Worst financial/investment advice you ever got?

"Investing is only for the smarter people"

😂

Here is what I want to encourage everyone else:

To be an investor, you need to understand numbers... but you don't have to be an accountant to be an investor.

Commit a high level of your salary to a Long term savings plan for retirement.

That would literally cripple your spare cash flow.

"Invest into high dividend yielding companies and hold long term"

Thankfully I never subscribe to stock picking having worked in listed companies and understanding that retail investors would never truly understand the risk they are taking.

In the past people said telcos have a strong moat, SPH/Hyflux is government backed, so these are counters to hold long tem. Business environment changes and these are really difficult even for people in the industry to anticipate. I rather hold on to diversified funds and get on with life than to stock pick. ​​​

Sell when your stock goes up 20%

"Value Investing for the long term doesn't work for modern finance"

People do think investing is only for the professionals, the people from the 'streets'.

Here's my input: Investing as a retail investor is possible, some work just needs to be done.

"Trust me, I'm an investment professional."

Result: -1% return after 10 years

By an insurance agent "friend", ETF is high fees and i should DCA into an ILP instead.

"Buy stock for long term doesn't work anymore"

Buy term and invest the rest without due consideration for the person's background, situation, and future.

Worst advice is getting no advice

"guaranteed you to make 20% ROI per month". From JJPTR

Agents asking me to buy ILPs - the single worst product among all the offerings by insurance companies.

"Don't buy now, so expensive, wait for correction".

and xx years later.. still waiting....

Expensive can get more expensive, cheap can get cheaper!! Go for valuation!​​​

Worst investment advice:

Scene: Chinese New Year

Auntie you hardly talk to talks about the latest stock tip she got, and convinces the other aunties that the stock will 'sure make money one'

I didn't buy it - but just tracked it.

Stock was Hyflux.

Thank goodness I chose to ignore that advice.​​​

"BUY CRUDE OIL"

Bought into an IPO on SGX without doing much research on it. The business went downhill and management team started to left one by one. The stock was eventually suspended on SGX and its basically worth nothing now.

Was lucky that I only allocated a small portion of my portfolio to this stock but definitely learnt a huge lesson from this experience.

Don't like bumping this, but it's a great question.

"It will crash anytime soon." - 2011

"It will crash anytime soon." - 2013

"It will crash anytime soon." - 2015

"It will crash anytime soon." - 2017

"It will crash anytime soon." - 2019

"It will crash anytime soon." - 2020

Meanwhile, record highs.

A broken clock is right twice a day.​​​

A wealth manager from a bank with tiger logo, recommended me to buy life insurance policy with premium same as my salary.

I rejected and left, and she still called me over the phone why I rejected her wealth planning. ​​​

"Trust me"

And another!

"I understand you aren't obliged to buy from me. I'm just disappointed that as a friend (FA), you didn't think of seeking my opinion cos you know that I'll have your interests at heart".

I still feel bad for the second

Worst advice from friends:

“Everyone is getting it, don’t be the odd one out.”

“You’re too paranoid!” —when I withdrew all investments back in Feb prior to the dip dip dip...

“You should invest high % of your income when you’re younger. No point keeping all that cash.” — true to certain extent only. When you’ve been through worst you know cash is king. And you don’t play with fire till you know your limits.

Worst advice heard from FA:

“I have a very strong record of making >7% gains YOY you can trust me because I AM GOOD” (FYI, never trust anyone just because they say they are good. Only trust after you CSI the shit out of them and do your due diligence)

“The market is booming and will continue to grow for next 5 years.” — ironically that was in mid Jan when Covid news first came out for China and I started getting wary but the FA who approached me was very confident and I asked for his take on the market. Guy wasn’t very updated on international news.

“Everyone is buying so we should buy now because if you start late you might make a loss” —- never let anyone pressuring you or led you into thinking NOW is the best time to buy. Your money - you make the choice. You use your brain.