My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

For over 30 years, Dante Vitoria has been running his firm the Vitoria Group, which has broad experience working with companies of various sizes to fulfill its client's financial needs. The client base is extremely diverse, ranging from international money centers, domestic banks, insurance companies, and financial firms. The group provides a vast array of financial services specifically tailored to enable clients to meet their goals, the assistance direction and access to professional banking and other facilities.   “Know when to get in, but more importantly know when you're going to get out.” Dante Vitoria   Worst investment ever Getting into Wall Street After college, the dad to one of Dante’s friends asked him to come work for him at a small but very successful investment banking firm. Though he’d never thought about getting into finance he said yes. Experiencing his first stock investment About a month and a half into his first job a doctor in Florida named Stanley Chase came up with this idea where he’d take your blood test and pronounce you AIDS-free then give you a credit card to show your AIDS-free status. A lot of brokers were interested in the idea and even tried it out. They figured they could take the doctor’s idea public. The whole firm was behind the stock. Every broker from the rookie, to the 75-year-old retired guy who'd come every day and have a cup of coffee, was buying the stock. It was the greatest stock since IBM. Getting into everyone’s favorite stock Dante, not wanting to be left behind, took all the savings he had, about $50,000 and bought the stock which was selling below $12 a share. After about a month and a half, the stock was selling at double what Dante had bought it for. Playing sheep with his investment After he had doubled his money, Dante went to a stockbroker with a ticket to sell. The trader looked at him and said, “What's wrong with you? It doesn't get any better than this. Don't do this. Let's keep it. If anything happens I will tell you to get out.” Dante listened to the trader and kept his stock. A week later the stock was trading at $31. He still doesn’t sell it. Well, the trader had not yet called to advise time to sell, so he still held onto the stock. Here comes the FBI One Monday morning, Dante stepped off his office elevator and was met by a huge guy wearing a brown polyester suit with slicked black hair. The guy asked him if he was Vitoria to which he answered in the affirmative. The guy said he was the FBI and told him to go have breakfast they had no interest in him. Confused, Dante showed him the breakfast he was carrying and said he was good. The FBI told him to leave immediately and come back after lunch. So off he went. The office building was now full of cops, plainclothes detectives and the FBI. When he came back later, the firm had four people in it. Two secretaries, the chairman, and Dante. And just like that, he becomes the vice-chairman of a brokerage firm The chairman informed him that he was now the second most senior person in the firm. This automatically made him the vice-chairman of the firm, at 22 years. The stock goes bust Before he could get excited about being a vice-chairman, he remembered his investment portfolio. He asked the chairman about it and all he could tell him was to forget it. The stock he’d bought for $50,000 was now worth about 50 cents. This was certainly by far the worst investment Dante has ever made. Lessons learned Not every stock is good for you Just because a stock is great for your friend doesn't mean it's great for you. The reverse is also true. A stock might just be horrible for someone else but great for you. So do your homework and take the time to find out how good a stock is for your portfolio. Andrew’s takeaways Don’t bet on one stock Always be wary of betting on just one stock because you increase your chances of losing your money. Diversify your portfolio for better risk management. Check the legitimacy of your investment company Be careful in the financial world to stay away from criminal behavior or else you’ll get into trouble. Make sure you do a background check on the investment company you intend to use to make sure it is legit. Don’t hold onto your stock for too long If you’re not sure whether to sell a stock or not you can always sell half or even 25% of it as you continue to watch the stock exchange market. Just don’t hold onto the whole thing for too long. Actionable advice Have a clear entry point and an exit point. Never chase an investment and don't run too long with that investment. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Dante’s goal for 2020 is to have a better year than he had this year. His goal is simply to do a little better every year. Parting words   “Do your homework and stay strong. Always have an exit strategy because it’s easy to get in but sometimes it's hard to get out you know.” Dante Vitoria   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Dante Vitoria Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Blog Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

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 know, because she had done zero market research, was that the actual market rent was about $1100. While they didn’t lose any money from buying the property, it remains her worst investment because they didn’t make the money that they should have been making had they looked and seen the comparables of what the rent go for in the first place. Lessons learned Use local agents Sarah has learned to only use realtors that are local in areas she’s looking to invest in because the local realtors know where the best deals are. They’re also likely to have a team of electricians, plumbers, paralegals, etc. so that you don't have to go and source from scratch. Don’t be too analytical Be careful that you don't spend all your time doing research. Do your research but make sure that you're not sitting on your butt five years from now, still doing research. Do enough research, feel comfortable, get the right help, get your right team and then just go ahead and do it and trust that you've done enough research. There are lots of people complaining that they should have done something 10 years ago, but they’ve just been reading and analyzing nonstop but never dared to do anything. Andrew’s takeaways Don’t jump in blindly Don't just jump into real estate investing, take a little time to research so that you can do it will all the facts at hand. This makes risk management easier. Ask for help You don’t know what’s out there when you’re dealing with an investment property. But the truth is that there's a lot of help available and a lot of people are willing to help as long as you ask for their help to avoid making your next mistake. Actionable advice Join and attend a networking group that's real estate investing specific and build your circle. Have people that are doing what you want to do. And those that are talking to you and saying, “You're crazy, don't do it”, those are not the people you want to be around. Don't listen to them. Go and network with people that you want to be like, people you want to learn from and create that that circle around you of those like-minded people. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Sarah’s number one goal is to reduce her job hours, either to part-time or to not too many because she’s not working to make money anymore. She’s at the stage where she can start taking some of her time back. Parting words   “Learn and take action. Reach out to people that are doing it around you. There are ups and downs, just pick yourself back up and keep going.” Sarah Larbi   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Sarah Larbi Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Blog Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Jack Thomas is the founder and CEO of BASE, which was voted as Asia's Gym of the Year 2018 at the Fitness Best Awards. With eight years of experience in Asia's fitness industry, he runs a multiple seven-figure fitness business in Bangkok with a team of over 30 coaches. Jack also hosts the Fitness Business Asia Podcast, a weekly show with a mission to raise the standards of Asia's fitness industry. He regularly speaks at leading fitness industry events in Asia such as the FIT Summit, Asia Fitness Convention, and ExPro Fitness Convention.   “If you do the right things during the recruitment process and probation period, by the end of that, you should really know if they're the right fit for your company or not.” Jack Thomas   Worst investment ever The difficulty of launching a business Jack admitted that the first six months after they opened in August 2016 was the toughest. Although he had experience in running a business, launching one was different. He said that not focusing properly in sales and marketing was his biggest regret. Instead of consulting marketing agencies, they decided to do it internally. With little knowledge in sales and marketing, he interviewed someone who he thought was the right person for the job. Bringing in the wrong people One moment he was launching a business, the next thing Jack knew, he hit rock bottom. Yes, he had clients coming in and did some free trial runs but they were never converted to fully-paying clients. The manager he hired whose job was to introduce packages that catered to their clients’ needs was letting these clients walk out the door without offering them products of the gym. It was not until they were pretty low on funds that Jack discovered how wrong that person was for the job. Lessons learned Tidy up your recruitment process Every time something goes right or something goes wrong, look back, and analyze what went right and what went wrong. Incorporate the things you have learned when updating your recruitment process to make things better later. Get people who are excited with sales If they are allergic to sales and they do not want to do it, it's going to be hard to turn that person around. Don't tell your employees that the products will sell itself When your employees stop selling and expect your products to do all the work, sales don’t happen. Andrew’s takeaways Entrepreneurs are risk managers A lot of people call entrepreneurs risk-takers, but truthfully, they're risk managers. It is important to manage risks so carefully especially if you have a very limited amount of resources. The beginning stage is not the right time to take risks When you're in the beginning stage or the vulnerable stage of your business, it's not the time to take risks on your staff. You've got to get someone experienced in that line of business. The role of intuition Always listen to your intuition and don't be afraid to raise its voice and follow it. Actionable advice Nail your recruitment process and use the probation period well. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Jack is now focusing on building new technology called Baseline that will help people record their fitness results as they go through a group fitness class. In the next couple of months, he is looking forward to launching Baseline in Singapore. Parting words   “The bigger the loss, the bigger the lesson.” Jack Thomas   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Jack Thomas LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Instagram Podcast Website   Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Michael Lebowitz brings more than 25 years of financial markets and risk management experience as a portfolio manager at RIA Advisors. Throughout his career, Michael has been involved in trading portfolio construction and risk management, involving some of the largest and most active portfolios in the world. In addition to broad institutional experience, he has also built a successful independent investment advisory, which allowed him to further extend his experience into the realm of investment management for individuals and family offices. Michael's background and experience are the product of a diverse career path that affords him a unique investment and economic perspective, grounded in logic and common sense. He blends his vast trading and investment experience with economic viewpoints that deliver pragmatic and actionable thought leadership to clients.   “You just got to say no. It's okay to say no, and even if whatever you're going to buy goes up a lot, that's fine. Just think about tomorrow, stop thinking about the past.” Michael Lebowitz   Worst investment ever Lose a client or invest in a tech company Back in 2012, when Michael and his partner started their management firm, one of their biggest clients approached them to invest in a computer chips company. And because this client was putting in a huge amount of money to their firm, they could not say no to him. Although the pitch was decent because it promised them great potential and even greater results, Michael admitted that he and his partner did not have any idea what they just had gotten themselves into. However, they were pretty convinced that if they didn’t put a decent amount of money into this tech company, they might lose their client. All is not well in the end Michael and his partner thought the payout would be in two or three years. As it turns out, they invested in 2012, it’s now 2019, and they still haven’t gotten any returns from that investment. Not to mention the problems piling up with the development of the chips and constantly raising more money and diluting Michael. To make matters worse, that particular client left his firm a year and a half later for other reasons. Lessons learned Stay in your lane, do what you know best Even if the promise is great and the returns are said to be unbelievable. Getting into something that you don't know will never bring you good results. It’s ok to say no to an opportunity Not all opportunities are to be taken. Some are traps. And to avoid them, one has to learn the art of saying no. Andrew’s takeaways Startup investing is so much about burning money You're either going to lose all the money you have invested, or they're going to come back to you and ask for more money. If you do not have that money to put into it, then you're going to be diluted. It’s difficult to exit with startup investing It's not impossible, and sometimes it works. But the reality is that illiquidity can crush you for years, in the hopes that someday, you'll get some liquidity and be able to exit. Always have a risk management strategy If you want to invest in a startup, don't invest in one invest in ten. This allows you to not get so intensely dependent on one investment. Actionable advice If you don’t know what you are doing and you are about to give a large sum of money, follow your intuition and stand up for yourself to avoid losses. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Michael believes that the Fed is the driver of markets, and he wants to survive another year of the Fed dictating to some degree, the terms of the market. Parting words   “Just be ready and be aware of what can happen so that you have the parachute to land safely. Because you want to be the one buying when stocks go on sale. You want to sell at their highs.” Michael Lebowitz   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Michael Lebowitz LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Joel Comm is a New York Times bestselling author, blockchain enthusiast, professional keynote speaker, social media marketing strategist, live video expert, technologist, brand influencer, futurist, and eternal 12-year-old. With over two decades of experience harnessing the power of the web, publishing, social media and mobile applications to expand reach and engage in active relationship marketing, Joel is a sought-after public speaker who leaves his audiences inspired, entertained, and armed with strategic tools to create highly effective new media campaigns. Travis Wright is a top marketing technologist, author, keynote speaker, blockchain advisor, tech journalist, and podcast host. He is the former global digital and social strategist at Symantec (Sa man tic) for the Norton brand. Wright is the co-founder & CMO of CCP Digital, a Kansas City & SF-based digital ad & content agency. Wright is the author of Wiley & Sons, Digital Sense, The Common Sense Approach to Social Business Strategy, Marketing Technologies, Customer Experience and Emerging Technologies, which was published in January 2017. These two gentlemen are the hosts of the podcast Crypto Curious and Crypto Serious.   “The current paper currency model is going to go away. A big shift is going to happen. The paper money system is going to crumble.”  Travis Wright   Worst investment ever – Joel’s story of loss The big idea 2009 was a good year for Joel. He had a staff of about 38 people running several successful projects. The money was flowing, the business was good. So together with his team, Joel came up with one of the first pieces of technology that would bring email marketing type of delivery to mobile. Think of Constant Contact and AWeber, where you can send bulk emails to people that have subscribed to your list. They came up with technology that would allow you to do that to mobile phones. Blood, sweat, and money Joel put a lot into this project spending somewhere in the low six figures of his money. They did everything they could to promote the system. They showed up at trade shows and demonstrated it, but people didn't respond. He tried to raise venture capital to grow it but didn't get the response that he wanted. He even tried looking for partnerships, but no one was interested. Meanwhile, every month, he was pouring more money into it because once you set up shortcodes with the mobile services, you have to pay monthly to maintain them. Otherwise, you lose them. Hitting a wall Joel realized soon enough that what seemed like an opportunity and a cool idea had hit a wall. He then tried to sell the software that he had invested a lot of money into to somebody who could pick it up and run with it. But that too didn’t happen. So now he was left with a failed project, emotionally bruised, and six figures less. But he still held onto the system. Letting go The failure to successfully launch his system was hanging on him and crushing him. One day in 2013, he saw the bill for what it cost him to keep this thing running and was faced with the challenge of what to do. Does he keep paying for this, hoping he could salvage it and get something out of it and turn it around? Or does he pull the plug and flush the whole thing down the drain? Joel pulled the plug and thought that he would feel these waves of crushing defeat because he had made the worst investment of his life, and that loss had cost him a lot. But he experienced something different. When he pulled the plug, he felt this release like the burden was just instantly lifted. Now he could focus his attention and energy on things that he was far more passionate about. Letting go allowed him to put this failure in the past. Lessons learned Don’t do it just for the money If you're not passionate about something and planning to go all-in, then don’t do it. Money should not be your only motivator. Life is just so much more than how much money we make. It’s also about the people in our lives and the experiences we have and share. Andrew’s takeaways Don’t fall for the sunk cost fallacy Don’t let the sunk cost fallacy make you stay in a bad investment. Once we've invested a lot of money in something, we can be emotionally invested in it. But just because we invested money in it doesn't mean that it was the right thing and that we should hold on to it forever. Let it go You can instantly stop failing by letting go of that investment that is not bringing you any more value. Actionable advice Don’t focus on just the one investment that you have. Look around for other opportunities that might be there. In other words, don’t be laser-focused on your investment just because you need it to work. Be open to other opportunities and possibilities. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Joel wants to stay open in 2020, live every day, and let the year surprise him. Worst investment ever – Travis’ story of loss Wetting his feet into digital currency In July of 2010, Travis read an article on Slashdot, a big tech publication that talked about this new Bitcoin 0.3 version that had just come into the digital currency space. What fascinated him was that he could find the new Bitcoin on his computer. So he decided to check it out. He mined a block of 50 Bitcoin. Then he went to a website where they were giving away Bitcoin every day and got five Bitcoins, so now he had 55 Bitcoins. Too much for his computer Mining the Bitcoins was causing too much stress on his computer. Eventually, his computer got fried. Fortunately, he was able to log in and get all his important files except his Bitcoin. So he ended up throwing the computer. So now there's a computer somewhere in a dumpster with 55 Bitcoin on it. Lack of knowledge is what cost him At the time, Travis didn’t know anything about cryptocurrency trading. He didn't have anybody who he could talk to about this new fad. Someone who had blockchain and understood Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. He’d jump right into the new fad without doing any research. Had he done his homework first, he’d have known about buying Satoshis and putting them in a crypto wallet instead of on his computer. $1.1 million in the trash In January of 2018, the 55 Bitcoins, that were now in a dumpster somewhere, were worth a whopping $1.1 million! Yep, Travis had literally thrown $1.1 million into the trash bin. His ignorance had cost him $1.1 million. Lessons learned Keep your private keys to yourself When investing in crypto, make sure to store your crypto, not on your computer, but a hard crypto wallet without an internet connection. Keep all that stuff secure and private. That way, nobody can steal your stuff, and you have easy access to them. The market will get crazy When the markets are high, and the crypto prices are really good, sell some of your Bitcoins, take a little bit of the profits off the top and spend it on other investments because the market will sometimes dip. So don't just watch all your investments plummet down to near zero when the markets dip, make money during high markets. Andrew’s takeaways You’ve got to take it to the end Great investments have to work to the end. It's a little bit like playing basketball and you're good at dribbling and you're in the back of the court. But if you can't take it to the hoop to get the point, then all that work is useless. Actionable advice Don't be afraid to use your crypto once in a while. Don't just hold it as an investment. Remember to do your research and your due diligence into it and start to understand the best cryptocurrency, what is blockchain, and why blockchain works. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Travis is working on a fun platform right now to help podcasters launch, manage, schedule, and organize their podcasts more effectively. Parting words   “We're all human, flawed and fallible.” Joel Comm   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Bad Crypto Podcast Twitter Facebook Instagram Website Connect with Joel Comm Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Connect with Travis Wright Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Niels Kaastrup-Larsen is the managing director of DUNN Capital (Europe) and heads up the business development in Europe and Asia. Niels has been in the managed futures business since 1990. Holding management positions at several leading commodity trader advisors and has helped investors place more than $2 billion in trend following strategies. Niels is the founder and host of the world's leading podcast within quant-based investment strategies, Top Traders Unplugged as well as the host of CME Group Managed Futures Podcast.   “I certainly had to realize that to overcome emotions in the investment world and be rational and critical and to preserve those kinds of thinking. Then becoming a quant or a rules-based investor was the way to go to automate things. So you’ll know exactly what you want to do and have a plan.” Niels Kaastrup-Larsen   Worst investment ever Doing what he was trained to do When Niels started as a young trader, his job was partly to provide liquidity to the clients of the bank he was working for. He would inherently be speculating during the day or even during the week by holding positions in bonds that his bank was making markets in. And so, the mantra that many people know as buying low and selling high was really what he was trained to do, but on a discretionary basis. The fear of the unknown When there were big changes, Niels found out very quickly how difficult it was to figure out where the low was because the low may be very different in reality to what he thought. So, because of not knowing what he did not know, he certainly had quite a few very painful days during that time. The power of momentum What he did not know at the time when he was just a young trader was the power of momentum and how important it is to follow the overall trend in the market, not trying to go against the market trend. Lesson learned Do not listen to your gut feeling Our gut feeling is more of a warning system to keep us safe. But cannot be used as a guide or measure for making financial decisions. Do not be guided by your emotions These emotions would sometimes lead us doing the opposite of what we should. We end up becoming more risk-seeking towards the end of a bull market and be very conservative just before the bear market is coming to an end. So we end up being guided by emotions, which are complete disasters when it comes to making financial decisions. Actionable advice Be open-minded and trust the evidence. Do proper research. Niels has advised watching some Ray Dalio videos. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Niels’s focus will be continued education, helping investors build safer and better performing portfolios through his work at DUNN Capital and his podcast, Top Traders Unplugged. Parting words   “We should all remain students of life and keep expanding our knowledge.” Niels Kaastrup-Larsen   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Niels Kaastrup-Larsen LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Podcast Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Angela Zeigerbacher has always been interested in the personal finance realm, from hoarding cash in her sock drawer as a kid to paying off her student loan debt in one year after college. After countless conversations with friends, she realized not everyone had the same level of personal finance education, which prompted her to launch the Money in the Bank podcast, a personal finance podcast for the average Joe or Jane. On top of this, Angela has taught personal finance to teenagers in high school as well as hosted “lunch and learn” at several companies. She recently started a food channel on YouTube, Foogality, where she cooks and bakes frugal type of meals.   “Things can always break when you buy a house. So going in without a maintenance fund is a really bad idea.” Angela Zeigerbacher   Worst investment ever Young, debt-free and proud Angela finished paying off her student loan in just a year after college. She was on top of the world. At 22 and having paid off her student loan debt that fast, she felt she was doing a lot of things right. So what's next? Interestingly, nobody talks about what you should do once you pay off your debt, especially to young people. So after working so hard to pay off her debt, she didn’t know what to do now that she was debt-free. All her friends advised her to treat herself, go on nice vacations, and buy things she wanted. Angela had never really been a spendthrift. So she didn't take the advice completely to heart, but she started thinking about it. Desire to live the American dream Everyone kept telling her to buy a house, so she figured the American dream sounded good. It would be nice to have a house and have a boyfriend, two cars in the garage, and a white picket fence. Her American dream started with a new car. She didn’t put much thought behind it. She just went to the dealership and picked a car that she thought was good for her; a brand new Ford Escape for $35,000. Let’s buy a home Next on her American dream list was a house. After buying the car, her lease came up for renewal. At the time, she was living with her boyfriend and they decided that renting was just throwing away money, especially now that the lease was going to increase by $250 a month. So they decided that buying a house was the right thing to do. Again no thought was given to this decision as she was just too excited to get something she wanted and could afford. Oh, damn the closing costs! Even though they went for a house, they could easily pay for, one huge factor, prompted by the hasty decision making, was ignored. They never factored in the closing costs which was about 3% of the buying price. Now they were draining their emergency funds and savings accounts scraping this money together to fulfill their dream of buying a home. Now we hate the house The couple bought a house that they could afford, but they didn't spend enough time looking and ended up just quick buying the first house they saw. After living there for just a year, they hated it. There was no insulation in the bedroom, so it was freezing in the winter. Their bills were super high. They went from paying about $50 a month in an apartment for heating and cooling to about $200 a month. Don’t forget the taxes Another thing that they forgot to factor in was property taxes, and they can be quite expensive. They were paying about $350 a month in property taxes, as well as a Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) of about $100 per month as well. In hindsight, even though Angela thought renting was throwing all this money out the window, they could have rented a two-bedroom, which would have been more than enough for their needs at the time, for probably about $875 a month. Poor investment choice Buying a house ended up being Angela’s worst investment ever. Even though she made about $19,000 worth of principal, it still cost her in total $30,000 because closing costs on both ends were high. She also had to sell her car as she had moved closer to work. Cumulatively, her American dream cost her about $50,000. Lessons learned Ignore what society thinks Never listen to what others or society think that your life should look like. Having that car and having that house makes you look very successful when you're 22 years old. But ultimately, from an investment perspective, that isn’t what’s best for you. You are better off using that money to invest in other things that have a return on investment. Buying a house is not necessarily a good investment When it comes to buying rental property versus buying a home, one is an investment, and one is not. Most first time homebuyers tend to think that buying a home is an investment but it's not. Some people have had major luck with the buy and hold model on their homes, but that is like winning the lottery. Think of your house as a home, your place to live in. A house has no liquidity like a savings account. That's why you accept a lower return on a savings account as your money is very liquid, you can get your hands on it if you need to, but you can't with home equity. Andrew’s takeaways Always do your research Before you put the down payment on a house, do your research. Find a comparable house that's for sale, and try to compare the two. By doing so, you force yourself to ask all the questions necessary to make the right decision. Your parents know all about buying a house, hear them out Listen to your parents when it comes to buying a house. They’re likely to know all the expenses and all the trouble that comes with the purchase. Keeping up with the Joneses You don’t need to chase the American dream just because everyone else is doing so. Don’t follow other people’s dreams. Just because others are doing something, it doesn’t mean they are making the right decisions. Be brave, be willing to stand on your own. Actionable advice Don’t rush big financial decisions. Take your time, think about it, do your research, do your homework, and make sure you’re excited about what you’re doing. Ask for more opinions from people around you. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Angela’s goal for the next 12 months is to focus on her YouTube channel and pick up some more editing skills, so her videos get better. She also wants to work on releasing a frugally minded cookbook and the next year. Parting words   “Don’t let sunk cost fallacy keep you in a bad situation. It was hard to sell my car after so much depreciation but it was far much better than holding onto a mistake.” Angela Zeigerbacher   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Angela Zeigerbacher Facebook YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Tobias Carlisle is the founder of The Acquirer’s Multiple. He's also the founder of the Acquirers Funds. He is best known as the author of the number one new release in Amazon, Business and Finance, The Acquirer’s Multiple: How the Billionaire Contrarians of Deep Value Beat the Market. He has also authored several Amazon best-sellers - Deep Value: Why Activist Investors and Other Contrarians Battle for Control of Losing Corporations, Quantitative Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors, and Concentrated Investing: Strategies of the World's Greatest Concentrated Value Investors. Tobias has extensive experience in investment management, business valuation of public companies, corporate governance, and corporate law. Before founding the forerunner to acquirers fund in 2010, Tobias was an analyst at an activist hedge fund, general counsel of a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and a corporate advisory lawyer. As a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions, he has advised on transactions across a variety of industries in the United States, the UK, China, Australia, Singapore, Bermuda, Papa New Guinea, New Zealand, and Guam. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland in Australia with degrees in Law and Business. Currently, Tobias is a portfolio manager of the Acquirers Fund, which is an ETF listed on the New York Stock Exchange.   “You can have a good thesis, but you have to be very careful about the cash flow.” Tobias Carlisle   Worst investment ever Started out investing in asset-heavy business When the BP oil spill happened, many oil and gas companies got in a lot of trouble. One of which was the Seahawk Drilling. As soon as the drilling stops, they didn’t get a lot of cash flow but they were very asset-heavy. So, when they were trading at around $0.10, Tobias took the offer to invest in those jackup rigs as he was promised that there has never been an opportunity like that. To capitalize and become one of the big drillers in the area through these undervalued assets was exactly what Tobias was looking for. You can have a good thesis but be very careful about the cash flow Tobias learned that when companies are losing money, that’s the time to buy, and when they are making a lot of money, it’s the best opportunity to sell. However, he missed the important factor and that was cash flow. The issue with Seahawk drilling was they ran out of cash, so they kept on selling these undervalued jackup rigs. They ended up in bankruptcy because they were taken advantage of instead of the other way around. Tobias was down 80% or 90% on his investment. Lessons learned Look at the company in its totality When you are buying, you think like an acquirer, think like a buyout firm and think like an activist. When you do that, you are not only buying the equity, the market capitalization, but you think about the debt and other debt-like security. Valuation will help you beat the market One of the hardest decisions is deciding whether to exit or add to a position when a stock goes down. A big part of becoming comfortable with the position is doing the valuation. Andrew’s takeaways Assets are valuable, but cash is king There's a lot of people that are asset rich and cash poor. And the problem with that is that when you can't meet your bills, because the cash flow is not there, the consequences are massive. When you buy something, you’re buying everything It is important when you’re buying that you look at it from an acquirer’s perspective, which means you think about the debt, and you think about that preferred shares. Actionable advice The most important thing is not so much stock selection but portfolio management. This means, provided that you don't put too much into any given position; you can't lose everything. So, you only need to be sufficiently diversified. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Tobias wants the ETF he runs in The Acquirers Fund to outperform the market. Parting words   “I am very familiar with losers because I have them all the time; you shouldn't be worried about them. It's a good way to learn.” Tobias Carlisle   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Tobias Carlisle LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Guest profile Andy Hill is the award-winning blogger and podcaster behind Marriage, Kids and Money Podcast His podcast and blog are dedicated to helping young families build wealth and thrive. His advice and personal finance experience have been featured in major media outlets like Business Insider, Market Watch, and NBC News. Trusted as a personal finance influencer by National Financial brands like Quicken Loans, his message of family financial empowerment has resonated with listeners, readers, and viewers across the US. When he's not talking money, he enjoys wrestling with his two kids and singing karaoke with his wife.   “I made a promise after that home purchase that I would never buy a home that took up more than 25% of my after-tax income.” Andy Hill   Worst investment ever Excited to be a young homeowner When he was 22, Andy decided to invest in his first investment, buying his first house. He had saved $20,000 working odd jobs and couldn’t be more proud of himself. All along, he had heard that the best thing one could do with money is to buy a home and become a homeowner. So this was a big deal for him because he had worked hard and felt proud of that. Andy ended up looking in a great suburb where a lot of young people lived after they graduated college and found a $200,000 house. He put 10% down and bought the home. He was excited; it was going to be his bachelor pad close to downtown where he could hang out with friends. The bills start trickling in Once he got the keys, he started to get the bills. He quickly realized that this mortgage was going to take up about 70% of his income. As if the mortgage was not enough, things started breaking. The roof needed replacing, and the kitchen needed some work. Andy didn’t have the income or the funds to properly fund this investment that he had plunged all his savings into. He ended up taking out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) on his home to keep up with his living expenses. Shacking up to pay up The bills started to rack up, and he got into debt. This was not the investment that he thought it was going to be. So he ended up getting some roommates to help him pay for his living expenses. Some of them worked out; some of them didn't. Getting out of his worst investment ever To get out of that mess, he worked harder to grow his income to pay his mortgage. Eventually, he just had to sell the house. At this point, he had done some updates to the kitchen and the backyard. And all in all, when he sold the house, he barely broke even. He sold it for $225,000.  But he had spent more than $25,000 in repairs. Lessons learned Don't buy more house than you can afford While it was commendable that he could get a loan at 22 years of age, at the time, he was making $28,000 a year, meaning that he would have to cough up almost all of his income to pay the loan. Keep your mortgage payments below 25% of your income Andy made a promise that he would never buy a home that took up more than 25% of his after-tax income. Andrew’s takeaways The homeownership trap Buying a house can be a trap, so be prepared to be trapped for the next five years if you're lucky, or 10 if you're not so lucky. And if you're very unlucky, you might lose it all. Widen the gap between your income and your expenses The creation of wealth happens at the gap between income and expense. Wealth is not the amount of income. It's not even that you own a business. If you want wealth, make sure that the gap between your income and your expense is as wide as possible. Homeownership isn’t necessarily the best investment Homeownership, unless you do your research very well and get the right place, is not the best investment out there. Don’t take homeownership advice from just anyone. Do thorough research before you take the first steps to homeownership. Actionable advice Before you jump into homeownership, plan out a budget beforehand that showcases your entire living costs or your potential living costs. Calculate how much your mortgage is going to take up from your income. Also, look at things that are not normally factored in, such as furnishing. Plan for repair costs. Make sure you also factor in an emergency fund. So you're not relying on credit cards or a home equity line of credit to cover you. Think about those things before you make what could be the largest purchase of your life. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Andy and his wife are planning on buying their first rental property. They’ve been saving up for a while now so that they can buy it with cash. So in the next 12 months, they’ll be looking at rental properties, but only the ones that they can buy with cash because no mortgage equals fewer worries. Parting words   “Before making any big investment, do a lot of research first, plan it out and make sure it's a good fit for you in your specific situation.” Andy Hill   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andy Hill Twitter Facebook Instagram Pinterest YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

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. This woke Nick up to the reality that he couldn’t continue working his job. He wasn’t feeling fulfilled, and he was not the person he wanted to be. He went for a long run, and when he got back home, he had made up his mind to stop working for the private equity firm and instead buy a business. Excited to buy a business There was someone who Nick knew by association, who was trying to retire from their business, and they and their business partner offered him to buy into the business as a management buy-in (MBI). The stress of his corporate job had him looking for something where he could jump ship. So buying an existing business was a decision he made because, at the time, he badly wanted to get out of what he was doing. The six-figure decision He invested a six-figure sum of money in buying the business. The sellers decided to do a seller-financed agreement so that he’d be paying off the remainder over three years. His ownership stake would increase over time as he continued to pay the price of the business. He was too excited to get out of the corporate world that he never thought of the factors to consider when buying a business. He didn’t even give the sale agreement much thought. He signed the dotted part without doing his due diligence. What he didn’t see coming was the fact that this agreement meant him coming in essentially as an employee, again, which he wanted to avoid by quitting his job. The cookie comes crumbling After a while, Nick realized that he had made the decision to buy a business from an emotional state, and now everything was coming down on him hard. First, the person who he thought he knew, turns out he didn't know him very well. Second, the two business owners didn’t quite exactly intend to sell the business and let go of their management role. So even though Nick had put some money into the business, they weren't prepared to let him run the business. Sacked from his own business There were a lot of fighting and disagreements. One day, at a board meeting, there was quite a huge disagreement, and the two owners decided to sack him, and they weren't prepared to give back his share of the money he invested. Nick went to court to try and get some cash back. He also had to hustle to get another job, which he did very quickly because he had a good network. Luckily, he managed to get some of his investment back. To date, this remains his worst investment ever. Lessons learned Emotions and decisions should never go hand in hand Making decisions that are purely based on your emotions is never a good idea. Not to say you shouldn't think about things from both your heart and head perspective, you need to connect with both. But if you're in a position where you're looking for a way out, that very emotion prevents you from seeing the bigger picture and being objective. Do your due diligence Before diving into any investment, do your due diligence. You've got to do your homework. Look for multiple insights and pieces of information so you can make a truly informed decision. Failure is not the end Don’t treat failure as the end of your investment plans; it's the beginning. It is the origin of what you become in the future, so don’t let failure stop you. Just pick yourself up, get going again, learn from the experience, grow and become better from it. Andrew’s takeaways Be wary of debt Debt is the number one risk factor in business because if something goes wrong, you can quickly lose control of your business. Avoid debt for as long as you can. Change is internal, not external Whenever you are going through emotional turmoil, moving to another city, state, or even country won’t change what you’re going through. True change starts from within. When you're in emotional turmoil, and you're making a decision, thinking that the decision is going to bring you to another place, unfortunately, you'll be bringing yourself with you. When your emotions aren't right, you get out of balance. Be on the right side of the deal Make sure that you get the right terms in a deal. Don't rush into something without understanding the terms of the deal fully; otherwise, you may end up making your worst investment. Professionals are the worst decision-makers Professionals are the worst in the areas that they're experts in. Most brokers or investors end up risking it all on some overconfident bet. This is because they tend to feel confident in what they’re doing and end up not doing their due diligence in their deals. Actionable advice If you've got a big opportunity, and even if someone's pressuring you, you've got to push back on that and give yourself an extra few days if you need it, whatever the time frame is. Then write down the reasons why this is a good investment as well as the reasons why it's not. What does it give you and what does it not? How does it take you to where you're trying to be in your life and your business? How does it hold you back? Does it fit with your values? Does it fit with your standards? Is it going to give you what you want? Be clear on these things. Surround yourself with people who are trying to do the same thing. Such people can give you a sounding board to make sure you make sound investment decisions whether you go ahead with the investment or not. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Nick and his business partner have an objective to have no less than five acquisitions on the cards in the next 12 months. Their vision for the next 10 years is to have over 100 million invested assets in businesses that they own. Parting words   “Treat failure as a learning experience. It's hard to deal with it, but you are going to grow from that, and you are going to become better from that experience, even though you may not feel that way then.” Nick Bradley   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 Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Nick Bradley LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast