BIO: Brenda Bence is one of the world’s top executive leadership coaches and motivational keynote speakers.
STORY: Brenda’s worst investment ever was pulling out of an investment to safeguard the funds she needed to fund her new business.
LEARNING: Think long-term, even in the face of heightened risk. Don’t let emotions, primarily fear, impact your investment decisions. Diversify your portfolio.
“Don’t let fear impact your investment decisions.”
Brenda Bence
Guest profile
Brenda Bence is one of the world’s top executive leadership coaches and motivational keynote speakers. Recognized by both Thinkers50 and Global Gurus as an expert in her field, Brenda earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and authored 11 award-winning books on leadership, coaching, and branding.
Brenda left the corporate world after a successful career managing megabrands for Fortune 100 companies. She is successfully running her own business out of offices in both Singapore and the US – an experience that has given her ample opportunity to make plenty of mistakes!
Brenda’s latest book, The Forgotten Choice: Shift Your Inner Mindset, Shape Your Outer World, is available for sale. As a gift to listeners, Brenda has agreed to offer a complimentary copy of the Companion Guide to The Forgotten Choice – a workbook full of exercises to coach you through the book’s core topics and deepen your self-awareness. To receive your free fillable PDF copy of the Companion Guide, email a receipt of your purchase of The Forgotten Choice book to books@brendabence.com.
Worst investment ever
After 9/11, Brenda realized that she was not happy with her corporate job even though she was pulling in a very nice six-figure salary plus generous bonuses every single year. She told her husband she wanted to start her own company.
Just months after starting the business, Brenda convinced her husband to get out of the market to safeguard the funds they needed to fund her new business. The couple went primarily into cash and sold over 90% of their equity investments. In 2003, the market went up 28%, and in 2004 it went over 10%. So the market was going up, but they didn’t get back into investing for about three years. Brenda and her husband lost all those growth opportunities.
Lessons learned
- You have to think long-term, even in the face of heightened risk.
- Don’t let emotions, primarily fear, impact your investment decisions.
Andrew’s takeaways
- One of the most complex parts of investing is adding to your investment at the bottom of the market because everything looks terrible.
- Think long-term and diversify your portfolio.
Actionable advice
Watch how you’re thinking about things because we have self-limiting beliefs that drive just about everything we do.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Brenda’s goal for the next 12 months is to build more passive income through content that will add value.
Parting words
“Enjoy, have fun, and let go of fear.”
Brenda Bence
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