Brief Summary
Lucy Ciao shares her insights on building wealth, angel investing, and navigating the financial world. She emphasizes the importance of mindset, continuous education, and strategic relocation to low-tax environments. She also touches on the significance of networking, personal branding, and addressing gender inequality in finance.
- Overcoming a scarcity mindset is crucial for wealth building.
- Angel investing is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that requires belief in the founder and their vision.
- Relocating to low-tax environments can significantly boost wealth accumulation.
- Personal branding and networking are essential for entrepreneurs seeking funding.
- Addressing gender inequality and promoting diversity are vital for a fair and equitable financial landscape.
The mindset Growing up
Lucy Ciao grew up with a scarcity mindset due to her modest background as a first-generation Canadian. Her father worked multiple blue-collar jobs to support the family and put them through university. The clear path was to get a good job and work up the ladder, with no exposure to investment banking or angel investing. International experience opened her eyes to opportunities and the benefits of living in low-tax environments.
Journey to investment banking
Lucy initially wanted to be an actress, but her father encouraged a more practical path. She pursued an international relations degree and fell into banking after a telemarketing job, which taught her resilience and sales skills. A program involving overseas postings led her to Jardine Fleming in Hong Kong, marking her entry into finance. Her time in finance highlighted gender inequality in salary levels, where she was told her husband's income meant she didn't need a high salary, despite her contributions.
Angel Investing introduction
Angel investing is the earliest stage of funding for entrepreneurs, involving high risk due to the high failure rate of startups. Angels invest in the founder's vision and ability to execute their idea. A typical angel investor should have a portfolio of about 10 companies, with the expectation that most will fail, a few will return the original investment, and one will provide a significant return. Eileen Lee, an early investor in Slack and Dollar Shave Club, made tens of millions, which allowed her to start her own VC.
How to get rich
To get rich, Lucy credits her experience in Hong Kong with a 15% tax rate and Dubai with no tax. This allowed her to invest more of her money. She advocates for working in different countries with low income tax rates to save more and take more risks. The environment of a country like the UAE is visionary and encourages growth.
Business Ideas for Dubai
There are many businesses that have been started in Dubai because expats saw something missing that they could get back at home. It's okay to improve on an existing idea. Travel and experience new places to identify different things and generate ideas.
Wealth Woe
A listener is getting married and is the higher earner and recently started investing in property with plans to build serious wealth. She brought up the idea of a prenup, and her fiance said it's unromantic and makes it seem like she's planning for divorce. Lucy says that if you're okay with marriage, then you should also be okay with a prenup. Prenups are legal agreements, not romantic gestures, and are meant to protect assets before marriage.
Quick fire money questions
The best investment Lucy ever made was her executive MBA because it gave her the confidence and terminology to feel comfortable navigating different business scenarios. The biggest money mistake she ever made was being very reluctant to manage her own money and giving it to a money management company. One piece of advice she'd give to someone who is trying to build wealth globally is to take a chance to look at relocating to a place where you're lowering your tax base.
