Received this from an insider friend. Wonder if it is true.
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Indeed, Clement Chiang promotes himself very well on his website (
www.freely.com/about-freely.html). But all you needed is to google and some common sense to know that some things he proclaims just aren’t that right.
Clement Chiang claimed to have a PhD degree from a ‘Preston University’, which in actual fact is not a University but a business entity. Preston is probably a degree mill (
http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/degree+mill.html), according to Wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_University) and The Chronicle (
http://chronicle.com/news/article/?id=1808). Degree mills will ship to anyone any academic certificate as long as they are paid a tidy sum of money. If what Wikipedia said is true, then Clement Chiang probably bought his PhD to call himself ‘Dr Chiang’.
According to the University of Louisville (
http://delphi.louisville.edu/distance/student/), where Clement Chiang gets his MBA, students can complete their studies without ever entering a classroom. Have you heard of MBA classes without classroom interaction at all? Even if there is, then you ought to question its academic worthiness? Is it just a cheap and easy MBA program?
On Clement Chiang’s Chinese website (
http://www.freely.com/chinese/), he claimed to graduate from 普林斯顿大学. This is actually the name of Princeton University, an 100+ years old Ivy League University. Apparently, Preston choose to have the same Chinese name as Princeton University, even the English pronunciation sounds almost identical. Pure coincidental or outright misleading? You decide.
I am confused whether Clement Chiang is a marketing guy or an investment person. He claimed to be a fellow of Chartered Institute of Marketing, Marketing Council Asia, Chartered Management Institute and International Professional Managers Association. If you are an Engineer, you join associations like Institute of Engineers. If you are into investment, you join SIAS. Further, why choose CIM, CMI and IPMA which are all based in Europe, when Clement Chiang himself is conducting investment courses in Singapore and Malaysia? These organizations do have big names but have nothing to do with investment or option trading.
Clement Chiang also claimed to be a fellow of Marketing Council Asia. I’m not sure if this organization exists as I google nothing. But in all fairness, there is another chap (
http://www.bawany.com.sg/advisor.htm) who claimed that he is the founder of Marketing Council Asia, and he also has a Preston degree.
Clement Chiang likes to throw in a lot of big names into his introduction, like CNBC and Stanford University. Clement Chiang claimed to be a recipient of the Shah Family Prize by this Stanford Professor for his good ECA records. But Clement's ex-NTU classmate revealed that he was asked to resign (voted off?) as a student leader during his college days. I am not able to ascertain this fact. But if it is indeed true, then Clement's good ECA record is only the rosy first half.
Towards the end of his introduction, he claimed to receive the ‘Key to the City’ by a US mayor, apparently given to esteemed visitors and residents. Yeah right, even a bunch of kids (
http://kysoccer.info/open/2006/javanon.87/red.carpet.louisville.pdf) who won a soccer tournament received the so call key.
In fairness, the above are my findings based on google search and hearsay. I do not mean to discredit Clement Chiang or the university and organization he is representing. From a marketing point of view, Clement Chiang do package himself very well and able to convince others into believing his expertise in option investment trading.
There are plenty of such investment talks in the public, and most do not come cheap. They are all after your money. You have to be very mindful on where you spend your money, Peter. Like all investment vehicles, options trading can be an effective cash generating vehicle if you know it inside out. The fundamental is simple, high returns come with high risks. Invest wisely.
