Insider Secrets Podcast Episode #71
Featuring Guest: Andrew Stotz
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Guest Bio:

Dr. Andrew Stotz, CFA
CEO, A. Stotz Investment Research
In 1992, Andrew left a management career at Pepsi-Cola in California to teach finance in Thailand and has not stopped teaching since. In 1993, he found his life calling as a financial analyst, a job for which he was eventually voted #1 in Thailand. In the second half of his 20-year career in investment banking, Andrew was as a head of research leading teams of financial analysts.
During that time, he co-founded CoffeeWORKS, Thailand’s leading B2B specialty coffee roaster, and served as president of CFA Society Thailand. Andrew now runs A. Stotz Investment Research, which provides research and research tools for institutions and high-net-worth investors; as well, they help CEOs make their companies financially world-class.
Andrew created the ValuationMasterClass.com, the world’s #1 online practical valuation course. He is the host of My Worst Investment Ever podcast, the #1 risk-management podcast that helps future generations reduce their investment risks by learning through the stories of others. Andrew has authored four books: Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points, How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market, My Worst Investment Ever, and 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.
He has also created four online courses and communities: Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence, How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market, Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points, and the Valuation Master Class. He holds a Bachelor of Science in finance and an MBA from California State University and earned his Ph.D. in finance at the University of Science and Technology of China. Andrew lives in Bangkok with his 81-year-old mother, who will attest that he remains an analyst at heart!
Shownotes:
Standout Quotes:
“If you really want to rise up spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, whatever it is, you’ve got to take some pains” – [Andrew]
“The lesson is that we can make it through any situation, as long as we have our foundation” – [Andrew]
“I didn’t want to be just an average Joe going to work and coming home. And I just felt like there was so much more to life that I wanted to experience” – [Andrew]
“Being a good analyst basically means that you start with this premise, believe no one, believe nothing” – [Andrew]
“In the world of finance and maybe even in the world of business, rare is valuable” – [Andrew]
“I think when we’re young, we have black and white, we see things in black and white” – [Andrew]
“The most important thing I’ve learned from all of my guests is the idea that pay attention to your intuition because that can provide a lot” – [Andrew]
Key Takeaways:
- Andrew describes himself in one word as “Relentless”.
- I grew up in outside of Cleveland, Ohio in a little town called Hudson, Ohio.
- I started going off the rails with drugs and alcohol.
- And basically at the age of 11 was when I started getting high pretty consistently.
- I stabbed my father in the hand with scissors and spent a couple of weeks in jail.
- At the age of 16 or 17, I tried to kill myself. I saw a friend of mine going to rehab so I also went for rehab.
- I landed in Thailand with $2,000 in my pocket and no language skills, don’t really know anybody. I closed all my bank accounts. I sold my car. I had no assets in the US.
- I taught finance at university and then after one year of teaching that I realized that, I’m never going to make any money being a teacher in Thailand.
- When we young, we have black and white, we see things in black and white.
- Think of creating wealth, and growing wealth as two separate things. You create wealth through your business. And you grow wealth through the stock market or through your investments.
Episode Timeline:
[02:51] And today, my guest is Andrew Stotz.
[06:12] Andrew describes himself as Relentless.
[07:10] Andrew shares his backstory.
[09:10] My parents gave me a one way bus ticket to Louisiana for the treatment center.
[10:49] Since September 15th 1982 till today, I have maintained my sobriety.
[13:50] Why did you leave Pepsi?
[18:00] So you got to Thailand, what’d you do when you got there?
[25:30] So when you’re faced with a high stakes decision, how do you make that?
[29:28] Andrew talks about intuition.
[30:35] Talk a little bit about your books, your courses what you have going on?
[32:19] How to contact Andrew
Website: www.myworstinvestmentever.com (Send a message in about page and that will be sent directly to Andrew)
Podcast: “My Worst Investment Ever”
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Mike: Hey, welcome back everybody. Good afternoon. It is Mike, your host of Insider Secrets. And Insider Secrets is brought to you by My Core Intentions. Hey, today my guest is going to be Andrew Stotz. And Andrew is joining us from Bangkok. Andrew, tell the listeners a couple of things that they’re going to hear on today’s episode.
Andrew: Two highlights of what you’ll learn from this episode is I’m going to share 10 ways ethics adds value to you. And I’m going to talk to you about the importance of listening to your intuition and that intuition is not emotion.
Mike: Here’s what I know today is we knocked this one out of the park. You guys are gonna want to listen in inside. See you inside.
Kristen: Welcome to this week’s edition of Insider Secrets. The show that turns multifamily investing into reality. Each show we interview guests who are seasoned [00:01:00] professionals, actively closing and managing real estate deals. Your host Mike Morawski has more than 30 years of multifamily, real estate investing and property management experience.
Mike is the founder of My Core Intentions. And he’s been involved in over $285 million of transactions. Focuses on helping you create short term cashflow and long-term wealth. Here’s your host, Mike.
Mike: Hey, good afternoon everybody and welcome back. It is Mike, your host of Insider Secrets. And Insider Secrets is brought to you by My Core Intentions. And what I always like to ask and I ask every week is what are your intentions? Let me ask you, did you get up this morning? Did you sit down? Did you think through what you intended to get done today?
I know you’re probably listening to this. You might be at the gym. You could be in the car. You could just be hanging out. But were you intentional about your day today? When we talk about [00:02:00] intentions, that’s the way we scale our business. That’s the way we take care of our life. That’s the way we balance our family and our affairs. And those are the things that empower us and help us create sound principles in our life.
At MCI, we want to help you do that. So listen, I just want to encourage you to join in, listen in every week and gain the knowledge, the experience that you can. As a side note, I’d like to invite you please, to follow us on social media, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, wherever you are. Please follow me on social media. Like us, love us, subscribe to this channel on YouTube, and you’ll continually get updates and everything that we’re doing. And the newest thing that I’m really excited about is just say, Hey, Alexa play Insider Secrets. And you’re going to get the current episode that comes up.
Hey, but I am really excited you guys about today. And today, my guest is Andrew Stotz. And Andrew is with us from Thailand. Hey Andrew, say hi real quick before [00:03:00] I introduce you.
Andrew: Hello there everybody from Thailand.
Mike: I’m glad that you’re here today. Andrew and I have gotten to know each other over the last couple of months a little bit. And had some interesting conversations and Andrew comes with an interesting perspective on finance and underwriting and things like that. So we’re going to talk about a bunch of things. But in 1992, Andrew left a management career at PepsiCo in California to teach finance in Thailand. That’s a big move. Huh? I can’t wait to hear more about that. In 93 though, he found his life calling as a financial analyst, a job for which he was eventually voted number one in Thailand in the second half of his 20 year career in investment banking. Andrew was the head of research leading teams of financial analysts. During that time, he founded “Coffee Works”. Thailand’s leading business to business specialty coffee roaster, and served as President of CFA [00:04:00] society in Thailand.
Andrew now runs a stock investment research firm, which provides research and research tools for institutions and high net worth investors. They help CEOs make their companies financially world-class. He’s the author of four books and online courses. He lives in Bangkok with his 81 year old mom who attest that he still remains a financial analyst at heart. Andrew, welcome to the show.
Andrew: Thanks Mike. It’s great to be here and hello to all the listeners out there.
Mike: I’m glad that you’re here today.
Andrew: You talked about intentions. I love that. You want to hear my intention this morning?
Mike: I do.
Andrew: I have an intention that I’ve written down and I say it, and that is, I want to be an attractive person. And many people may think that I already am attractive, but in fact, I’m not talking about my physical appearance. What does it mean? It means that I attract good [00:05:00] things and good people. And every morning I say that to myself and then I ask myself, What would it be that I would be doing if I was attractive person. And here it is, every day I help one person step towards achieving their goals.
The second thing is, all my words are positive. And the third thing is I share my positive energy with one new person each day. And today, I am putting my intention in the action here with you, Mike, and your listeners, because I am here to share my positive energy with one new person or many today.
Mike: Man that made the hair on my neck stand up. Thank you. We could probably end right there and somebody could go back and listen to that a number of times and really gain some wisdom out of that. I always talk about, Hey, knowledge is one thing, but it’s the wisdom we gain from the knowledge, because we have to take the knowledge, put it into action, create the experiences and get the wisdom from it.
That’s just so true, everything that you just said. My first question [00:06:00] always is, one word, what makes you up personally and professionally? If you had to describe yourself in one word.
Andrew: I love that question and there’s a great book called “Your One Word”, and I’ve thought about it a lot over the years. And my word is relentless.
Mike: Relentless. That’s good. That’s really good. Hey, I want to just touch on one thing really quick you alluded to what you said. Hey, good morning. But I just want people to understand the time difference here, right? So I’m in Chicago and it’s 7:38 AM in Chicago. You’re in Bangkok and it’s what time?
Andrew: 7:30 PM. Exactly the other side of the earth.
Mike: It’s interesting, probably 180 degrees apart from each other. Huh? Just around the curve a little bit.
Andrew: My father used to say, if you move any further away, you’ll be closer.
Mike: Yeah. Isn’t that funny? That’s a great line. So Andrew, listen, I covered some highlights and it’s all great stuff that’s for sure. And I’m really impressed to have you on [00:07:00] the show. Cause I know that you’re going to be able to convey some great information for the people who tune in. But talk about your backstory a little bit, where’d you come from? What’s it been like for you?
Andrew: I grew up in outside of Cleveland, Ohio in a little town called Hudson, Ohio. And I would say middle class, maybe upper middle class. My mother was a housewife, my father worked at DuPont and what would seem to be a pretty good life. And that’s why everybody was confused when I started going off the rails with drugs and alcohol.
And basically at the age of 11 was when I started getting high pretty consistently. And it’s hard to even imagine when I see 11 year olds these days, I just think no, they couldn’t be doing it, but I was doing it all the time. And basically I got to a point when I was about 13, 14, just going into high school where I was like out of control.
And my dad tried to subdue me and I was in my room and I had scissors and I was [00:08:00] cutting my nails and my dad, I smashed out a window and all that. And I had these scissors in my hand and my dad came to subdue me. And when he did, I stabbed him in the hand with those scissors.
Now we’re not talking about a moral injury, but we’re talking about an action that really terrified him. And he proceeded to go and call the police and said, I can’t control my kid anymore. And my parents had me locked up at that age for incorrigibility. So I spent a couple of weeks in a little jail in Akron, Ohio.
And then the judge said, would you guys like to be go easy on him? Or you want me to go tough? They said, be tough. And so they put me in a foster home. So I was in a foster home in that summer. And then eventually I got out and I thought I’m gonna change my ways. And I tried to get clean. I tried to get sober, but I couldn’t. So I was back at it. And then I had a few times that I tried to kill myself when I was young at age of 16, 17. And then I saw a friend of mine go into rehab and I said, look, I really need to get clean. And so I went to [00:09:00] rehab and that was, I think I was just turning 17. And within four days of coming out of that rehab, I was on my knees, begging a friend of mine for some marijuana, which he gave me.
And then I was off to the races. I went often, then my parents got me into another treatment center in Louisiana. And basically I’ll just describe this moment. My parents gave me a one-way ticket from Ohio to Louisiana and it wasn’t an airplane ticket. It was a Greyhound bus ticket. My parents gave me just enough money to survive that trip.
And my dad said it’s about two blocks to the hospital from the bus station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I arrived there and I had spent all the money because I tried to buy beer and pot and whatever I could, along the way. Nashville or all the different cities that I was going through. And I arrived and started walking to the hospital.
And basically it turns out it was 22 blocks not two. So there’s this Punk skinny white kid walking through a very tough Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And my parents said, look, if you can’t make [00:10:00] it, you can live the rest of your life down there. It’s a one way ticket. And I knew they were serious. I went into that rehab. I knew all the lingo and told me, look, you got seven days to go through the evaluation. And if we decide that you’re suitable for treatment, we’ll admit you into the treatment center. Otherwise, we’ll send you home. So I did everything I could to try to get in. And then on the night before of my last night, on my last day, the counselors pulled me in and they said, Andrew, we have bad news. We’re not going to accept you into the treatment center because you just not ready. You think, you know it all, you think you can do it. And I walked back to my room and I closed the door in my bathroom and I got down on my knees and I just sobbed. And all I can say at that moment is that I had no more answers.
And that was the time that I surrendered. And that was September 15th, 1982. And that’s when amazingly the next day, for some twist of fate, they allowed me in the treatment center. [00:11:00] And then from that day forward to today, it’s now been nearly 38 years that I’ve maintained that sobriety. And so my backstory is finding the 12 step program and applying that in my life and overcoming the challenge of that. And that really has defined who I’ve been over these years. So I would say that’s my backstory, Mike.
Mike: Yeah. Listen, I have a couple of comments that I’d like to make. One is, that had to be extremely tough on your parents. And at the time, I don’t think we realize that, but being a parent today and you see your kids go through struggles and tough times. You understand how tough it was on your parents. And the drugs and alcohol thing, I’m recovering as well. You know that, and in AA at the beginning of every meeting, we read something called how it works. And there’s a line in how it works that always gets me. And that is it’s cunning, baffling and powerful because we don’t know. And then as much time as we have, [00:12:00] we only have that one day. It’s only for today. I commend you and congratulations, and I’m glad that journey got you too, was the beginning of where you’re at today.
Andrew: Yeah, that chapter is an interesting one. The part I like it says, if we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we’ll be amazed before halfway through. But I love that word painstaking, it’s an old style word, but if you think about it, are we taking pains? And I think that for me, what that always taught me that if you want something out of whether that’s a 12 step program or whether that’s work or whether that’s out of a relationship, you gotta take pains.
You have to put in the work to get the result. And I see a lot of people in this life that are coasting. And they’re doing okay. Heads above water, and that’s great. But if you really want to rise up spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, whatever it is, you’ve got to take some [00:13:00] pains. And the benefit is that when you do that, the outcome that you get is beautiful, it can be very beautiful.
Mike: One thing that occurred to me, it just as a side note is Bangkok can’t be an easy city to live in and stay sober.
Andrew: I’ve seen a lot of people be eaten up by the city and by this country, and it isn’t. I came to Thailand. I was 26 years old and I was 10 years sober. So I was prepared and I was focused on work and what I really wanted to do. Yeah, I think the lesson is that we can make it through any situation, as long as we have our kind of our foundation, our spirituality or whatever your foundation is for the listeners out there, whatever that is. It maybe family, it may be friends, whatever that is, build that strong foundation and you can go anywhere.
Mike: Yeah. So here’s what I’d like to know. Let’s back up and why did you leave Pepsi? You obviously had a great career at, could have had a great career at Pepsi. Why’d you leave?
Andrew: Yeah, I think I could have risen up to [00:14:00] be a leader within the company over the years. And I was rising pretty quickly in the company, but there was a feeling that I had that, I wanted more, I wanted something different. I didn’t want to be just an average Joe going to work and coming home. And I just felt like there was so much more to life that I wanted to experience. And I felt like if I didn’t do it at that age, it’s just going to get harder and harder to do. And I have to say I had a girlfriend at the time who came to me one morning and she gave me a paper bag with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
And she didn’t realize the symbolism that was for me. But that was like the moment that I was like no, I’m thinking in my head, that’s not what I want. I want my life to grow. I want my life to be expensive. I want to meet new people. I want to see new things. I want to challenge myself. And so I had some relationship with people from Cambodia, Thailand, outside long beach, where I went to university, 10% of the population was Cambodian refugees coming from a [00:15:00] war torn Cambodia.
And so I knew people there. I knew a little bit about Thailand and Cambodian culture and all that. So I just thought I’m going to go for a holiday and see, and I went for a holiday before I went to work for Pepsi. And then I worked for Pepsi, did my MBA and worked, and I just decided I’m going to do it. I got a job as teaching at a university. It was an 80% pay cut. And I landed in Thailand with $2,000 in my pocket and no language skills, don’t really know anybody. I closed all my bank accounts. I sold my car. I had no assets in the US. I really said there was no plan B. I burned the bridges.
A couple stories of one way tickets in my life, and it wasn’t easy. It was very hard parts in the beginning where I felt lonely and all of that. And I wanted to see my friends and, in those days in 1992, it’s not like you gotta to be able to fly around the world, over and over. And I didn’t have much. I came to the time that I really did start at zero and I built up from there.
Mike: Yeah. Isn’t it funny how we take places in our life and it’s we stop, we draw a [00:16:00] line in the sand and we started zero. There’s episodes that happen in everybody’s life that cause us to just stop or something changes or we make a mistake and we wind up starting at zero again.
Andrew: It’s a great thought exercise and I’d suggest all the listeners out there. Just imagine that tomorrow you’re going to wake up with no memory of the past, zero.
Mike: Yeah.
Andrew: You won’t have any memory of anything except you’ve got all your faculties. You got everything you’ve got and here you are. It’s the first day of your life.
Mike: Yeah.
Andrew: So imagine that you wake up. And tomorrow, and you have no recollection of anything about your past. You still have all of your faculties, you still have all of your knowledge, but you have no burden of the past. What would you do? Where would you go? What would you become? And I think that type of zero-based thinking is a really valuable tool in our lives to say, I’m sorry [00:17:00] about all the baggage that you carry, I carry, the listeners carry. Yeah, it’s too bad. We had to go through all that or whatever. But the reality is that’s the past. And if we can live in the present, we can do so much.
Mike: And what’s interesting is this whole premise on this conversation is interesting right now, right? This is certainly not multifamily or financial discussion, but I think it’s just entrepreneurial leadership conversation at a whole, right? And people need to hear this. And I hope my listeners are listening, saying, man, how easily something in your life could change, how easily you could lose everything that you have. I had 4,000 apartments go on. Look at you, you picked up and you left. And so now as an entrepreneur, you’re faced with the choice, you’re faced with that situation where there are defining moments in your life.
You know what I mean? One of the questions I always like to ask is, what was a defining moment in your life. And I think you’ve [00:18:00] covered that. So you got to Thailand, what’d you do when you got there?
Andrew: I taught finance at university and then after one year of teaching that I realized that, I’m never going to make any money being a teacher in Thailand. And the stock market was booming. And so I went and applied at a broker and I became a financial analyst and I got a job and so in 1993, I started as a financial analyst. And so that’s when I really found my calling because all the other jobs I had, I was okay with and I did okay. But it just didn’t touch me.
And this job as a financial analyst, it’s just from that day, till today, it’s still who I am. I’m a financial analyst and I loved it because basically being a good analyst basically means that you start with this premise, believe no one, believe nothing. And if you start with that premise, it’s not out of a pessimistic thing. It’s just that I am paid to think independently.
Mike: So that’s interesting because when I underwrite [00:19:00] a deal, I have to have that attitude when I go into it. I have to take this data that somebody else produced. And I got a second guessing. So in the beginning, when I’m underwriting, I have to say, okay so it balances, but what are my assumptions say now? And how do I put a stress test on this? So I like that. I think that’s a great philosophy believe no one, believe nothing.
Andrew: Yeah. And if you take that philosophy. And really what it is, it’s about being independent and objective. And if you take that philosophy, you don’t have to take it in a combative way. Sometimes people think that means oppose everybody. No, it just says, believe nothing, believe nobody. Get evidence, try to figure it out, think for yourself. And so that’s independent thinking and objectivity. We’ve talked a little bit previously about ethics. And I have a lecture that I do in ethics that’s called 10 ways ethics adds value to you. And I basically talk about 10 words [00:20:00] and there’s five words related to the way that we interact with other people. And there’s five words that describe the way we work.
Mike: Go ahead.
Andrew: Two of those words are independent and objective. You’ll be very valuable.
Mike: Share them all. Would you? Cause I want to talk about ethics. I want to talk about integrity and fiduciary financial responsibility piece.
Andrew: Exactly. So in CFA Chartered Financial Analysts, which is Institute out of the US. Basically we have a code of ethics and standards and practice, and I’ve been teaching ethics for probably 10 years or more maybe now, and teaching young people about it. And after awhile I got tired of talking about bad stories. This guy was flying high and then he made this mistake and then he crashed. I’m not so convinced that gets through to young people as much anymore.
They think it’s not going to happen to them. So I decided to flip it around and say, [00:21:00] How can we look at ethics in a positive way? And so what I said is that let’s talk about your interactions with others. Number one, if you’re loyal, number two, if you’re trustworthy, number three, if you’re fair, number four, if you’re confidential. And most importantly, number five, if you reveal conflicts of interest. So that’s loyal, trustworthy, fair, confidential, and reveal conflicts of interest.
If you can do those five things in your interactions with others, you will be a very rare person. And in the world of finance and maybe even in the world of business, rare is valuable. But that’s not enough, there’s more, what about the way that you work? So what people trust you and all that, but if you don’t have good ideas, if you don’t do a good job. Yeah, they trust you, but they’re not going to trust you with their money. So the way you work is number one, be diligent. Number two, be independent. Number three, be [00:22:00] objective, number four, be thorough, and number five, continually improve.
Mike: Okay. So one thing I just want to say, listeners, go back and rewind this, go back right now and rewind this and write those words down. If you’re driving in your car, you know what? Pull over, write these words down because Andrew is spot on right now. Go ahead.
Andrew: Yeah. So my point is that for young people, for all of us, if you can build these different ethical qualities into your everyday life, in your interactions with others, and in the way that you work, you will be in demand. People will want to bring business to you. People will want to do business with you. And you will be rare, because very few people build that into themselves. And if you build that into yourself, you don’t need a marketing department, just your actions and people want to be around someone like that. So that’s really my biggest advice for somebody that really is developing their career and [00:23:00] all that. Take those 10 words.
Mike: Yeah. Sorry, I had to write a couple of notes just to remember that we need to talk about a couple of things.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mike: I’ve taught ethics and I taught ethics for the last several years while I was away. And how ironic, somebody in federal prison, teaching ethics. And I try to be open about that because I think there’s a vulnerability and a transparency that people want to see in us. And that shines through in everything that you’ve just said, so I think if people can adopt those things. But here’s one of the things that I would start my ethics course like this.
And I want people to really just close your eyes for a minute. If you’re driving, please don’t close your eyes. But I want you to think this through. It’s April, and you have gotten all your tax paperwork to your account for the previous year, and your accountant calls and he says, Hey Andrew, I noticed that you only took $700 on your [00:24:00] taxes for travel, but the IRS allows you $2,500.
And they’ll never question it. They’ll never go back and question it. What do you want me to do? How do you respond to them? So it’s interesting when you ask that question or start with that story, the answers you get, some people say, geez, take the 2,500. Some people say, Hey, you know what? Only the 700, that’s all I spent. Some people say, Hey, let’s split the difference, nobody will ever know and it won’t raise a red flag. But God, I spent so much of my life in a gray area. I choose not to do that anymore. And it sounds like that’s where you’re at too. And I love that.
Andrew: Yeah. I think when we young, we have black and white, we see things in black and white. As we get older, we realize that there’s more gray. But then as we get older, we realize actually this relieves a lot of black and white, we know the line that we could be stepping over. And [00:25:00] therefore, I think I’ve definitely become more black and white, even though I was gray, at some point in my youth. But yeah, there’s just a line, and you just got to stop yourself from going over that line.
Mike: Yeah, for sure. So let me ask you this. How do you make high-stake decisions based on who you are at the heart and soul and your head. We’re all as CEOs, as entrepreneurs, men, women, running companies, running teams, everybody is faced with choices and decisions that sometimes are really tough. So when you’re faced with a high stakes decision, how do you make that?
Andrew: Yeah. I think the best way to explain this is tell you a story. In my business Coffee Works, my business partner Dale, who grew up also in Ohio with me. He got an opportunity to expand our business into Vietnam. So we were going to go from Thailand and expand into an office in Vietnam, and maybe that would lead to other countries around the region and that could make us more valuable and all of that.
And so basically what we decided was that we would have a meeting in about three months. Once he’s gathered all the [00:26:00] information that he could get to try to assess it. And we met on one Monday night at the office, everybody left, we went into a conference room and he basically presented the idea of here’s what we could get from this.
We went through a lot of it. And then after that, we went and had dinner and relaxed and then the next Monday we decided we would meet again. And then that’s the time that he made a presentation about all the risks involved. So basically my biggest advice about making decisions, particularly in the field of business is try to separate the decision, separate the thought process or the research process into two parts. First return the upside, and second, the risk. When you split that and you make a decision by splitting it, it takes away a lot of the personal pressures that we feel, like he could have felt trying to defend the numbers that he was promoting.
But when we went to the second meeting and we agreed that we were going to talk about risk, it gave us permission to talk about all [00:27:00] that could go wrong, and the cost benefit of the decision. In the end, we decided not to expand to Vietnam. But that simple tool of separating your decision process on risk and return, I believe is one of the most valuable things that I’ve found in my life.
Mike: I don’t know that it’s ever easy. And it seems, the harder the decision, and the more ethical the decision, the tougher it is. I want to go down a road here a little bit. So this show is Insider Secrets. We talk about multifamily and I wanted you to talk a little bit about this and I don’t know, maybe you can, maybe you can’t.
But when I underwrite a deal or any of the multifamily people listening, we underwrite deals and we get what’s called an offering memorandum. That’s the notes, that’s the financials. That’s everything that comes from the broker or the seller. And that tells the story about the property and it tells what the potential is, the proforma is. [00:28:00]
Now I have a tool that I use and my coaching clients all get this tool, and this tool it’s a roll boss sticks expansive Excel spreadsheet that you put some inputs in and it spits out all this data. Invariably and I just did this morning. This is why it’s fresh on my mind. I underwrote a deal this morning and I’m looking and I’m going. Man, why is my math not lining up with the OM? I find mistakes in the brokers OM, and I invariably find those mistakes and it’s almost like they are trying to make something look better than it really is.
Hey, let’s just a couple of bips here increase the monthly cashflow. Let’s increase the NOI, let’s increase the rent, let’s decrease the expenses. Cause then when I look, I go, man, why does it not balance? And then when you figure out where it’s out of balance. So from an ethical perspective, I want [00:29:00] people to be aware of this and to make sure that they’re paying attention to these types of things. And I’m not going to make a lot of broker friends right now with this whole conversation. But that’s okay. Because I think that we all have to be aware of that kind of stuff. How do you speak to that?
Andrew: On my podcast, I’ve been viewed now on my worst investment ever. I’ve interviewed almost 400 people and they tell their story of their worst investment. How they went into it. What happened? What did they learn from it? And I guess there’s one thing I would say that I’ve taken from that, that I can offer in this case. And that is understanding about intuition. And intuition is that like momentary feeling. I think for the listeners, if you think about it this way, that time when you’ve done something wrong and all of a sudden at the moment that you’ve done something wrong, like sweat comes out of your head. Like you feel that rush.
That’s an example of intuition. It’s very different from a feeling such as fear or anger or [00:30:00] something, that’s different. Intuition is that momentary tickling at your senses. And so what I would say is that the most important thing I’ve learned from all of my guests is the idea that pay attention to your intuition because that can provide a lot. And you’ve described some of what’s going on in this case that you’ve just described. Some of that is initial intuition. Don’t just override it, listen to it.
Mike: Yeah, boy, what a lesson for everybody to learn? Listen, we have flown through this thing this morning here. I can’t even believe what time it is. But hey, talk a little bit about your books, your courses what you have going on. I was on your podcast. I love that whole premise about you’re your worst investment ever, right?
Andrew: Yep. Basically for anybody that’s interested, you can go to myworstinvestmentever.com and you can listen to any of the podcasts. But if you go there, join up in the membership and you’ll get a 25% discount on all my courses. And basically I have books that I’ve [00:31:00] written, and courses I’ve written, but I would say I would highlight one of them. And that is my book called “How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market”. When you think about real estate, in some ways you can say that real estate is a business.
It’s not as an investment, like you’re a neutral investor and you just get out or get in, like you can with the stock market, it’s a business. But what I try to teach people in that book and what I’ve learned over the years is to think of creating wealth, and growing wealth as two separate things. You create wealth through your business. And you grow wealth through the stock market or through your investments, let’s say. And so what I teach in there is how a beginner can get started in the stock market. And I wrote that book and that course for my five nieces and when they turned 18, I gave them each $3,000 and helped them set up an investment account.
And then try to get them started. And so that course has a Facebook group. And we talk about getting started in investing. And really investing is pretty simple. You got to pick a long-term time horizon [00:32:00] and steadily contribute. And most people don’t think long-term and they don’t get started. And so part of that is just trying to help people do that. I have other courses, but that’s one, I think I would highlight for your listeners.
Mike: That’s awesome. And I want people to go there and I want people to go to your website. So how do people find you, Andrew?
Andrew: So basically if you go to myworstinvestmentever.com and just go to the about page, you can click there and send me a message. The message there goes directly to my personal email and I will respond.
Mike: Thank you. Hey, I appreciate you being here. Any last closing thoughts or advice that you would give anybody coming into the real estate investing space today?
Andrew: I think that message about listening to your intuition, starting to build awareness of your intuition can serve you not only in real estate, but also in relationships and in so many other places. So remember intuition is not emotion. It is a separate thing and learn to pay attention to it.
Mike: Yeah, very cool. [00:33:00] Thank you. Hey, I appreciate you being here today. Everybody make sure that you go back and listen to this a couple of times. There’s so much meat here that this is really good stuff. Andrew, thank you so much for being here. I know that you’re probably going to go relax a little bit now after a long day and certainly look forward to staying in touch and continuing to build this relationship. We’ll talk with you soon. Thank you.
Andrew: Great. Thank you.
Mike: Bye everybody. See you next week.
Kristen: Thank you, Mike, and thank you for joining us for another great episode of Insider Secrets. As always, Insider Secrets is brought to you by My Core Intentions. Join us on social media and visit mycoreintentions.com where you can get expert coaching on all things, multifamily investing and property management.
We’re looking forward to having you back again next week for more Insider Secrets.