BIO: Nina Sharil Khan is the Founder & CEO of PopCon, International Speaker & Host of the #JustLanggar PopCast live show. Nina is also Marketing in Asia’s Top 100 Inspirational LinkedIn Icons for both 2019 & 2020.
STORY: Nina quit her job to start selling unit trusts. In the process, she met a hedge fund manager who recruited her to his fund, which she blindly joined and started selling to her friends. The fund ended up being a Ponzi scheme.
LEARNING: Do your due diligence before investing in anything, and be careful of scams as they always come in very appealing packaging. Always diversify your risk.
“Invest with money that you think you do not mind if anything happens to it.”
Nina Sharil Khan
Worst investment ever
Nina was a scholar with one of the biggest oil companies in Malaysia. She happened to take this course that taught her that she could do anything she wants. So she was high on that feeling and decided to quit her job and sell unit trusts. Nina had seen people make money from selling unit trusts, and she thought she could do it too.
Making money selling investment plans
Nina started selling unit trusts, and in the process, she met a fund manager who enrolled her into his fund. Nina was sold to his financial solution instantly.
Nina sold this product to people, and it worked. She sold the product to all her friends, and they bought it because they trusted her. It was a great product, and it gave a monthly return. Nina was making a lot of money from the monthly commissions.
Alas! It is a Ponzi scheme
Nina continued to sell and make money from the hedge fund for about two years when it went bust. It turns out it was a Ponzi scheme disguised as a hedge fund.
The realization that she had been duped was tough on Nina. She felt ashamed that she had sold this fake investment to people who trusted her. Even though her friends do not blame her, she still blames herself for being so naive.
Lessons learned
Find out about the regulations around what you want to invest in
Always research your investment. It may sound good, and other people may be making money from it, but even though the investment is good, there might be country regulations that can come in and stop it. If this happens, then the investment will not serve you because your money will get stuck.
Diversify your risk
You do not want to put everything in one basket. Be mindful of how you invest. Even though an investment sounds excellent, put in money that you are okay losing should it go bust. You want to maybe put aside 10% or 20% as your play money instead of pumping in 50% of your savings into one investment.
Do not stop trusting yourself
As an investor, when you make a poor investment decision and lose your money, do not be too hard on yourself because this could happen to anybody. Do not let one wrong decision stop you from trusting yourself to make better decisions in the future.
Andrew’s takeaways
Scams are always very appealing
Scams will come at you in an appealing way; you’re promised to earn money, and it is low risk. But do not let this blind you to the fact that it is a scam. A Ponzi scheme pays old investors with money that it is raising from new investors. That is why they eventually run out of money when they cannot get any more money in.
Do your due diligence before you invest your money
Always do your diligence before investing your hard-earned money to make sure that you are not investing in a Ponzi scheme.
Actionable advice
Trust yourself. Do not put your trust in somebody else.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Nina’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to grow her course and community to reach more people in 2021. She also hopes to have at least 5,000 members in her free Facebook group.
Parting words
“Trust yourself, and when something bad happens, know there is something for you to learn and that you will come out stronger and bigger than ever.”
Nina Sharil Khan
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