficial such as hobbies and interests.

Years later, Nidhi realized that she was delusional about what she thought she needed from relationships. She didn’t consider essential things such as consistency, kindness, gratitude, a willingness to stick around, etc.

Lessons learned

• Never look for fulfillment from other people; it has to come inwardly, from you.
• Fill yourself up with love, affection, and compassion first so that you can give the same to your partner.
• Be assertive with your truth.
• Always ask yourself if your intention of going into a relationship is good or are you coming from a place of ego and selfishness.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Stay true to your mandate.
• Physical health and happiness depend significantly on your outer and inner journey.

Actionable advice

Slow is fast. Take relationships slowly, and always remember that love is intentional. It’s not about the spark or what you felt the first day. It’s about the bigger things in life. Can they invest in you consistently and let the compounding work for them?

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Nidhi’s goal for the next 12 months is to find balance after a few roller coaster years.

Parting words

“Invest in yourself, your knowledge, spirituality, and health. The biggest investment you will make in your life is not your bank account. It’s you.”

Nidhi Mohan Kamal

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Connect with Nidhi Mohan Kamal

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth...

Mario Nawfal is the founder of the Athena Group of Companies, a conglomerate that operates in more than 40 countries. He started in 2012 with $300 in the bank selling blenders door to door and built that into a business (Froothie) that generated $10m in its second year. Next he built global brand status with Optimum Appliances, a brand he created from scratch. Next he established a range of brands in niches such as personal mobility, fitness, and e-cigarettes. In 2016, he started GoGlobal, an incubator that helps businesses scale their product or ecommerce operations to more than 30 countries rapidly and efficiently.

In 2017, he established International Blockchain Consulting (IBC), a network of experts in more than 40 countries that rose in less than a year to become an established industry authority in the rapidly growing blockchain and crypto space. After the success of IBC, Mario launched IBI Ventures (a venture capital fund), IBA (blockchain accounting), and IGC (cannabis and hemp business consulting). In 2019, he launched a new company, Zense, to provide entrepreneurs with insight on how to launch a successful business with a limited budget. Currently, he has created the 7Figure Launchpad, the world’s first and only full-access business program.

“That’s when I realized that the person I had trusted to build my business and I was actually in discussion with to become the CEO, because I didn’t want to get too involved in my VC (venture capital) had just walked away and taken clients with him.”

Mario Nawfal

Support our sponsor

Today’s episode is sponsored by the Women Building Wealth membership group, the complete proven step-by-step course to guide women from novice to competent investor. To learn more, visit: WomenBuildingWealth.net.

Worst investment ever

After e-commerce success, Mario looks at blockchain

Back in 2017, Mario’s main enterprise was Froothie, an e-commerce business...

BIO: Morad Fiki is a former U.S. Naval Officer and #1 Real Estate Expert on Social Media in Texas. He has been awarded Top 1.4% Real Estate Agents In the United States through Real Trends and has over 100 Million dollars in Career Sales.

STORY: Morad got into the restaurant business without prior due diligence causing him to buy a non-profitable business. In addition to that, he got into a partnership where he was the sole financier.

LEARNING: Don't go into business with someone who has nothing to lose. Do your research.

“Don't go into business with someone with nothing to lose. If a partner doesn’t put money into the venture and it doesn’t work, they could just walk away."

Morad Fiki

Guest profile

Morad Fiki is a former U.S. Naval Officer and #1 Real Estate Expert on Social Media in Texas. He has been awarded Top 1.4% Real Estate Agents In the United States through Real Trends and has over 100 Million dollars in Career Sales. 

Morad helps people who feel stuck in their careers and their lives and have no sales, no business, no customers, and no idea where to go from here to get out of their own way and realize the greatness within themselves. He believes that once you do this, you can unlock your potential and take profound steps to live your best lives and have a business that reflects that. 

Morad is on a mission to inspire 10 million real estate professionals and associated services providers to grow their businesses to six figures and beyond so that they can make a greater impact on their own lives, families, and communities.

Worst investment ever

Morad wanted to be an uber-successful business tycoon. He decided to buy several restaurants and liquidate them. At first, he started looking at different franchising opportunities. Morad had no experience in this whatsoever.

Morad's best friend from high school had an older brother who had worked as a sous chef for about 20 years, so he knew how to cook. His dream was to own his own restaurant. Morad figured they could partner in his quest to be a restaurant owner. The plan was for Morad to acquire the restaurants, and his friend's brother would run them. Morad would fund them all and do the marketing and advertising. 

Since the two were starting from scratch, Morad thought it was best to buy an existing restaurant that was already operating and profitable. He went ahead and got a business broker, who found him a pizza parlor. It was selling for $120,000, but he ended up negotiating it to $90,000. Morad had sort financing from the bank. He went to the sales tax office and got the license in his name.  

They opened the restaurant, and Morad went hard on the advertising. But, this was in vain. They only got a few customers, but more was needed to keep the business going. In due time, Morad discovered that the restaurant wasn't making the amount of money the seller said it was making. Morad was lucky to break even. 

Morad tried to sell it before it went under. He hired the same business broker that sold it to him. All the buyers were savvy and had done enough due diligence to realize there was no money to be made in the business. So it became impossible to sell the business. Morad's partner quit the partnership and left him high and dry. The business finally went under.

Lessons learned

• Don't go into business with someone who has nothing to lose because it will be easy for them to walk away when it doesn't work out.
• Don't rush into something. If you don't feel 100% good about it, it's better to walk away and reassess.
• Take a risk, but fully...

BIO: Jimmy Lee is a Venture Builder and Humanitarian.

STORY: Jimmy and his partner got into a partnership with two other businesses for a huge project that would bring them big returns. One of the businesses wanted Jimmy to collude with them and kick the third company out of the project. He refused and got cut out of the project, losing everything he had invested in it.

LEARNING: Get your downpayment at the start of the project. When you receive help, pay it forward.

“If you have a firm belief in yourself, and you know what you want to do, you should go for it. Things will come into place eventually.”

Jimmy Lee

Guest profile

Jimmy Lee is a Venture Builder and Humanitarian. Believe in yourself, and you can make the impossible possible!

Worst investment ever

Jimmy was introduced to entrepreneurship by chance by a friend. He went into it without experience, capital, or contacts—just a law degree and an idea. His first startup was a creative agency doing motion videos. Within four years, he grew the business into a multi-million business.

The year 2007 was a very great year for Jimmy and his business partner because they got two huge projects. They were engaged as a contractor for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Malaysia. Their job was to project the first prime minister in a hologram.

The following year, everything fell apart. Jimmy’s company got into a partnership with two other companies. Jimmy got called for a secret meeting with one of the companies and was told not to inform the other company. He went for the meeting with his partner out of curiosity. The value of the project was about 4.5 million Malaysian ringgit. The other company wanted to sideline the third company and divide the profit between their company and Jimmy’s.

Jimmy and his partner said no to that idea because it was unethical. A week later, Jimmy’s company got terminated from the project. All the payments he was supposed to receive had been pending due diligence, and now he couldn’t get paid. He lost everything overnight. They had focused on that one huge project for the past few months, and many resources went to it.

Lessons learned

• Don’t give up even when you face failure and other hurdles.
• Get your downpayment money at the onset of the project.

Andrew’s takeaways

• People do help people sometimes out of the blue.
• Once somebody has helped you out of the blue, you have an obligation to pay that forward.

Actionable advice

Continue exploring opportunities and learn from your failures and be better. From that, you can do something even bigger.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Jimmy’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to set up a venture fund in Singapore. The venture will fund projects focused entirely on food, technology, and social enterprise.

Parting words

“Do things that are out of the box. Don’t be afraid because sometimes it’s just internal fear. So be bold and mighty force will come to your aid.”

Jimmy Lee

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Connect with Jimmy Lee

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

BIO: Jenny Wilde has over 15 years of hands-on experience as a senior manager in humanitarian response and an innovation expert.

STORY: Jenny saw the need to set up an Innovation Fund to support innovative ideas to make their emergency response easier and more effective. Unfortunately, company politics took over, and the fund was scrapped off.

LEARNING: Embrace complexity when dealing with innovation.

“Different problems in different innovations require different tools and methodologies.”

Jenny Wilde

Guest profile

Jenny Wilde has over 15 years of hands-on experience as a senior manager in humanitarian response and an innovation expert. She has supported innovative organizations and initiatives in countries as diverse as the USA, South Sudan, and Nepal. She has pioneered initiatives that break from conventional innovation models and enable global scale.

Worst investment ever

Jenny was the operational director of emergency response in the Philippines, responding to a large typhoon, Typhoon Haiyan, that had ripped through the country’s center. Everyone was trying to make decisions and get stuff out of the door without a lot of deeper thinking. Jenny thought that her organization needed an innovation fund that would help bring to light any innovative ideas that would make their work easier. So they got the money and a team together and set up the fund.

Within no time, the fund got political, with everyone wanting to take credit for the idea while, in reality, doing nothing. It was stressful for Jenny because she was heavily invested in the idea. Essentially the Innovation Fund got scrapped because of politics.

Lessons learned

• You’ve got to simplify the problem. Make it as simple as possible, and then work with it.
• When you’re innovating around complex problems, you need to step back and take in all that complexity to do transformational shifts.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Embrace complexity because there will be problems that you need to solve that are very complex.
• Think about the balance between the long term versus the short term. Which one works best for your current environment?
• Your idea should fit the company’s culture; otherwise, people will only shoot it down.

Actionable advice

If you want to go big and create something that’s really transformational, you should be using systems innovation and the tools associated with that. Don’t harm yourself with small ideas and small innovation traps.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Jenny’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to help people create big shifts in their industries.

Parting words

“Thanks, and good luck on the next investment.”

Jenny Wilde

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Connect with Jenny Wilde

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Website

Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market

Alexander Burstein works in the pharmaceutical industry, first doing a sales career in Merck KGA and Angelini, then a marketing career. And the last 18 years, he is in business development for Sanova, a company of the McKesson Group.

In his leisure time, he loves to do sports like jogging and hiking, and he is a passionate historian. 

In this episode, Alexander shares his worst investment ever story losing 90% value of his biotech stock investment. Relying on stock news and tips only and not researching further about the investment.

“People, in general, tend to overvalue the positive information and to undervalue the information about risks.”

- Alexander Burstein

What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast?

Tell us here!

Resources: 

• My Worst Investment Ever Book
• myworstinvestmentever.com

Topics Covered: 

00:46 – Alexander Burstein’s professional and investment background

02:30 – Sharing his worst stock investment story venturing in a rising star biotech company with Phase 3 Projects.

03:43 – From 2000 Euros to 200 Euros: Biotech Company’s stock price crashed after the Phase 3 Project results announcement

06:20 – Andrew’s summary of Alexander’s story      

09:30 – Andrew’s strategy to minimize the risk to a stock with a binary outcome

09:53 – Alexander’s one actionable advice listeners can take to avoid suffering the same fate: Divide your risk by investing in several assets.

Main Takeaways

• Lesson 1: “I trusted news about news. I listened to people telling news about those shares. But I did not spend the time to really make own investigations.” –  Alexander Burstein
• Lesson 2: “If you had done a lot of research it's quite possible you could not have come to the conclusion that they were going to fail Phase 3 of the trials. Why do I say that? Because there must have been other professionals and analysts looking at the company. And if they thought that there was a high probability or probability that this company was going to fail they would have been giving out warnings or turning their recommendations negative.” –  Andrew Stotz
• Lesson 3: “The number one error that most people make which is a failure to either do research or to only do a limited amount of research before investing.” –  Andrew Stotz
• Lesson 4: “If a person a listener was so inclined to invest in this type of a company where there is a binary outcome, either it's going to pass or it's going to fail. And as you said 7 out of 10 failed. The strategy to reduce the risk is to try to buy 10 of them, knowing that seven of them are going to fail but the three that path is going to fly.” –  Alexander Burstein

You can also check out Andrew’s books

• How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market

BIO: Ulrik Nerloe’s specialty is empathetic dialogue and the work of clarifying and realizing dreams. As a holistic coach and mentor, Ulrik helps people to encourage the joy of life and find themselves.

STORY: Ulrik quit his job in the IT industry to work as a holistic coach and mentor, helping people realize their dreams. He sacrificed everything to do what he loves and that has seen him suffer a few financial challenges.

LEARNING: You need courage, resilience, and energy to achieve your dreams.

“It’s amazing what we can do if we start to appreciate what’s right here right now.”

Ulrik Nerloe

Guest profile

Ulrik Nerloe’s specialty is empathetic dialogue and the work of clarifying and realizing dreams. As a holistic coach and mentor, Ulrik helps people to encourage the joy of life and find themselves. The energy is high, happy, and caring. Ulrik is a good host, whether it is in a meeting, in a conversation, or in private. Because he is in close contact with his intuitive and empathetic sides, Ulrik often senses something happening or not happening in a room, which most people oversee, and is not afraid to act on these emotions. Ulrik also has a sense of creating business, leading people, providing service and experiences. He is an international bestseller, gives inspiring talks, and publishes podcast series.

Worst investment ever

Ulrik had been in the IT industry for 13 years, working as a sales director. He would build businesses from the bottom. While Ulrik experienced lots of success throughout his career, he was so sick and tired of being around managers that were so poor in leading people. So he decided to leave that line of work and do something different with his life.

Ulrik started focusing on changing the world to a better place where people can realize their dreams. While he enjoys what he does, Ulrik regrets that he sacrificed everything to do it. In hindsight, he should have built a better financial foundation before quitting his job.

Lessons learned

• You need three things for your dreams to come true; courage, resilience, and energy.

Andrew’s takeaways

• If what you are doing does not feel right, dare to quit and do something else.
• Freedom comes at a cost.

Actionable advice

Everything is possible, the impossible just takes a bit longer, so be patient, and with time you will develop resilience.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Ulrik’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get as many people to read his book and go out and generate energy and love in people and companies.

Parting words

“Stick with your dream because everything is possible; the impossible just takes a little bit longer.”

Ulrik Nerloe

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Connect with Ulrik Nerloe

• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Podcast
• Website

Andrew’s books

BIO: Sam founded FasterFreedom to teach people like him to quit their jobs, become successful real estate investors, and achieve that same freedom and financial independence.

STORY: Sam and his partner invested in a self-storage. They fixed the property a bit and built a couple more facilities. They didn’t know this space, and the investment has cost them about $500,000 of potential loss and probably more than they could have gained in revenue.

LEARNING: Be intentional about what you invest in. Stick to what you know. Think through every expansion.

“Be intentional about what you invest in. You can’t be good at everything.”

Sam Primm

Guest profile

Sam Primm was born and raised in St. Louis, MO., to a father who was an engineer and a mom who was a teacher. He followed the path you’re told to do and ended up working a corporate job in the area and making a decent enough living. But there were a couple of problems.

Sam was working a stressful 50-hour-a-week job for someone he didn’t like, and most of all, Sam wished he had more time and freedom for himself and his family. They deserved better. His wife deserved him to be around more, and he wanted more time to be around his daughters as they grew up.

Eventually, Sam got into Real Estate, and after trying and failing—several times—he got some wins and started to learn what worked with consistency. This led him to own $45 million in assets, have 150+ single-family rentals, flip over 1,000 properties, and run his own property management company. Sam did it all in under nine years without using his money. But the best part is that it’s given Sam the time and freedom he has always wanted for himself and his family.

Sam founded FasterFreedom to teach people like him to quit their jobs, become successful real estate investors, and achieve that same freedom and financial independence. Sam prides himself in practicing what he preaches, meaning all his lessons and tips are constantly updated and based on the real investing he’s doing right now- so you only learn what works and not through theory or outdated practices!

Worst investment ever

When the idea to add a self-storage facility to their assets was first brought to them, Sam and his partner said no. Then COVID hit, and they said yes. They didn’t know much about storage facilities, but the numbers looked ok, so they took it. They fixed the property and built more facilities because they had open land.

They didn’t know this space, so they didn’t raise enough funds or manage properly because their mind was focused elsewhere. The property is now not generating income nor growing in value like it should. This investment has cost the partners about $500,000 of potential loss and even more in missed revenue.

Lessons learned

• Be intentional about what you invest in.
• Don’t try to be good at everything; you can’t.
• Stick to what you know.
• Have proof of concept in what you want to invest in.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Take good care of your cash flow.
• Focus on minimal investment and maximum cash flow.
• Think through every expansion.
• Don’t think your evidence of the existing success relates to your new idea, even if it seems like it’s the same thing. That’s not proof.

Actionable advice

Don’t just buy something because it’s cheap. Focus on what you’re good at and what’s proven.

Sam’s recommendations

Sam recommends taking advantage of the many available resources, such as his...

Roongkiat Ratanabanchuen is a Thai banking professional who has an impressive portfolio in the areas of a pension fund, mutual fund, and microfinance.  He is currently a full-time lecturer in Finance at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.  He also worked as a Risk Management Officer at Bank of Thailand.  He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Automotive Engineering at Chulalongkorn University and earned a Master’s in Quantitative Finance at Cass Business school in London.  He finished his Doctorate in Pension Fund Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science.  He was awarded the 2017 CFA Institute Best Paper Award in Micro Structure which is a research scholarship in microfinance from the National Research Council of Thailand.  Recently, he won another research scholarship in the area of risk management of saving cooperatives from the Thailand Research Fund.

In today’s episode, Dr. Roongkiat shares some of the investment mistakes he did when he risked it all on a falling stock. The time he spent managing that falling portfolio, caused him to miss other investment opportunities and for a time affected his confidence.

Listen from his story and learn what you need to do to avoid the same mistakes he did.

“Learn to diversify and put that into action.”

- Roongkiat Ratanabanchuen

What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast?

Tell us here!

Resources: 

• My Worst Investment Ever Book
• myworstinvestmentever.com

Topics Covered:

00:54 – Andrew introduces Dr. Roongkiat’s educational background and his research scholarships

02:23 – Sharing his worst investment ever and the story behind it

03:12 – Dr. Roongkiat tells the reason why he retained his investment and other problems encountered by the company

06:29 – How time lost and faith in the company brought him further problems

08:14 – Lessons learned from both Dr. Roongkiat’s and Andrew’s investments

13:25 – Citing his recommendation to avoid suffering the same fate

Main Takeaways:

Lesson 1: “When you invest in a company, you need a lot more experience because this is quite difficult for us when the company can build around.”– Roongkiat Ratanabanchuen

Lesson 2: “When you invest, you need to have some discipline that you need to limit your concentration of risk in a certain company.”- Roongkiat Ratanabanchuen

Lesson 3: “Don't put too much money on one stock, because if something happens, then you may decide and then you may end up in a situation when you don't know what to do next. You know I do because I don't allow flexibility on my portfolio.”-Roongkiat Ratanabanchuen

Lesson 4: “I basically came to the conclusion that 10 is the number of stocks that the average individual investor should hold in Asia.”– Andrew Stotz

Lesson 5: “My next recommendation is they should hold them in equal weighting.”– Andrew Stotz

Lesson 6: “Each investment that...

Paul M. Neuberger (New Berber) is also known as The Cold Call Coach, and he believes in making the impossible possible. A masterful speaker and trainer, he challenges people to dig deep and discover talents they never knew they had. Whether it’s working hands-on with small teams or presenting in front of hundreds of people, Paul is adept at genuinely connecting with his audience and getting to the heart of important issues.

He has worked with leading organizations around the world to help improve effectiveness, performance, and cultivate a stronger sense of passion in the workplace. He has taught thousands of students in more than a hundred countries through his Cold Call University program, helping sales professionals in a range of industries close more business in less time than ever before.

“I believe in life; nothing happens to you. Everything happens for you.”

Paul M. Neuberger

Worst investment ever

Switching careers on a whim

Paul was a 30-year-old vice president of a major university in the state of Wisconsin when his father-in-law died suddenly. His mother-in-law’s financial life became complicated after her husband’s death. Paul wished he’d been able to save his mother-in-law from her financial problems. He was so devastated to be helpless that he decided to become a financial advisor.

Going in big

Paul became successful quite fast, and so he got over his head that starting a business in the finance industry was going to be easy. He’d always been a good salesperson, and his passion was over the roof, so being a financial advisor came easy for him.

When Paul saw how quickly he was growing, he decided to take it up a notch. He wanted to look a little bit more prestigious, to look more successful. He believed that this would land him big clients. Paul signed a 30-year lease for a huge office space and hired four people. He invested heavily in technology and marketing and was hemorrhaging cash faster than he was making it.

The high costs nightmare

Soon enough, the bills started piling up. Paul had to pay rent and make payroll. Within no time, he was missing payroll and having to ask for rent extensions. After a couple of missed payrolls and rent extensions, Paul realized he was in over his head, so he decided this wasn’t the path for him.

Lessons learned

Be aware of who you are

It’s good to have self-confidence. But you also need an awareness of self. Don’t let your self-confidence cloud your self-awareness.

Surround yourself with smart people

Surround yourself with people whose advice you can rely on, people who can be your sounding board when you need help in making business decisions.

Have a strategic plan

You can’t just sell your way out of a problem. You need to be strategic. You need to figure out what’s the end game. Think about where you want to be in the next couple of months, what you need to do to get there, and what success looks like.

Jonathan Freedman is the managing member of Consilience Capital Management LLC. He began his career at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. as a clerk in 1992 quickly moving up to research assistant to the Chief Investment Strategist, followed by a promotion to research associate. Subsequently, he was promoted to research analyst for the firm’s equity hedge fund product with responsibility for industrial cyclicals.

In 1999 Jonathan joined Ulysses Partners as a research analyst. Then in 2000 and 2001, he started managing personal and family portfolios. In 2002, he founded Consilience Partners LP, a long/short value hedge fund with $1.5 million of capital raised. During his time managing Consilience, he had tremendous initial success with select small capitalization ideas. A seed was planted.

In 2004, he began to manage a separate account focusing on US small cap value strategies for a multi-strategy hedge fund as an external manager. In 2009, he completely upgraded his idea generation, research, and trading capabilities to tackle global small-cap investing. In 2018 he relaunched his strategy using friends and family capital on a path to once again build a stand-alone investment firm.

In this episode, Jonathan shares the importance of developing a strong sense of business ethics and philosophy. This was brought about by his worst investment ever story working for a hedge fund that collapsed in spectacular fashion, got its management arrested and offices raided. Although he operated independently and had absolutely no involvement in any of the wrongdoing this experience brought crushing disappointment to Jonathan’s life. 

 “…when you're dealing with money to make sure you are in a complete alignment.” 

-Jonathan Freedman

What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast?

Tell us here!

Resources: 

• My Worst Investment Ever Book
• myworstinvestmentever.com
• Jonathan Freedman's Linkedin Article: If I'm Being Totally Honest

Topics Covered: 

00:45 – An account of Jonathan’s educational and career background as well as his personal life and what he does for good causes and charities.

03:09 – Jonathan relating his worst investment ever and the lessons and insights about that business failure.

09:17 – Talking in hindsight about the downfall of Jonathan's previous business.

11:58 – Explaining business ethics and investment philosophies.

14:38 – Jonathan talking about the value of honesty in business dealings and how his father was his biggest influence on that matter.

15:50 – Valuable lessons learned from a failed business and the long-term consequences of every decision you make especially in business.

18:58 – The thing about the sixth sense in business dealings.

19:48 – Jonathan sharing his thoughts on decision making and the power of chance.

23:10 – Nuggets of wisdom from Andrew on zero-based thinking.

22:10 – Jonathan's specific action: Self-reflect and align yourself in a better way.

Main...

BIO: Yaswanth Sai Palaghat is a YouTuber who focuses on tech and career development (as well as many other areas), and he also interviews leaders and influencers.

STORY: Yaswanth made the mistake of following the crowd and chose to take an engineering course. After a year at the university, he realized that he was wasting his money, he topped engineering while following his passion.

LEARNING: Follow your passion, teach yourself so you can turn it into a skill, then create an opportunity from it. Over and above your education, develop a skill that differentiates you.

“The only thing that you need is clarity on what your passion is. Once you have the clarity, you can create your own opportunities.”

Yaswanth Sai Palaghat

Guest profile

Yaswanth Sai Palaghat is a YouTuber who focuses on tech and career development (as well as many other areas), and he also interviews leaders and influencers. And even though he is only 23 years old, he has the big goal of creating the largest digital tech community.

Worst investment ever

After high school, Yaswanth decided to go to university and do an engineering course. This was not what he was passionate about, but it is one of India’s most popular courses. Almost everyone is doing engineering.

Having the courage to follow his passion

After a year of studying engineering, Yaswanth realized that this degree would take him nowhere. With everyone doing engineering, the field is so crowded, and the opportunities are too few. So he went on to start his YouTube channel, something that he enjoys doing.

Lessons learned

Follow your passion

If you have a passion, do not ignore it. It does not matter how complex it is; just make time to pursue it.

Do not be afraid to start even if you fail

Start whatever you want to. Even if you fail, you will have lessons to take from it. The most important thing is to start.

Network to stay relevant

Even if we are in the internet era, you can still network and stay relevant. Talk and interact with multiple people and make good connections online.

Take advantage of the internet to learn

Everyone can learn freely on the internet. So you have no excuse not to learn by yourself. If you know the path you want to be on in two to three years, you ultimately need to work on that on your own. No one will guide you because everyone is busy building their own lives.

Hone your public speaking

If you want to build a successful enterprise, you must work on your public speaking skills. An excellent public speaker oozes confidence, a trait that is important for entrepreneurs.

Andrew’s takeaways

If at first, you do not succeed, try again

Do not be afraid to fail. If at first, you do not succeed, try again. Get more used to failure than success because you will fail more than you succeed, but you will learn a lot from your failures.

Over and above your education, develop a skill that differentiates you

Education is not enough these days. You have got to create...

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew and Larry discuss three chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this eighth episode, they discuss mistake number 13: Do you confuse the familiar with the safe? Mistake number 14: Do you believe you’re playing with the house’s money? And mistake number 15: Do you let friendship influence your choice of investment advisors?

LEARNING: Just because you’re familiar with something doesn’t make it less risky. Diversify globally to get the real benefits of diversification. Your financial advisor is not your friend; it’s a business. Value and protect your investment gains as much as you value and protect the principle.

“We’re all human beings and have made these mistakes. What differentiates smart people from others is that they don’t repeat the same behavior when they learn it’s a mistake. They change it. They become aware of investment biases and overcome them either on their own or with the help of a trusted financial advisor.”

Larry Swedroe

In today’s episode, Andrew continues his discussion with Larry Swedroe, head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners. You can learn more about Larry’s Worst Investment Ever story on Ep645: Beware of Idiosyncratic Risks.

Larry deeply understands the world of academic research and investing, especially risk. Today Andrew and Larry discuss a chapter of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this eighth episode, they discuss mistake number 13: Do you confuse the familiar with the safe? Mistake number 14: Do you believe you’re playing with the house’s money? And mistake number 15: Do you let friendship influence your choice of investment advisors?

Missed out on previous mistakes? Check them out:

• ISMS 8: Larry Swedroe – Are You Overconfident in Your Skills?
• ISMS 17: Larry Swedroe – Do You Project Recent Trends Indefinitely Into the Future?
• ISMS 20: Larry Swedroe – Do You Extrapolate From Small Samples and Trust Your Intuition?
• ISMS 23: Larry Swedroe – Do You Allow Yourself to Be Influenced by Your Ego and Herd Mentality?
• ISMS 24: Larry Swedroe – Confusing Skill and Luck Can Stop You From Investing Wisely
• ISMS 25: Larry Swedroe – Admit Your Mistakes and Don’t Listen to Fake Experts