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

Odilon Costa is a Sr. Emerging Market Research Analyst with the emphasis in commercial real estate and fixed income. He started his career working at large investment banks, such as ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, and HSBC, in Brazil and France. His activities are currently focused on providing strategic services for some research platforms, such as REDD Intelligence and Eleven Financial, and asset managers, covering high yield and distressed debt. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from FGV at Sao Paulo School of Business and was a visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge. He has published several papers in the field of real estate finance and investments.  In this episode, Odilon talks about the pros and cons of distressed debts investing, how lucrative and promising this investing is, the complexities of restructuring that are involved in this type of investment, and the challenges involved in getting accurate information about it which limits the number of investors who can adequately invest in them. Listen and learn from this expert as he will tell you more about the highs and lows of purchasing distressed debt.   "Regardless of how much you study a deal, you can't just underestimate the risks." -Odilon Costa 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: 0:38 – Odilon Costa’s background as an investment professional 2:41 – Recounting one of the investments he acquired  and how it turns out  bad and the backstory of how he was convinced to venture into the investment 4:00 – Sighting the conflicts that made his investment fall short 6:26 – Strategies that he carried out to improve the returns of the investment as well as the risks management that they did 8:34 – A rundown of the lessons he gained from his experience 9:13 – A sensible closing advice from Odilon Costa: “Regardless of how much you study a deal, you can't just underestimate the risks." Main Takeaways: Lesson 1: "You really can't underestimate income risks. So, if you're going to close a deal, if it's a distressed deal, you need to understand how incomes are going to come out of that deal. – Odilon Costa Lesson 2: “You can't let confidence affect you. You have to be cold and manage risks in a way that they do not affect the way you'll see the deal.” –  Odilon Costa Lesson 3: "Finance adds no value. It’s the entrepreneurial aspect that adds value"  – Andrew Stotz Lesson 4: "The income risk is really about how we want to stay focused on our business, products, and services. Finance oftentimes manipulates the liability side of the balance sheet." –  Andrew Stotz Lesson 6: "The job of finance ultimately is to support the entrepreneur to do their business better, faster, stronger, cheaper. What we're doing is supporting the allocation of capital to the people that are making the products and services that people want.” – 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 Odilon Costa: LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Rajeev Gupta has an immense 20-years experience investing and building technology companies.  He worked for almost a decade at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York focusing on listed and unlisted technology companies.  He then moved at Tribeca & Merricks Capital where he ran global technology funds and eventually built his own 25-person technology start-up company, Geckolife.  He is also currently a Partner at an investment company, Alium Capital.  Rajeev graduated from the University of Sydney with an Honours degree in Finance & Econometrics. On the other hand, Rajeev spends his personal time with his four kids and is fond of traveling, watching tv and skiing. In this episode, get to know Rajeev as he recounts why he considers meeting Jack Ma in 1998 his worst investment ever and his valuable realizations in it.  Listen and learn from this expert as he will tell you more why you should be investing in technology now. Hear this and more in this another great story of loss to keep you winning. “As an investor, you must be able to detect tenacity.” – Rajeev Gupta     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: 02:55 – Rajeev explains why he loves to meet 8-10 companies every day and what excites him to do that 03:49 – He shares how he ended up with his worst investment and the story behind it 05:04 – Telling what the key differentiator is in investing 05:55 – He reveals his 3 worst investments and his realizations on it 07:31 – Defining what efficient frontier is 08:21 – Why not having conviction is a very weak way of investing 10:14 – One important actionable advice in investing 11:43 – Andrew sums up his opinions on the topic 13:42 – Andrew narrates his personal story about tenacity and what he learned on it 17:02 – Wise parting words from Rajeev – “If you come across anything in technology that sounds dumb today, it can be almost guaranteed. You look back in 10 years and say, why did I not support it? So, if you think something's done, don't be dumb.”   Main Takeaways:  Lesson 1: “As an investor, you must be able to detect tenacity.”– Rajeev Gupta Lesson 2: “So my worst investment has been a) not having conviction, b) not putting my balls on the line and c) not writing themes that you hear about, but do nothing about through that journey.”– Rajeev Gupta Lesson 3: “Conviction to me is the most important part of investing both positively and negatively.  My worst investment is not putting more money to work in what was looking at me in the face.”– Rajeev Gupta Lesson 4: “I think the best way to invest is have a big chunk of what you do and I'd say 50 percent or maybe slightly more in super risky stuff which will give you at exorbitantly high return.”– Rajeev Gupta Lesson 5: “If you focus on the risky stuff, the risky investments, yes, they can go to zero. But if you do your work, you have your conviction. You know that the magic you're talking to companies will make an enormous return.” – Rajeev Gupta Lesson 6: “If you've done the work and you believe in the thematic, I think you go hard and supersize positions as early as you can. ”– Rajeev Gupta Lesson 7: “The first is warning, warning, warning to the listeners.  Remember what he said was you've got to have your thematic right, and you've got to do your homework. Rajeev is not saying, just have a conviction.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 8: “Build your story, build your theme, do your homework.  But also, never be afraid to try to find someone that disagrees with your conviction and get their input.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 9: “If you can spot tenacity in a good, you know, and find a good person with a good idea, then you've probably got something you should back for long, long time.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 10: “There are only two times that you'll have to worry about conflicts in partnerships - when you're losing money and when you're making money. Otherwise you don't have to worry.”– Andrew Stotz Lesson 11: “Numbers can sometimes be very deceptive. I think numbers should be seen as something that's supportive. You cannot ever trade person, individual, thematic and tenacity.”– Rajeev Gupta 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 Rajeev Gupta: aliumcap.com LinkedIn Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Alvin Fan, CEO of OP Investment Management, discusses the risks and challenges of investing in timberland, emphasizing the importance of thorough due diligence and continuous monitoring. He shares insights on the complexities of investing in teak forests in Costa Rica, highlighting the need for proper management and the risks involved in agriculture investments. Listeners are reminded of the significance of persistence and consistent execution in achieving favorable outcomes in their investments.

Roongkiat Ratanabanchuen, a seasoned banking professional turned full-time finance lecturer, shares his worst investment experience of risking it all on a falling stock. He discusses the importance of diversification and factor investing to avoid losses, reflecting on missed opportunities and the impact on his confidence.

Michael Garcia, CEO of MDG Capital, shares his costly mistake investing in a Vietnam company due to ignoring management ethics. He emphasizes the importance of meeting management before investing and sticking to due diligence process to avoid big losses.