This was taken earlier on that day. There were 35 students in total. Quite a full class
What is the course about?
The name of the course is value investing mastery course but it is very different from the usual Warren Buffett's way of value investing. Instead of using the complicated intrinsic value concept which has to predict the growth of a company and discount its value to the present value, BFP's course uses another method of value investing by calculating the net asset value of a company. That is to buy a company below its net asset value. However, they bring it one step further to calculate the conservative net asset value which they term as CNAV. The whole course is about CNAV and how to determine the value.
The course is retailed at $98. However, it is not an introductory course on the CNAV but it actually teaches the whole concept which by the end of the course, you'll be able to use this method for your investment. It is a full day course from 9am to 6:30pm and even breakfast and lunch is provided. Most people i talk to on that day find that $98 is too cheap for a full one day course.
A course where you can learn about the accounting language
Accounting is the language of business and i would say it is essential for investing. Without understanding a business, we can never invest successfully. In BFP's course, they do teach you how to analyse some parts of the financial statements and this section took up almost 3 hours of the entire course. For those who have little to no knowledge in accounting, this course will definitely be a good start for you. Things such as which assets to include in the balance sheet statement, what is the difference between cash flow and profits?, what is minority interest?, what are receivables, inventory or intangible assets etc are all taught in the course itself. Financial ratios such as P/E, P/B and Debt to equity ratio are also taught. This section is taught by Louis Koay who is also one of the directors at BFP and has passed all 3 levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam. He's more than qualified to teach all these and uses simple real life examples to make it easier for new investors to understand. He even created formula sheets where one can easily key in the values and calculate the CNAV of a stock within 15 mins. I enjoyed this section as i love numbers.
When to buy and when to sell?
Of course, after knowing all the values and all that, we need to know when to buy and sell a stock. This part is taught by Alvin who has many years of investment experience himself. It is integrated with an investment game which is quite interesting. Real stocks and historical data are used to make it more realistic. At the end of the game, the top 3 teams which has the highest portfolio value will win cash prices which is contributed by each person at $10 each. The team that i was in won the second price where we practice what was taught in the class. Basically, we calculate the CNAV of the stock, determine which stocks to buy and how much to allocate to each stock and then rebalance the portfolio for each year within the 3 years simulated.
There are many more stuff taught such as how to calculate the Compound annual growth rate (CAGR), internal rate of return (XIRR) which is important for our own portfolio monitoring. Then, the most important aspect of when to sell a stock is also taught.
$98 is undervalued?
With the amount of stuff taught especially the accounting knowledge, $98 is definitely undervalued at the market rate. However, CNAV is only one strategy of investment. Even though the whole strategy is taught, investing is more than just strategies to begin with. To build up a good portfolio, we have to understand other factors which affect our investments. Knowledge such as macroeconomics, sector rotation, portfolio management, capital allocation, risk management, technical analysis and our own psychology management are also vital in investment decisions.
Investing is a long term journey which BFP recognises it. Apart from the value investing mastery course, they have a value investor club which graduates of the CNAV course can join. This is an optional lifetime membership where they provide lifetime coaching support and gatherings where they teach other aspects of investing as mentioned above. They also have a database of CNAV stock where they already calculated the value of individual stocks for you. Of course, this does not come free and is priced at $1,XXX. As mentioned by the team, the membership is optional. I like the fact that they do not pressurise people to sign up on the spot but give them one week to consider it. No emotional games were played unlike other courses which i have seen outside.
My thoughts
Overall, the experience was a good one. I met and chatted with a few of the students that day and i'm privilege to have met Alvin and his team, Louis, Jon and Alex. The course would definitely have been useful to me if i were lost in the world of investing. But, there were also seasoned investors who have been investing for a number of years in the class on that day. They too though that the course was a good one. There is always something new to learn in investment. BFP do not promise fast money like other courses out there but teach the truth to investing. The fact that accounting was taught in the class make it even more worth the price. You can check out how much financial accounting courses are charged outside. It is definitely more than a hundred dollars.
Thank you BFP, Alvin and his team for the invitation and the knowledge you shared in this course. For more information on their course, check it out here: Value Investing Mastery Course
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