Personal finance is the utmost important thing for humans throughout their life. And people keep spending, saving, investing. In The Joint Discovery event, we not only got a chance to gain valuable insights from the CEO of Endowus, Mr. Gregory Van, and the founder and CEO of Preface, Mr. Tommie Lo, but also get to know more about his and Tommie Lo’s entrepreneurship journey.
Do you know Monkeys choose better stocks than humans?
The event started with a personal finance masterclass taught by Greg, which emphasized the importance of managing one’s finance and gave insights to Melo Social Members about market nature and behaviours. Are humans really the best at picking stocks? Blindfolded monkeys might have the upper hand! I was surprised about the experiment that Greg mentioned. Given some darts and a paper with an equal area for each stock, if we invest in those areas that monkeys shoot, the performance of such portfolio would do just as well as one carefully selected by human managers. Humans’ biases and assumptions can cloud our judgment when it comes to investing, such as they will think huge companies have an edge, but it is mostly by luck and randomness. As Greg put it, "Time in the markets is more important than timing the market." Market conditions can quickly change, leaving even the savviest investors scratching their heads.
Life gets more expensive.
Do you know Coca-Cola used to cost 5 cents in the 60s? But today, with price inflation outpacing income growth, how can we maintain a good quality of life with good use of money? ‘Your Money. Your Decisions.’ We can choose to spend, save, speculate or invest.
Also, Greg introduced us to the concept of the "life of two chickens" – the "work chicken" and the "wealth chicken". The goal is for our cumulative wealth income to surpass our work income by our 50s because money is meant to enable your life, not control your life.” Greg shared an approach to help us better visualise the amount of wealth we needed for retirement. The number did seem overwhelming but if we start early and invest with a comprehensive wealth implementation plan, it is not something completely out of reach.
Clear vision and purpose to stand strong.
During the latter portion of the event, we engaged in a fireside chat with Greg and Tommie, where they shared insights on their journey as entrepreneurs. In the fireside chat, Tommie Lo shared his journey as an entrepreneur and emphasized the value of self-learning and adaptability. His experience working for Obama’s Think Tank and his data-driven prediction approach highlighted the importance of leveraging available resources quickly and constantly innovating. Both Tommie and Greg discussed the challenges and doubts they faced as a startup founder, emphasizing the need for a clear vision and purpose, which is the utmost important thing to run a startup. I would agree that for everything, we should all have strong vision and unwavering determination to keep going.
Technology Deep Dive with Greg Van and Tommie Lo was a powerful exploration of personal finance, entrepreneurship, and the transformative potential of technology. It left us feeling empowered to take control of our financial futures and pursue our entrepreneurial dreams with purpose and determination. The event was a reminder that with the right mindset and knowledge, we can unlock the doors to financial prosperity and create a positive impact on the world.
