Spencer Jakab – Don’t Take Investment Tips from People

<p><strong>BIO: </strong>Spencer Jakab is the global editor of the Wall Street Journal’s financial and economic analysis column, Heard on the Street. Prior to becoming a financial journalist 20 years ago, he was a top-rated emerging market stock analyst.</p><p><strong>STORY:</strong> Spencer took investment advice without doing due diligence and ended up losing his entire investment.</p><p><strong>LEARNING:</strong> Don’t take investment tips from people; do your due diligence. Diversify your portfolio. Don’t invest more than you can lose.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><blockquote class="ql-align-center"><strong>“Don’t take investment tips from people because those who tell don’t know, and those who know, don’t tell.”</strong></blockquote><blockquote class="ql-align-center">Spencer Jakab</blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>Guest profile</h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-jakab-43b635b/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Spencer Jakab</strong></a> is the global editor of the Wall Street Journal’s financial and economic analysis column, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/news/heard-on-the-street" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heard on the Street</a>. Prior to becoming a financial journalist 20 years ago, he was a top-rated emerging market stock analyst. He has written two books, the most recent being <a href="https://amzn.to/3CF8hlD" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>“The Revolution That Wasn’t,”</em></a> about novice investors caught up in GameStop mania.</p><h2>Worst investment ever</h2><p>Spencer moved to Hungary in the early 90s because he was very excited about all the changes due to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening up of the Eastern European region. Spencer wanted to make money and also see history being made.</p><p>After writing to many investment banks looking, he got a couple of interviews with local accountants and banks. Spencer accepted a job as a country analyst in Hungary. He had no idea what he was doing.</p><p>The job was to meet fund managers who were wealth