The Man Managing Your Neighbour's Millions Has One Rule Nobody in Finance Talks About.

What does it take to be truly unbreakable?
Vahick Yedgarian has survived war. Revolution. Financial collapse. A gun held to his head. He built a financial empire from nothing, earned five advanced degrees while working full time, and turned a small soup brand into a major operation in Russia.
He thought he had seen everything.
Then his wife got sick.
In this episode of INSIGHT, Emma Sargsyan sits down with Vahick Yedgarian — CFP, financial economist, and lecturer at five universities — for one of the most honest conversations about money, resilience, love and legacy ever recorded on this show.
This is not a finance episode. This is a masterclass in what it means to build a life.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

First of all, thank you for agreeing to be my guest today. Thank you. I know you don't agree that many times to an interview, and in a sense, I'm lucky.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Thank you very much for the opportunity. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

You have lived through war, revolution, financial loss, illness. Normally this kind of setup would break a person. But you not didn't break, but you built one of the most impressive financial and academic careers I might ever come across because I was researching you and I was like, wow, what are you made of? What what what is a person that doesn't break made of?

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Well, I uh one of the most powerful or successful. That is debatable. But I've tried. I've tried my level best. And uh I must say the backbone of whatever I have achieved is my darling wife. That's she is the backbone of everything, and she's still my she's one of she's my greatest cheerleader. And uh she has been through all the experiences that I've been through, and no matter what, at all times, she has supported me. What I'm made of, I'm I'm a human. If you pinch me, it hurts. But what has made me literally undefeatable is the support. Maybe I'm going off the subject here, but a woman's support is incredible, is invaluable. If the woman doesn't support her husband or her man or boyfriend or fiance, men generally are unable to go as far as they can go. And that I have come to realize. Because there has been moments, not that I have doubted what I was going to do, but when I got the unequivocal support of my darling wife, it just pushed me forward. You see the psyche between men and women, as you know. If a child wants something and the parents cannot provide, the mom emotionally is upset and she feels bad. Dad, on the other hand, he feels he has failed his family. So when a woman supports you the way that my darling wife has supported me, I had no choice but to succeed. Otherwise, I would have failed. I would have felt that I have failed her. So no matter it is war, revolution, challenges in society or otherwise, somehow I've managed to move forward.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Doesn't it come from the man as well as to what extent a woman would support him? I'm I'm going off the topic again, but I I have this theory that woman supports to an extent that you not not to say hello, but you let her. So it depends on the man how much the woman will support him.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Absolutely, absolutely. Not making a replica of a dating agency. You have to love your woman. A man has to love his woman. Give everything he has. And the nurturing nature that women have, they reciprocate. And it's not perfect on either side. It's never perfect. We don't live in a perfect world, it's a gray. We we navigate our lives through gray and gray world. But the bottom line is yes, you are absolutely right. They have to complement each other. One way never works. Never works.

unknown 4:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Take me back to the very beginning where you grew up. Because we are going to speak about finances, about wealth, about life. Uh, what did money mean to where you grew up? Did they even talk about money? What was the perception towards money back in the very, very beginning that shaped the person that you are now here?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Sure. Uh we didn't have a lot of money. I grew in a working class family. Uh my father worked very hard. He was a very strong man. Not that he was physically strong bashing people, no. He was a strong man that he woke up every morning, early in the morning, and went to work. I do not remember a day that my father, because he wasn't feeling well, he didn't go to work. He would go to work. But my mom would wake up every morning, no matter when he woke up, he would wake up, make breakfast for him, and see him off to work. So I saw the struggle. And my both parents, they encouraged us that study, make something better than what we have. And it stayed with me. And that's what exactly I did. I tried. And we have passed on to our children. I I I share a funny story with you. One day I was talking to our daughter, the princess of the family, who is a lawyer. She said, Dad, they are not like us. Study, study, study, study. So, yes, I grew up in a very modest family, but then it was instilled in me that I have to do better than what we have. And we had plenty of love, but we didn't have monetary, we weren't strong. And I said, okay, I'm going to implement what I have learned from my both parents and do it, and I try to do it, and I've been doing it, and I do it every day. So money is important to me. When people they come to me with their money, to me it's very important. Because all I have to do to remember my childhood, my background, where I came from, the struggles. And I say this doesn't matter how much money this person has. I don't know about the childhood or the struggles they have had. So I have to do. It's my duty, my obligation, my moral duty to do my level best to make sure their money is preserved.

unknown 7:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

And back to our days, um, you mentioned that you live through revolution war. Considering that the world is going crazy right now, everybody, I would say, most of the people are feeling insecure because you let's be honest, you are not as secure as you felt some few years ago. Um, considering that you are insecure, the world is going crazy, and this revolution war and what is happening in the world. So, what how does it change the perception towards money, security? So, for example, if I had $100,000 five years ago and right versus right now, where I don't know where all this is going. How does it change people's perceptions and based on the clients that you are working with? What is the tendency? Where is this going?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

It comes down to leadership ability.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

But then the world is like shaky, you're sitting on a shaky ground.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Sure, sure. The what I tell my clients is my duty first and foremost is not to manage your money or preserve your wealth. It is to manage your emotions. Because people become emotional. But then, in order to implement that, you have to have a strong leadership ability. Because when everything is good, the world is in peace and tranquility, it's no challenge. Everybody behaves well, everybody behaves civil. But in the times of crisis, such as nowadays, that is when leadership kicks in. You look at what is happening around you. You look at evidence that are at hand, and then you make a decision. Now, what is happening around us? Sanctions, wars, things of that nature. The evidence that we have, which we have to make the best decision based on the evidence, is knowing your business, be knowledgeable, and pick things and say these are the evidence. Which ones are true and which ones are signals. This false and which ones are signals. Now, if they are signals, you say, okay, I've got good knowledge of world geography, history, economics, finance, and everything else, then you try to bring these things together to make a decision on behalf of your clients. And you make the decision. Clients, when clients generally don't like to communicate or associate with undecisive people. And decisions that we make is not perfect. There is no perfection in this world. So they are not confused, there is a clarity, and when there is clarity, they're okay with what is happening around them because they say Vahik is taking care of our money.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

What signals are we getting now in the world economy and what is going to happen to the money that we have?

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Or we don't that is a that's a very interesting question. So when I said you need to have good knowledge about geography, world history, finance, economics, then you are able to, based on what is happening around you, you are able to connect the dots. Now, when I know about what is happening in the Middle East and the history behind countries in the Middle East, I'm already thinking, I've made some kind of decision, I've come to some kind of conclusion that what may or may not happen, even though I'm not in politics.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Because when you look at the history, history tells you a lot of things. When you look at leadership, whether here or in other countries, it gives you wealth of knowledge how a leader will deal with the matters at hand. So having said that, I've kept it steady on course, and we are doing exceptionally well. I have not panicked.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

I don't listen to all these panic scenarios that they come. I call them talking heads. Talking heads, yeah. But I've stayed the course and my clients, God bless them. Sometimes my students they ask me, Professor, can you tell us a typical day of your work? It's a very lonely world. They say, how come? I said, Well, I've got my computer screens and I'm engaged. So how often do you get phone calls? I said, if I get one or two phone calls a week, it's a very busy week. You establish that. You see, in finance what we have is compounding. Compounding, it is exactly in life or business. Every time you do something correct, small, it adds up and adds up and it creates a credibility for you. And that credibility exists between my client and I. Even in crises like this.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And now we are in a crisis, aren't we? Yes. Very big crisis.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

We are in absolute crisis. But they don't call me. They haven't called me because they trust me. And that is part of the leadership, as I said. You look at what is happening around you, you look at the evidence at hand, and you make a decisive decision.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

About panicking, um now we have a lot of information, a lot of false information. This AI is mixing with us with all the deepfakes and everything. Um, how does that affect the decision making? Because if okay, I know that if I trust a professional, I'm not going back and forth looking for some more information, asking questions and stuff like that. But there are people who would trust you or not you, just other uh professionals, and then they would go do research, ask their friend, uncle, aunt, and then come back to the hey, this is what's happening, and that's absolutely absolutely false information or not true. How are you dealing if you have this type of situations?

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Fortunately or or unfortunately, I haven't gone through that experience. Well, I have they don't call me. As I said, as you build up the trust, which takes time, it's not built over time, but once it's built, it lasts for a long time. And I haven't gone through the experience. They call me, they say, my friend is saying this. About four years ago, one occasion, four years ago, a client called me and asked about gold. Okay. So we talked about gold. And I explained to him, you know, different ways that he can invest in gold. In fact, all my clients have small investments in via exchange traded funds or ETFs in gold. But he wanted to have the real gold. That was the only thing that a client has called asking me because a jeweler had told him about gold. So when you say people they talk this, this, and then they come. Fortunately or unfortunately, AI, which I actually use AI. It's a formidable tool. I think everybody should be able to use AI.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

But also differentiate which one is true, which one is true.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Absolutely. Absolutely. That is when it comes your very cool head, your experience, and not to get excited. I cannot get excited in my business. It's uh if I become emotional or excited, um the probability that I make a wrong decision is very, very high. So I don't get excited. Cool head, per base.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

No emotions in finance.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So I cannot have emotions.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Back to uh what we were speaking in the very beginning, when I was researching about you a couple of days ago, you wrote something that was very, very uh that just stopped me. And I want to quote it. You said, none of these things made me tough enough to face my darling wife's unexpected life-threatening illness. You'd survived war, you'd survived revolution, you'd survived everything. And then the diagnosis broke you. Yes. Do you want to tell more about that?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Well, in situations like that, you feel you are hopeless, you are helpless, and no matter how much you love your darling wife, there is nothing you can do. So then it's in the hands of the doctors. But you can give her a lot of emotional support, but you want to do more. You don't want to let her down. And those were the moments that sitting at the doctor's office, it was something I hadn't experienced before. Even holding a gun at my head, I was I would be fearful. But that thing really scared me. So there's a barrier to how brave we are, or how brave we think we are, until something happens that close to someone that you love. And uh so I did what men from childhood when we are little boys, young men, or young boys, we have been told you don't cry, you're a boy, you don't cry you're a man, and uh it is suppressed in us. Yeah, and uh although I was fighting with all the power I had in me, but I could not. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

That's what support is that you were speaking in the very beginning, right? Because sitting at the doctor's office, listening to diagnosis, and she was pushing you to continue your studies. Yeah, this is the support you were speaking about?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

And how did this experience change the way you think about money? Because having something like this so close to you kind of makes you re-evaluate everything. What happened with your understanding and with your perception about money having those two realities in in front of you?

SPEAKER_01 19:03

You see, that's a very powerful question. If if I had given priority to money over my darling wife, or if I had refused to align my thoughts with her if she wanted to buy something. In moments like that or thereafter, you would have realized that what a mistake you were making. But I never did that. I've always loved her. In fact, anything I manage money. I'm a financial economist, but she knows where all the money is.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

That's the right thing to do. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

She's smart, she's an accountant, and uh so it didn't change my perception about money because I never, I have never given money priority over other things.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

After all this, you built Regency Financial Group and you earned a PhD, a JD, an MBA, an MFE, and a CFP. Right? That is not a CV, that is a statement. What are you trying? What were you trying to prevent to whom?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

I believe in constantly rebranding myself. I believe constantly replenish my knowledge, my experience. I don't want to stay state for two reasons because then I'm regressing. And also I owe it to my clients to keep myself up to date with the latest academic and professional knowledge and experience. So that's what I keep pushing myself, pushing myself.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Not proving, just evolving all the time.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

You turned a small instant soup brand into a major business in Russia. Tell me more about this because it's either genius or really insane.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Well, the company wasn't mine, obviously. I was in position of uh CFO and COO. It was a it was it was a pretty successful company. And one day the owner, the president, he said we should start our own factory in Russia, in Kaliningrad. I said, that's a wonderful idea. He said, you think we can do that? I said, absolutely. We can do that.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

He didn't even believe that, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Oh, he he wanted some kind of confirmation. I said we can absolutely do that. Financially, we are strong, the infrastructure of business is very sound. We should definitely do that. And we negotiated everything. What I did before starting the soup factory in Russia, I negotiated, renegotiated with all the suppliers the raw material that they were providing and reduced the cost by about $160,000 a year. People they start businesses, work 24 hours just to make $100,000 a year. So the foundation was strong. The CEO, the president, he was very business-minded and he trusted my judgment. We always talked what to do, what not to do. And that is how it went. The supply chain was in place. We negotiated, which I negotiated all the full factory line, everything we bought from here and shipped it to Kaliningra. It was discipline. And that discipline was there. And we made it.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Okay. Here is what I want to understand from and coming from someone like you who has built a career in finance. What is like you deal with a lot of wealthy people, you manage their finances. Is there something that most wealthy people still don't understand about wealth? And uh if the without giving any names, if you could just say the one thing that is the pattern that even the wealthiest don't understand or don't want to understand about wealth?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Some of them, even though they are very wealthy, uh they lack uh the knowledge about the markets and finance and investments.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

I'll give you an example. In one of my classes at the university, I spoke a concept about the relationship between very boring subject, treasury yield, and uh the interest rates. And this student worked, or still he works for one of the major banks. A week later he came to class and he was so happy. He said, Professor, you told us, you taught us something that my partner didn't know. Nobody at the bank knew that. And we had an appointment with one of our wealthiest clients, and the client said, I've been investing for I don't know how many years, 30 years, 40 years. Nobody had been able to explain this point to me with clarity, and I always thought about something else rather than what is happening, and I was confused. So even though they have, you see, God bless American cultures. Americans are very unique in many, many ways. First of all, they are one of the most giving people. I'm not talking about government, general Americans, very, very giving people. An American, no matter how much wealth he has, he listens to an expert. In some cultures, someone has a little bit of money, he knows everything.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

That's what I was saying, like asking uncle, aunt, mother, father, and coming back to like, hey, I know this.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah. The uh I give an example, Warren Buffett and uh Bill Gates. Bill Gates gave substantial amount of money to Warren Buffett, and Warren Buffett said, Why are you giving it to me? You are very successful. Bill Gates said, because when it comes to investing, you are better than I am.

unknown 27:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Being Bill Gates himself. Exactly. So in in American culture, that is a very acceptable thing. If you want to advance, get experts, experts that you trust, get them around you, and trust them to get the job done. In some cultures, that's not the case. In some cultures, actually, people around a wealthy person, they promote him in a way that he thinks he knows everything, but in fact he doesn't. So, yes, they have got, they have blind spots, very wealthy people. But then they rely on experts to help them.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

On this, I want to speak a little bit more about generational wealth. I was reading, I might be inaccurate in numbers, but I I read some numbers that the 70% of generational wealth in second generation is lost, and around 90% of generational wealth is lost in the third generation. Is this because like generation-wise, they don't have the hardship of earning that money or the risk or whatever it takes to earn that money, that's why it is lost, or there is another underlying issue in that?

SPEAKER_01 28:28

You're absolutely right. Your research is absolutely right.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Number, okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

That in third generation either gone or very little left. If we take uh immigrants, immigrants' mentality. Immigrants come to a country and they work like crazy. I see among my international students, international students average they work harder than American mainstream students. So immigrants come here, they do anything they can to survive. They work like crazy. Their children, they still remember how mom and dad did, and they are working. But the third generation they go soft. They have no concept of immigrant mentality. So the same thing. The parents have worked, they have created a lot of wealth. The second generation is closed, they have seen how it is done, but they want to kick back and enjoy it. The third generation, they say, why should there's the money, let me spend. Exactly. There is the money, why should I work? Or what grandma and grandpa did, it's irrelevant to me today. The world is changed and it's different. And that is why in third generation, generally the wealth goes away.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Is it? I don't know. To me, it's something that I would be very upset if it happens to me and my children. Um is it because the parents and grandparents don't put that mentality into? I mean, you can you can still live the life not living, uh not not working very hard, but you can still preserve, invest, or do something with that money so that it doesn't go away and your children have something. Absolutely. So do we like are we lacking some kind of education in that?

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Absolutely, big time. Big time. The uh the parents uh out of love or whatever it is, they think if they say no to their children, um it's going to harm them. But you have to discipline your children, you have to show them discipline of uh managing money, investing money. Uh give them some money and say invest and let me see how you do. And uh but it doesn't work like that. They just keep giving and buying and doing this and doing that. I give you an example. One of my friends, I could see that they, you know, they were not that well off. Uh but their child would not wear a pair of shoes because it wasn't a brand. And I said, Why why are you worried? He said, because he will not wear it. I said, well don't buy the brand name for him. Let's see if he will walk to school barefoot. I said you have to teach him. He didn't have the heart to do it, and they were not uh wealthy. But wealthy parents also they just make the money as the babysitter for their children, rather than they be the babysitter for their children and teach them discipline, teach them respect, teach them respect for the money.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

And they end up losing everything they have earned so hard.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Many of them they lose.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Wow. Yeah, I I I always thought about this, and you know, there are like people you see in your surroundings that just lose everything. I was like, why would you do that?

SPEAKER_01 32:23

I I still don't understand why a school child, to me they're children, or teenagers or whatever, as soon as they get their driver's license. I don't understand what are they doing in expensive cars, driving expensive cars. That's not love. That is enabling your child to grow responsible and have a response uh and have a healthy view on the world and money. They think that that is it. Um I don't want to name any brand of cars, but expensive cars. I'm just blown away. Why do you even let them drive that car?

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Exactly. I remember my first tiny little car.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

If I tell you about my first car, you will laugh. What was it? Oh, you want to hear that? Yeah. It was it was a fiat, uh I can't remember 76 or 670. I was a student.

unknown 33:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

And I was struggling. Um I would buy a loaf of bread, and this is in England, I would buy a loaf of bread with one bottle of milk, and I would eat it and drink it for three, four days. So in my infinite wisdom, I thought I'd buy a car. So I bought a car. I bought it for 40 pounds.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Oh the car. The car. The total, not the monthly.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

No, the whole car. I bought it for 40 pounds. And what it was in England, the weather is wet. Yeah, the cars rusty, especially nowadays they have overcome that challenge, but Italian cars they are built near the coastline so the salt gets in the air and gets in the metal, and they rust pretty quickly. My car, my little fiat, I had to put a couple of plunks of wood under the seat so it wouldn't drop on the floor. And that was my first car. I was perfectly happy with that. Yeah. And uh it it got me from A to Z.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

To me, this kind of mindset is what or where it leads to success and not like driving a brand new whatever it is in your 17 or 18-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

You see, when I think people they don't live for themselves in most parts. Yeah. They live for others. I I used to go to which I still go to seminars for financial seminars. And generally they are held at expensive restaurants or hotels. I would drive, I had a Honda Civic. I love my Honda Civic. It was uh 2008. I would drive. Generally, when you go to seminars, people they come in trickles, you know. But when seminar is over, everybody is dashing, rushing out to get to the valley. So I would go and I was very vocal in seminars. I'm always vocal. They ask me questions. And I would come out and uh valley guys, the young men, generally they are young men. I would stand there and everybody is standing, and there's a line of very expensive cars. And then there is my Honda Civic 2008 in the middle of very expensive car, and gradually it's coming forward, and everybody's looking, whose car is that? And the Valley guys, I always tip them. They work hard. And I always told them, please stop it. Don't do this, it's embarrassing. They would open my Honda Civic car's door in a way as if it was five million dollar car. Because I was I would tip, I said, please don't do that. Anyway, it uh now it is in cars heaven because there was an accident. This lady took a wrong turn and totaled my little Honda Civic. And our mechanic Tony had taken good care of it. I don't care who thinks what. That is where parents they go wrong. That is what they cannot teach their children. Don't live for others, live for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Is it true for any culture? Because I have seen that in Armenian culture a lot, but is it true for any culture?

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Well, since we are Armenians, we see it more.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

But it is uh true. It is true in many cultures with different, you know, varying degrees. But in our culture, because we are involved in there, we think that the percentage is very high.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

But if we go into other cultures, we see that that also exists in other cultures. Sometimes you see people from different ethnicity, young people, they are driving expensive cars.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Yeah, also.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

They barely know how to drive and then they're not my students, they drive more expensive cars than I drive.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Yeah. You describe yourself as fee-only professional. That means you are not earning any commissions, rather, you are working on a fixed fee basis. Um in in in an economy which is full of incentives and is fully incentivized, isn't this a risky approach to take? And what are other professionals that work on incentives and percentage? What are they missing that they are not what's your take on this? Why are you working on fixed term, fixed fee and not the percentage?

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Years and years ago, years and years ago, I decided to do this because there is no competing or conflicting interest between my clients and I. And professionals, accountants, they are very happy to refer clients because they know there's no conflicting interest. Now, the clients appreciate that because they don't question why, for example, I invested in this company and not in the other company, or why I sold this company and invested money in the other company. It is complete pure independent advice because you are not trying to sell something to buy expensive ring for your fiance or for expensive car for your boyfriend. You are doing your job based on the fee that you are receiving from your clients. But there are other people, they are good, I'm not saying that they are not competent, but they feel more comfortable to earn a commission. And uh I think there's a conflict there. If you have to recommend something when where there is a commission involved, I question about the neutrality of that recommendation.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

You will go for the higher one, no?

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Of course, generally that's what happens. So I have never been in fun of commission. I tell my clients you retain me to do a job and you pay me for the job that I do. It's not that I come after you, you need to do this, this, this, this, so I earn a commission. Independent, that's all. Pure working as a fiduciary. There are people they call themselves fiduciary, but they work also on commission. I think there is a competing, conflicting interest. I'll give you an example. Uh let's take a typical mutual fund.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Um, say average 5% commission. $100,000, $5,000 evaporates. But the people have been conditioned to accept that. But if you tell the same individual today the market dropped by 3%, oh my god, it's the end of the world, what is happening? But they forgot they get 5% in commission versus 3% drop in the market. Whereas fee only is a fraction of that.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Yeah. It builds your client's wealth faster. If both they invest in the same thing, one commission, one fee only. The one which is fee only and competitive fee, I should say, over 10 years, you see that this one accumulates more wealth than the other one. Every time money comes in commission, money comes in commission.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Ah, okay. What is the minimum amount of investment a person should be ready to do to turn to your services? Like, for example, can I say okay, I have $1,000?

SPEAKER_01 41:46

It is it is a very difficult question.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Uh should I say what my fee is or No, um I I don't ask you to disclose the fee, but I mean can I come to you with $1,000 and say, hey, please help me invest it somewhere I want to earn more money.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

They call sometimes. I direct them where to go to good place because it doesn't make economic sense to me.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Say for example, one thousand dollars in order for me to even break even uh it would take about twenty years to even break even the front expenses and my time and everything. It would take twenty years to recoup the time that I was spent putting the accounts together and advice. But I feel sorry for them. I don't turn them turn them away. I tell them I cannot help you and I give them the numbers. They're blown away. Wow, is that what they said? Yes. It will take me about 20 years. Now, therefore, I suggest you go and do your research. And I'm not recommending any company, but uh pick whatever you pick, and if you want me to look at them, I will look at them. I feel I feel obligated. I feel it's my moral duty to help people with small amounts of money.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

They can grow and later become your clients.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

Yeah, so I give them directions.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Okay, so no one thousand dollars. The stakes should be higher.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Unfortunately, because it doesn't make economic sense. You see, you have to be careful, otherwise you uh burden yourself with work, with responsibilities that doesn't bring revenue, and you are gradually sinking the ship.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

Yeah. Yeah. Um we we spoke about the mentality of immigrant people. Who come to, for example, United States work hard. And I think we all they or we all share the mentality towards money that uh they are very risk-averse. So, for example, I have one million dollars and I would rather have it under my pillow or in the bank uh rather than to invest it into somewhere. Is it something that you have noticed and where does this come from? How do you deal with this kind of mentality?

SPEAKER_01 44:27

I have I have actually experienced that. Uh yes, it's because though the the sophistication of um financial products is not known in many countries. I come from Iran or people that they come from Armenia. Uh they are not used to these things.

SPEAKER_00 44:46

How do you convince them?

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Like so I when they tell me why I should do this, I can buy real estate. I say, sure, if that is what your preference is, go for it. When you exhaust your investments in real estate and you you want to have an alternative investment, then call me. I do not convince them. It's not my job to convince them. The mindset is there. I don't believe in these products, and they tell you, it's like Las Vegas. Why should I do that? I may as well go to Las Vegas or say you can go if you want to. I never convince them. But if they come for advice rather than someone to convince them, yes, I give them advice, I give them factual things, historically this, this, this, this, and uh then they have to convince themselves.

SPEAKER_00 45:46

Where does this passion for investment in real estate come from?

SPEAKER_01 45:50

It is uh very interesting, human psyche is very interesting. You see, the building that we are in, there is no real estate market that monitors the value of real estate in a millisecond. Whereas a stock, you watch and it's going up every second. Yeah. So real estate is something that they see it is standing there, they can touch it, they can look at it, they feel good about it. Financial products, there's nothing for you to look at or touch.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

And there's numbers on the side. Yeah, it's just numbers. And financial products is uh actually I was um uh answering one of my students' question, and he was set real estate, and he was from Iran. Okay, and then I said, This is what I suggest you to do. Go and research, and next week this is going to be your project. Don't do any other homework. This is going to be your project. And he came back, it was a couple of weeks ago. He came back, he said, Wow, Professor, you know what I discovered? I said, Yes, tell me what did you discover? As you didn't know. It's amazing. I said, What is amazing? That in financial services money actually grows. I said, Yes, it does. So we had a good healthy discussion. You see, there is instant gratify gratification when you look at your real estate, but in financial services it doesn't happen. It takes time, it gives you the highest, the most headache. Investing in financial products or financial markets gives you the most headache and sometimes even heart attack. But gives you long term, it has given you excellent return. You don't deal with the upkeep of the insurance of the building, with your tenants, nothing.

SPEAKER_00 48:10

Because you don't have any. I was listening to a podcast, I can't recall the name, I was thinking about it. Um again, a very wealthy professional was speaking about how he would rather rent and not own a home, and instead invest that money into financial markets. And at that time it was a couple months I was like, okay, why? And I started to think about it, and I wanted to wanted to ask you this question when we had the um agreement to have the interview. So is it better? Like, how would you justify that kind of mentality? Like, I would rather rent and instead invest the under the couple hundred thousand into financial markets. What it what does it give to me in the end?

SPEAKER_01 48:51

I always encourage my clients to invest also in real estate. It's not that 100% in financial products, but not by uh not uh buying and renting only. It's not hundred percent black and white. You have to look at the numbers. And then if numbers make sense, and you have to be very truthful with yourself, you have to put a very conservative growth on your financial product and also maybe the same growth on the real estate, and then you look at the costs. If I have a friend, he said in his next life he's not going to buy a home. He's going to rent. He said it comes with a lot of headaches. Some people they are good with it to put up with headaches, but it's not 100%, no, don't buy rent because what happens? You have to be able to invest the money that you are not paying by way of deposits and then insurance and everything else. That money should grow better than the comparable real estate projecting for the next five years, ten years, twenty years. So it depends. It depends also which market you are in. Some markets the real estate does better than other markets. So if you go to in mid-America somewhere, uh you can buy a house with uh very little money. So the movement or increase of the house there uh or real estate hasn't been as vibrant as some other places. There, maybe if you rent it's better than you buy because the house price is not going up that much. I agree, but not 100%.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Not in every um in every not in every instance. If someone is watching us now, he's he or she is 30 years old, they earn decent salary, but they don't know what to do with that money. What one single advice would you give to them? What will what shall they do with that money this week?

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Who are these people, you said?

SPEAKER_00 51:06

30-year-old, earning a decent salary, not no not having like a lot of financial education, but not knowing what to do with that money.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

They they they should start investing uh the money that they have, it depends on if they have their own home, if they want to buy home, if they are married or not married, if they are going to get married, all those expenses they have to account for and uh to keep their reserve for if they want to buy a house. Uh for example, I have clients that they have come and said, Oh, uh, we uh we have inherited so much money, or we have come to this money, and we want you to invest. And when you start asking them, these are potential clients, oh yes, we want to buy a house uh when? In a couple of years. I said then that money should not be invested, it should stay in cash. Oh, but I've heard it's this and the market has been up this year. I said yes, um, but the markets also go down.

SPEAKER_00 52:11

So and when they do, you are not going to like it.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

So uh I give you an example. I had clients, uh they are still my client. They told me that they wanted to invest, bring more money because they got married and they had so much gift. And uh then they told me they want to buy a real estate. I said, when? This is exactly what they said in two or three years' time. I said, then don't invest it. You have to keep it in cash, it will earn a small amount of interest, but you never know. Next month you may see a property that you like. Then I've invested and the market is down by 10%. It means you have to find another 10%. So the property you are buying, you're buying 10% more expensive. About a year, year and a half later, oh, we have found the property, thank you, Mahik. We appreciate your advice. We have the money, we are going to go for it. I said good for you.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Great. Yeah, see, like real advice and good advice. You teach. You teach in five universities. You spend most of your time in the classroom, I assume, because five universities is a lot of time. What does teaching give you that your other businesses don't?

SPEAKER_01 53:38

Teaching first and foremost keeps me on my toes. Because to teach is not easy. Some people they think teaching is easy. You have to have presence of mind, you have to have knowledge base, and that forces me to keep myself up to date, which invariably it spills over to my business, keeps me up to date. And uh also if we are going to look at idealistic world, they say, oh, you know, I pass this knowledge to my students, I love my students. Yeah, yes, that's true. Uh but uh not only keeps me on my toes, but I'm also passing a wealth of knowledge that I have to young people to help them to understand what's happening in and around them in the real world. And that's very enlightening. Not only the transfer of knowledge, but when they actually do a project and you see the lights have come on, then now they realize what is going on. It's so much, it's such a high reward.

SPEAKER_00 54:56

All these years, I imagine you have had many, many students. Has there been a particular student who whose journey changed you or inspired you or reminded you of yourself when you were young and you came to America?

SPEAKER_01 55:13

One student, I will always I've got I've got number of but this one student I remember. Not that we had similar uh background or upbringing, but this student uh wanted to talk to a professor, and they said, Well, you know, this professor is available, let me so they called. I said, Yes, send him in. So I was speaking with the student, and then the student said, But I have to tell you something. I said, Tell me. He said, I have done bad things in my life. I said, okay.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Who hasn't?

SPEAKER_01 55:56

Yeah. I said, you're you know, humble self sitting here. I have also missed that. He said, no, I've done really bad things. I said, listen, there are certain things. Have you committed rape? No. Have you pushed drugs? No. Have you ruined the life of family? No. Have you done these things? No. I said, then you're good. He said, I was a member of a gang. I said, you were what? He said, member. I said, tell me, would you like coffee or tea? He said, coffee. I said, okay. I went and got two coffee. I said, no, please tell me about these gang things. I've never been in a gang. He said, are you sure? I said, are you sure? I said, yes, it's very intriguing. Let's talk about this gang life that you have had. And of course, he was brought up by his grandma, a parentless child in a bad neighborhood. And uh so he wanted to study online. I said, no, you have to come to class. He said, why? I said, you have got so much street smartness and experience. You don't understand. Come to class and you will learn from other students, they will learn from you. The first day of the class he didn't show up.

SPEAKER_00 57:30

He didn't show up. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

I excused myself from the class. I went. Some universities they publish students' addresses, email, and phone number. I called him. I said, You are why you are not here. I'm scared.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

He said he was scared.

SPEAKER_01 57:50

Yes, he said he was scared. I said, With all that gang and chain around your neck, you are scared to come to class. He said, I'm so scared you don't understand. Oh my God. I said, you know what? I know where you live. Either come to class or I'm going to come to your hood, grab you by your ear, put you in my car, and bring you to class. I mean that was breaking all HR rules and regulations. He said, What? I repeated myself. He said, no, please don't come. I'll come. He came to class. He came to class months later. He told me, Would you have really done that? I said, absolutely I would have done that. He turned from that kind of background. He became the executive marketing for a top company. Okay. He put his life in order. And he told me a few times, when nobody believed in me, you believed in me, you told me come to class, you valued me as a human being. Because I told him, I told him that I'm so proud of you. So that has stayed with me.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

And my last question: you have lived through things most people will never experience, and came back stronger and stronger and became the person who you are. If you were standing in the middle of the worst in your life that you have been, uh, and you could write a letter to yourself, to that person who is standing in the middle of the worst in his life, what would you say to Vahik that was struggling?

SPEAKER_01 59:34

Struggling is uh never give up. And Vahik never gave up.

SPEAKER_00 59:43

Did he know that time he was never giving up?

SPEAKER_01 59:45

No.

SPEAKER_00 59:46

He didn't.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

He didn't. He just was on an autopilot. And uh never give up. And be nice to others, which I haven't harmed anybody. But if I were going to go back and say if I were going to write something, you know, from a very young age, what happens in the future if I had all this knowledge, I would say do not give up, value your time and love your family. I feel a little bit I have uh failed there, I haven't spent enough time going vacation with them. We have been, but not enough. That I would write there. That make sure you go to more vacation because I've been busy working and studying all the time. And uh I looked at photos, you know, when they are children we are playing. Uh but spending more time with them going vacation, there I have lacked a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

Thank you very much for this conversation.