My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Gabriel Abed is the founder of bitt.com. A FinTech enterprise established to offer financial solutions to the world's unbanked communities. He is also the founder of the Digital Asset Fund, the first regulated digital asset mutual fund in the Caribbean region. The Barbados-based entrepreneur is internationally acknowledged as a pioneer in the digital currency evolution having initiated the first global movement to encourage the use of central bank digital currencies to stop these politicians from printing money.   “I knew better and I knew that the price would stabilize once the sufficient supply hit the market but I bought into the FOMO. And it was that FOMO buying that I got burnt on. So, the lesson learned is to avoid FOMO, don't be an emotional trader and stick to the fundamentals.” Gabriel Abed   Worst investment ever A new privacy coin that gets everyone excited Back in 2016, Gabriel heard a rumor about a new privacy coin coming to the market called Zcash. The need for privacy in the cryptocurrency sector got everyone excited, thinking it would be a lucrative investment. Rumors had it that the team behind it was great and that the legendary tennis player Roger Federer was one of the big backers of the project. Gabriel, just like many others, was at the front row ready to see this thing unravel. It went down as fast as it went up When Zcash hit the exchange and the buy orders were climbing into the thousands. Gabriel was in one of their staff houses in Barbados, opening up his trading engine and buying himself some Zcash. When he saw how it skyrocketed, he thought this was going to be a special one. And just as fast it went up, Gabriel saw the price of Zcash crash. He continued to buy on the way down. He was still hopeful and kept buying to increase his position. Unfortunately, it never recovered. Lessons learned Never get too excited and abandon the fundamentals If you don’t want to crash and burn, stick to the fundamentals of a good and prudent investor. They are there for a reason and that is to guide investors not to make mistakes especially in high-risk investments. You are not missing anything if you overcome FOMO Just because, everyone is buying it, doesn't mean you have to. A good investor knows the right thing to do is to research and examine the information gathered in order to come up with an investment decision, not base it on FOMO. Always go for the long-term play Short-term investments rarely pay off. If it’s a good investment, it’s not going to go away in one day. You just need to be patient. Andrew’s takeaways Don’t try to catch a falling knife Don’t jump into an investment when the price is falling sharply. Wait until the price has bottomed out. Do your research When you forget the basic principle to always do your research, then something bad is usually going to happen sooner or later. Gather sufficient information so you can justify your decision. Do not make decisions when you are excited When you get excited about something, there is a thin line separating good decisions from bad ones. Try to break them apart once everything clears out. Actionable advice Educate oneself before investing. Don't allow the upfront FOMO to get you and pull you into the fold. Take your time when investing. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Gabriel wants to recalibrate his life and look for the next big thing on where the market is going to go. He wants to discover, explore and get excited again about a new subject. Parting words   “Invest wisely and only invest what you can afford to lose.” Gabriel Abed   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 Gabriel Abed LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Daniel Ramsey is the founder & CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated Virtual Assistant company in the marketplace with over hundreds of 5-star reviews, and over 10 years of experience, serving more than 5,000 clients – including over half of the RealTrends™ Top 10 teams. Daniel is a long-time licensed real estate broker, mortgage broker, and general contractor who’s sold hundreds of homes and made millions in commissions, and built real estate’s #1 staffing company. Back in 2008, he was inspired by his own time-management struggles to find a better way to help agents leverage their time & energy, and created MyOutDesk to provide a trusted, reliable solution to the office administration, marketing & prospecting tasks that every agent has – but most lack the time to focus on. In 12 years with MyOutDesk, Daniel has helped thousands of clients scale their businesses & grow profitability. He’s worked with some of the top clients in the industry – from sales organizations like the Mark Spain Team and Ben Kinney to tech providers like the Zillow Group, Keller Williams, and RE/MAX.   “When you know the markets are down, go all in and triple or quadruple your net worth. But it takes guts, and I'm all about that. I cannot wait for the next downturn to come around.” Daniel Ramsey   Worst investment ever Experiencing an economic downturn Things were quite tough for real estate companies during the economic recession, and it was exceptionally horrible in California, which was one of the top 10 markets to be cut in half. If you bought a house for $400,000, two years later, it was worth $200,000. The sky was falling, and people were running away from real estate investing. Daniel experienced a 90% drop in revenue forcing him to close his office. He went from having three offices and more than 30 licensed people to working out of his back bedroom. Weathering the economic recession Daniel decided to reinvent himself in 2007 and started learning about short sales, foreclosures, and what's a deed in lieu. He realized that the financial meltdown had opened up an entire industry. He traveled around the country, went to New York, Dallas, and Boston and met huge institutional lenders who had thousands of homes in Sacramento that were for sale. He offered to sell these homes. Riding the downturn to double his wealth Daniel realized that he could make a profit by buying homes during the recession and sell them off for a profit. He decided to explore markets outside of Sacramento. That’s when he found this beautiful condo on the hills in San Francisco, in the city of San Anselmo. It had one of those driveways that have a little hill on the top. The owner had bought it for 1.5 million dollars and was selling it for $650,000. It was quite a steal for Daniel. However, the previous owner had decided to convert the garage into a master bedroom. That was not a problem for Daniel as he doubled up as a developer and a contractor. Or so he thought. Climbing the financial hill Daniel met the inspector and the city engineer and submitted his plans. What he thought would be an easy task became an uphill climb. Turned out, this house had a hill behind it, and the soil composition in San was prone to mudslides and earthquakes. And so the city council was not excited about a renovation. First, he was asked for a soils report. He figured how hard can it be to get a report? So he got a soils engineer who informed him that the hill would come down any second and needed to be mitigated. Again, he thought to himself that this would be a child’s play; he can do it. Oh no, it was nothing near a child’s play. He was informed that he had to drill 25 feet down into the ground, put a metal t bar then pour concrete down the 25-foot hole within the whole circumference of the circle. This whole process saw him lose more than $200,000 on the beautiful condo that turned into his worst investment ever. Lessons learned Partner with local real estate agents Don't invest in an area that you don't know. Daniel did not know that hill was going to be such a hill for him to financially climb because he didn’t know the area at all. So when buying real estate property outside of your local area, partner with people who know the market. Keep control of your deals When you partner with other people, make sure that you keep control of your deals through cash, entities, and deeds. Andrew’s takeaways Invest in what you know The best way to invest in real estate is by starting with an area that you know and slowly expand from there. It’s easier to handle risk management for something that you are familiar with than something new to you. Know how to handle a downturn When investing in real estate during a downturn, the first thing you need to do is understand that you’re in a crisis. The second thing you need is to have cash and credit because if you don't have cash, you can't take advantage of o a downturn. You got to have guts During a crisis, people will tell you not to invest. Every time you look at the newspaper, the news will be pumping out all the negative information. And most people won't have guts to invest. This is indeed the best time to invest as long as you do it correctly. Actionable advice If you’re interested in real estate investing, first nail down all the unknowns that you can come up with. That's what major developers and smart investors do; they leave no unknowns in the equation before they go hard. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Daniel’s goal for the next 12 months is to double the size of his business. He’s currently at 1,200 people and wants to go to 2,400. Parting words   “Don't get scared. Have guts of steel and just keep plowing forward.” Daniel Ramsey   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 Daniel Ramsey LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Kornel Szrejber is the host of the Build Wealth Canada Show. He has been featured for paying off his mortgage in only six years while still in his 20s and becoming one of Canada's youngest retirees at the age of 32. He now runs his popular personal finance and investing podcast created specifically for Canadians. Kornel interviews top personal finance experts to share their best practices, tips, and tactics when it comes to investing and personal financial planning in Canada. He also runs Canada's largest personal finance and investing conference.   “We sort of just, got scared, let fear take control, buried our heads in the sand, and said, let's just pretty much ignore the stock market and go for this short thing of paying off a mortgage.” Kornel Szrejber   Worst investment ever Ready to be financially independent Kornel and his wife set out to be financially independent straight out of university. They were smart about their money right off the bat. While other young couples were enjoying the benefits of having well-paying jobs straight from college, Kornel and his wife decided to live off one of their salaries and use the other one to pay off their mortgage quicker. Fear got the best of them They were also considering to save for retirement, but before they could make a decision the 2008 financial crisis hit. Investors were freaking out because they were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in their investment accounts. As young graduates, they didn't know much about investing in public markets or opportunity costs. And so they got completely scared off from the markets and decided to go for the sure thing, which was paying off their mortgage. When one good decision leads to a missed opportunity They did manage to impressively fully pay off their mortgage within six years, something that is rare in Canada. They even got featured in both of the major personal finance magazines in Canada, some large blogs and podcasts, and in a book. But despite this nice milestone, they missed out on an important investment opportunity. At the time they were getting the mortgage, interest rates were at historic lows, and therefore, they had a guaranteed rate of return. On the other hand, the markets went incredibly up after recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. Getting rid of their mortgage debt gave them good peace of mind. But by ignoring other investment opportunities, they increased their opportunity cost. Had they put some of the money they used to pay off their mortgage in the stock market, it would have far exceeded the interest payments that they were paying. Lessons learned The best time to invest is when the market is at the bottom When the 2008 financial crisis hit and the markets were really low, that was a really good time to invest and make profits as the markets recovered. Diversify your investments While paying off a mortgage fast has its benefits, reducing the payments and investing some of the money in stock markets instead, could get you a much higher return while still enjoying the appreciation of your house. Don’t let fear drive your decisions Don’t let fear make you run for what seems safe. Instead, learn more about the risk you’re afraid of taking. After that, you’ll be less afraid and more confident to make a decision. Andrew’s takeaways Low levels of debt can be good for you Generally, debt is bad, but super low levels of debt could be beneficial. For instance, instead of buying a house with cash, you can take a low-cost mortgage and use that cash to invest in other investments with higher returns. Sometimes our biggest strength becomes our weakness Even the smartest investors make poor judgment calls, and being a rookie investor doesn’t mean that you can’t win big. Kornel’s worst investment also opened up all sorts of opportunities for him. Actionable advice Don’t take the fear or ignorance is bliss approach. Instead, at least learn about DIY (do-it-yourself) investing, especially the division of index investing, see if maybe that is something that you can do. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Kornel’s number one goal is to continue getting top-notch guests for his podcast because he wants to remain at the top of the rankings and continue to be a good personal financial management resource for Canadians to use. He also intends to make the Canadian Financial Summit even bigger next year. Parting words   “Start using maybe a fee-for-service financial advisor, or at least look into how your current advisor or a financial planner is compensated because that's another very common trap.” Kornel Szrejber   What Kornel is emphasizing is that you need to know how your financial advisor is benefitting from working with you. This is because they could be getting a hefty commission for recommending certain products to you. This could cause a conflict of interest, and they may recommend what's not right for you, but what's right for them because they're going to get a promotion or a bonus commission.  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 Kornel Szrejber LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

At the age of 40, Gary Wilson retired as a corporate Vice President in a nationwide bank. Since then, he has traded over 3,000 investment properties in less than five years. He has developed five real estate holding companies owning more than 250 rental units. He has built five businesses, including brokerage rental management, investment services, settlement services, and appraisal services. He has been accepted into the Andron Apiphenon Order of Excellence for Real Estate. With his experience, he has authored seven books. He is also the founder, trainer, and coach of the Path to Profit System, teaching more than 20,000 agents and investors. Finally, he has appeared on over 100 national and local media outlets, including CBS, Fox News, NBC, ABC, and Business Week   “A lot of stuff is going to happen when you’re buying properties. You're going to get involved with some drama and grief that you get unintentionally tied into that trauma. So, figure out how to be a good business person and how to be a compassionate human being at the same time.” Gary Wilson   Worst investment ever A deal that couldn’t have gone any worse Gary Wilson has always loved closing deals. He could not forget his first experience at the closing table, negotiating his way out of that 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom house. When the deal was done, that’s when he realized he’s born to close. A couple of years after, he was on his third property investment when he encountered his worst investment experience. The owner of a three-unit property he was looking at buying was a seasoned veteran investor and also a real estate broker. Gary was at the closing table with a lot of people pressuring him to buy the property. With little to no due diligence on his part, he ended up buying the property. It turned out; the owner had not pay the $500 water bill. The drama he wished he was never a part of Gary had hoped that after a bad start, he would start to reap his profits out of that deal. However, he got unlucky with his tenants. Two of his tenants could not pay the rent because their money was used to buy drugs. The crazy stuff is, Gary had to go through the whole drama of personally demanding them to pay the rent and almost forcibly threw them out of his property. He got tired of it, and because he did not want to go through the whole eviction process again, he offered them money and paid them to leave. When it rains, it pours One problem after another and Gary at this point was fairly certain that nothing worse could have come after what happened. But as the famous saying goes, “when it rains, it pours.” And literally and figuratively, a perfect storm and two hurricanes flooded and damaged his property. He asked everybody to vacate the place temporarily. While no rents were coming in, he had to shell out some cash for the renovation for it to be livable again. Finally, after a couple of years, he sold it and never looked back. Lesson learned Follow your intuition If Gary had followed the inner voice telling him not to buy the property, he could have saved himself from the aggravation and losses. You need to develop your intuition. When you do that, then you put your mind to work, and it goes into action to help you figure out the best way when stuck in a difficult situation. It pays to be vigilant Before going to the closing table, make sure you armed yourself with all the data and information you can get about the deal. If you get your facts straight, it will create a reasonable certainty in your mind on what your decision will be. Three important things you need when buying a rental property First, always get the last three years of the tax return that applies to the property. Second, get the rent rolls for the last three years and have it certified with the owner to ascertain the accuracy of the information. Lastly, look at the owner’s record of the property with the profit loss details for the past three years so that you will see precisely if there is a pattern on how they deal with the taxes, insurance, and expenses. Andrew’s takeaways Value your intuition In a fast-paced world, we are always facing situations where we don’t know what to do, or we are not sure what’s the right thing to do. During those times, trust your intuition. Don’t let the pressure decide for you It pays to be ready when you know you are going to be in a difficult situation. If you have done your due diligence, nothing will surprise you at the negotiating table. You can never get away from the drama Successful people are people that know how to work with people despite the drama. There is no hard and fast rule in understanding people. Along the way, you have to learn to deal with it. Actionable advice Don’t make a decision when you don’t have all the facts. Write down the who, what, where, when, and how. You may not gather all the facts, but at least you’ve got something to strengthen your decision ability. And if your gut is telling you no, then don’t do it. Don’t be afraid to put the brakes on. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Gary’s life mission is to be able to improve the lives of 100,000 people. He wants to connect to them through his podcast. Parting words   “Do whatever it is you have, your dream or vision. Pursue it and take action every day. Maybe, one day you can be a blessing for other people. Make that part of your life's mission.” Gary Wilson   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 Gary Wilson LinkedIn Facebook YouTube Podcast Website   Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further readings mentioned Gary Wilson (2016) “Wholesaling So Everybody Wins: Learn how to profit from wholesaling so that everybody wins, you are compliant with the law and there are no broken contracts" Gary Wilson (2019) “The Massive Passive Cashflow Method: Guiding you to massive new wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!"

Vikas Gupta founded OmniScience Capital to provide a scientific approach to global and India-listed equity investments. Together with his team, he formulated the Proprietary Scientific Investing Framework which stands on the strong foundations of nearly 100 years of investment research and practice. While his exposure to the capital market can be traced back to the 1990s. He has a long track record of investing since 2003 onwards, based on the value investing philosophy developed by Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. The practical experience of investing over the various ups and downs of the markets was supplemented by a relentless thirst for learning from other investment greats. Scientific investing is the result of this trial by fire over the decades. Vikas has earlier incubated the global equities vertical at ArthVeda Capital, which won international awards and rankings. Besides, he successfully obtained a US SEC license for the firm with a vision of operating in the US markets. He led advanced discussions and/or inked agreements with leading stock exchanges, asset management firms and research firms across the globe, including from the US and Europe. He has a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and has earned his Masters and Doctorate from an Ivy League University—Columbia University, New York.   “Listen to everyone, even the greats, but make up your mind on your own.” Vikas Gupta   Worst investment ever Imitating the value investing greats Vikas started his investment journey by following the ways of some of the top investment maestros such as Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Franklin Templeton, Peter Lynch, Philip Arthur Fisher, among others. By doing so, he was exposed to different investment philosophies, including value investing, investing in monopolies, concentrated focus investing, diversification and so on. But what attracted him the most was looking for monopolistic growth companies. Vikas decided that he was going to have a 10 stock portfolio and so he went out looking for stocks worth investing in. He would find what was the best stock and then allocate 10%. This is when he landed on his worst investment. Finding the perfect investment As he was looking for investments to fill up his portfolio, he came across a great investment, what he calls a classic Buffett playbook. It was a media company with the only available channel for other companies to reach their target segment. Being a near monopoly, the companies would have to pay whatever the media company asked. And so, this was a classic Buffett investment media company with complete dominance. The company ticked off all the right boxes for the perfect investment. One of the few English speaking media companies in India, in a highly concentrated region and with a huge expansion possibility in the neighboring states, high returns on capital and had all the indicators of a strong monopoly. No doubt, it was one of the best value stocks available. Not so perfect after all The red flags started when the next annual report was not available. Vikas, however, was optimistic and so he waited it out. Finally, several months down the line after regulators came in and forced the company to file a balance sheet, a report was released. It was then that Vikas and other investors found out that the huge cash-rich company was saddled with a billion dollars of debt. The company had used its assets and many other assets, which were not even part of the company to borrow from top-class lenders, public sector banks, private sector banks, and non-banking financial institutions. They even securitized the same assets twice or thrice to different lenders. The shares were pledged to various lenders. It was a total disaster that suddenly left shareholders loaded with as much debt as the valuation of the company leaving them at nil of what they invested. So Vikas lost everything he had invested in this stock. Lessons learned Things can go wrong even with the best value stocks You can do all your due diligence, all the analysis, all the evaluation. But, ultimately you are at the mercy of the management. Something could go wrong even in the most perfect investment. It could be something internal, could be something which a competitor does, could be a disruption, you never know. Do not have a highly concentrated portfolio Always diversify your stock portfolio to between 20 and 30 stocks because your perfect investment could still go to zero. And be prepared to lose 100% of your capital in some part of your portfolio. Andrew’s takeaways Life goes wrong all the time You can never completely prevent something from going wrong no matter how much work you put in, that’s just the reality of life. Life goes wrong all the time, even though we think we're able to control it. So, to prepare for that, make sure you don't have too much riding on any one investment even if it’s doing well because you never know, it could go wrong. Don't always trust what other people say Never take literally what others are saying, particularly when it comes to investing. It’s a very emotional topic, and you never know the truth behind what people are saying. Some people are too emotional and not honest about their experience, so they mislead you with half-truths. Actionable advice If you have $100 put $90 in an ETF then put the $10 balance in 10 positions, $1 each. This allows you to first understand what's going on. So start with 10 stocks but allocate only a very tiny portion to that so that you don't lose all your money. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Vikas’ goal is to get his portfolio stabilized and make sure everything is performing right. Parting words   “Keep going back to the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.” Vikas Gupta   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 Vikas Gupta LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned Benjamin Graham (1949) Intelligent Investor

Joe Saul-Sehy is the co-host of the award-winning Stacking Benjamins podcast, which focuses on earning, saving, and spending with a plan. Joe is a former financial advisor (16 years) and represented American Express and Ameriprise in the media. He was the “Money Man” at Detroit television WXYZ-TV, appearing twice weekly. He’s appeared in Bride, Best Life, and Child magazines, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Detroit News and Baltimore Sun newspapers. He’s also appeared online in more than 200 different places, including CNBC.com and WSJ.com.   “If you think you’re smart enough to know where the market is, you don't understand the risk of investing.” Joe Saul-Sehy   Worst investment ever A walk into Best Buy leads to buying a stock Joe has always been the guy who loves experimenting with different investment philosophies and investment strategies. He has also been a forward thinker in technology, and that’s what led him to his worst investment ever. One day he walked into a Best Buy and saw this miracle called XM Radio and thought it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. This satellite radio had hundreds of channels, and he could now listen to all his favorite sports, business news, comedy, and much more, all in one place. That was phenomenal! He thought to himself that this was the future, and it was going to be amazing. But, being the financial risk guru he is, he didn’t buy the satellite radio that day. It took him a good nine or ten months of research as he considered if he needed it and if a subscription for his radio was necessary. Buying the company because you love the product So he did all kinds of research. He finally bought one, and he loved it. He loved the radio so much that he bought 1,000 XM stocks for $2.85 each. That’s how much he loved the product! XM satellite radio was indeed a great product, and the shares rose up to $30 a share. XM was doing phenomenally well, and Joe couldn’t help pat himself on the back for being such a smart investor. Investing in the competition is a BAD idea He decided it was time to diversify his portfolio, so he sold half of his XM shares at $30.25 making some pretty good profit. He found XM’s competitor Sirius Satellite Radio and invested in it with the money that he took out of XM. He figured that since XM was doing so well, the competition would perform as well. While he knew the product inside and out, his love for the product blinded him to buy the stock without researching the company itself. He had no idea how XM and Sirius do business, what was their structure or any other fundamental analysis. He just went and bought the stocks. So now he had two companies doing the same thing with pretty much the same product. Sirius was in this war for dominance and also struggling with debt. When XM went up, Sirius went up. When XM went down, Sirius would go down too. Not only that, the fact was that one of them was going to fail. The logical thing for the other one to do was to merge the two companies. So he ended up with a single stock, that was Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Performance after the merge continued on a downhill. Joe rode the shares back down to his original buying price, so he lost what his second half had gained as well as the investment he had bought in Sirius. Lessons learned Diversify your portfolio the right way To truly diversify your portfolio, you need to get into different industries. It’s a financial risk to invest in two stocks within the same industry. Competitors will often have similar results. When one wins, the other one wins too, and if one loses, the other one loses too. The time to buy is now If you've done your homework, and you like a position, you have to like it at the price it's at, because that price may never go down as you expect. The best risk mitigation strategy is to get out when you can Pay close attention to your stocks and observe the volatility of the market. If it gets too volatile, get out when the deal is still good. Andrew’s takeaways Financial professionals are the worst investors Financial professionals many times tend to be the worst investors because they're often right there on the roller coaster ride of the market going up and down, doing all these trades, and in the end, they probably lose more for themselves. Buy into what you know When buying stocks, find an industry or company that you already understand, and you’re passionate about. Don’t stop there; you still need to research the industry or company to make sure that it’s stable and the right investment for you. Actionable advice The first step when looking for the best stocks to invest in right now is checking out what you already know and love. The next step is to make sure that you understand the fundamentals of the company. Know how much debt they are in and what’s the profit margin. No. 1 goal for next the 12 months Joe’s number one goal is to develop a team behind his podcast. The podcast has won all kinds of awards. Kiplinger called it the best podcast, while Art of Manliness put it on the list of the top podcasts men need to listen to. Joe is, therefore, working on taking this passion project of Stacking Benjamins and make it a business. 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 Joe Saul-Sehy LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Instagram Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned William F. Eng (2006) Trading Rules: Strategies for Success Jack D. Schwager (2003) Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders. Peter Lynch (1994) Beating the Street

Jonathan Jay has bought and sold businesses for over 20 years, buying from private equity firms and selling to them as well and has also done numerous trade deals. In the last few years, he has brought his knowledge to the world through The Dealmakers Academy, which is a UK leader in training people to buy and sell businesses without risking their own capital. For the first time, he is now teaching dealmakers how to source and negotiate deals to generate cash flow and exit opportunities without them having to work in the business day-to-day and as a bolt on to an existing business. You can gain free access to Jonathan's webinars and latest book, “Business Buying Strategies - The Solution to Your Business Growth Problem” and attend one of his low-cost discovery sessions. Each year he manages a select group of dealmakers through their first acquisition and in some cases, partners with them to create a powerful deal team.   “Some businesses are too perfect that there isn’t any value to be added by the new owner. What I look for is a business with enough headroom for myself and my team to actually add value to it. With the value that we add, comes the growth of the business.” Jonathan Jay   Worst investment ever The rough acquisition Jonathan was told to approach a certain company in a sector that he already had invested in before and did well. Since he did not want to let an opportunity pass, he met with the owners of the company and discovered that they wanted to sell the business. They were open about the finances of the business, and Jonathan could see that it had done better in the past year or so. Jonathan and his team spent a couple of months doing their due diligence with intensive research and crunching some numbers. Although they had discovered some things that were not particularly good, they had expected these kinds of things in the business of buying businesses. “It’s not all going to be a bed of roses,” Jonathan reminded himself. He dived into that acquisition with his eyes opened. But the reality was just terrible. A stressful transition Nothing seemed to be right after the acquisition. The business had every problem and every issue Jonathan could ever imagine. The staff, the delivery, the supplies, and the finances just all went south. The next six or seven months were a total nightmare because all they did was putting out one fire after another. The only incentive Jonathan had to continue was that at least the company was making money despite being terribly managed. However, that little profit won’t compare to how stressed Jonathan was for that whole seven months. Indeed, after eleven months of firefighting, he sold the company. You don’t get the culture during due diligence Jonathan believed that the people in the company caused one of the main issues of that acquisition. Up to that point, these people were all just names in the spreadsheet with their salaries and starting dates. However, when he met these people, he discovered the level of training they had, their work ethics, and their company culture. These things did not reveal themselves during due diligence. And due diligence is all that he relied on. Lesson learned Resilience is overcoming the unexpected In a very stressful world of buying businesses, if one can get easily stressed by very small things, then the industry is not for you. Resilience only comes from having been given a chance to work through difficult situations. The future can never be certain If you are aiming for something big, then you have to expect that there will be lots of uncertainty. But most of the remarkable lessons you will learn in life comes from uncertainty and disorientation. Never rely on just due diligence Do not believe in everything, including due diligence. People can look great in the report, but in reality, they do not know about the business. Andrew’s takeaways Due diligence doesn’t reveal the culture of the company People as a valuable element of a company is much more than names on the spreadsheets. The reality is, they are more complex, and if you want to be successful in this business, adaptability is the key. Pressure isn’t always bad for you The business of taking over businesses can be a very stressful thing. But pressure can be a good thing because some people perform a lot better under pressure. Create a stress-proof team Sometimes, the team that you have around you may not be able to survive the stress. If your team can handle the pressure, that is one less of your worry. Create a great team with a set of skills where you can delegate the issues that you’ve got but don’t know how to deal with them. Actionable advice Work with the right people. Create your “deal team” that will help you with the deals, will get you great deals, and will help you get through those tough acquisition and transition times. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Right now, Jonathan and his team have six day nurseries, and the goal is to buy 30 day nurseries in the next 12 months. Parting words   “If you’re thinking about buying a business and it can be a very tedious one, I’d be very happy to point you in the right direction.” Jonathan Jay   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 Jonathan Jay LinkedIn YouTube Podcast Website   Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further readings mentioned Jonathan Jay “Business Buying Strategies - The Solution to Your Business Growth Problem”

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 allocation that allows you to be diversified and ride the markets out. Don't ever think that you're smarter than the market You’ll never be smarter than the market, so always do your homework, and don’t forget your risk management lessons. Andrew’s takeaways Fear is dangerous when it comes to investing Fear can be very dangerous and can hold you back from making solid investment decisions. When you start building a scary scenario of what could be happening in the markets, you start getting confirmation bias. You only find research and people talking about the bad scenario. You’ll keep building upon this fear, and you can easily get caught up in it and end up being driven by emotion or flawed thinking. Equity should be your core asset Build up your investment account over 20, 30, or 40 years and diversify across asset classes, such as commodities, fixed income, etc. This way you’ll be able to manage your cash flow as well as the movement of your overall portfolio. Actionable advice Get help from a financial advisor. Go to a professional who will keep you on track and guide you on the best way to invest your money. No. 1 goal for next the 12 months John’s main goal for the next 12 months is to get all his asset allocations consolidated. He wants to hire a wealth management advisor or a Robo advisor, who will get him back on the right path. Currently, his assets are scattered all over the place. Parting words   “You can't control the market. So control what you can, and that's typically cost, taxes, and risk. And if you do that, you'll be ahead of the game. Control what you can and let the markets do their thing.” John Swolfs   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 John Swolfs LinkedIn Twitter  Website Connect with Andrew Stotz      astotz.com      LinkedIn      Facebook      Instagram      Twitter      YouTube      My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Sal Daher is an angel investor who invests in technologies that set Boston apart. He is a member of Walnut Ventures and MIT Angels. Sal is a syndicate lead and podcast host at Angel Invest Boston Podcast.   “The market does not pay you for taking an idiosyncratic or company-specific risk. The market pays you for data.” Sal Daher   Worst investment ever Not so much love for the pop Sal as an angel investor is always looking for startups to invest in. it’s no surprise that his worst investment ever was missing out on a good deal. Sal got to learn about a company called Love Pop that makes greeting cards that open up and a magnificent sailing ship or airplane pops out. In his mind, this was one hell of a business idea that was never going to take off. I don’t need my mentor on this one He was smart enough though, to tell his mentor, who has invested in hundreds of startups, about the company. His mentor advised him to meet the founding team. His stubbornness would not allow him to listen to his mentor. He complained that he knew nothing about consumer business and his stronghold was in B2Bs such as biotech companies. He went against his mentor’s advice and didn't take the meeting. A foolish move that he still regrets to date. But why was this a foolish move yet his reasoning was valid? While his excuse for not investing in the startup was valid, it was a wrong move because his number one strategy as a successful angel investor is to invest in teams. He doesn’t invest in ideas or markets, he invests in teams. So at the very least, he should have met the startup’s founding team. It turns out that the two founders are extremely smart entrepreneurs who if put in any situation, they'll figure it out. They went on to figure out their stores, they got VC funding and became a huge success. A success that Sal missed out on. Lessons learned When investing in early-stage companies you have no data for your research. It’s just an idea that the founding team has. To get the best return on your investment you need to invest in the right founding team. Are they excited about their idea? Do they work well together? Find out as much as you can about the team. To you, it may sound like a stupid idea. But, when a bunch of really clever people come to you and say they think they can make tons of money with that idea, don’t dismiss them just yet, give them a hearing. It's a constant temptation to think that you know more than the startup founders but, remember that these guys are out exploring the unknown. So allow experimentation. Don't do it alone. Find angel investor groups near you, join an angel investment network, work with somebody who knows what they're doing. Just don’t work alone. Andrew’s takeaways To win big you must be an open-minded angel investor Good ideas and good money-making opportunities come from many different angles. If you want to become an angel investor you must allow yourself to be open to all types of business ideas. You may just stumble upon a unicorn startup. Invest in teams not ideas It is the teams that are going to turn an idea into a multibillion-dollar investment or a huge loss. So invest in great teams that can overcome various business challenges and build successful startups. Actionable advice Start early, start small, start slow and pay attention because you will learn after a handful of investments. Returns can't be rushed. This idea of FOMO (fear of missing out), forget about that. If somebody is giving you FOMO in a startup, give it a miss. No. 1 goal for next the 12 months Sal’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to increase the number of people in his angel investors list to five times more than he currently has. Parting words   “You must have a great deal of discipline if you want to invest in startups. Okay. I say start small, start slow, and don't do it alone.” Sal Daher   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 Sal Daher LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  

Dustin Mathews is the co-founder and Chief Education Officer of wealthfit.com; an online learning startup focused on teaching all the stuff you never learned in school about money investing and entrepreneurship. He's also the host of the Get Wealth Fit podcast where he's had the chance to get inside the heads of top investors and famous people like Rich Dad Robert Kiyosaki, racing legend Danica Patrick, Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank, Marquis Jets founder, Jesse, Olympic medalists Shannon Miller, and Seal Team six leader Rob O'Neill.   “Whatever your goal is, whether it’s investing, do one small action a day to build momentum, and you'll surprise yourself at what you can achieve.” Dustin Mathews   Worst investment ever It helps to follow your own investing in real estate advice Dustin’s worst investment ever was his first home, a condo in Florida. In Florida, back in 2007/2008, you literally could buy a piece of property, and it would go up by $100,000 or $50,000, depending on where it was. The condo he bought was on the water and seemed to be a smart move. The reason why he didn't think that it would be a bad investment was that he had a mentor who was running a company, ironically called Foreclosures Daily. The mentor was teaching him how to buy and sell real estate, and together they were teaching others how to buy and sell foreclosure properties. He felt confident that he knew enough to invest in real estate. So he bought a condo on the water without doing any background research or any of the things that he advised his students to do before investing in real estate. What could go wrong anyway? Buying on an interest-only mortgage Now the big mistake was not buying the condo but buying it on an interest-only mortgage. He never planned to stay in the condo. He was going to do what everyone was saying to do. Buy it, live in it for two years, and then move out and buy a new property and trade up. So he figured that because he was only looking to invest in real estate, he would do an adjustable-rate mortgage interest only. Unfortunately, the market turned in 2008 and property values dropped. His mortgage payment became more than what the condo was worth. Eventually, the bubble burst, and now he was facing foreclosure. While he had always taught people not to walk away from foreclosed homes, he walked away from his condo, gave up on it, and gave it back to the bank. Lessons learned Do your due diligence It's so easy to get excited about whatever investment that is currently hot and that everyone is talking about. Don’t get caught up in the hype. Take time to do your due diligence to confirm that, indeed, the investment is good for you too. You may realize that despite the hype, this isn’t the right time or investment for you. Educate yourself Even though Dustin was working in a real estate company, teaching real estate investing, he was so caught up in the job, the KPIs and the metrics that he wasn't absorbing that education for himself. So even if you’re an experienced investor, make the time to educate yourself about every piece of investment you set your eyes on. If possible, consult other people that don't have a vested interest in your stake. Andrew’s takeaways Don’t get overhyped You may get caught up in the hype. Slow down, stay cool and take time to observe and understand things. This will help you make informed decisions. Experts are the worst Many people have probably lost more than they have made in the stock market over a long period, because of overconfidence. Being seasoned investors, being in the market, and on top of it, they assume their investments will be safe, so they go in blindly. It’s okay to feel shameful of your loss People, even experts, will always make mistakes when investing. It’s okay to feel embarrassed about your investment decisions that go wrong. Face it, and move on. Actionable advice The next hot company is always going to be there, the next hot stock is always going to be there, it's just human nature, and so there's always going to be a hot new option. So take the time to slow down, do your due diligence, and find out if that is the right deal for the long haul. No. 1 goal for next the 12 months Dustin’s goal is to be better with his time and have fewer and stronger relationships because, over time, he has learned that it's important to take the time and invest in the right relationships. Parting words   “You're going to make some bad investments, just own it and move on.” Dustin Mathews   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 Dustin Mathews LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Instagram Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast