Success leaves clues. Finance Strategists sat down with Errold Moody, founder of EF Moody PhD MSFP MBA LLB BSCE. He shared his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the business, as well as the insight and knowledge he gained along the journey. Q: Who are you and what’s your background? Errold Moody started out as a civil engineer back in the mid 60’s and delved into areas of real estate appraisals, feasibility studies, development, brokerage, construction and more. Subsequently, he focused on all areas of securities, financial planning, insurance licensing, and training. He authored three books and acted as a Registered Investment Adviser. He became just one of 30+ Life and Disability Insurance Analysts in California. Errold Moody's latest book: Financial Planning | Fiduciary Standards under Dodd Frank Over the years he earned a Bachelor of Law, Master of Science in Business Administration, Doctorate in Real Estate, and a Master of Science in financial Planning along with his original degree in Civil Engineering. Additionally, he was an arbitrator for the NASD and has also acted as an expert witness. He developed a number of videos on all areas of financial planning and is currently revising them to cover the massive changes in fiduciary standards, tax laws with particular emphasis on The Risk of Loss in investing. This is a four-part process that includes a method of stress testing mutual funds and ETFs before the sale as well as a substantiated method to keep recessionary losses to about 12% to 15%. Q: Who has been your biggest influence, and why did they have such a significant effect on you? Initially, there was no one and no teaching on the fundamentals of real-life personal finances with specific reference to the risk of loss. It became evident from my years of acquiring experience and knowledge, and specifically through research and teaching, that the direction of the investing industry and regulatory bodies that the expertise/capability of the bulk of licensees in assisting their clients was limited if not entirely missing. This obvious breach was most apparent with the middle income worker and below who have suffered the greatest percentage of loss with inadequate understanding of the Risk of Loss- that is how much they can actually lose in their portfolio given recessionary economics (49% loss in 2000 and 57% loss in 2008. Current losses are still to come). The bulk of these ‘investors’ are led to untenable positions in 401ks that use outdated instruction of old theories and useless heuristics (rules of thumb): such as buy on the dip, buy and hold, and the most absurd comment, the market always comes back. Although technically this is true, the timescales required sometimes make waiting for a change a mistake.. Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have told yourself when you were in your twenties? Don’t do it. It will take close to a lifetime to gather all the resources and an immense amount of reading and research to finally understand the true impact of risk and to finally organize and culminate that new order into solutions- only to find that the effort will be ultimately overwhelmed by the marketing and sales of an industry that will cause millions undue financial hardship. Q: What is EF Moody? EF Moody PhD MBA MSFP LLB BSCE I act as a consultant on various issues in the areas of securities, insurance, real estate, economics and the subsets thereof Q: What makes your company different from its competitors? Since the beginning of 2020, there have been 950,000 independent worldwide views of my answers to questions posed on all aspects and problems to real estate, securities, financial planning, insurance, economics and more. Q: What led you to start EF Moody? Obviously, I did not have this background when I was younger but as my knowledge base and experience increased, it became clear that the general public really needed a completely new orientation to investing since the effort for the past 50 to 70 years has been devastating to those most needing assistance. The effort is even more pronounced now due to a worldwide recession and a pandemic that will not be curtailed. Q: What has the experience of building the business taught you? Lots of errors and failures over the years when you pursue capabilities and knowledge outside of the norm (box). The frustration in working towards a goal that no one else had identified and then to rework it again and again as more knowledge and experience is attained was a unique experience far beyond the norm. But also recognizing that once you think that you have a good handle- principally on risk- the administration, tax rules, worldwide economics, research, fiduciary implications, and laws ad infinitum forces adjustments that will never end. But it sure makes it ‘interesting’ to see if you can figure it out. Q: Where do you see things headed for you in the next 5 years? To provide videos on the major topics of investing that are primarily geared to the middle-income worker who desperately needs and wants real-life assistance and guidance so they don’t get taken advantage of. I will not retire- new challenges and financial impacts to the U.S. and the world will keep me involved every day. Though I would like to catch a 9-pound smallmouth (we can all dream). About EF Moody PhD MSFP MBA LLB BSCE EF Moody PhD MSFP MBA LLB BSCE has over four decades of analyzing personal financial issues including real estate, stocks, bonds, limited partnerships, taxes, estate planning, retirement planning, ethics, social security, Medicare, behavioral economics- literally all elements impacting an individual. Those who want great info should view the Daily Commentary- the largest financial planning and independent "commentary" you are apt to find. Learn more on LinkedIn and see efmoody.com/gripes.html.Introduction
Who is Errold Moody?
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True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.
True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide, a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University, where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.
To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon, Nasdaq and Forbes.
