In this YouTube monologue, the presenter warns viewers about three widely‑held but poor investment choices: (1) most cryptocurrencies, which he argues are largely centralized, speculative assets that often go to zero; (2) many university degrees, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs, which he claims have low return on investment due to high tuition costs, long time horizons, and limited relevance to real‑world business; and (3) cash, which he describes as a depreciating liability because of inflation and quantitative easing. He differentiates between "investments" (which may not generate immediate income) and "assets" (which produce cash flow), and recommends alternative wealth‑building vehicles such as gold, real estate, diversified index funds (FTSE 100, S&P 500) via ISAs, a modest allocation to Bitcoin for decentralisation, collectible watches, and starting a business. Throughout, he promotes his paid financial‑education platform, Rob.team, describing its masterclasses, mentorship, and community benefits, and answers viewer questions about share selection and ISA usage. The overall message is to avoid the three highlighted pitfalls, focus on assets that generate income, and invest in self‑education.
Questions this video answers
I don't invest in individual shares because that's more like trading and higher risk. I recommend putting money into well‑managed, diversified FTSE 100 or S&P 500 funds, possibly via an ISA.
Yes – I max out my ISA each year (£25,000 for me, £25,000 for my partner, £9,000 for my kids). It's the only tax‑free way to invest in the stock market, so I use it for diversified fund exposure.
Chapters
Warning: the 3 worst types of common investments you can make. Now, of course, there's obvious schemes and scams out there, and hopefully you do your own due diligence and research when you invest. But there's 3 types of investment which are actually quite common, um, that people don't warn you about enough. And might surprise you are a very bad investment. And I'm going to do that job. I'm going to warn you of the 3 worst types of common investment. So number 1 is virtually all cryptocurrencies. Sorry, said it. Some people are going to be upset with me, but most of them are not decentralized, and that's supposed to be the point of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin does seem to be decentralized. It's on the blockchain that one individual company or personal platform does not control. But when you look behind most cryptocurrencies, they're actually controlled by a centralized platform or a centralized owner, and not a decentralized platform or owner. Therefore, that they're probably even more risky than a startup company because they're a startup company. And so actually, most cryptos probably go to zero. Most altcoins end up being shitcoins. Be very careful with most of these cryptos. Now, if you want to take some high-risk speculation and you know it's speculation and you use risk capital that you can afford to lose, Put 1% or 2% or 3% of your net worth into a diverse set of startup, um, speculative cryptos, and then you're all right, aren't you? Because you know that it's not an investment. Because there's a massive difference between an investment, a speculation, a risk, and a gamble. And there's no way that most cryptos are anything but, at best, a speculation. Someone has just said in here, please don't say property, Amiga, Moon Swatches, and gold. No, no, no, they're very good investments, don't worry about that. Okay, next then, and again, most people aren't going to like this— university. So if you want to be a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, I'd argue that's probably a reasonable route to go down to university. After all, you might not be able to qualify without a university degree. But if you want to be an entrepreneur, a disruptor, a mover, a shaker, and a change maker, and you want to learn about the real world of finance and entrepreneurship, then I think university is one of the worst investments because it takes 3 to 7 years. It can get you tens of thousands, if not £100,000 or dollars, into debt. And what do you come away with? A degree you might not use, a degree that might not be relevant, a degree that might not actually get you a job. So all those years and all that money wasted on traditional education— traditional education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune. I think that was Zig Ziglar who said that. So the second type of worst investment is many, not all, but many university degrees. I wonder why you wouldn't invest just a third of what you might spend at university on self-education, on business entrepreneurship and finance from real entrepreneurs, on getting apprenticeships and actually going to work for real entrepreneurs who made real money building meaningful products and services. Okay, then the third worst type of investment. Um, Sally has said, I don't agree about uni, great place to make friends for life. That doesn't make it an investment, Sally. You can meet friends in many places, so it doesn't make it an investment. Hey, look, it was good socially for me. Well, actually, I just got really drunk all the time. But, um, I didn't say university wasn't good for life. Said it wasn't a good investment. And I can spend 100 grand and buy some mates. Uh, I don't think you need to necessarily go to university for your education per se. Okay, and then the third worst type of investment— again, I'm picking things that many people think are good investments but actually aren't, just to give you a bit of extra value. You know, there's many obvious things you wouldn't put your money into that are schemes and scams, and always do your research. The third thing is cash. Cash is actually a depreciating liability, not an appreciating asset. Cash is going down 10-15% or more a year. Cash isn't guaranteed in the banks, it isn't safe in the banks. Um, it is a liability. The banks know it, they see it as a liability on their balance sheet. That's why they lend and invest it out into hard assets. Cash is being debased by the fact that it's a fiat currency and by quantitative easing and the continual printing of money. And it's one of the worst asset classes that exist. So we've got the worst 3 types of investments just to keep you safe. Just to look after your money for you. Someone's got to have your back and look after your money. Number 1, most cryptos. Number 2, university— not all degrees, most. Um, and number 3, cash. Now a couple of people have said on my videos— Mike has just said, I love your videos— and a couple of people have said, when are you going to talk about Rob.team? Well, some of you have asked me, um, what should you invest in then? I can't— because I read the comments, I do read them. Uh, look, I think gold's a great investment right now. It's counter— she usually does well when currency doesn't do so well. And long-term, gold's a good hold. It's a defensive play. It's, it's an investment, not an asset. Do you know the difference between an investment and an asset? Ah, the first one to put the correct answer in the comments wins a prize off of me. The difference between an investment and an asset. Gold isn't an asset, it is an investment. It's a defensive play, but it's good for security and good for low risk. Um, I think the Bitcoin, a small amount of your net worth is good for security. Good for, um, central— decentralization. And real estate is really good. Property, real estate is really good, um, because it's been proven to go up every, what, every 12 to 15 years. It seems to double house since year dot. Um, so, um, property's a good class to be in. I think certain types of watches like Rolex Daytonas are good to be in. Starting your own business is a great asset. Now of course, um, that's assuming that you are successful with that business. But cash is not a good asset, Lisa. It is not. So the difference between an investment and an asset— asset produces your income. An investment is something that you will invest in over time, but it doesn't necessarily produce you income in the, in the moment. Gold and silver don't produce income. Rolex, Daytonas don't produce income. Bitcoin doesn't produce income, so it's not an asset. Doesn't produce income, but it is an investment. You're investing your money for a greater return in the future. And sometimes it's good to have investments Sometimes it's good to have assets, and it's never good to have liabilities unless you pay for them with income from assets. So if you'd love to learn how to build assets, love to learn how to build income streams from assets, love to learn how to invest, love to learn how to make great investments, good investments, not bad investments, protect your depreciating cash and have appreciating assets, maybe even invest in assets low and no money down, multiple streams of income. If you'd love to learn all of this stuff, if you don't know how to do this stuff, you'd love to learn, the basics and the advanced techniques on all of this, I recommend you join Rob.team. Rob.team will cost you less than 20 pence a day. You can cancel anytime with no ongoing contract. And what Rob.team is, is your financial education platform partner. It's where you should— what you should have learned at school, what your parents didn't know, and what the banks don't want you to know, you learn in Rob.team. You learn how to make, manage, and multiply money. You get 2 masterclasses every week, the Sunday sessions and the extra bonus masterclass on increasing your earning power, increasing your assets, increasing your income streams. I have millionaire mentors that come and do guest sessions. In fact, one is doing one on how to raise money for property right now as we speak. So if you'd love to learn all of this and gain all access to all of this for less than 20 pence a day, and you can cancel anytime, and there's no ongoing contract, all you have to do is join Rob.team by typing in R-O-B dot T-E-A-M. Rob.team. Go join Rob.team. Less than, less than 20 pence a day. Cancel anytime. No ongoing contract. Um, and we've got many masterclasses on property and real estate, on investing. So I've got the 9-module, 10-hour How to Invest series. So if you liked a bit of this content here and you want to talk about investing and assets and you want to learn the 9 or 10 main classes, you want to learn the different levels of risk from defensive to aggressive, from low risk to high speculation, then you can learn this on the 9-module, 10-hour, 10-hour-long How to Invest series. I mean, that would cost you a couple of hundred dollars if you're buying that outside of rob.team. So go and join rob.team right now to grab free access to the 9-module, 10-hour How to Invest series by typing in rob.team, rob.team, into any web page, any window in the internet, and you can join now. Take your 20 seconds, really easy, cancel anytime, no ongoing contract, less than a large cup of coffee a month, less than 20 pence a day. So while you're joining, I might do a couple of questions. And, uh, Harrod, forgive me if I've pronounced that wrong, has asked, what shares would you recommend? I don't invest in individual shares because I see that more as trading or higher risk. Um, so you might put into a FTSE 100 well-managed fund or an S&P 500 well-managed fund. Um, you might think that some emerging markets or some Eastern markets might go up more than some Western markets, but if you diversify across enough of the top companies, that's been proven to go up over time, and it's really safe and, um, you know, works in the long term. If you want to look at individual companies, well, then you've got to do a lot more research, a lot more diligence. It's a lot less diversified, therefore your risk is highly increased. I don't regard myself as an expert in the stock market, um, so I just put them into well-diversified and well-managed funds via Hargreaves Lansdown, self-invested with no IFA. Because why should anyone recommend and manage my money? I should be doing that. It's my money. You should learn to become your own independent financial advisor, your own money manager, your own investment advisor. And if you'd love to learn how to be your own independent financial advisor go join rob.team because you can learn the strategies and tactics, the mindsets and skill sets to make, manage, and multiply money, to build assets that produce recurring, passive, and residual income. And like I said, there's Sunday sessions every Sunday, there's a masterclass once every 1 to 2 weeks, there's live events, it's the 2-Day Recurring Income Summit, there's the 2-day— and that's a lot, that's an online event, um, so there's an online Recurring Income Summit, 2 days long, but about learning how to build recurring income. There's the 2-day Multiple Streams of Business Income live face-to-face event. There's the Multiple Streams of Property Income 3-day live event, and you can get VIP upgraded highest price tickets completely for free as a Rob.team member. Just type R-O-B dot T-E-A-M, Rob.team, in any window on the internet right now, and you can join for less than 20p a day. Cancel anytime, no ongoing contract, no risk to you. Well, if you don't risk anything, you risk everything. So the risk is not doing it. To know and not to do is not to know. Start now, get perfect later. Um, Michael said, is ISAs a good investment? Yeah, I max my ISA every year. £25,000 for you, £25,000 for your partner, £9,000 for your kids. That's the only tax-free way of investing into the stock market. So I invest into the stock market in a well-managed, diverse fund through my ISA, so I get my tax-free allowance every year. Um, okay, Tony, PM me about that question, a little bit more specific and technical. Right, I've got to get out of here. I've been having migraines this week, so I'm going to get an early night. Thanks for tuning in, thanks for following me, really appreciate you. Look forward to seeing you in Rob.team. There's even WhatsApp groups where you get access to me, Q&A sessions, There's courses, resources with movers, shakers, and change makers. And I look forward to seeing you in Rob.team. Remember, invest in yourself. You are your best asset. Invest in yourself wisely. And Rob.team is an investment in you, and it costs you less than 20 pence a day, so it's virtually free. See you in Rob.team. Thanks for tuning in. The 3 worst investments are most cryptos, many university degrees not related to business entrepreneurship and actually making money, and cash. Let me know your thoughts. Got any other comments, any other suggestions and questions? Hit me up in the comments. Thanks for tuning in, and remember, if you don't risk anything, you risk everything.
