Pim van Vliet – Just Because It’s Cheap Doesn’t Mean You Have to Buy It

<p><strong>BIO: </strong>Pim van Vliet is Head of Conservative Equities and Chief Quant Strategist at Robeco. He is responsible for a wide range of global, regional, and sustainable low-volatility strategies.</p><p><strong>STORY: </strong>Pim wanted to make more money investing, so he decided to go all in on a cheap stock. He believed the price would eventually go up as it had done a few years back. Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt, and Pim lost 75% of his investment.</p><p><strong>LEARNING: </strong>Don’t be overconfident and over-optimistic when investing. Just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean you have to buy it.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><blockquote class="ql-align-center"><strong>“I thought taking risks gives you a return. That’s not always the case. Taking more risk could give you a lower return.”</strong></blockquote><blockquote class="ql-align-center">Pim van Vliet</blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>Guest profile</h2><p>Pim van Vliet is Head of Conservative Equities and Chief Quant Strategist at <a href="https://www.robeco.com/en-int/?cmp=so_3_3975" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Robeco</a>. He is responsible for a wide range of global, regional, and sustainable low-volatility strategies. He specializes in low-volatility investing, asset pricing, and quantitative finance.</p><p>He is the author of numerous academic research papers and various <a href="https://www.paradoxinvesting.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">books</a>.</p><h2>Worst investment ever</h2><p>Pim has been fascinated with money-saving ever since he was a small kid. His father was an entrepreneur who had a family business. Growing up, Pim would sometimes work at the family business and save the money he made in a savings account. He would get good interest. He learned about the compounding of interest in the process. As Pim learned more about saving, he decided to go into a mutual bond fund to earn more return on his money. Now he would make an 8% yield, up from 6%.</p><p>This was during the 90s when the stock market became i