TL;DR

After 18 years, our founders, Kathlyn Toh and Terence Teoh, describe freedom as a choice that people keep making, and not a finish line that people reach one day. In their anniversary interview, they explain why we began with personal mastery instead of trading, why Kathlyn built her own confidence before leaving her job, and why they chose freedom as the theme for our 18th year.

Key takeaways

1. Confidence has to come from your own practice. When Kathlyn told people she would trade options full-time, the question she heard most was "Are you sure?", so she traded part-time first until her results were consistent.
2. Ask the right person. When her Intel shares fell from 70 to 35, by her recollection, she asked colleagues who had no investing background, and she now says to decide what matters to you before listening to opinions.
3. Freedom is a level you choose. Kathlyn does not define freedom as never working. She picks the level she wants and accepts the trade-offs, which includes at least one overseas trip a year with Terence, and about four in a typical year.

We turned 18 this year. To mark the milestone, our two founders sat down for a long conversation about how we began, what went wrong along the way, and what they now believe about success and freedom. This article draws on that interview and keeps charts and strategy out of it. It looks at the people and the choices behind our company.

Why are we called Beyond Insights?

Our name comes from a goal that had little to do with trading at first. Our founders say that when they started our company, they did not plan to teach trading. They wanted to teach personal mastery, which they describe as bringing out the best in people.

The idea is simple. Once you have more insight about yourself, you can take better actions, and better actions lead to success. Our early motto said it in one line: "From insights to actions, from actions to success."

Our mission, which our founders chose when they started, is "bringing out the best in people and their financial future."

Why do our founders say 18 years is a short time?

Their answer begins with what turning 18 means. In Malaysia, they point out, an 18-year-old can vote, sign a contract, open a broker account, take full-time employment and get a passport. Terence recalls that his own 18th year was when he went overseas to study, and he calls it freedom.

The same lens applies to our mission. They decided on it when they started, they hold a strong conviction about it, and they say, "we want to do this for the rest of our life." They compare it to marriage: "if you marry someone, you want to be married forever." Seen that way, 18 years is the beginning of a long commitment.

When people asked, "Are you sure?" to Kathlyn leaving her job to pursue full-time trading

Kathlyn heard the question from her parents-in-law, and she heard it from colleagues when she left her job to trade options full-time. Each time she answered, the question came back, because people around her knew friends who had lost a lot of money.

Her reply was practical. She had practised "until I get consistent before I leave." She traded part-time first, so that her confidence rested on her own consistent results. She also accepted that she could not please everyone: "I cannot convince everyone, I built my own confidence." Without that step, she says, she would have been shaky under all the opinions.

This is her own path. Nothing here suggests that anyone should leave a job to trade, and her story shows how much preparation came first.

The bottom line: Confidence built from your own practice holds up better than confidence borrowed from other people.

What did the dot-com crash teach her about whose advice to follow?

Kathlyn learned a similar lesson earlier, and she says she learned it the hard way. The dot-com crash was a time when share prices of technology companies fell sharply. She held shares in Intel, where she worked, and she was not yet savvy about investing, in her own words.

When the price dropped from 70 to 35, by her recollection, she asked her colleagues and her manager what to do. They did not have a background in investing or trading. They told her that half price looked good for a great company, so she bought some, and the price went down further. She realised, "I'm asking the wrong person."

Her conclusion is about process. "There's tons of opinion out there," she says, so know what is important to you and make your own decisions. If a decision does not turn out well, treat it as a learning. This is a lesson about whom to ask and when. It is not a view on any company or share.

She applied the same thinking to her early struggles. She read books by people who had made it in trading and in investing, worked out what they did, and corrected her own mistakes. "A lot of people give up too early," she says, and she holds a simple belief: "if someone can do it, I can do it."

The bottom line: Learn from people who have done what you want to do, and make the final decision yourself.

How does Kathlyn keep going when business is hard?

She begins with enjoying the process. One day a student met her at the office door and asked, "Oh, Kathlyn, why are you here?" She first thought it was a very weird question, because it was her own office. Later she understood he had asked why she needed to be there. His question showed a common view that running a company, or an online event, only means being present when the event happens. In reality, she says, a lot happens behind the scenes to make it possible.

She says the work gets heavy for anyone who does not enjoy it: "if you don't enjoy what we do here it's draggy." Her second habit is what she tells herself during hard times. Business has ups and downs, and "the meaning we give to the up and down is the most important." Reframing a hard period as part of growth changes how it feels.

Can two people run a business and stay married?

Our founders say it can be done, and they do not describe it as easy. They disagree often, and one of them says, "that's healthy." Sometimes they talk about work at home, and sometimes things at work turn a little personal. They sort it out on purpose, and they say it has helped them understand each other much better.

The hardest part, they say, is doing what each of them believes is right without hurting the relationship. Kathlyn says she will still raise what our company needs, even with her spouse, and she is glad Terence has the maturity to handle it. What keeps it from turning personal is a shared focus on the mission, which "helps us to step beyond ourselves."

Expectations were another hard part. In a family, people are meant to accept each other unconditionally. In business, expectations are set for almost everything. It took time, but the lesson they share is that "you can set expectation with love."

How do our founders define success?

Our founders' answer is that success is not one destination. Kathlyn did not come from a rich family, and she watched her parents work very hard. Her first priority was independence, so that she would not need to ask anyone for money, including her husband. After that, her priority changed to being able to bring her parents on holiday. She says, "success is a journey, it's not a destination," and priorities shift at each stage of life.

Today she describes success as the freedom of choice to do what you like to do. She would not count herself successful if she made a lot of money while her relationship was unhappy. "Relationship is the most important," she says, and being unhappy at home is "a failure already."

Terence adds that success also means living out your life purpose. His example is a chair, which is successful because it was designed for someone to sit on and someone is sitting on it. Success can be celebrated every day, he says, "no matter how dire the situation is."

Why did they choose freedom as the theme for the 18th year?

Terence chose the theme because we are facing many changes in the world. Some are volatile, which means prices and conditions move quickly up and down, and many are exciting, such as AI. For him, "it's just like when we turn 18, it's just a whole new world being open to us." He feels we now have the freedom to make choices that we could not make before, and the next step is to rethink how we can do more, serve more and transform more lives.

Kathlyn adds that freedom is easy to chase and hard to pin down: "The more you look for it, the more you feel you don't have it." Her answer is not total freedom, and she questions whether total freedom even exists. Instead, she says, "I can still choose the level of freedom that I want," while accepting certain trade-offs. That includes at least one overseas trip a year with Terence, and probably about four a year.

Freedom, for her, does not mean never having to work. She says that is not what she is looking for.

The bottom line: Freedom grows from the choices you make each year, and the level you choose is yours to decide.

If you would like to hear the full conversation, you can watch it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iacAM05T2_E

About Beyond Insights

We are Asia's pioneer in Investing and Trading Psychology Bootcamps, founded in 2008 by Kathlyn Toh. We teach investing and trading through a structured, psychology-first approach, and we believe consistent results begin with psychology and money management. This article was written by the Beyond Insights Editorial Team, drawing on company training materials, original research, and the insights of our founder.

Featured expert: Kathlyn Toh

Kathlyn Toh is the founder and chief trainer of Beyond Insights, and a pioneer of trading psychology bootcamps in Asia. She has been investing and trading since 1993.

Risk disclaimer

Investing and trading involve risk, including the loss of capital. This article is for education only. It is not financial advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. We do not manage client funds. The experiences described here are personal, and they do not promise similar outcomes for anyone else.