My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

BIO: Chris Vermeulen shares a different way of investing that doesn’t use diversification or the buy-and-hold method. In his new book, “Asset Revesting - How To Exclusively Hold Assets Rising In Value, Profit During Bear Markets, And Continue Building Wealth In Retirement,” he explains why this approach is the way forward. STORY: Chris and his father imported infrared saunas from China only to dis...

BIO: Kenny Rose is the Chicago-based founder and CEO of FranShares, a platform that democratizes franchise investing. STORY: Kenny invested in an aviation stock and hit the jackpot. Feeling lucky, he invested in a company dealing with processors and microchips, an industry he knew nothing about. He bought the stock at $4. About a year later, the stock went down to $2.50. Kenny panicked and sold hi...

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew gets into part two of his discussion with Larry Swedroe: Ignorance is Bliss. Today, they discuss two chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them . In this eleventh series, they discuss mistake number 20: Do You Only Consider the Operating Expense Ratio When Selecting a Mutual Fund? An...

BIO: Chong Ser Jing is the Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder of Compounder Fund, an investment fund that invests in stocks around the world. STORY: In October 2010, Ser Jing bought six stocks. Two of these were companies in the oil industry. By the time he was selling these stocks, he had a loss of 77% and 31% from the two companies, respectively. LEARNING: Some sectors may not be worth investing i...

BIO: James M. Dahle, MD, is a practicing emergency physician who took an interest in personal finance and investing in residency after getting ripped off by every financial professional he came into contact with. He founded The White Coat Investor in 2011 to help fellow docs get a fair shake on Wall Street. STORY: James got sold a whole life insurance policy in medical school. He invested in it, t...

BIO: Harley Bassman is an industry thought leader and commentator on macroeconomic issues spanning decades. STORY: In 2019, Harley bought some calls and sold some puts on Citibank stock for a cost strategy. He believed the stocks would increase because all its peers were trading above their book value. When COVID came, the stocks went south, causing Harley to make his biggest loss ever. LEARNING:...

BIO: Mike Philbrick is the CEO of ReSolve Asset Management. He has over 30 years of experience in investment management, serving in senior investment industry positions with several major financial services firms, and is responsible for investment decisions, coaching, and strategic leadership. STORY: Mike learned of a mining stock at the urinal. He invested, and the stock performed well because th...

BIO: Sam Burns is Chief Investment Strategist at Mill Street Research, an independent investment research firm based near Boston, MA. For 25 years, he has focused on global asset allocation and quantitative stock selection, primarily for institutional investors. STORY: Sam decided to short-sell options that went horribly wrong after the Russian default. Even though he knew how options work in prin...

BIO: Jay Pelosky has over 35 years of both buy and sell side financial market experience. While at Morgan Stanley, he was ranked # 1 in Institutional Investor in Global Equity Strategy and Global Asset Allocation Strategy. STORY: In the 90s, Jay was bullish about Mexico even though people were concerned about foreign currency debt and the country’s risk of devaluation. He remained adamant that peo...

BIO: Jerry Parker started his trading career in 1983 in the Richard Dennis Turtle Program. He started Chesapeake Capital in 1988. Chesapeake manages about $200M in private funds, mutual funds, ETFs, and managed accounts. STORY: Jerry has had some stinker investments in real estate and gold over the years. Two things that have cost him money in his real estate investment are overpaying and not bein...

Fed Success! High LT Rates & Recession Coming World yield curve inversion is falling because of rising LT rates Rising LT rates are reducing yield curve inversion fastest in DM Americas and DM Europe Rates are high across EMs, crushing in FMs, and low in EM Asia France and Germany ST rates rising; DM countries have past peak yield curve inversion due to rising LT rates Rates are low in China,...

BIO: William D. Cohan, a former senior Wall Street M&A investment banker for 17 years at Lazard Frères & Co., Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan Chase, is the New York Times bestselling author of seven non-fiction narratives, including his most recent book called Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Idol. STORY: In 1990, William asked a trader to buy him 10 shares in Berkshire Hathaway...

BIO: Neil Johnson is a renowned finance expert with over 30 years of experience in investment banking, merchant banking, and research analysis in Canadian and UK capital markets. STORY: Neil invested in an internet company building website templates when the internet was just starting. The company filed to go public, but the financiers kept delaying the process and never went public. Six months la...

BIO: Jeremy Deal manages the Survivor & Thriver Fund LP, a private investment partnership for high-net-worth families globally. STORY: In 2012, Jeremy bought Tesla for about $2 a share and sold it eight months later for 50% more. He didn’t have a real differentiated insight to continue believing in Elon Musk’s ability to convince consumers to keep buying Teslas even though the product was of m...

BIO: William Bernstein is a neurologist, a co-founder of Efficient Frontier Advisors – an investment management firm, and has written several titles on finance and economic history. STORY: William lost money after investing in palladium futures under the belief that a couple of physicists had perfected the technique of cold fusion to get helium. LEARNING: Never invest based on the headlines. Somet...

Warning Sign #1 - Inverted yield curve It’s not the first time the Fed has fought inflation Fed has been fighting inflation with its main tool Steep rate hikes have historically preceded recessions Fed’s tool to fight inflation is raising the federal funds rate This is the fastest and most aggressive rate-hike cycle by the Fed since the 1980s After the 0.25%-hike in Feb 2023, the current rate-hike...

Will the global CPI slowdown continue? Or will it rebound? Global Markets Global CPI saw 2nd monthly uptick in August, DM remains below Global; DM and EM are now on the rise Economies across the world have a GDP of about US$97trn and an average CPI of 5.1% DM has US$55trn GDP, and CPI was 4.3% EM has US$42trn GDP, and CPI was 6.1% World CPI was 5.1%, down 3ppts from one year ago; MoM it was up 0.3...

BIO: Swen Lorenz is a passionate public equity investor and the face of Undervalued-Shares.com. With over 30 years of experience in investing, Swen has a knack for finding exciting investment opportunities in very unexpected places, which he discovers while traveling the globe. STORY: Swen had a 12.5% stake in a German fund manager performing well. A competitor wanted to buy up companies in that s...

BIO: Paul Merriman is a nationally recognized authority on mutual funds, index investing, and asset allocation. After retiring in 2012 from Merriman Wealth Management, which he founded in 1983, Paul created The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, dedicated to providing investors of all ages with free information and tools to make better investment decisions. STORY: Paul has had a series of ba...

BIO: Dr. Vikram Mansharamani is a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk, and spot opportunities. STORY: Vikram invested in a small commercial condo that he hoped to rent to Ph. D. students, but they weren’t interested. He had to sell it after a few years of no income. He took a 50% loss. LEARNING: Liquidity is not a constant. If the timing of your thesis i...

BIO: Gino Barbaro is the co-founder of Jake & Gino. He is an investor, business owner, author and entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, he has grown his real estate portfolio to over 2,120 multifamily units & $280,000,000 in assets under management. STORY: Gino invested and lost $172,000 in mobile home parks that he didn’t even know what they looked like or where they were. LEARNING: Know your...

BIO: Robin Wigglesworth is the editor of Alphaville, the FT’s financial blog. From Oslo, Norway, he leads a team of writers who dig into anything deeply nerdy or plain delightful that they spot in markets, business, or the global economy. STORY: Robin invested in an ETF in Norway, a consumer durables company, and a fertilizer company after the 2008 financial crisis. These companies did incredibly...

BIO: Sheryl Garratt is a coach who helps creative professionals do their best work - while also living their best lives. She was a journalist for more than 30 years, the editor of The Face and The Observer magazines, and has published several books, including Adventures In Wonderland, a history of British nightclubs. STORY: Sheryl’s perfectionism, which she wore as a badge of honor, has made her m...

BIO: Kim Ades is the Founder of Frame of Mind Coaching™ and Co-Founder of The Journal That Talks Back™. Recognized as a pioneer in leadership coaching and thought mastery, Kim uses her unique philosophy and quirky coaching style to help leaders identify their blind spots and learn to direct their thinking to achieve extraordinary results. STORY: Kim had partnered with a friend and her ex-husband t...

BIO: Nick Hutchison is the author of Rise of the Reader: Strategies for Mastering Your Reading Habits and Applying What You Learn and the founder of BookThinkers. This growing 7-figure digital marketing agency serves mission-driven authors. STORY: Nick envisioned the first iteration of BookThinkers to be a grand mobile application. He got partners together, and they started working on the idea. Wi...