Stuart Leckie – The Cost of Friendship: How your Friends Impact Your Investment Decision
My Worst Investment Ever Podcast
Trusting the Wrong Investment Opportunity
The speaker reflects on a poor investment decision driven by misplaced trust, over-optimism, and failure to conduct proper due diligence. They discuss ignoring warning signs and how the investment veered off course from the original business plan.
Stuart Leckie is based in Hong Kong and advises on investments and pensions in Hong Kong and Mainland China. He is the author of books titled "Pension Funds in China" and "Investment Funds in China". He was Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association, acts as an advisor or trustee to a number of funds and was the Chairman of the CFA Institute Advisory Council on Standards and Financial Market Integrity.
Stuart. Leckie worked in life insurance in the UK before moving to Hong Kong. He served as the Chairman of Willis Towers Watson (formerly Watson Wyatt) in Asia-Pacific and as Chairman of Fidelity Investments, Asia-Pacific. He has advised the Chinese Government on pension’s reform and advised the Hong Kong Government on the establishment of the Mandatory Provident Fund.
In this episode Stuart shares his worst investment ever story, investing £500,000 in an affiliate product he did not deeply understand which was actually offered by a trusted friend. Eventually, he stopped investing further after realizing he needed to do more due diligence into the person he originally trusted.
“Do not be afraid to ask information to people. If they do not like it, the investment is not for you.”
- Stuart Leckie
What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast?
Resources:
- My Worst Investment Ever Book
- myworstinvestmentever.com
- Pension Funds in China by Stuart Leckie
- Investment Funds in China. A new look by Stuart Leckie and Rita Xiao
Topics Covered:
00:44 – Stuart Leckie’s professional and personal background
02:33 – Stuart shares his worst investment ever story venturing into an affiliate product he did not understand
03:40 – Finding out that his trusted friend did not do his due diligence about the investment
04:28 – One of the personnel of the investment unaccounted the collected investment to the fund
06:11 – Availing the UK government grant for tax refund
07:16 – Lessons that Stuart learned from the experience
08:17 – The importance of reporting and transparency in any investment
09:42 – The circumstance that led him to invest in the fund his friend was offering him
10:40 – The different investment red flags Stuart encountered
Main Takeaways
- Lesson 1: Do not touch things you do not understand. Get proper due diligence done. Performing due diligence will give you the necessary information that you need and it will help you vet out a possible investment.
- Lesson 2: Do not be afraid to push people especially those who are involved in your investment. If they do not like it that means that the investment is not for you. Do not be patient with people who seem to follow the time in the world and do what he likes about it.
- Lesson 3: Importance of reporting and transparency in any investment. Regularly sending the newsletter about the investment is important. Listing over the 9-parts bad news and the one-part good news. Financial reporting is important because people make their investment decisions based on the financial data of the company.
- Lesson 4: Never be afraid to tell bad news. You actually build a good reputation over time if you are the person that is willing to talk about it and say what you have learned from it.
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
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