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We all make mistakes.

It's natural for human beings to suffer setbacks, especially when it comes to investing our hard-earned money.

From not doing proper research to as simple as having a knee-jerk reaction because the return on investment is simply too good to ignore--these are just some of the rookie mistakes people commit when investing.

In order to avoid burning through your hard-earned cash because of uninformed investment decisions, tech vlogger and entrepreneur Carlo Ople, dished out some helpful tips on how to avoid bad investments.

Get your pen and paper ready folks and learn from an experienced investor.

1. Cryptocurrencies

Many people nowadays are investing in cryptocurrencies.

Investopedia defines cryptocurrency as a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend.

But for Carlo, he cautioned people in getting into it without doing a tedious background research of the company offering it.

In his vlog, "My 5 Worst Investments," the tech YouTuber regretted shelling out money for the initial coin offering of a certain company.

What happened to his investment ?

Carlo recalled, “So the first worst investment that I had ever made was something related to cryptocurrencies. So there was a time that ICO (initial coin offering) was a big thing.

“It's kinda like IPO (initial public offering) of stocks, but this time it's companies raising funds through cryptocurrencies and there was one company that I really bought into, I felt the vision was amazing.

“I was able to meet the founders and it was just something that I felt was a great investment. And I did my math, I did my homework, I researched the company.”

“But man that one fell flat!

“As in that one was a total disaster, so I signed up with the ICO of I think for Salarium, it was a company that was supposed do like payments.. ah man, I even forgot what they are about, because I erased the failure from my memory completely [laughs].”

He added, “But yeah, I bought in the ICO, I put in I think P100,000 and that time when I put in that money, that was a big amount for me and I really felt that it would be such a big thing, but unfortunately it just crashed, [it] never materialized.

“There was massive lack of communication with the founders, throughout that process and [it] was just a total waste of time, effort, and money.”

“So nalugi ako doon, learn the lesson though. Make sure to double up your research and reference check, so that one for me lugi tayo doon.”

2. Bad timing

Sometimes the phrase: “strike while the iron is hot" is something you should not follow.

And for Carlo Ople, he learned it the hard way when he invested P200,000 of his own money which he ended up losing almost half of its value after certain period.

The content creator clarified that his investment with this insurance and investment company doesn't reflect on the capability of the company. It's just that he made the wrong move at a wrong time.

He explained, “It's like a one-time investment that I did with BPI-PHILAM

“It has nothing to do with the capabilities of BPI-PHILAM. This was me just buying at a really high-point at the stock market, I think the PSEi Index was nearing at P8,000 back then.

“I think it was three to four years ago, so I put in like I think P200,000 na one-time, buying into something like sort of VUL mechanism parang may small insurance component.

“For that particular product the total amount spent was P200,000 and when the PSEi crashed dito, because of COVID-19, when it went all way down to I think around like P4,000.

“The P200,000 money that I had literally went down to like P100,000 [laughs]. So, it as if like, I lost P100,000.”

Despite the stock market crashing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carlo did not withdraw his money and rided out the storm, since he knew the stock market would recover eventually.

“And the normal knee-jerk reaction of a lot of people is to try to recover the money and just cut your losses, but I knew the market will bounce back.

“I knew the market would get back up on its feet eventually you know it will start to perform better, so I just held on to the money.”

“The good news is I checked today, because the market has been doing really well, the PSEi is around P7,000 - P7,200, I'm at think I'm around P173,000 current value. It's still nowhere P200,000, the money has been sitting there for almost five years. But at least it's on its way to recovery.”

Photos taken from Karolina Grabowska and Pexels.com

3. Multi-level marketing

Another bad investment that continues to haunt Carlo Ople to this day was the money he invested in a multi-level marketing brand.

This left a lasting impression on him, since he only ended up investing because of a friend.

He shared, “I know a lot of people are big fans of this particular brand, it's a multi-level marketing brand.

“Ito 'yung mga type na when one of your friends approaches you, hey you wanna meet, we haven't met for such a long-time.”

“So, parang ikaw naman your thinking, ah, okay, parang sige tara kuwentuhan tayo tagal na natin 'di nagkikita.

“And then it turns out you were invited to like a coffee shop, where somebody was going to present like a business opportunity session--suffice to say that person is no longer a friend.”

The vlogger also noted that he didn't even like the product he purchased from a multi-level marketing brand, too.

“I ended up saying yes. I think I shelled out like a little over P15,000, [I] can't remember the exact amount. But I really have no heart for the business, I have no intent of getting into the business.

“So, I literally just shelled out the money, never saw a peso back. I didn't even enjoy the products I ended up buying. So that one was really a waste of money.”

“Lesson learned there, when long-lost friends message you, siguro check n'yo muna… check their profile if they are into something like they are selling something. 'Pag the answer is yes, then at least you know na you might be getting to a meeting like that.”

Photo taken from Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels.com

4. Time-sharing agreement

The next bad investment Carlo Ople made in the past is something so cringe-worthy that during his vlog he ended up covering his face with his hands, because it was that bad.

“The fourth one was a time-sharing thing.

“Oh my God.. ano ba yan!”

Carlo continued, “Nahuli ako ng libreng dinner. Long story short, somehow called my number. I don't know how, but I was invited like to have a free dinner of some sort of hotel.

“And to get the free dinner, you have to listen through like an hour of like somebody selling you like a time-sharing agreement--my vouchers, vouchers stuff like that.”

“So, the voucher was I think P10,000 and you will get discounts, and you will get free dinner. So, you would get free stay in a particular hotel or one of their branches of some different area of the country.

“To make the long story short, [it was a] bad dinner, I spent a little over P10,000, was never able to fully maximize the voucher, because I never really needed it.

“And again it was the environment that would pressure you to buy and knowing myself now, 'yung pinaka-lesson ko doon, I never want to put myself in a situation, where I will be pressured to say yes to something or buy something, especially if I don't feel strongly, initially, sa simula pa lang na gusto ko siya.”

Making a mistake shouldn't discourage you from trying out things.

And just like Carlo Ople, his mistakes when it comes to investing turned to a good learning experience that he now used when making important financial decisions.

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