How did you get started in investing?
I started investing in stocks about 10 years ago. It was out of curiosity since my then-officemate would check his account and tell me how much money he lost or gained that day. I liked the idea of putting up my own business but didn’t really have the know-how and wasn’t prepared to shell out a huge amount, so investing in other people’s businesses was the next best thing.
I took a portion of my savings that has been sitting in a time-deposit account and bought shares of blue-chip companies. As a novice trader, I wanted my money to grow but was not too keen on risking my principal investment.
I checked several forums and blogs to get trading tips and learned about a club of a popular financial advisor. I subscribed and followed his recommendations. I also opened a mutual fund account because I wanted to compare the earnings from managing my own portfolio versus having a fund manager.
After a few months of trading and studying I became more confident and started making my own trade decisions.
I’ve made some money over the years but I’ve also experienced selling shares at a loss as well as being disappointed when shares that I had already sold continued to rise in value. But this is all part of the journey and learning process.
What's the most important lesson you've learned from investing?
There are actually three lessons that I have learned.
- Do not be greedy when it comes to trading or investing in the stock market. At the end of the day, a gain is a gain.
- Playing the stock market will give you an adrenaline rush. Don’t get addicted to it. Make sure you make sound investment decisions, or you might just gamble your money away.
- Don’t buy the hype. Take careful consideration when investing in any individual stock. Know the nature of the company’s business, its management and competition, read its financial report, compare its P/E ratio to its competitors, and others.
