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Reader:
Hello Ak,
I was at (an investment event) over the weekend and one of the very good speakers from XXX had me sold immediately on the spot.
So out of impulse purchase, I've signed up a >$4k worth of investment program on value investing.
Now back home and doing abit of research on XXX reviews, its hard for me to further convince myself to further go on the course due to the mix reviews.
I know you are one of the most straightforward person on the blogosphere other than xiaxue, and with your knowledge in the investment and finance world, may I know what's your take?
I really need your brutal honest advice.
You can talk to yourself on this and accidentally reply my email. Thanks!
AK:
Alamak. AK straightforward like Xiaxue?
OK, maybe, I take that as a compliment. ;p
What would Xiaxue say to you in this case? Hmmm...
OK, I don't know but I know what I would say.
Let me guess.
It was a free event but there was plenty of aggressive selling going on?
Impulse buying har?
Bad! Baaad!
$4K is a lot of money too and I know for a fact that you have to pay a few K more after that to get into an "inner circle".
I have never attended atas investment courses nor paid lots of money to be in any related program before and I probably never would.
Despite this, I think I have done OK.
Alamak, I accidentally tapped the "send" button!
Please ignore my email.
It was an accident.
Really, please ignore me.
Education is essential but how much should we pay for education?
Cheap things not good?
Good things not cheap?
Aiyoh.
Don't ask me.
I blur.
OK, I confess.
I don't know if I am like Xiaxue but I like Xiaxue. :)
What?
Wrong answer?
Cham lah liddat.
Related posts:
1. Little Book of Value Investing.
2. Secret of my success.
Bloggy Award
10 comments:
Uh oh, 4K for a value investing course? That sounds awfully familiar...
If it is the course from 8I Investing, I suggest reading this review to get an idea of how much "value" it provides: http://investmentmoats.com/stock-market-commentary/business/why-i-suggest-people-give-value-investing-summit-a-miss/#comment-190972
Unfortunately, it gets worse (cached links, because the company requested that these blog posts be taken down):
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lum4GL9bgloJ:https://investingisbusiness.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/financial-engineering-from-1-5m-to-40m-in-11-months/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=sg
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yceV9oix2msJ:https://investingisbusiness.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/8i-holdings-another-outsize-gain/comment-page-1/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=sg
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cFeDYNGo_WsJ:https://investingisbusiness.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/8i-holdings/comment-page-1/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=sg
From my FB wall:
Simeon Kong:
AK is better than Xia Xue. Why ? I don't know Xiaxue enough to say otherwise but AK is “正能量” in my personal opinion.
AK:
Had to do a Google.
Anything that provides people with encouragement and hope can be labelled as “正能量".
The reason why the concept of “正能量(zhèngnéngliàng)” is so popular these days is that people are now living under extremely heavy pressure.
Fast-paced lives drive people to rush around, which consequently make them suffer from chronic exhaustion.
The overwhelming pressure coming from employment, house purchasing and marriage brings people many worries.
They may get angry, disappointed or scared.
Something in your life that makes you keep hoping for the best and confident or feeling that life is meaningful and beautiful.
I like this. :)
I had often heard Singaporeans say that the moment they visit either one of the local casinos, they had already lost $100 before even making a single bet.
In your reader's case, he had already lost many times more than that before investing a single cent.
Hi Laurence,
Not the same thing but, yes, I get your drift. :)
Simeon Kong:
That's why we see ppl queuing up for toto, 4D everyday....they are so desperate even knowing the odds are so high against them. We see so many "guru" around, investment seminars selling only ideas but AK is one of the so few out there giving with no condition. Of course we see many bloggers showing us their portfolio and investment studies but some are already bad advice......
AK:
Well, to be fair, I am not always right either. :p
My philosophy makes me what I am today but if everyone is like me, Singapore is in trouble. :p
Loke Oilin:
I think one shld make monies from the market instead of from this learning and sharing session.
AK:
To be fair, some people have to make a living as educators but some of them charge too high a price.
Hi AK and others,
(This is my 1st comment after reading so many AK blogs post. Sorry, bad me, just read and not contribute).
I joined those expensive course, total 3 of them (1 for FA, i.e. the 4k++ course mentioned above, 1 for USA-options & community network & 1 for TA) and I also read alots of articles & blog since then.
Here is my 2 cents of thought.
1) Value Investing books are alot out there, but if I want to learn something fast, I think courses suits my need (that's how I knew AK blog from one of the trainer in course)
2) Network that being built up after attending these courses really helped me gain some real money, via asking those experienced people inside and practice. I also know how to get hep when I need one.
3) The reason why I signed up 3 courses are mainly filled up my knowledge gap at the fastest speed. Never regret even till now, because I had learnt alot & eye opener since then.
4) The "inner circle subscription" one was hard sell to me too, but I did not interested, simply because I do not need it at all.
5) To me, courses are for speed-learning (速成) and course content usually structured in a better way to let dummie to learn, instead of crawling tonnes of book. Of course, if you enjoy reading and have good friend/mentor in investing, congrats! You could learn all these for free easily and keep those "course fees money" work harder in the stock market.
It is just like why people spending so much money to attend university, while all the content teaching in uni are written in books.
Last but not least, regardless you learnt via courses or books, if you don't put it consistently on action, nothing will happen.
Hi Jackson,
Not everyone learns well by reading books. That is true.
I have a friend who has paid thousands of dollars to attend FA and TA courses because he is bad at self study. He needs a formal learning environment and a structure to follow.
However, I feel that we should give self learning a chance because that is the most economical way to learn. If that doesn't work, then, attending classes makes sense.
It is like when we fall sick, we should see our family doctor first and only if necessary we get referred to a hospital to see a specialist or two.
Of course, if money is not an issue and we are not concerned with economy, we can choose the more expensive option right away since specialists are physicians too. :)
Aiyoh! Business Times article on XXX causing big hoo and hah today!
They were apparently sweet-talked into joining his forex trading courses.
After forking out thousands of dollars each, they felt they did not learn much from the instructor, Mr Nicholas Seah Hua Sheng, 34.
To make things worse, they chalked up losses from trading.
More than 15 people — who have lost over S$500,000 in course fees and trading losses in total — have lodged more than 10 police reports so far against Mr Seah, who denied their claims and maintained the complainants merely want to get their money back.
Source:
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/police-reports-filed-against-man-who-did-not-teach-much-forex-trading-scam
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