Knowledge is like a candlelight in a dark room; with it, you can see and navigate your way through obstacles and find your way to the light. My intention is not to prevent anyone from bettering their situation through financial education. By all means, learn and use what you have learnt to benefit yourself.
It is not my intention to point fingers at anyone but be mindful of the proponent of "special recipes" or the snake oil peddlers.
Make sure the person you want to learn from has done it successfully and don't be blown away by claims of massive revenue. Any investor knows that gross profit is vanity, and the net profit is king; Show me what is leftover after everyone gets paid.
Whatever they teach you, make sure that you can verify it with other people. If they tell you this is a secret formula that only they know and that you can't tell anyone about it, then you are leading yourself like a lamb to the slaughter.
There is no secret recipe you shouldn't be able to share with your family and friends and seek their advice. Remember, once they shut you in, they take away your ability to subject their information to objective analysis. Then you are trapped in that dark room, and they will never let you out until you have no more to give.
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with naysayers. There is nothing wrong with criticism or objections. If a mentor tells you a money-making scheme and you inform ten people about it, and it perplexes them. It is likely, you haven't grasped the concept yourself, or it simply doesn't make sense.
By all means, make some money, but by all means, stay grounded. It's a marathon, not a sprint. The impatient rarely last, and you don't need a mansion or flashy car to give your life meaning.
Ask yourself, why do I want this? What type of investor do I want to be? Because if you know yourself, no one can sell you a false dream.
Keep learning, keep grinding but don't fall for the hype.
Kind regards
Franklin Folahan
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