My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

In this presentation, I will introduce you to our FVMR investment framework And will apply it to assess the attractiveness of the top five developed countries in the world: US, Japan, Germany, UK, and France. Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs What do you think: Which of the largest country’s stock markets is most attractive? What is your investment framework? Our investment stra...

BIO: Terri Spath is the founder and CIO of Zuma Wealth LLC and has earned top performance marks stewarding billions of dollars at large investment shops through the booms and busts of the past quarter-century. STORY: At the height of the Dotcom boom, Terri bought—on behalf of clients—some terrific companies because she knew how to value, assess, and analyze them. But she kept holding onto the comp...

BIO: Brett Martin is co-founder of Kumospace, the virtual HQ for remote teams, and Charge Ventures, a pre/seed VC based in Brooklyn, NY. STORY: Brett started a company and got just 20% ownership; the rest went to investors who eventually walked away, leaving the business to crumble. LEARNING: If you’re in a partnership that’s not working, you must push it to a conclusion. Complaining won’t resolve...

BIO: Damon Pistulka earned a Mechanical Engineering degree in college, then worked in technical and managerial roles, including designing, building, and operating facilities. STORY: Damon’s company focused on building a client’s business for sale. The client pulled out of a great offer at the last minute. LEARNING: Always have a contract in place and ensure it has an exit clause that protects you....

How rising rates and oil prices are contributing to 6.4% inflation in the US Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs What do you think: Are we headed for a recession or has the Fed engineered a soft landing? Jan. US CPI was up 6.4% YoY, continuing its slide from the June 2022 9.1% YoY peak, driven by high food and energy-related products Food was up 10.1% YoY but continued its 5th str...

BIO: Pia Singh is a Business Growth Strategist with 15+ years of experience in helping companies find ways to save on the bottom line and drive topline growth. She is a recognized Growth Strategist with excellent strategic planning capabilities. STORY: Pia invested a substantial amount of her wedding money in a friend’s business. She lost everything she had invested and had to take a loan to pay f...

BIO: Raghav Kapoor is the CEO and Co-Founder of Smartkarma, an Asia-focused Investment Research Network that serves global institutional investors, corporates, and private wealth. STORY: Raghav invested 2% of his portfolio in a biotech company in the US simply because it was run by people he believed had a good reputation. He ended up losing 98% of his investment. LEARNING: Invest within your area...

EM don’t have reserve currency status, unlike DM they never benefited from zero rates Over the past 12 months, the World average 3mth gov’t bond rate rose from 1.7% to 5.0% That 3.3ppts rise highlights the rising interest rate environment we have been living through In the Developed markets 3mth rates rose from zero 12 months ago, before the Ukraine war started, to the current 3.3% Despite this st...

BIO: Praveen Kumar Rajbhar is an entrepreneur, founder, and CEO SkillingYou, an employability Skills Focused EdTech startup in rural India. STORY: When Praveen started his first startup, he spent money to hire many people, buy a lot of gadgets, and rent a huge office space. The business collapsed in less than two years. LEARNING: Get the right mentor to guide you on how to make your startup a succ...

BIO: Larry Swedroe is head of financial and economic research at Buckingham Wealth Partners. STORY: Larry chose to invest in an individual bank stock in the mid-80s instead of following his gut to invest in a portfolio of stocks. The bank’s President committed fraud, and the company went bankrupt. Larry lost about 80% of his investment. LEARNING: Avoid idiosyncratic risks by hyper-diversifying you...

Never has the US gov’t caused such a massive move in GDP. The question is, “which way is GDP going?” Will we see a recession or a soft landing? Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs Reasons for a recession Extreme increases in interest rates are meant to slow down the economy The fastest rate-hike cycle by the Fed since the 1980s In the 2004 cycle, the target rate was hiked by 4.25%...

BIO: David Siegel is an entrepreneur who has started more than a dozen companies. He has written five books on technology and business, given more than 200 professional speeches worldwide, and was once a candidate to be the dean of Stanford business school. STORY: David joins the podcast again, this time around discussing climate change. LEARNING: It’s wrong to reduce climate change to a score. We...

BIO: Maxwell Nee is the Managing Partner of OENO Wine & Whisky Investment. He’s a multi-award-winning entrepreneur making alternative investments in wine and whisky. STORY: Maxwell bought an apartment in an off-plan contract and paid 45,000 Australian dollars as a downpayment. He was to pay the balance once the apartment was complete in about 36 months. Mid-project, he realized the deal was no...

Did the man who discovered the most successful recession indicator abandon it? Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs In a recent LinkedIn post, Campbell Harvey outlined why his yield curve inversion theory , which has a perfect record of predicting recessions , may no longer work. He concludes that we may not get a recession in 2023. He argues that the labor market is strong compare...

BIO: Cameron Herold is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies’ exponential growth and has earned his reputation as the business growth guru. STORY: Cameron is back on the Podcast with tidbits from his upcoming book, The Second in Command: How to Unleash the Power of Your COO. LEARNING: A working relationship between a CEO and a COO can grow a company exponentially. Make your company culture c...

BIO: Kim Scott is the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-ass Culture of Inclusivity , and she is a co-founder of the company, Radical Candor. STORY: Kim got an idea and $2 million from a friend to build an app for her company Radical Candor. What Kim didn’t realize was that the app w...

WW2.5 is what I like to call “The US against who?” You may say China or Russia. In my opinion, those are both wrong. It’s the US against Europe. And the US just won. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has encouraged US dominance over Europe. Let’s take a deeper look at this dominance. Click here to get the PDF with all charts and graphs Military dominance The US has more than 60,000 troops in Europe, hal...

BIO: Peter W. Johnson, Jr. is the founder and principal of PWJohnson Wealth & Legacy, LLC, a fee-only Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Silicon Valley, California. STORY: Peter invested in two business ideas that came too early for their time. Both businesses had minimal uptake because people didn’t understand what Peter was trying to do. LEARNING:  Never invest all of your mon...

BIO: Morad Fiki is a former U.S. Naval Officer and #1 Real Estate Expert on Social Media in Texas. He has been awarded Top 1.4% Real Estate Agents In the United States through Real Trends and has over 100 Million dollars in Career Sales. STORY: Morad got into the restaurant business without prior due diligence causing him to buy a non-profitable business. In addition to that, he got into a partner...

BIO: Drew Neisser is the founder of Renegade and CMO Huddles. Drew has helped dozens of CMOs unleash their inner renegade via multiple award-winning campaigns. STORY: Drew made the mistake of increasing his staff from 40 to 100 and tripling his office space. Then one of his clients refused to pay the $500,000 owed. He was left with a real estate and cash flow problem. LEARNING: Be conscious about...

BIO: Rick Elmore is an entrepreneur, sales and marketing expert, and the Founder and CEO of Simply Noted. STORY: Rick had a team of software developers, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers who were to develop a robot for a seven-figure client. The robot was supposed to be done six months before the client signed the contract. Unfortunately, the team couldn’t deliver, so Rick lost the co...

BIO: Lisa Gates is a leadership coach and career story sleuth who helps women strategically self-advocate so they are seen, heard, valued, and paid. STORY: Lisa’s husband got a 65 Mustang as payment for an $800 debt. They spent over $14,000 to repair the car and sold it for just $7,000. LEARNING: Don’t invest in something you don’t naturally value or have an interest in. Don’t let other people’s p...

BIO: Ilise Benun has made it her business to teach basic business skills to creative professionals who should have learned them in school but, alas, did not because it’s not taught in school. STORY: Ilise hired a designer to design a brochure for her consulting practice. Instead, he delivered a folder with her logo. LEARNING: Stand up for yourself. Ask every question you can think of.   “Ask...

BIO: Souniya Khurana is the Co-Founder and CEO of the podcast company and a new-age media venture WYN (Wine) Studio. STORY: When Souniya was in grade six, she failed math. Everyone kept pushing her to focus on this failure instead of her strengths. This made her create a narrative that she wasn’t good enough. LEARNING: Own your narrative. Don’t let anybody else decide who you are or your narrative...

BIO: Strategist, speaker, and author Michele Wucker coined the term “gray rhino” as a call to take a fresh look at how we respond to obvious, probable, impactful risks. STORY: Michele hated being a pre-med and psychology student, but she kept at it because she believed it was the safest path for her. LEARNING: Don’t ignore the signs telling you that something is wrong. Build your self-awareness. &...