My Worst Investment Ever May 2022
Ep553: Vanessa Ho – Dig Deep Into the Business Model Quick take
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.
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Ep552: Jitender Girdhar – Question Opinions and Beliefs
BIO: Jitender Girdhar is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, entrepreneur, Op-Ed writer at The Times of India, mentor, and NLP professional.
STORY: Jitender’s worst investment ever was not investing in growing his mind when he was younger. This saw him make poor investments.
LEARNING: Your beliefs and opinions become your identity. Leave past knowledge and beliefs behind and be curious to learn new things.
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Ep551: Anthony Milewski – Do You Understand the Country Risk?
BIO: Anthony Milewski is an investing veteran and Chairman of Nickel 28 – a battery metals-focused investment company focusing on metal streaming and royalty agreements.
STORY: Anthony and a friend partnered to drill oil in Indonesia. They pooled $10 million and hit the ground running. After facing one disaster after another, the partners gave up on the venture, having spent all the money, and not a single well was dug.
LEARNING: Understand the context of the foreign country you’re investing in—research both the expected return and expected risk.
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Ep550: John Spence – Don’t Let Material Things Define You
BIO: John Spence is an author, international executive coach, professional development educator, virtual trainer, strategic planning facilitator, keynote speaker, and developer of online learning programs.
STORY: When John was a young CEO of one of the Rockefeller Foundations, he invested in the trappings of a CEO, such as big houses, boats, wines, artwork, etc., all in the name of impressing people. All these things were lost in days when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami.
LEARNING: Don’t let material things define you. The ultimate freedom is the freedom of mind. The accumulation of things is uncorrelated to happiness.
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Ep549: Brian Golod – There Isn’t an Overnight Success
BIO: Brian Golod was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His parents asked him what he wanted to do for a living when he was 13 years old, and somehow he knew, at least for the following 21 years.
STORY: Brian invested $25,000 in a new company belonging to a man he’d known for just a few days.
LEARNING: Don’t trust blindly; ask questions. Be careful of the appeal to authority fallacy.
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Ep548: Nat Berman – You’re Smart Enough to Invest on Your Own
BIO: 15 years of experience running his own business, more than enough money, time, and freedom; now Nat Berman teaches the practical steps he’s taken to achieve these results in what now takes only 3-4 hours a day.
STORY: Nat got wind of a stock that Jim Cramer would tout on his show and invest in. Nat decided to invest $30,000 in the stock without further research. He lost the money in a short period.
LEARNING: Do your research. Never buy a stock that somebody tells you about.
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Ep547: Dave Buck – Have a Purpose for Your Investments
BIO: Dave Buck is fascinated by the concept of time and how it is applied in everyday life. It is one of the main reasons he started Kairos Management Solutions.
STORY: Dave was a very disciplined saver and investor from the time he got his first job when he was 16. The only mistake he made was not managing his portfolio according to the lifestyle he wanted to live in retirement.
LEARNING: Start to save for the future today. Have goals for your savings.
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Ep546: Akshat Malik – Don’t Get Too Invested in Just One Partner or Brand
BIO: Akshat Malik, a serial entrepreneur, a risk-taker during the week, and a happy dog dad on Sundays, has undoubtedly had his good and bad investments.
STORY: Akshat’s company partnered with a brand and focused on helping it grow. The brand grew 100x, which was good for the company. But, the brand started partnering with other people, which led to Akshat’s company losing its market share and revenue.
LEARNING: Don’t get too invested in just one partner or brand. Keep your debt down as low as possible.
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Ep545: Gary Belsky – Long-Term Patience Is the Key to Success in Investing
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.
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Ep544: Brent Kochuba – Know Who You’re Dealing With
BIO: Brent Kochuba is the Founder of SpotGamma, a financial insights company that applies its proprietary methodology toward modeling index and equity options and then provides unique content to its subscribers.
STORY: Brent joined a former client as a trader in his fund. Five days after he started working at the fund, the market opened a limit down and halted trading. The fund lost so much money, and the only way out was to liquidate and shut down.
LEARNING: Know whom you’re dealing with. Speak up and ask for clarification when things don’t make sense.
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Ep543: Sourabh Goyal – Make Yourself a Priority in Your 20s
BIO: Sourabh Goyal is the Founder of SuccessBrew (a growth marketing company) and The Goalchy Club community that is focused on the personal and professional growth of people.
STORY: Sourabh studied engineering, not out of choice, but because it’s what was expected of him. He hated it and believes he should have invested the four years of college in a much better way of knowing himself.
LEARNING: Make yourself a priority in your 20s and build yourself in the manner that makes you happy.
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Ep542: Corina Burton – Learn to Trust Your Intuition
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.
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Ep541: MJ DeMarco – Do Not Sign an Earnout When Selling Your Business
BIO: MJ DeMarco is the international best-selling author of The Millionaire Fastlane, Unscripted, and the Great Rat Race Escape. He’s also the founder of Viperion Publishing and the Fastlane Business Forum.
STORY: MJ sold his business in 2000 for $1.2 million. Of this, $700,000 was held in an earnout. Because of the recession, the buyer paid MJ $500,000. He put the money in tech stocks, but they imploded in just a few months. MJ lost everything he had invested.
LEARNING: Never accept an earnout.
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DISCLAIMER: This content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Readers should not consider statements made by the author(s) as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies. The author(s) cannot be held liable for any actions taken as a result of reading this article.