My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Scott Royal Smith, Esquire, founder, and CEO of Royal Legal Solutions prides himself on successfully conveying the essentials in asset protection to audiences nationwide. Scott is no stranger to high stakes litigation and has spent his career deconstructing asset protection structures and developing strategies that serve both to protect what you own as well as leverage your income and maximize your tax savings. With experience in entrepreneurship, starting several successful companies in owning real estate in 10 states in America, Scott pulls from his experience as a lawyer to put a new and valuable perspective on business ownership. No one wants to get sued. But if you plan to start a business, the question isn't if, but when you’ll get sued. Scott is the attorney who will have your back. He's smart, savvy, and he's got a great sense of humor. And he has a gift for simplifying the complex.   “Try to find someone like you businesswise and ask that person a bunch of questions about what you should be doing because they've already gone through it all once.” Scott Smith   Worst investment ever Launching his business idea Driven by a sense to help people with things that he had already figured out, things he had spent the time to figure it out, he started to teach and do it for others. His law degree also came in handy, especially when advising people on how to launch a new business or choose investments. Letting excitement get to him People wanted his services. Within no time he had a really popular podcast. Then pretty soon he had a rapidly growing business. Everything was going too fast and was way beyond what he understood regarding the business. But the growth got him all excited and he felt pretty confident that he now knew just about everything and that whatever he touched would turn to gold. So he kept things moving fast. Fast and big is not always good His business continued growing fast and he got to a point where he realized he did not know what to do with all of that growth. He found himself having to solve problems that he didn't understand. He was forced to hire people to solve the problems for him. Because he didn’t understand what the problems that needed solving were, he ended up hiring people that weren’t that great. He was hiring and firing people so fast. He should have outsourced It was only after he had spent over a quarter-million dollars that he realized that he was struggling to create a system or a solution to something that someone else already had out there. He realized that had he taken a pause, slowed things down with the business, he’d have been able to figure out what the business needed and then hire an agency and offload things on them. But no, his excitement to keep things on a high saw him make his worst investment ever. Lessons learned Delay launching a new business Yes, you have an awesome idea. Yes, you feel ready for a business launch. Delay that launch by at least three months. Take those three months to learn. Take a course on how to launch a business online, get someone to mentor you, get a good framework first and then go ahead and launch your business idea. Ask the right questions The thing that ruins your business is being overconfident. Overconfidence kills your curiosity. It stops you from asking questions. And that's where you always get beaten. Asking the right questions is extremely important. Andrew’s takeaways You don’t know everything Often, we think that we know everything about our businesses and we get overconfident only to realize we know nothing. Be open to learn no matter how long you’ve been in business. If you’re feeling overconfident, then you’ve learned nothing. Slow down, maintain your cool Slow down, take it easy, because if you are a person with a lot of ideas, you want to go big and want to get there fast. But sometimes you've got to go slowly to be able to maintain your position at the top. It's no good to get there and not be able to hold that position relative to your competitors and satisfying your customers. Actionable advice Find somebody who is like you. Who likes doing things the way you do. So if you're hard-charging, have high energy, and want to go quickly, find someone who is like that. Then try to persuade that person by offering them some type of value and in return help mentor you into what to do. There are 1,000 ways to build the kind of business you want. You just don’t know what way is best for you. So find a person who will be able to tell you, here are all the ways you're going to screw it up and how not to keep screwing up because they've already gone through it all once. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Scott’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to work on how to create more sustainability with his mental, physical and spiritual well-being. He wants to build more habits that will prioritize him instead of his company. 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 Scott Smith LinkedIn Facebook YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned Andrea Waltz (2008), Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There

Tristan Wright is the rock star Business Sherpa from down under. He is based in Melbourne, Australia and has a background in leadership coaching and applied business. He studied engineering and industrial design. He worked in that space for a couple of years but decided to start his own cycling clothing company, Seight, at the age of 24. Presently, his company, evolve to GROW gives business owners and entrepreneurs the tools and support they need to simplify their workload, grow their profits, and reclaim their time.   “At the end of the day, I'm not responsible for how they feel and disconnected myself from that outcome. So, I have my own goal plan and I know what I want to achieve. People can see that I'm driven with where I want to get and they can see that I'm congruent with what I want to achieve, and how my actions align with that.” Tristan Wright   Worst investment ever It is not always great to be at the top of the world At a very young age, Tristan Wright had already made a lot of money from his successful sportswear business. He started across Australia and ventured into different countries across the world. He was indeed feeling on top of the world for owning a seven-figure business at the age of 26. However, because of his initial success, he thought that he needed no one’s advice. He felt invincible and believed that if he has achieved something others could not, what was stopping him from doing more? Woke up with debt One day, Tristan was this successful businessman from Australia dominating the sportswear industry, the next day, he woke up with a quarter-million dollars of debt and a wife who told him that they were over. For six months, everything just went from bad to worse. The Australian dollar dropped against US dollar just at the time he was investing in growing his business. Mindset investment is equally important as monetary investment What Tristan means by mindset investment is investing in yourself before investing in others. Earlier, he thought that making other people happy, would make him happy as well. He was living a life according to what society wanted him to be and how they perceived him to be. He was so focused on making other people happy, putting up a show for them by looking nice and successful that he forgot his own goal plans. He disconnected himself from what truly made him happy. Yes, he was successful on the outside, but he felt empty and inauthentic inside which made him really unhappy. Personal development includes minding your own business When Tristan hit rock bottom, he realized that he had no one to turn to. Those people who he invested so much in were never there to support him. With that, he realized that he needed to put an end to the show and live his true self. He started investing in himself by following what his goal plans were. Little by little, he saw improvement in his personal life. He was able to recover from his losses, grew the business again and eventually sold it. Lessons learned Live your own goal plan Your goal plan should reflect who you are and not what others perceive you to be. What you want to do and not what others expect you to do. And how you want to achieve that without losing yourself in the process. Take ownership and responsibility for all your actions Anything that happens to you is the product of your own doing. If the results are great, then you only have yourself to be grateful to. If it’s not, then reflect and move forward. Work on yourself first To be able to be successful not just in business but in life as general, people need to continue to invest in themselves. If they want to go to the next level, they need to explore who they are as a person to be able to continue to move forward and grow. Surround yourself with people who are ahead of you It is important to surround yourself with people who you want to be surrounded with. To be able to learn, choose the people who are 2, 3, or 4 steps ahead of you. Andrew’s takeaways If you have a problem with that, that is your problem At the end of the day, you are not responsible for how other people feel and what outcome they want. You can be empathic and kind but there needs to be a clear line delineating you from other people’s problems. Authenticity is what attracts people People value authenticity more than expensive and false advertising. It is authenticity that builds your business. This is the tie that strengthens your relationship with your customers. Do what makes you happy It is not always too late to invest in personal development. No matter how successful you want to be, if you are not doing it for yourself, you will never be happy and satisfied. Actionable advice Start asking yourself if you are living your goal plan. If not, then it is time to do it now. You need to be able to have a clear direction on what you want to be, what you want to do and how you want to do it. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Tristan wants to get on the speaking circuit across Asia. He already started in Australia but wants to have an impact in the Asian market by sharing his story. Parting words   “Think what is possible and make possible your reality.” Tristan Wright   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 Tristan Wright LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Podcast Website   Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Pete Matthew is a 21-year veteran financial planner, based in Penzance in the far southwest of the UK. In 2010, he began shooting a series of short videos explaining how money works in simple everyday language. This hobby became Meaningful Money, which is now UK’s biggest independent personal finance podcast with over 3 million downloads, a YouTube channel, a book deal and an online Academy teaching people how to beat debt and build wealth. Pete is also the Managing Director of Jackson's Wealth Management, which can trace its roots back nearly 100 years in Penzance. He’s married and has two daughters age 19 and 16. And a Jack Russell Terrier called Maisie.   “We should be intentional with our finances because nothing good happens by mistake. Anything good takes work and intention” Pete Matthew   Worst investment ever Zero financial training Pete grew up in a home where money was an absolute taboo subject. His parents, like many others of their time, didn’t know how to talk to him about money. So he grew up with zero financial training. And thus he never knew how to engage with money, well not until he met his fiancé. Learning how to manage personal finances with his tail between his legs Pete came to learn how to manage his finances in the most embarrassing way. One weekend, he was heading for a weekend getaway with his fiancé, and his brother and his wife. During the car ride, they were talking about paying for the weekend. Pete was filled with fear because he had zero money. He was worse than zero. He had overdrawn his overdraft. He had no choice but to admit to his fiancé that he had no money and there was no way that he would be able to pay for the weekend. The embarrassing part was that they were driving in her car that she had saved for because she had all the financial discipline that he didn't. Right there and then Pete had a life-defining moment where he thought he might lose his fiancé over this because how could she marry such a mess? He had student loans, but no degree to show for it and an overdraft with the bank. Fortunately, she stuck with him and she paid for the weekend, and he eventually paid her back. Money lessons from his fiancé His fiancé and that vulnerable moment taught him a great deal about how to manage personal finances as well as day-to-day expenditures. He realized that his worst investment ever was a complete lack of investment in his ability to cope with day-to-day finances. Lessons learned Don’t self-sabotage yourself When it comes to financial planning we are our own worst enemies. Many times we tell ourselves incredible lies that lead to self-sabotage. We tell ourselves that we can’t do anything about the financial mess we are in and we believe it. So instead of learning about personal finances, we continue being passive about it. Don’t let bills surprise you Practice automatic bills payment with a two account approach. It's very simple. You get paid into one account and process all your bills from that account every month through direct debit or standing order. This ensures that you never get surprised by a bill. Andrew’s takeaways Stop self-sabotaging yourself Most people hate finance, and that’s ok but, don’t keep saying that to yourself because if you do it will cause self-sabotage. Take a moment, stop and let that go. Find a way to start loving finance. Personal finance doesn't have to be complicated and overwhelming Learning about finances and managing your money can be very simple these days compared to a few years back. So go out and learn how to do it and start doing it. Actionable advice Educate yourself, learn about personal finances and don't accept ignorance. The financial services industry may make it look so complicated that you think you need an expert to train you. But take it from an expert, anybody can do it on their own. Personal financial planning comes down to three things. One, spend less than you earn. This is the bedrock of it all. Two, insure against disaster because there are some things you can't control. Three, invest wisely. It doesn't need to be complicated. So find a way that works for you and do it a step at a time. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months Pete’s number one my goal for the next 12 months is to lose some weight. This has been a bit of a perennial goal for him but he now feels like he is in a good place for that. He intends to practice the same discipline he applies in his financial planning to achieve this goal. Parting words   “Stay strong, stay the course, it's worth it. Get other people involved, learn from others. Don't be a lone wolf.” Pete Matthew   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 Pete Matthew LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Website Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned Pete Mathew (2018), The Meaningful Money Handbook: Everything you need to KNOW and everything you need to DO to secure your financial future

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”