Author Interview: Stanley Leong
Book Title: The Six Principles of Successful Investors
Website URL: www.6-principles.com
Social Media Links: Linked In
What is your book about?
The purpose of my book is to teach the everyday investor how to invest in an easy, common sense way. By following a few simple principles, the reader can avoid some of the biggest mistakes that most investors make.
What inspired you to write your book?
As a financial planner, I often see very smart people make very investment bad decisions, time and time again. Initially I set out to write out a “reference” book that listed all of these mistakes. As the list got longer and longer, I started to see some themes start to rise to the surface. I found that many of these mistakes could be avoided by following some simple rules, regardless of the investment type or the investor’s situation. Eventually I managed to reduce these themes to the six principles that are described in the book.
When it comes to investing, I’ve found that keeping things simple and easy is the best way to teach others. Most people don’t want to learn from a large, complex reference manual with a bunch of indecipherable technical terms; they want a short, easy to follow book with common-sense guidelines. In this respect, I purposely wrote a book that is short and easy to digest for the average investor.
Can you describe a typical day in your life?
Sure… My days revolve around my client meetings. Typically I’ll spend an hour or so preparing for a client meeting, which includes reading up on their situation, crunching numbers to track their status, and creating recommendations around their financial situation. This may include evaluating their current financial position, insurance and protection planning, investment management, retirement planning, tax planning, and/or estate planning, depending on the meeting agenda. Most of my day is spent in actual client meetings. I also spend a good deal of time going to conferences, on conference calls, or reading trade journals in order to keep up-to-date with changing rules, strategies and regulations that come with my industry.
What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I greatly enjoy the teaching aspect of this career. My philosophy is that education is the key to financial success, so I spend a good deal of time and effort educating my clients about the specific financial planning concepts that apply to their particular situation. I am also occasionally invited to be a guest speaker for organizations and companies here in California which I thoroughly enjoy. Public speaking, in my eyes, is just another form of teaching.
Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?
Where do I begin? Family and friends, of course, are the closest source of inspiration for me. Warren Buffett is also an inspiration, not because he’s wealthy, but because he became successful by following some simple principles of life. For business, I believe the E-Myth is a must-read. And Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is probably the most influential book that I’ve ever read.
Can you share some of your best advice for our readers?
Generally, investment should be for the long term. While many investors know that intuitively, their actions say otherwise. If you are making big investment moves because of short term events (market crash, bull rally, the media), then by definition you have a short term strategy. And the biggest reason people make bad short-term decisions is emotions. When it comes to investing, your emotions are the enemy.
Warren Buffett has a wonderful quote that really encapsulates the difficulty with investing. He once wrote that it only takes two things to be successful at investing: having a sound plan and sticking to it. Of the two, he wrote, it’s the “sticking to it” part that investors struggle with the most.
What’s next for you?
I plan on continuing to help people reach their financial goals, whether it’s through my financial planning services, my public speaking engagements, or my book.
How did Authority Publishing help you with your author journey?
After completing my first draft, I was at a loss as to the next step. I was getting so frustrated I had even considered giving up on publishing the book at all. Luckily I was introduced to Stephanie through a colleague, and she made the rest of the process easy, smooth, and stress-free. I can honestly say the book would not have come to completion, and most likely would never have been published without the help of Authority Publishing. I would recommend them without reservation to anyone that needs to publish a book.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I’d just like to thank Authority Publishing, once again, for helping me with make my book a reality!
