Investment Platforms, ETFs, and the Trusting Hearts of the Lebanese

What are people looking for?
Personal Financial Strategies that lead to Financial Freedom, using adequate Passive Income Ecosystems.
It sounds simple. It’s not.

Most people discuss investing in the stock market, especially ETFs. It is mind blowing how much trust Lebanese people now have in platforms like Interactive brokers, and in ETFs which, while useful in certain ways, are volatile versions of mutual funds. To the point that, when we, at Atlantis Financials speak to them about what our founder Charbel Khoury calls "mature investing". They get angry. They choose to misunderstand instead of research and give themselves the chance to do what's right for them.

The truth is that buying assets on investment platforms has so many risks that are not even related to the market.

The tax on dividends, the tax on estate (inheritance if the account owner dies). The custodians of the platform. The segregation of assets. While all of these things are forced on all platforms by regulators, they are rarely done in optimal ways, protecting clients adequately. Because if they were to be done right, then they couldn't let investors exit any time they want to. Without commitment, there is no solidity in the build of the structure. There is no promise from the investor of anything that is useful for the fund managers to grant the best version of their assets. The lowest structure of their fees. Why would they? Since they have no clue when investors might decide to leave.

When we try to explain such things to people, the mind seeks to understand something by comparing it to what it knows. So they compare any commitment in investing, to traditional life insurance policies.
This usually happens with younger age, and less mature investors. Those who believe in fast wins, and in a world where they believe that they can have decent careers, and decent investments in parallel. As if their productive energy is infinite.
We see them, and we wish that they have a more open mind. But most of them choose to learn through pain. And come back to us after they have tried enough. Failed enough. Started a family. Pushed their careers. And understood that you cannot build a house without an engineer. Even if you watch YouTube videos, instagram reels, or a tiktoker in pajamas telling you that "you can do it yourself".

It's a shame that some people see a jar of cold sweet, delicious lemonade, and they shout "that's lemon juice! I won't drink it". Just as they see a request of commitment for better options and better costs, and an installed habit of investing over time. And they shout "that's an insurance product! It's very bad!!". Yes some things look similar. But one version can literally change your life.

The truth is that we know what happens on the other side. We've been doing this longer than the age of any of our proposed solutions. There are videos on our social media pages, especially instagram, that show clients who have adopted solutions from Atlantis Financials, or any of the companies of Atlantis Group, or taken the advice of Charbel Khoury or any of the Financial Behavior Consultants, or Financial Coaches. The videos show those clients expressing their gratitude for what they have been able to achieve over time. But that gratitude is not about profit, as much as it is about the amazing Passive Income Machine, the Financial Freedom Ecosystem that was built, brick after brick, over years. Something that can never be built with a mentality of greed and trading. That requires a certain level of maturity in the approach. Patience. And an understanding that nothing of value in life gets achieved using shortcuts.

We wish that people understood this themselves. But most don't. It's our mission in life. Our contribution to our Lebanese community. One that seems to have always learned the wrong lessons from 3 decades of financial pain. And always resorted to what is called in poker "being on tilt". Using any and all shortcuts to try and makeup for lost time and money. And ending up with more loss and a weak personal financial strategy.

It's now our reason of being. To build and support a Lebanese community of educated professionals. The Atlantis Community.