27. Free Earns the Most

27. Free Earns the Most

Don’t take paid investment education. If the person were really that good, why would he need to charge? CLEC is a non-profit investment-education organization. We collect no tuition, sell no courses, recommend no financial products, take no commissions from any financial institution. The 500+ investment-education videos on YouTube — I haven’t even turned on the platform’s monetization model; I pay out of my own pocket for tools, data software, recording equipment. From a purely financial angle, CLEC’s education work is a “money- losing business.” But this is precisely the most profitable thing I have done. It sounds contradictory, but once you understand what “profit” means, it isn’t.

Three Kinds of “Free Earns the Most” Returns

One, the feedback of knowledge. If I charged, fewer people would come, fewer questions would be asked. I would be forced to think fewer times. But because it’s free, hundreds of students throw all kinds of questions at me: different countries’ tax codes, allocation puzzles at different life stages, psychological reactions to different market environments. Every question forces me to study, verify, refine. This growth cannot be bought — it comes from real life situations, more vivid than any textbook. Over 20+ years, the biggest contributor to my ability to keep refining the investment philosophy isn’t books; it’s student questions. Two, the purity of relationships. Not charging means I don’t need to please anyone. A student wants to trade individual stocks — I say no, directly. A student wants to buy an insurance product — I block him without hesitation. If I charged tuition, I would become service industry — the client’s emotion and preferences become things I have to “manage”; I might soften words to keep the client, dodge truth to avoid conflict. But because it’s free, I can be a pure educator, say what should be said even when it isn’t sweet. Many veteran students say I used to be very harsh. I was. The reason I was harsh is that I felt you deserved it. Those who got scolded away weren’t yet firm enough; those who stayed are the ones who really succeed.

Three, the healthy loop of the ecosystem. Free removes the economic barrier. A young person earning NT$30K/month and a retired entrepreneur with assets above NT$100M get the exact same information and guidance in front of CLEC. This equality breeds a unique learning community — people from different backgrounds exchange and inspire each other. The positive loop is something no paid model can replicate.

The Flip: Don’t Take Paid Investment Education

I’ve always had one plain question: if the teacher truly mastered a method of stable profit, his market returns would far exceed tuition income. A 10%+ annualized system managing $10M produces $1M+ per year — why would he need to teach for fees? The only explanation is: his investment returns can’t support his living, so he sells courses to make up. Someone like that teaching you investing — what is that if not misleading? Even more cautious: those who use manufactured anxiety to sell expensive courses — first telling you “investing is complex, dangerous,” then “but if you sign up for my class, you’ll grasp the secret.” Same playbook as insurance salesmen: first manufacture fear, then sell the “solution.” The truth: the truly effective investment method is simple enough to learn for free — buy NASDAQ-100, never sell. That one sentence is everything. A student left a comment: “Originally I set out to deliver others; in the end, it was others who delivered me.” I thought I was teaching others — actually others were teaching me. That is the power of free — when you set down the calculation of return, return arrives in ways you didn’t expect.

Key Points

One, free removes the conflict of interest and lets the educator stay independent and sincere — not relying on tuition for living, no need to cater to student preferences, you can always say true things. Two, free expands the breadth and depth of knowledge spreading — without economic barriers, people of different backgrounds access correct wealth ideas. Their feedback enriches the educator’s cognition in turn. Three, the truly valuable investing knowledge is extremely simple — simple enough that charging for it isn’t justified. If an investment method needs tens of thousands in tuition to “learn,” it likely isn’t a good method.