61. Innovation in Financial Services with Tristan Pelloux

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It is financial technology. That's that's what it is. However, when people talk about FinTech usually what they mean is more like innovation in financial services. So you know how technology's changing financial services. And for me, I take even a broader view, which is innovation. So doesn't shortcut is innovation in financial services.

Welcome to the Average Joe Finances podcast. Are you trying to get out of debt, invest or just not sure where to start? Then this is the place for you. We discussed different ways to get out of the rat race and build your wealth. Join us on this wild ride to financial freedom. Hey, how's it going, everybody? So today's guest is Tristan pilou. And he is the founder and chief pencil Officer of FinTech review on online media on the FinTech industry. He writes about a range of topics around business, finance, economics, and he interviews business leaders in those fields. When he's not managing FinTech review. He's a management consultant, working with different companies of all sizes across Europe, and the US to help them shape excuse me, help them shape their strategies. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he worked in the financial services at Virgin Money in London for more than five years. So Tristan, really excited to have you on. Thanks for joining me today.

Thanks for having me, Mike.

All right, right on. So the first thing I want to do is I gave a brief intro about you, you know, talking a little bit about your background, but if you could share a little bit more about yourself, share your story, like how did you get started? What made you decide to go and start this thing called the FinTech review?

Yeah, sure. So I started visiting Oh, and I went to business school studied management and finance and economics. And after that, most of my mates from the major in finance, were all going into investment banking is either in London, or we're in Paris. So I'd like everybody else had moved to London, to be an intern in m&a. But doing cross border transactions, which were, which were quite was quite good, fun, like for six months, and I thought I would go work in investment banking, but I stumbled across this, this job ad to join the corporate development team. So which is usually like in a corporate team that does corporate finance and corporate strategy of Windows Australian Bank of National Australia Bank, and they wanted to carve out their UK business and do an IPO. So I said, Look, sets that's super interesting. So I joined, joined this, this bank, worked on that for six months became became an independent bank. And then over the years, I stayed stayed in this team kind of specialized much more in corporate strategy and innovation projects. And looking a lot at FinTech, what's going on? How does it banks? How is it impacting our strategy? Know what what do we need to take into account with like different market movements? So So yeah, so that's what I did in my last role there, I was focusing on developing strategic partnerships with with FinTech startups and big technology companies. But last year, I think it was time for me to leave cloudy London and I moved to Barcelona and I decided it was time for me to try with the entrepreneur life. So I'd started FinTech with you as a as a personal blog, and I decided to scale it a bit more started talking to people in the industry interview, doing interviews, I guess, suppose and kind of like broadening a bit the scope of just me rambling about about FinTech. So yeah, so that's, that's me in a nutshell. And as you can hear, I'm a French minor as well. Paying tiny, slightly slight, slight accent.

Now just just a smidge. just a smidge. Alright, awesome. So you know so you were working. You started off in the banking industry, and you got into corporate right? Working on corporate strategy you were really interested in interested in FinTech. And it led you to start this blog right so you started off as a blog which is really funny because when I started Average Joe Finances I started the same way I started as a blog to basically share like my own story of getting out of debt and starting to invest and you know, get myself like, where I want to be financially, and then eventually turned it into a podcast and what it is today, so it's funny a lot, a lot of these, you know, groups and smaller startups and everything start off is like a blog, we're just somebody sharing like, their, their crazy ideas, right? So it's really cool, like with what you've built, right? And you started off, like you said, as a blog, and you had guests, guest posts, and did interviews, you know, to where you are today. And, you know, the way you made it sound is like, you know, it's, you're not like being nerdy about it, but it's something you kind of geek out about, right? Like you really, this is something that you're passionate about. And you could talk about probably, we could probably talk about this for hours or days or whatever, right? So I want to know, you know, how long have you been doing this one? Did you actually start the blog? And when did you transition to where it is today?

Yeah. So I basically the story behind the blog is that when I was working on Virgin Money, I, I started to become, I decided to become Mr. FinTech. So people would ask me, you know, what's going on? So I started writing little, like, snippets to my team. Okay, guys, this is what what has happened this week, as it says, This is what why think it's important. And it went from being to my team to being to his executive team, like you brought running a big scope, and then then it started being broader and writing for the intranet articles about about what's going on. So at that point, kind of stood, I ended it's a it's a good audience, it's obviously it's, I don't know, at that point, it was probably 1000 people in the company. So it's, it's the audience, but I was like, no, it's still restricts a bit to that, it could be out there to more people to share it, like, so I can share a bit what what I think is going on. So I started blogging in January last year, but just really, I was writing stuff here and there. And, and it's, it's really when, when I left Virgin Money In October, that I sought, okay, now I have a bit more more freedom about writing, writing what I what I'm singing about, because there's also like, the fact that I was working for banks. So, you know, there were kind of topics that I wasn't feeling comfortable, you know, bashing banks, or saying, you know, they're due, though, or whatever. And after that, I was like, you know, I can write them up anything. And then at the end of December, I started doing interviews, like broadening the scope base, just by, by starting to interact with, with people doing same same thing, interacting with companies, companies reaching out and saying, Oh, you know, did you do? Did you do interviews? And at first I was like, No, I don't think so. But that's interesting. Let's, let's do it. So that's how basically, it happened. And then I realized it was great to talk to people about their views of different topics about their background, why they started their companies, you know, and what, what the what were their aspirations or motivations or financial interest? Interesting. That's why I continued in that direction. And I really like it.

All right, right on. So you said, when you when you first started out before you started the blog, you said you were writing on your company's intranet page. And you were just reaching out to the employees there. You said there's about an 8000 member base. For my listeners that are listening right now, if you don't know what an intranet is, it's kind of like an internal network for a company. So he wasn't like posting it out on the internet yet it was it was strictly within the bounds of the network that they had there. So by starting the blog, so you started that in January of 2020, right? Yeah. So by starting the blog, now you're getting this information out to a broader base. And you can talk a little more freely, right? You can really talk is freely writing on the company's intranet page. Especially when it came to what you wanted to talk about with FinTech and banks and everything else with what you you know, what you felt was going on in the future. then being able to put yourself out there. You know, you got to the point where folks started reaching out to you and wanting to do interviews. So what was that like when that first company contacted you? And they said, Hey, do you do interviews? And you said no, but this is interesting let's start so what what was going through your mind when they said we want to do an interview like let's chat?

Yeah, I mean, it was quite funny because this is when I started when I started my blog, it was really a personal blog or my idea was just to blab about this is up and I think this is important kind of thing. And so yeah, and then when people started reaching out I realized it was a bit bigger and it wasn't just about about me so actually, I guess at first I was a bit surprised and then I realize actually what I'm doing is not isn't just a personal blog series it becomes a little little media and yeah, I said this is quite in line with what I'm trying to do so so why not having different point of views and that's also because that's that's a strong belief that I have is that I like to confront ideas with people so I really enjoy people I have a different point of view is that each you tell me something is great and I don't agree on like okay, you know, let's let's rumble here like you know, let's let's chat about it. Tell me what why you sing it's it's great. I'll tell you why I think it's so I sought by doing by doing interviews it's also a good way for me to like get different point of views. I mean, so far we haven't like fought over over ideas but by I that's why also I really like it. It's it's in line with with my state of mind.

Okay, right on so in line with your state of mind. So, alright, so for my listeners out there that are wondering since we keep saying FinTech, FinTech, FinTech, what is FinTech? Can you explain that?

Yeah, I mean, at the very basic level is just like a combination of finance and technology. So it is financial technology. That's that's what it is. However, when people talk about FinTech usually what they mean is more like innovation in financial services. So how, you know how technology's changing financial services. And for me, I take even a broader view, which is innovation. So it doesn't only mean like technology, it can be like, you know, innovation in terms of business model in terms of strategy products. So this is a view I'm taking on FinTech. But yet, so I mean, short shortcut is innovation in financial services, that's a good way to look at it. But really, you know, an ATM, you can argue an ATM is financial technology, right? So, there's that there, there are different news. But usually people talk about the past 10 to 20 years of innovation of new companies. So the fintechs coming to the market, and disrupting these industry.

Yeah, you know, and, and ATMs can, depending on which ones you go to, can be very dated technology. Because there are some that I go to, you go in there and you start plugging in your you know, you put your card and you plug in your pin and then you hear do a dial up. And it's like on dial up internet and I'm like, Are you serious? I haven't heard these sounds since I logged into AOL back in the 90s. What's going on here? So yeah, it's it's it's, it's crazy. You know, they've been around for a while, but you know, things are starting to change. And, you know, with that, you know, with with a lot of, you know, electronic banking and everything else that's going on. I know, you like to talk a lot about blockchain, right. And, and, and things like that. So I'm not the smartest when it comes to that. And that's why I'm kind of excited to talk to you. Maybe you can educate me and my audience a little bit about that. But what are some of the things that you know, in, in FinTech today that excites you that that, that you see what's going on?

Yeah, so I mean, besides that, the the obvious, you know, the Elephant, elephant in the room, as you say, crypto and Bitcoin. I think I mean, there there are many more things are changing the industry and changing really the business word. That for me more exciting. I see payments, for instance, where you are lots of innovation going on in payments. I mean, I know like in the US that we have a different like ways of doing payments in Europe where we had ships for for a while and now we're all moving to contactless payments. So we're different stage. If you look at Asia, it's also again, different. Lots of mobile payments there are so many things that thing in payments like going from point of sale payments so when you go to a restaurant you pay to like online payments like the way you do checkout now and the way you were doing chicken before it's like it's more and more seamless and that's that's a broader trend that we call like embedded finance bedded banking so which just means that finance and banking is more and more embedded into the customer journey. So these are quite exciting and then yeah, obviously a lot of things happening with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies which are interesting and I've been following for quite a while so either keep an eye on it it's not it's not keeping me up at night but I do find it interesting as a trend

okay. So what is it that you find interesting about cryptocurrencies? You know, and Bitcoin Well, you know, which is a crypto as well but what what is it that gets you excited about cryptocurrencies? Because I just me personally, I just I haven't got on the train yet to where I'm super excited about it like I see where it's making an impact and I see that it's here to stay I mean, that's obvious it's here to stay. But when when I see like all the different like alternative coins and the different kryptos that are coming out that it seems like people are just making stuff up as they go. And again, I'm not smart enough on this stuff to know like, what's good what's not good? So when people ask me about crypto I'm like, Hey, you got to talk to someone that actually knows about that stuff because I don't have an eye you know a clue. Now I've been following Bitcoin for a long time I remember back when I used to you know I used to game and stuff back in the day you know and I'm gonna I'm gonna date myself here playing in Starcraft tournaments and I you know, I remember back then it was like birthplace you get 100 bucks second place is 50 bucks third place is 25 bucks, fourth and fifth place you got 20 Bitcoin and you didn't want to be the guy who was in fourth or fifth place getting 20 Bitcoin because they were giving away Bitcoin websites would give it away if you you know you registered on their site, so nobody wanted that. And man, if I can go back in time, I'd be like, man, I want to come in fourth place forget, you know, first second and third I was like I want to come in for to get the 20 Bitcoins. So it's what changed what made Bitcoin jump and take off the way it did. It's just it's, it's, it's mind boggling to me.

Yeah. So I mean, as I said, I've been following a lot as well, around her back in Sydney, 11 hours was in Business School, was this, you were studying to hear but this Bitcoin stuff? So looked at it was worth like four or $5. I was like, Yeah, I know, it's worth zero. But you see a bit of a bit of a mistake on on land. But because the thing is, I mean, my background is finance. And I've studied economics, and I even studied like econometrics in resonance, which are statistics applied to economics and stuff. So I do like economics or the way to look at Bitcoin is that it's a bit the same as the comparison is drawn a lot to gold, which is that value of Bitcoin is just the value that everybody agrees it as so we're all agreed as it's worth $5 or $5, the chores

it's what we do with our currencies right now. Like you know, same thing with over where you're at with the euro and what we do with the US dollar, it's, it's, you know, the, the faith of the people that, you know, the dollars worth $1 that a euro is worth the Euro, right? So I kind of look at it like that, but I just I just don't see where it's like it's tied to anything besides the fact that they can only make a limited amount, like I know that it's going to cap and then they can't make any more so I get that the there'll be scarcity, right? But what is it tied to that actually holds value,

Yeah and it's as you say, just like, we all agree, it has some value so it has some value, but apart from that, that's that the only thing obviously the price the prices like the price is impacted by several factors like the the mining costs, for instance is impacting the price. surges of wash trading happening as well which is wash trading is is when on an exchange, you have like the same coin that is going back and forth between between several wallets, which is you know, it's a great practice is just to inflate the price of it. So I think I mean, there that's the thing is, there's no fundamental way to look at it. And that's why back in 711, I looked at it and I was like, I'm studying finance here. This this is not, this doesn't make sense. And the the thing is a lot of institutional investors have taken the view which is same as gold is that okay, fine, well diversify and invest a bit in Bitcoin, because it makes sense as part of our portfolio strategy. And, and for me, as long as you consider crypto like this, which is a diversification tool, and we're not going all in and represent that you say 5% of my portfolio will be in Bitcoin. I think this is very sensible. And it's it's an approach that I can understand. She tells me kryptos are future and represent crypto, whatever, then I'm like, No, this is this is BS.

Yeah, then the flags didn't go up and you're going to ask some questions. So no, I okay. I like that. That's definitely a more reasonable answer than I expected. Right? Because like looking at your background and everything, I was kind of like, I thought you were gonna go with the man, I'm all in crypto all the way. 100% So no, that's that's very reasonable. Awesome, you know, because it's, it's all about when you're looking at your portfolio. And when you're, you know, you're trying to build for retirement, you're trying to build wealth. Right? It's the key thing is diversification. Right? So if you have a little bit here a little bit there and you're dabbling in crypto, it's probably not a bad thing because you know, we all seen what bitcoins done from 2011 to where it is today. I remember when it hit $60 when I was looking at it I thought that I thought it was ridiculous I was like there's no way How is this $60 and then it was $1,000 and then it was $9,000 and I'm like What is going on? So this back in? I think it was 2015 2016 is actually when I bought some Bitcoin when it was like seven or $9,000 I remember I sold it all when it got up to it went up to 19 and then drop back down I think I sold it at 12 and this was in 2017 or 18 before I came to Hawaii 2017 I think somewhere around there and I didn't think it was ever going to bounce back from that as I go It peaked at 19,000 I don't think it's ever going to go back up again and and then man was I wrong we jumped up to 60 and you know it's back down at 40 right now but you know some people think it's going to be at six figures by the end of the year. I don't know you know, but if it if it makes another run like it did a couple months ago possibly you know it's just it's it's kind of wild to watch it it's the thing that scares me though about cryptocurrency is just how volatile it is. You know it's it's constantly in flux, you know?

Yeah, I think I mean it should go into into this I mean that's why I was saying for me I look at it as part of a portfolio strategy and you look at your risk adjusted returns and navigate one and you have real estate that is quite stable on the other end you have cryptocurrencies and and then one is going to be more volatile than the other and one will have more potential returns and the other but also I mean what what I find fascinating is lots of people don't have a good grasp of risks which is i mean it's it's fine i mean if you think you're going to make 250% on in a month on something just be ready to lose 100% because that's that's how it works there is no there are no investment they only go in one direction. So as long as you're ready to lose a lot of money you can't you can't expect to to gain a lot of money. So that's that's the whole thing. I mean, and then I mean for me the price of bitcoin as well this this past year. And it's also because there is a lot of money in the system at the moment is that the money printing machine is working full regime. So it's going into all the asset classes, they're all going through the roof, which is asset, real estate like equity, everything is going through the roof. So venture capital, there's just too much money to invest and like money needs to find a place that's where all the institutional investors are like, where do we go, oh, let's go into crypto because they need to find a place they need to find yield. They need to find return so that's that's what also is propping the whole the whole thing.

Yeah. And and the people that are you know, that are pumping it up and and making the jump the way it is it's not like they're putting, you know, all of their eggs in one bag. Ask it and putting it all in there. I mean, there, there probably are some people I know, you know, you read a lot of articles back when the whole GameStop thing happened. And then Dogecoin like people taking their life savings and dumping it into it. But unfortunately they started a little later in the game, they wind up losing it all. So you know, you have to you have to be prepared with any investment, that you know, it's a risk, right? So you have to be prepared that any money that you're going to put into anything, impossibly be lost, right? So it's it's important that whatever it is, you decide to go into that you do your own due diligence, right, and make sure that it's something that you're comfortable putting your money into. And if it's, you know, something like it's a speculation and you're not entirely sure that you know which way it's going to go and, and you haven't really done enough research, then don't risk it all. You know, don't go put everything in there and put all your eggs in one basket because if you drop that basket, and they all crack, you're not gonna have any eggs left, you know. So, okay, so I want to know, like, what over the past couple of weeks or months has really caught your attention with what's going on in FinTech. today. Let's take a brief moment to hear from our show sponsors What's going on everybody? So today I want to talk to you about the podcast editing service that we use for the Average Joe Finances podcast that is editpods.com and what I really like about them is it's a subscription based service. So the prices are fantastic. And not only do they do the podcast episodes for us, but they also make us videos, audiogram's social media caption videos, they do our show notes, thumbnails, it's just fantastic products. Go check them out at editpods.com What's going on everybody? So today I want to talk to you about wealth defender. If you are a finance content creator, whether that's a blog, a podcast, you're a financial advisor or a financial coach, I highly recommend you check out wealth tender, wolf tender is building a database of all the top finance blogs, podcasts, and the financial advisors and financial coaches that they have on there are vetted and top notch so we actually had the pleasure of hosting Brian Thorp, the CEO and founder of wealth tender on Average Joe Finances podcast episode 25 go check out that episode, listen to his story and listen to him talk about the database that he's building. It's really phenomenal stuff. So if you're interested in checking out the directory, or if you're a finance content creator and you're interested in joining up with the directory, go to the link below in the show notes or check out www.AverageJoefinances.com/wealthtender let's get back to today's episode. You're listening to the Average Joe Finances podcast whether it's single or multifamily real estate the stock market or side hustles we discuss it all strap in and enjoy the ride

regulations coming in the way is which is which is probably going to be good. Lots of people the unknown it's here to pay taxes the IRS is coming from the IRS is always coming for you always. So it's quite interesting what we'll see where this goes but it's obvious i think it's it's beautiful for the whole industry, mystery, you know, klarna raising a lot of money tells you a bit of story around consumer finance and how it's changing because by now pay later, is emerging as something very strong as an alternative to credit cards and personal loans. It's quite it's quite an interesting trend. I think I look a lot at consumer finance in the US and in in Europe. And you can see that there is it an underlying trend with with binary later. People like it say like it's part of this old thing I was talking about, like embedded finance, which is you buy something at checkout tells you you can pay in three times five times Okay, fine. And it's it's a nice customer experience, the interest rate is sometimes zero because most of the time and the merchant is financing so that's why it's zero. So you pay like 10 times like and and it doesn't cost you anything. It's because actually someone is paying it's like it's not 10 times and oh who is making money while current is making money. It's the merchant is paying. So sometimes you pay sometimes just pay but it's an interesting I think business model and it has it has his pros and cons I think they're they're also the argument that people get more into that with that, that they don't see. They don't see it. Oh no, it's not. It's it's not credit. I'm just being 10 times Yeah, it's credit because it ties you over a period of time. If you if you miss a payment, then it's the same. I mean, I don't know how in the US, but in the UK are starting to say, well, it should have the same impact as missing a payment on loan. So So is there, there's going to be like some red light reckoning with some changes around.

So it's some impact to your credit score.

So it's an interesting trend for sure. I mean, I look at it, and I find it interesting. And the last one, I guess it's not, you were saying about GameStop. The whole Robin Hood, democratizing trading. This is to democratize investing. For me, what they try to incentivize is trading sign, like what they want you is to trade five times a day, like, buy some weird options. It's not about you. I mean, if you're investing, that's not what you're supposed to do is this is day trading. 80% of the people are gonna lose money. 90%. So I think it's obviously by seeing what they're doing. Understand. But I'm also quite careful about what what kind of customer behavior to try to push for here.

Yeah, so I want to I want to go back to what we were talking about with, you know, that that point of sale, payments now right with with it being you said it was with Karna? Right? When you say somebody pays 10 times are you talking about like when they go and they check out and they get their products that they have the option? Or is it even? Is it even an option? Or is it automatic that they go and get the products and Okay, you have to make 10 payments now, you know, over the next 10 months? Or you said sometimes that people would get it for free? Like it's already it's already paid for just depends on how it how it is when you get up there? Like I'm not entirely sure. Like, how does how does that work? Like? Are some people gonna wind up overpaying for products while other people get it for free?

No, no, what I mean by that story is that sometimes at checkout, they tell you, oh, you can pay. Let's say you're buying something for your bank computer for $2,000. You can pay $10,000 now, but you can pay 10 times $200 over the next 10 months. This is why you know this is the buy now pay later plan. And what I mean by that is that sometimes it would say Oh look, if you pay in 10 times, it's gonna be 2200. Because this is the interest on the on the loan. But sometimes they just tell you look, it's $2,000 pay now or it's $2,000. Like divided by 10. no cost for you. Oh, yeah, yeah. When this when this is your interest, no cost. What I meant is that someone is paying is that current is not doing it for free, or whoever is like, nothing is free. This word. So

yes, this is paid by transaction fee or like similar to like a point of sale with a credit card? Or is it like do they get paid per payment? Like if you had that like over a 10 month period? Are they getting paid like per transaction or per payment? How does that work?

So I mean, what I what I've seen before some of the developing products in that space, is there various options. But typically, it's the merchant is paying the interest rate. So the e commerce website or whatever, they're going to pay the 90% APR 5% APR, whatever the interest rate on the loan, it will be the one that that fit the bill could the bill and that's that it can be just a fixed fee as well. It can be different, but usually, What I meant is that someone from this bank website is usually pay

Yeah, for sure. So so it's the it's the actual vendor who's going to be paying that cost in that particular situation if you're getting it for like 0%. So yeah, okay. Right on. Yeah, this this is definitely some interesting stuff. It's not stuff that I talk about every day, or have guests on to talk about this stuff every day. So it's, it's definitely interesting to learn. You know what I'm learning today. So now out of all these things that that you're looking at that kind of get you excited, what would you say is probably the most exciting thing? Is it crypto, or is it this new point of sale system? What is it that's that's exciting the most right now.

So when what is exciting me at the moment is the whole wealth management space. So I'm working on my on a little project of mine, okay, and a new company in that space, because what I was saying is that, I think it's great. There are lots of Investing Options. I've been out there now you can invest in so many asset classes these days. This was possible before before you couldn't invest in venture capital like in startups. Now you have crowdfunding you have ETFs in absolutely everything you know I made some investment last year in oil and because you can you can play you can play all situations now it's like amazing what you can do now in terms of in terms of asset classes you can invest into it however what I'm not seeing yet is the tool to help you actually plan what what where you should invest and like help you in the decisions you're making browsers and telling people oh you know you should trade options and buy buy like exotic options on GameStop I'm like yeah now but this is not this is not an investment strategy. What I was saying how like a tool to help you like you should diversify you should do all of these and you should have money in that asset class you should have this so this is quite a seeing a field that I don't see a lot of things happening I see a few things but I don't see like you know, your Robin Hood or financial planning you're like someone tackling this and saying I'm going to help you guys this is going to I'm going to manage your I'm going to help you manage your wealth because you can do it if you have you know just $50 million of course you're gonna have like wealth managers all over you and they're gonna do this for you. But what happens is you should have a bit of money and everybody can plan everybody can do financial planning it's it's it's the whole thing were you saying you need money to plan your money? No, you just you can invest $100 a month and build your wealth over time and you can invest 100,000 fine it's just but this whole plan for your future and this is what gets me excited the moment

yeah So what you're saying is like you know you don't see a lot of like stuff that's out there for Do It Yourself planning right you know, so unless you're going out there and hiring a financial advisor You know, there's not really a lot of options for you to sit there and manage your wealth yourself with with having some type of like guidance to help you I mean, you know, there's like there's robo advisors and things like that but it's it's not the same as you really doing it yourself right? And you know, there's a lot of people out there that you know, take pride in being able to do things themselves you know, like I have a portfolio that that's just you know, some play money that I you know, mess around with and I'm excited because it's averaging 30% for the year so it's it's you know, it's and it's just that's something I did myself it was you know, the research I did and and things like that there's kind of like that self gratification you're like oh, I did this you know, I didn't have to hire somebody Yeah, I do have a financial advisor that manages other accounts right but this was just something for me to see if I can do it. And it's funny because I started this whole thing as a speculation account and it wound up turning into me investing into safer bets like things that I knew I liked like different dividend paying assets like real estate investment trusts and things like that so yeah, that's definitely something that excites me too when when I get to you know, get in there and do some stuff myself it's it's it's definitely exciting. So is there any particular things that you're looking at that's upcoming in the future? Are you trying to develop some type of software in the future or work with some companies to make something like that in the future that's going to be more of a do it yourself to manage your own wealth?

Yeah, so I'm actually so we're actually building something so we're building we're building a company around that with doing it myself with a lot of smarter people than me like you know, you saw intelligence and an economics just to just to build something quite quite solid. But things are just based around people that you know, they want to do it themselves you know, we're seeing robo advisors it's cold but she gives the keys and you're like okay, you know, do it for me. Yeah. And and for me, for instance, I'm like you're like like to peak and to make mistakes, they make good bets. And that's that's the beauty of it. And I don't want to give the keys someone and do it for me. I want to date myself, but there are no I don't see any tools like especially if you want cross I mean, you can see like you connect your account you see like listed assets. For instance, you We'll see all your funds or whatever, what if I want to know as well like, taking into account the equity I have in my house, some real estate investments, some bits of metal on private startups. So this whole thing, so yeah, we're, we're still still early stage where a stealth mode startup so we're not disclosing so much about it because the technology's like quite innovative and we don't want anybody to steal it. So we're still at this stage where we're starting to get investors to take it to the next level. But ya know, it's quite exciting. They will make a splash at some point.

Yeah, right. Are you going to do like, a Kickstarter campaign? Are you going to strictly just reach out to some investors and see what, uh, what you guys can come up with?

For now we're going to look for angel investors and VC VC funds that precede. But I do like, the idea of crowdfunding, especially when you buy retail, when you build a retail product. thing, it's a good way to bring your early, early adopters on Yeah. And that skin in the game, like early investors in some great startups, and they become become the best advocates of your products other Yeah, because they invest in this company, I have so much money now. So I'm using their product. So I do

your beta testing group to you know, so, yeah, hey, you know, whichever route you go, the whole thing's pretty exciting. Especially when you're you're building something that that can be so massive, right? So I really wish you luck with that, I really hope that you guys build something really awesome, that's gonna, you know, be able to combine all the things that we talked about today. That'd be really fun. So hey, so I just want to ask you a little bit more about what you yourself are doing right so were you interested in like what what other asset classes are or what asset classes in general Do you personally invest in yourself?

So I'm quite diversified. So I've, I put my money where my mouth is so over the years, what I've done is that I I tried to build a portfolio that is quite balanced. And the way the way I look at investments I look at time or time horizon, so the things I don't need, the things I'm investing for 2030 years, it's gonna go real estate's equity and liabilities. This is for the long term and real estate because it's stable and it kind of goes up slightly a bit. And equity because it can fluctuate, so I'm like, I don't mind. I don't mind if it if it dies, and and we'll, we'll see how it goes. So so so I've invested in in real estate, I've invested like, like real one, not through like funds, but I've bought real estate investing to into equity and equity. I'm also tried to diversify a bit of Asia, a bit of us a bit of Europe. And I tried the way I look at it. So I'm looking at ETFs and stuff like s&p 500 footsie 100. And I'm trying to match the global economists and look at the ways they're growing. And I'm like, Okay, so I'm doing like a macro play. Am I gay, like the US is, is that big right now it's growing that much. So I'm putting this and then I look at China and that's how I invest in equity. And then I've sort of also diversified in other stuffs are investing a bit in startups through crowdfunding, it's a good tool you can invest in, you can make lots of bets, without having to go like 5000 10,000 to like a private company, you can you can say, I'll put 250 500 or whatever. And yeah, I have a bit of crypto and so I like you sometimes I take approach and seek approaches is that I last year, I bought some more when you know what, when he went to negative territory, or I actually I bought like around $20 and I was like it's not it can't I was looking at it was like constantly like this because everybody's losing money. I bought in and I went up, I made a loss. And I did the same the same trading since 16. So I also like to have a bit of money to play around. Yeah, I mean, I literally try to diversify as much as possible. And, and, and also, I'm careful about the allocation. So I will rebalance. If I see I'm too young to mature on some saying that it's it's evolving too much. And I tried to rebalance and diversify as my investment strategy.

Yeah, that's, that's great, you're probably one of the more well diversified people that I've talked to on the show, when you're talking about all the different areas you're investing in. That's, that's awesome. And the fact that you stay on top of it, that if you see you're you're kinda, if the powers that be are starting to have an imbalance, you, you adjust and you and you rebalance your portfolio. So that's right on your sounds like you're very disciplined with, with where you keep your portfolio at. So that's, that's definitely awesome. Alright, so a lot of the folks that listen to my show are, you know, they're, they're just starting out, they, they just got themselves out of debt, they want to start investing, do you have any tips or tricks that you would recommend for somebody who's just getting ready to get out there and get started today?

Yeah, I mean, you know, what I was saying is that these days, you have lots of cheap options to invest, I would look at the horizon, as an instance, do you need the money next year, next two years, five years, 10 years, and try to see like, some asset classes are more or less liquid. So you buy if you buy a house, you know, or you, you, you know, some assets are less liquid, and some are more, you need to take a very long term view. So I would look at the others when they need the I mean, it's that simple. When do you need the cash? Do you need the cash in the next year or not? So if you have built as well, you're you're kind of emergency fund. And then you go and invest if it's money that you don't need right now. And it's for retirement buy like s&p 500 ETF and stuff like this, and it's your, it's your play on the on the US economy, and it's gonna fluctuate a bit, but it's, it's a good long term bet. So I would start like this first, and then and then slowly start, you start building up and diversifying to, to have exposure to other stuff, like emerging countries. And so and then you can start by like a bit of real estate like through you can also do it through real estate trusts. And you can invest in the thing is, for instance, crowdfunding should be like around 5% of your portfolio with venture capital, right? So at that point, when when you your portfolio is big enough, she can start diversifying in noiser asset classes, a bit of crypto here and there if you want, like, despise your portfolio. But But yes, the basics for me are, for the long term, the basic is equity. And it can take different forms, but I would say like going to like funds or ETFs, because if you're just getting started doing like a bit of stock picking, like the risk are a bit higher ish, you just want to build a portfolio of like stocks, I will you know, that's why SMP 500 is great. 500 companies are building everything well, obviously take our strong Wait, but it's a good diversification education play at first is that you put $100 in in s&p 500, you diversify that risk.

Right on. Yeah, that's, that's all fantastic advice. Really awesome. And, you know, this, this has been a fun conversation, because I learned a little bit more, I guess, it's, it's okay to, to be wary of cryptocurrencies and things that you don't know too much about. But at the same time, you know, not be 100% afraid of getting involved in it, right, because, you know, like, like we were talking about earlier, every, every investment carries with it some type of risk, right. But if you don't take any risk at all, then you don't reap any rewards. So I'm not telling everybody go out and go buy a bunch of cryptocurrencies or anything like that, you know, just do your research and make sure that it's something that it's, it's something that you want to add to your portfolio. I think one of the things that Tristan really pointed out a lot is the diversification of where you're, you know, allocating your assets, right? It's important to have such a strong diversification. And, you know, just I was very surprised at the fact that you also invest in real estate because when I looked at your background and looked at what we were going to talk about today, I was like, Alright, man, he's gonna come on here and be like, I'm 80% crypto or 100% in crypto. So I'm really excited to know that you're you're so well diversified. Not only in, in, in like specific, you know, asset classes, right, you're, you're in all of them, you've got real estate, you've got paper assets, but you're also looking at the different economies of different countries, when you when you take into consideration what you're going to get yourself involved in. And that's really exciting. I don't really invest outside of the United States. So it's kind of, you know, looking at it from that point of view is, was kind of eye opening for me, you know, you're definitely taking a more holistic approach. And like you said, at a much higher level, right, you're, you're sitting here at the 100,000 foot level, looking down at Earth, and saying, okay, us is doing this right here. It's going up, China's doing this. Okay, I'm gonna get a little here a little there. I mean, that's, that's some true diversification right there, man. That's awesome.

Yeah. And I mean, to be honest, also is that you don't need millions as well to diversify that. So for instance, I mean, when I say, so I bought real estate, in, in Moscow in South of France, because I was living in London, is quite expensive city. And I was like, Well, okay, you know, what, the market is bit too expensive here. But I want to buy real estate to diversified. So I bought in marsay, like, you know, a fraction of what I would have bought it in London, diversifying doesn't mean you need, you need a lot of money to, to have money everywhere, it's actually these days, it's quite cheap to to, to have money a bit everywhere. So yeah, buying real estate, maybe it's not exactly where you are, you find a city, those mid size a bit cheaper, and you buy there, and this is how we start investing. So there are various ways to various ways to do that. And, yeah, and I think a lot of people seeing you need a lot of money to, to plan your wealth and to invest in stuff. And I think that's, that's just not true.

Not at all, you can get started with $100. Right? You know, you know, what's exciting is, I bring a lot of people on the show, that are real estate investors. And, you know, it's a very common thing that people invest out of state, like, you know, so I live in Hawaii. So it's really expensive to buy more property out here in Hawaii. So I like many others that live here in Hawaii, we invest out of state, right, but, you know, you're not only invest with where you're at right now you're investing out of country, right? Which is, which is really awesome. And you're not afraid to get yourself out there. And I mean, this, this has just been really cool, man, I think, you know, when we talk about FinTech and just you know, where finance is head is heading to in the future. It's just very exciting. Like there's a very bright future, for the different things that are coming out right now that, you know, that we as investors, and just individuals that want to retire in the future need to be mindful of right. You know, that whole thing that you were talking about that technology, but the point of sale technology is really awesome. I don't really I don't think we even have that live anywhere in the United States yet. So I'll keep an eye out for for when, you know, there's their their stores or, or companies that will allow for transactions like that maybe you can do it online, if you're buying in another country, but I don't think there's any us vendors doing that right now. So that's pretty exciting. Just things that are, you know, to come in the future.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, I'm a student, as you, you will have noticed and excited but everything is coming up, I think, last 10 years. It's been, it's been amazing. But there's a lot more to do.

The next 10 years will be even better,

yeah, and there's no way to stop it. And it will be interesting to see also the overall dynamics in terms of companies that stay around because the money is going into startups, and not all of them are going to survive. Whatever the big banks are the organism Why? I don't know. But so it's going to be an interesting, an interesting dynamic in terms of the actual businesses that win because you can't have so many. If you look at business ready, you can have so many companies after the same market, over the long run only a few a few survive. And then smaller players are busy but you can't have like, you know, on the massive, massive companies that go after just the same pie. If you look at Google, Amazon, like they're good examples of the go after market doubles as your competitors, then ultimately only you know Highlander, only one one wins and the one survives.

I like Like the reference as long as like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and all that don't try to like behead each other I think I think we'll be okay. Awesome. And hey, this this was a exciting conversation again, I learned a lot. I took a lot of notes down. I really appreciate you taking some time to talk to me. I know it's, it's about nine o'clock in the morning there it's nine o'clock at night here. So as I'm getting ready to wind down and end my day, you're, you're just getting started. But I definitely appreciate you you know, taking this time to talk with me today, Tristan.

Yes, thanks for having me. Mike. Was was a great, great chat. And I forgot

there's there's one more thing because I can't sign off without this. This The most important thing I gotta ask you, right? Because with all the stuff that we talked about today, I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of people, my audience that are going to be very interested in what it is that you're doing, especially when we talked about the FinTech review, right? So where can people find out more about that? You know, some more information on you. Do you have a website you could share with us in social media? We definitely can't leave without getting this information.

Yeah, sure. So I mean, to be honest, I'm, I'm on all over. I'm all over so you can find me on Twitter, FinTech. And just for review, you can find me on Instagram FinTech review, and find me on Facebook FinTech region. net. You can find me on LinkedIn. You can follow me connect with me. I just enjoy talking to people. Yeah, and so basically just just getting in touch to you can also go on FinTechcredit.net drop me an email at Hello@FinTechreview.net. Just get in touch.

Awesome. Alright, so I'll make sure I have all of that in the show notes for everybody. So if, if you didn't just listen to that and write it down, you can certainly go into the show notes, copy and paste that and go check out Tristan and everything that he's doing. I mean, I think some of the stuff that we talked about today is just kind of tip of the iceberg. There's so much more that you can get and you get that information by checking out his website. So make sure you get out there and check it out. Follow him on social media. Definitely putting out some good info. I enjoyed the flow of this conversation. I definitely think you you know you're you're going to be moving on into the future as you do more of these reviews and more interviews with these companies. It's gonna be really exciting to follow what you're doing. So again, hey, thanks man so much for for chatting with me today.

Thanks, Mike. It was it was really great.

All right, Aloha. Thanks for listening to the Average Joe Finances podcast. Your source for beating debt, saving money and investing Learn more at AverageJoef nances.com. The Average Joe F nances podcast is for i formational and entertainment p rposes only. Do not use this f r any real estate or i vestment making decision.