Episode CF08 – The Worst Financial Mistakes

Episode CF08 – The Worst Financial Mistakes

Welcome to another Community episode! Today we talk about something a little bit negative, but the purpose is to try to let people know that we make mistakes and when it comes to investing that’s partly okay as long as we learn from it. Alvar and Michael will remember some of the worst financial mistakes and what they learned from them. Enjoy!

We also talk about:

  • Ponzi and MLM schemes
  • Red flags to check
  • Evaluating p2p lending companies
  • Transferwise

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Suspiciously high returns

The first type of mistake Alvar and Michale talk about is related to systems that promise unusually high returns and have a not so clear structure. From Alvar’s experience with multilevel marketing while he was a student to Michael’s adventures with cryptocurrencies, fraudulent activities present very similar traits and always try to use this promise to execute their scams.

Cars and insurances

From a car that breaks one hour after the purchase to an all-around German insurance that helped Mathias in more than one occasion, cars and insurances can hide many pitfalls and it’s easy to make mistakes. In the end two lessons can be learned here: avoid shady dealers and always read the fine print!

Managing money while traveling

A decision of the Indian government left Alvar without a way to get money in the middle of his trip, so he had to revert to creative ways to find resources that always ended up with paying some intermediaries. And the choice of an ATM instead of another could potentially make you lose money through very bad commissions. Again, always check twice while traveling.

Let us know what you think about the Interview in the comments or our Facebook Group!

3 thoughts on “Episode CF08 – The Worst Financial Mistakes

  1. Hi, really like this episode, especially regarding P2P Lending issues, where I have been investing without taking some precautions maybe. But I could not understand some points very, like:
    – at minute 8:17 Michael says something “there have been some sites coming up flagged by” but I cannot understand if there is a site he mentions afterwards that has a list of problematic platforms?
    – at minute 8:35 or around he mentions LinkedIn to check if CEOs of those platforms have genuine connections right?

    I have already checked about Facebook groups (P2P Investment Fellows, etc.) but I am concerned currently about some platforms, specially Crowdestor, Envestio and Kuetzal that are offering a some high-return loans

    1. Not sure about Michaels list but it’s legit to be concerned as you don’t have full transparency and you cannot do a full due diligence for small investments. Listen to the current evoestate episode how about the risks and what could be done to improve the situation for casual investors.

      1. P.S. there are platforms like fellow finance and estateguru that have lower returns but are around for a longer time now. They have a track record and lower interest rates. Otherwise just put not all all eggs in one basket 🙂

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