Wealth Coach Chinkee Tan has urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and aspiring investors to avoid investing in ventures they do not fully understand, warning that ignorance and greed are a very dangerous mix.

“The best way to spot a good investment is if you are knowledgeable about the investment that you plan to get into. The worst is an investment that you do not understand,” Tan said in an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show, Usapang OFW, on Tuesday.

He likened investing without knowledge to driving a car without knowing how to operate it. “If you don’t know how to drive and you still drive, you’ll end up losing,” he said.

Usapang OFW hosts Chingbee Fernandez and John Dodson noted that many OFWs become vulnerable to fraud following their sudden financial independence.

At this, Tan cited what he called the “two worst combinations” in investing: “One is ignorance… number two is greed.”

Too good to be true gauge

Among his basic wealth management rules, Tan said investors must never put in money they cannot afford to lose and they should be wary of promises of unusually high or guaranteed returns.

“When someone says you’ll earn 10 percent, 20 percent, or even 100 percent in just one month, that’s dangerous,” he said. “If anyone says it’s guaranteed, I can assure you what’s guaranteed is that your money will never come back to you.”

Tan also warned against schemes offering steady monthly payouts, saying that these should raise suspicion. “If the bank cannot offer it, how come an individual or small business can offer it?”

He also emphasized that one should never invest in something solely on trust. “The sad part is that the people you trust the most would probably deceive you. The people who are close to us are the ones who can hurt us.”

Be wary of slowburn

Moreover, Tan said that under the “slowburn” scheme, fraudsters often lure victims into reinvesting once the initial returns are released, only to disappear when larger amounts are invested.

On a simpler note, Tan gave OFWs advice on how to recognize when they might be about to be scammed.

“When you invest money, you should never lose your peace of mind, because the moment you do, your money will be the next thing to go,” he said.

Tan also reminded the viewers to be vigilant about scammers who use AI videos to make it appear he is endorsing an investment or a person.