My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Awais Abdul Sattar is an Investment Professional with 5+ years of experience in the field of Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management. He started his career as a buy-side research analyst.  He is currently Head of Research at MCB Arif Habib Investments, one of the top-rated asset management companies in Pakistan which are managing $700 million assets.  He favors a bottom-up approach in the analysis of stocks while factoring it overall asset allocation via a top-down approach. Awais believes abnormal returns can be generated by looking for stocks which are off the radar or not under active coverage. In this episode, Awais shares his story of loss when he ventured in the commodity sector specifically the textile industry. Listen to his story as he shared his rollercoaster experience of the commodity cycle, its peaks, and its trusts. Learn why it is important to find out at which part of the cycle you are in. And why you should be very cautious about the future outlook of the investment.   “Do take the risk, but do your complete due diligence and try to have a complete understanding of the business and sector you're investing in.” – Awais Abdul Sattar   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 01:56 – Awais tells about investing 15% of his portfolio in a textile company and the exceptional gains he received from it initially 06:00 – He shares the shocking and unexpected results of his investment after 3 months 07:15 – His realizations on this investment loss 09:41 – Narrating the three important lessons he learned from his experience 12:43 – Andrew provides a brief background of the guest 14:16 – Andrew sums up his takeaways and relating those in his books and research 17:12 – A very notable advice from Awais – “Do take the risk, but do your complete due diligence and try to have a complete understanding of the business and sector you're investing in”.   Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “Commodities have their cycles. They have peaks, they have trusts and they are very easy to replicate. Anyone can imitate them. And investors should first try to find out at which part of the cycle the commodity is. If you are at the peak of the cycle, then perhaps you should be very much cautious about the future outlook.”– Awais Abdul Sattar Lesson 2: “If the margins are far higher than the historical level, generally it implies that it's a peak because margins have a tendency to revert back to the main level.”– Awais Abdul Sattar Lesson 3: “Never ever invest at the peak of a commodity business. And if you ever invested, do find it out. Do know about the emerging trends that are going in the industry. Don't ignore the developing trends in the industry in which you're investing in.”– Awais Abdul Sattar Lesson 4: “When I was analyzing the company, I ignored the degree of operating and fixed leverage. Companies with high degree of operating and fixed leverage tend to have very high sensitivity to earnings because they’ve got higher fixed cost per unit of production. That's why in no time the company I was investing in turn to loss”– Awais Abdul Sattar Lesson 6: “Sometimes you can get the company right but get the overall macro story wrong.  And in this case, it was a commodity.  But remember, it’s more than just looking at that company.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 8: “Beware when margins are high and they are very high in the US and they are high around the world.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 9: “I always say it's a little bit like jumping in a car, pushing the gas, driving as fast as possible and not knowing what a seatbelt is. You're exposing yourself to risk and risks that you don't even know, but unfortunately, you don't get rewarded in this world by taking on risks that you could have avoided.”– Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Awais Abdul Sattar: LinkedIn Twitter Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Mr. M. Zia Islam is the Coordinator, External Relations, School of Management, Asian Institute of Technology Thailand. AIT School of Management is ranked among top 250 B-Schools in the World under QS World Rankings by Subjects 2018 under "Business & Management." He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computing & Information Systems from London Metropolitan University. In his free time, he enjoys reading books with a cup of hot latte.  He lives with his wife in Bangkok for eight years now. In today’s episode, Zia shares his social trading story, his loss and the lessons he learned from the experience. Know why it is important not to let emotions cloud your investment decision to avoid making irrational investment choices.   “The lessons I got are - you cannot be an emotional eater and go to the masters.  Learn something from the technical expert, then make decisions more logical and most practical.” – M. Zia Islam     What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 02:25 – Zia narrates how he was introduced to social trading and how it ended as his worst investment story 07:01 – The two things he learned from his social trading experience  08:05 – Andrew shares his golden nuggets of wisdom in investing 11:07 – Zia’s final advice: “Go and find the masters.  Start to find a technical expert who can teach you first. Learn first before you go for action. That's why people lose money. But when you learn things, and then you lose, it makes sense.  Just don't go for any emotional investment and follow others without going the things what you're doing.”   Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “The investors worst enemy is not the stock market but the emotions.”– M. Zia Islam Lesson 2: “It's the human nature to be emotional. You said human nature to be, but if it's an investment return, it cannot be an emotional investment.”– M. Zia Islam Lesson 3: “The first thing I always tell people is don't invest with people who call you.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 4: “Every single trading strategy you ever do in your whole life is yours. You may be following somebody, but ultimately, it’s yours and your responsibility to put in the risk management systems and all of those things. You can't just follow because the problem about following is everybody will invite you in, very rarely will they tell you when to exit.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 5: “There are many people who are the beginner outside, their tracking biased and they think maybe it will bring huge income.  But you have to be more practical. Do your homework before you fell for it.”– M. Zia Islam Lesson 6: “I would generally tell people to stay away from online trading platforms, particularly related to commodities and currencies.  One of the reasons is because in currencies, first of all, it's the most massive liquid market in the world and that means that the players that are in it are the biggest in the world and that's who you're trading against.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 7: “You're trading against central banks that are really run by governments and politicians and you never really know what direction they're going to go. So, if you don't understand the risk management stuff, you could get wiped out very easily. I would say be very cautious about those. And then, of course, there's plenty of those that are just plain scam.”– Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with M. Zia Islam: LinkedIn Twitter Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Peter Emblin has diverse experience in global financial markets and corporate finance having worked in Australia, the United Kingdom, and various South East Asian countries.  His career experiences cover analysis, primary research, investment management, mergers and acquisitions from both the buy and sell sides.  He was a resident in Thailand since 1992 when he came there to help establish a newly authorized fund management company.  He is a Fellow of the Finance and Securities Institute of Australia, Chartered Director of the Thai Institute of Directors and a Director of the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce, Seamico Securities and Delight Plus. Listen to Peter as he tells us how his initial $2,000 investments made a $40,000 profit and later ended up an awful loss.  Learn all the lessons, follow his advice and prevent the same mistakes he did. Hear this story in another episode of painful loss and sweet success.   “Trade around if it's close stock and you believe in it, and your research told you nothing has fundamentally changed. Rely on it. Standby it.” – Peter Emblin   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 01:01 – A brief background of our guest and the reason why he stayed in Thailand for over 25 years already 02:18 – Peter recalls investing in a publicly listed telecom company in the Philippines and how it turned out to be his worst investment experience 04:56 – Sharing the lessons he learned 05:54 – Andrew summarizes his takeaways 08:11 – Peter adds a piece of brief but actionable advice: “Do your research.”   Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “Market prices move differently to the fundamentals of companies. And if you'll look an investment for long term reason, check your research, check what's happening.”– Peter Emblin Lesson 2: “Don't let the market moves get caught up because markets move for other reasons, the liquidity of sellers, which has nothing to do with the underlying company. So, stick to your guns is what I learned. If you’re buying the hold, don't get scared or worried my short-term moves.”– Peter Emblin Lesson 3: “Asia tends to be a much more volatile part of the world for the markets.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 4: “You got to have a good plan when you're going into it, like a solid, even a written plan so that you know what you're doing and you won't be lured away by a quick gain.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 5: “Don't just put your money in and get it out and incompletely build your core positions. And then it's okay to trade around those positions with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50% of the core amount.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 6: “Trading around, hopefully, it'll give you some gain.  But in many cases, it could give you loss. But the point is it may satisfy an emotional need.  And the satisfaction of that emotional need may help you to keep the long position in place”– Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Peter Emblin: LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Mohd Sedek Jantan is an experienced and highly competent investment professional and financial planner.  He is currently connected with Standard Financial Adviser since June 2014 where he is the Head of Investment & Financial Planning.  He is primarily responsible for managing Corporate and high net worth investment portfolio, investment research and strategy. He is also involved with providing financial strategy and planning for government-linked companies and multinational companies. Mohd Sedek graduated with a Bachelor of Economics (with Honors) from National University Malaysia, and Master of Science in Business Strategy, Leadership, and Change from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He also holds the Islamic Financial Planning Certificate from Islamic Banking & Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM).  He is also a Design Thinking Practitioner from Genovasi-Design Thinking School Malaysia.  Get to know Sedek as he narrates his own story in investing and how influence from other people caused him to lose his investments. Understand why it is essential to believe in your investments based on research and logic and get other helpful pieces of advice to reduce your risks. All this and more in this another remarkable story to keep you learning and yearning to win.   “Be firm on your decisions.” – Mohd Sedek Jantan   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 00:38 – Andrew gives a brief background of about Sedek 02:31 – Sedek recounts the reasons why he felt competent to invest in stocks of a family business with a strong financial profile and how it ended as his worst investment experience 11:57 – Sharing the lessons he learned 14:15 – Andrew summarizes his take-aways 19:53 – Sedek’s parting advice: “You make a decision to invest because you believe on the investment based on research and logic.”   Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “If the company have a strong financial profile and you believe with the data, never allow other people to influence your decisions.”– Mohd Sedek Jantan Lesson 2: “People tend to panic when the price has dropped so much unexpected price. And they said, really? They said you make the wrong decision.  And the worst part is after a few months, after few weeks that you find out they said the part is going out.”– Mohd Sedek Jantan Lesson 3: “In America, one of the things that they warn against is investing in a family business. You should invest in a professionally run business, but my experience in Asia is that in the end, you're going to be investing with a family in almost every case. And if you're not, you should be careful because professionally run companies may not have anybody really looking after it. The challenge is you've got to invest with the right family.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 4: “Cutting loss is another way that some people do it when they manage a portfolio. By saying that there's some optimal number or percent. Now I've done both of these ways, and I can tell you if you do a stop loss, particularly in Asia, you'll probably be talking about 20%.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 5: “When you hear other people talking about it, either positive or negative, it's so hard to go against what is saying.  Yet we know that to be a successful investor over a long period of time, you've got to build your own story. You've got to do your own research and you've got to monitor your own stocks.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 6: “When the stock price falls or rises, whatever happens, you should go back to your reason and logic about the company. Don’t get caught up in your emotions.”– Andrew Stotz   You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Mohd Sedek Jantan: LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Dan Gramza is President of Gramza Capital Management, Inc.  He is a trader, consultant to domestic and international clients, an advisor to hedge funds, a developer of ETF / ETC securities and co-inventor of two issued security patents. He has published works and has appeared on numerous media outlets around the world.  He set up and ran stock and futures proprietary trading operations, given expert witness testimony in US Federal court, has presented courses to traders from over 36 exchanges, 450 institutions, four regulators in 35 countries and provides free daily commentary on 21 markets at dangramza.com which is viewed in over 150 countries.    Listen from Dan as he unveils his journey in trading, how his past experiences made him develop his strategies and how it made him a success in his fields.  Learn from him in this another episode of losing and winning it all. “I find looking at my losses refreshing, and the reason I do is my loss has had taught me trades as well.” – Dan Gramza   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 01:49 – Dan narrates his academic background and how he ended up successfully teaching from stock options to the Board of Trade 04:45 – His realizations when compared from his first year of teaching up to the present and the remarkable changes it made him 06:06 – Andrew shares his journey in teaching and a finance person and how experience and to focus tremendously helped him through 09:38 – How one good day turned the opposite and became his worst investment experience 17:00 – What he learned from this loss and other self-realization 19:59 – Telling about his investigation process and the three strategic questions he asked himself 22:27 – Andrew summarizes his takeaways 28:50 – Advice from Dan to avoid the same fate he did 32:03 – Parting words from Dan: “I find looking at my losses refreshing, and the reason I do is my loss has had taught me trades as well. My losses tell me, am I following my strategy? Am I not? My strategy has something changed. So, the losses are a significant parameter that I don't think, no matter how successful we are, we don't want to forget about.”   Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “Risk is a beautiful thing. It's just a matter of how you and I manage it.”– Dan Gramza Lesson 2: “Whatever your strategy is, find the one that's right for you. Find the books that are right for you. Find the teachers that are right for you and start to implement your strategy. There's nothing wrong with that.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 3: “Understanding your modeling, questioning your model is critical.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 4: “It's important that we understand the strength and weaknesses of anything that we use to expose capital to the market to risk by that, when does it work, when does it not work?”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 5: “Make sure you've got your system. Don't let your thinking in your emotion in the middle of it, shut it down. Follow your system.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 6: “We should always have our risk management plan before we ever exposed capital because we don't know when it's not going to work, and every trade is not going to work.”– Dan Gramza Lesson 7: “One of the biggest challenges for traders or investors is being patient enough to wait until we have the answers to those questions. Being patient enough to wait until the market gives us that opportunity. Being patient enough, once we get into a trade, to let the trade do its job and all those things I violated in some ways.”– Dan Gramza Lesson 8: “Plan your work, work your plan.  Plan your trade, trade your plan.”– Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Dan Gramza: www.dangramza.com LinkedIn YouTube Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Dan Passarelli is an author, trader and former member of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group.  He also founded Market Taker Mentoring, Inc., a leading options education firm that provides online options education, options newsletters and personalized, one-on-one coaching for options traders.  Dan began teaching both basic and advanced trading concepts to many leading options-based brokerage firms since 2005.  Dan also contributes to financial media such as TheStreet.com, FOX Business News, Bloomberg Television, National Public Radio (NPR), and the CBOE blog. And he has a weekly featured video on CBOETV.  Dan, on a personal note, is also a marathon runner, a musician, and a world traveler. Learn from this trading expert as he shares his valuable experience learning the ins and outs of stock options trading.  Listen also his equally important tips to drive more profits regardless if you’re a newbie or a veteran in this field.     “The more you learn, the more you earn.” - Dan Passarelli   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Dan Passarelli's book: Trading Option Greeks Dan Passarelli's book: The Market Taker's Edge markettaker.com/five Options trading blog Topics Covered: 02:07 – Dan briefly talks about starting his career as an option trader 03:01 – Sharing how he ended up with his worst investment over 03:44 – Explaining what volatility means in the stock market and how it works 09:20 – Lessons he learned from his loss in stock option trading 10:53 – Andrew stresses the importance of understanding the concept of anomalies 11:27 – Stressing the value of long-term experience and relating to Andrew’s experience as a broker 14:08 – Advice to listeners to avoid his mistakes 15:00 – Invitation to visit markettaker.com/five that will give listeners a free checklist on five strategies for trading volatile markets 16:19 – Parting words from Dan: “The more you learn, the more you earn.” Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “I learned a whole lot about how volatility and pricing model and cash, the cash component of stocks value work.”– Dan Passarelli Lesson 2: “You have to evolve or die. You have to keep moving forward. You have to keep learning because there's always somebody smarter than you. And if you want to be great, you can't rest on your laurels and think, Oh, I know this stuff.”– Dan Passarelli Lesson 3: “I think one of the things that's important for the listeners to understand is the concept of anomalies.  Even if we've covered all of our risks, there are still anomalies, it could be earthquakes, nominees, natural disasters, but there could be many others.  But here we have a technical anomaly. Something very, very rare that many people hadn't seen.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 4: “Be careful. Always try to rely on people who have long-term experience because they may be able to protect you from a market anomaly.”– Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Dan Passarelli: markettaker.com Twitter Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Joachim Klement is Head of Investment Research at Fidante Partners where he investigates long-term investment trends, alternative investments, and listed investment trusts. He was previously Head of Thematic Research at Credit Suisse, Chief Investment Officer at Wellershoff & Partners and Head of Equity Strategy at UBS Wealth Management. He holds Masters degrees in Mathematics and Economics as well as the CFA and CFP designations.  In today’s episode, Joachim shares how his first investments were once doing great but ended up losing tremendously.  Know the two important lessons he got from this experience and why you shouldn’t make the same mistakes.  Get that one great actionable piece of advice from this expert that could make you a better investor.  Hear this and more in another story of meaningful failure and momentous success.   “Keep investing. Don't get frozen off just because you had some loses yet some bad mistakes in your past. That's what we're here to learn from all of us, and we get better every day.” - Joachim Klement   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 02:00 – Joachim talks about working from the bubble and tech industries in the late nineties and switching into finance in 2000 03:00 – Sharing the highlights and lowlights behind his investments in the tech and finance industries 05:50 – Two essential lessons he got from this experience 07:27 – Andrew gives his equally valuable takeaways in this story 08:52 – The meaning of diversification and why you should apply it in your investments 13:01 – Andrew shares the three words he likes to say all the time 15:49 – Advice from Joachim in avoiding the same mistakes he did Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “The eternal wisdom of everybody who saved for retirement slash is investing.” – Joachim Klement Lesson 2: “It's kind of important to talk for a moment about your first investment because it's a little bit like your first girlfriend, you know, you don't really know what you're doing, but you know the other people, and you think you know what you're doing, but in fact you don't know it all, but you know that everybody else is doing it.” – Andrew Stotz Lesson 3: “Diversification means that you always have some stocks that do well. And it always means that also, unfortunately, that you have some stocks that you hate.” – Joachim Klement Lesson 4: “Everybody's busy. So, you end up spending so much time creating your wealth that you don't have time to keep on top of the investments that you're trying to grow your wealth.” – Andrew Stotz Lesson 5: “The solution in that case for most people is probably to go with something highly diversified. Keep contributing to it over time and just let it grow. But the mistake that many people will make is they want to get into a fancy idea, but they don't realize they just don't have time to keep on top of that idea.” – Andrew Stotz Lesson 6: “Preserve your wealth.” – Joachim Klement Lesson 7: “If you want to create wealth, diversification is not the best way to do it. But if you want to stay rich or if you want to protect your wealth, then proper diversification is the way forward.” – Joachim Klement Lesson 8: “Look at your own history, look at your own experiences and learn from these experiences.” – Joachim Klement Lesson 9: “One thing that I've introduced in my life is basically, since that first experience, was to have an investment diary where I note down just kind of free quick bullet points for every investment decision I make, whether I buy something or what I sell something or even sometimes if I consider buying something and then don't do it, I just note down what is the investment case, why should it work? – Joachim Klement You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Joachim Klement: www.fidante.com LinkedIn Twitter Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Having over 20 years of experience in asset management and wealth management industry, Sornchai Suneta is currently leading the Investment Advisory Practice, CIO office at Siam Commercial Bank (SCB). Also, he was appointed as Advisor to the sub-committee on Monetary, Banking, Financial Institutions and Capital market, Thailand legislative Assembly, in addition to serving as one of the CFA Society Thailand’s Board of Directors and also CFP Board member.  Before joining the Bank’s Investment Advisory team, he was the Chief Investment Officer at SCB Asset Management; he managed assets over THB 1 trillion approximately USD 35 billion. He holds a Bachelor degree in Finance from ABAC University and Master of Science in Finance from the University of London.  In this episode, Sornchai shares his worst investment story which was investing in the currency market during the Asian financial crisis of 1997. He shares his insights about his investment experience in the developing markets that have volatile and illiquid markets, across the debt, equity and currency spectrum.     “The first thing for a trader, investor, or the fund manager to think about is that you have to survive first before thinking about getting more profit.” – Sornchai Suneta What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 04:47 – The circumstance that leads to Sornchai’s worst investment ever during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 06:18 – Interest rate moving up to 15% making SOrnchai lend his position to the traders and expecting to cash-out his profits after a week but it never happened, interest rate went up to 100% because the financial crisis came and happened 07:34 – Lesson Sornchai learned from his investment experience 08:11 – Andrew’s takeaways from Sornchai’s story 11:32 – Sornchai’s advice to people who wants to trade currency: You should have enough liquidity to that currency. 13:57 – Sornchai’s actionable advice quoted by Andrew: “Whether its stocks, bonds, other assets, or currencies you still need to build a diversified portfolio so that you don't end up overexposing yourself to any one currency.” Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: If you are playing around with emerging market position you have to be very careful that everything can happen at any time. When you buy an investment, you have to be diversified.” – Sornchai Suneta Lesson 2: “The benefit of having experience in the market is that you know what the worst case could be.” – Andrew Stotz Lesson 3: “When you think about investing in currencies it's probably better to say I'm going to ride the slow appreciation of a currency rather than the fast way to get in. And as we say in sometimes you're catching a falling knife.” – Andrew Stotz   You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Sornchai Suneta LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

An award-winning analyst, Michael Mcgaughy has a diverse financial background spanning buy- and sell-side equity research, fund-of-hedge-funds, and private equity. He first came to Asia as an exchange student in 1985 and has been involved with the region ever since, having lived and worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore, for different companies including HSBC, the old Crosby Group and StoneWater Capital.  He currently manages a global value fund that looks for companies owned and controlled by quality people have structures that align minority and majority shareholder interests and trade at valuations that are below fair value if not outright cheap.   In this episode, Michael shares his investment story which was getting it wrong in the Ukraine Stock Market. For the experience, he blames the currency that accounts for most of his loss. The Hryvnia declined by 65% vis-à-vis the USD since his initial investment in March 2014. The currency decrease hides the fact that he made real investment blunders. His biggest mistake was not sticking to his my investment process.   “[An old Rothschild's saying] The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets.” – Michael McGaughy     What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Investment Confessional: Getting It Wrong in Ukraine   Topics Covered: 05:47 – The circumstance that leads to Michael’s worst investment ever: missed opportunity to invest in Indonesia and the quick doubling of his money when he spent in Greece’s stock market 07:10 – Stock market opportunity in Ukraine that pops up in 2014, the Maidan Protests that lead to Ukraine stock market to dive cheap. A crisis that did not work out, Michael losing 65% of his portfolio in the next 18 months of investing 08:45 – The fall of the Ukranian currency against US dollars 08:56 – The lessons Michael learned from his investment experience 10:22 – Andrew asks Michael about the qualifications he considers for his chosen stock market venture and how did he knew that the currency would not devalue, what are his parameters and metrics 12:18 – Andrew’s takeaways from Michael's story 14:39 – Michael’s one action to recommend to the listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate: “If you're going to go and look at really cheap assets look for really cheap assets. It's probably good to wait for the crisis to occur rather than get in before.” Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “I think there's a lot of key takeaways. I guess the first thing is patience. One reason I'd like to go to the country is you can see the value and do a lot of research. Who is good and bad. Just by looking at kind of past IPO prospectuses or rights issues prospectuses, reading newspapers, talking to people. You get a lot of insight regarding what the exchange rate is when you go there.” – Michael McGaughy Lesson 2: “You can get the company right but the currency wrong and it can be extremely painful. When you're investing outside of your home country, you do need to think about currency.” – Andrew Stotz Lesson 3: “You can look at a country and see that it's down. You can get excited like there is an opportunity. Just hold on. Slow down because currencies can fall dramatically.” – Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Michael Mcgaughy LinkedIn michaelmcgaughy.blogspot.com Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Dr. Patrick Woock is a Passionate Strategic Entrepreneur, Idea Creator and Thought Leader who is driven to build next-generation tools for Transnational Entrepreneurs. Skilled in International Negotiations, Global Business Planning, Startup Coaching, and Sales. Dr. Woock was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Science and Technology of China. He has received numerous recognitions for his teaching at USTC and Tec de Monterrey. He is also a responsible, open-minded and confident individual, gives a great deal of care for nature and society, family and education. In this episode, Patrick shares the story of his worst investment ever that wasn't just about dealing with monetary loss, rather than the idea of investing in and believing in people. He shares his insight that trust is the essential elements of any long-term and satisfying partnerships and strategic alliances relationship.   “One thing you shouldn’t do is break people’s trust. If you trust and care for people, you got to keep doing it.” – Patrick Woock   What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here! Resources:  My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com Topics Covered: 02:29 – Patrick shares his worst investment ever: loss of investment opportunity 03:23 – How they started their career in China with his friend in 2002 04:45 – Structuring their business during the SARS outbreak 07:30 – The price he had to pay by making the early judgment to what his partner was doing 09:26 – Why it is essential to believe in your partner’s intention of your business and holding to their character 10:43 – Andrew narrates his personal story about his partnership with his friend 13:12 – Wise parting words from Patrick Woock– “Believe in yourself.”   Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: “The biggest challenge we have as an entrepreneur is not about, 'Do we trust our partner?' The real question is do we trust ourselves in our judgment.” – Patrick Woock Lesson 2: “Take time to build something. When you build something, do not give up on it. If you have colleagues in it that you are committed to, sit down with them and fight for them too. .” – Patrick Woock Lesson 3: “People contribute in different ways in business. They do not necessarily contribute in the way that myself or anybody else contributes. Does not always mean they do not contribute.” – Andrew Stotz You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Patrick Woock: LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast