Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

It's nearly the end of July and I feel we need some lessons in temperament n investing. I wanted to recall some bad experiences I had with finances (as well as other life decisions) due to a bad temperament. It was a bad temperament that caused me to get cheated out of cash by a family friend. It was a bad temperament that caused me to nearly join pyramiding scams (read here ). Now, I decided to take a look at a post on Facebook a few weeks ago   that shows so much economic illiteracy and poor temperament ... Simply, I just can't help but laugh (or cringe) at the comments written here. Dare to read them on Facebook if you dare. What can truly be astounding is the bad temperament of those people. It's very contradictory to what Warren Edward Buffet said namely, "The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd. " Yet, the cringeworth

I think one of the most misunderstood rules is the PHP 8,000.00 rule. One reason why I decided to reach at least PHP 8,000.00 for my three GInvest funds (ATRAM Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund, ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund, and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund) is because of that rule. Though, some people tend to misinterpret it that they shouldn't enter the stock market (in any way either through DIY trading or buying an index fund) until they have PHP 8,000.00. Personally, I took advantage of GInvest's minimum start-up for the local fund (start with PHP 50.00 but it's not going to grow big with just that) and the feeder funds with PHP 1,000.00 each. What I did (instead) was to slowly invest money until the minimum was met.  Why do I feel waiting until you have PHP 8,000.00 before you invest in a bad rule? The fees are there, yes, but you may not be able to take advantage of the low dips . The market is rather unpredictable with the supply and demand. Stocks

CMBC International I'm going to make an obvious fictional financial group for illustrative purposes . Let's say that one day, a new financial group opens called the Intrigador Financials. Intrigador means one who likes to look for intrigue . Back in the 2000s, I remembered watching ISPUP on ABC-5 during my high school to college days. One of the parodies was called Intrigador-- a parody of the Filipino documentary show Imbestigator which means investigator. I decided to imagine this group because of how social media gossipers make poor financial advisers (read here ). Even worse, I'm afraid that more Filipinos are more than willing to listen to social media gossipers instead of the legendary investor, Warren Edward Buffett (read here ). Besides, the abundance of play-to-earn scam Google ads even inspired me to write this even further. I hope that Google will ban these ads for good. I decided to even install one of the games to find out for myself. The ad says, "No ads!

I remembered writing about the importance of low-level work (read here ). This reminds me of my elementary to high school days. The time came when my grades started to get low because of addiction to video games and television. It was a non-stop battle with my parents because of my grades. It could also be a non-stop battle with the teachers. Again, you know how the Philippine education system has been so outdated (read here )   that it's almost similar to what the late Lee Kuan Yew found in China. Lee's findings was that Deng Xiaoping inherited a China with an outdated education system. I could remember how the Filipino textbook (Tagalog actually) tried to talk about the importance of education. One of the lessons taught was about being a carpenter who has to climb up tall places or be an office worker in an air-conditioned office. Yet, being an office worker is no walk in the park either.  I think the way menial work is looked down on is disturbing. When Odette struck--I real

It's the bear market which is where financial experts like Warren Edward Buffett would recommend buying undervalued stocks from good companies (read here ). Recently, I decided to invest in the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund (read here ). It's pretty much the recommendation of Buffett for most investors who don't have the time or energy to do so. Buying the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund from ATRAM would give bits and pieces of the Top 30 companies that comprise the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi). I also felt it would be time to discuss daily stock trading. I heard of people who trade stocks daily. However, hearing Buffett's advice to buy and hold for the long term with this quote: If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years , don't even think about owning it for ten minutes .  Such a principle is all about long-term investing. I decided to go through Motley Fool and found on why day trading differs from investing:  Day trading vs. inves

Listen to him and those who think alike, not the social media gossipers! I guess this is always going to be another post where I'm refuting some gossip about foreign direct investments (FDIs). The social media gossipers want to make it look like all the advocates for reforms are giving in to colonial mentality. Colonial mentality is often a term used to define a person who prefers everything foreign even if what's foreign isn't of good quality. Though, I'm afraid the term colonial mentality has been misused and abused by people who want to remain in the protectionist status quo. We have had Carlos P. Garcia's "Filipino First Policy". Later, we had Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.'s protectionist regime. After EDSA, we still remained somewhat protectionist even after some economic amendments. The late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and former Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte had signed certain laws to ease certain sectors. Andrew J. Masigan, a Duterte criti

123RF The bear market is far from over, right? I wouldn't be surprised if some people are now blaming incumbent Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. for the stock market condition. Some people even blamed former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Maybe, some people felt that the late Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III was to credit for the stock market going up in the first 100 days-- something I find ridiculous. The bear market is in and it's no surprise that social media gossipers are spreading, well, gossip, on Facebook . That's why I wrote about how social media gossipers are poor economists (read here ) and terrible financial advisers (read here ). Sadly, some social media gossipers are even highly educated people . So, we're still in the bear market and it's far from over .  Here's the latest report for today to think about... The latest update has it that the PSEi has closed with a score of 6,209.53 where it went down by 53.86 point

Casino.org I was looking for a new topic to write about. Apparently, my post on Robin Padilla who I didn't vote for but now agree upon (read here ) is catching wind on Facebook . However, I didn't want to resist writing about the cryptocurrency hype. I recall some of my biggest mistakes aside from letting a family friend buy in huge credit or taking offers without asking. Another thing that I could've gotten into is cryptocurrency . The reason is I've been into hype-riding, praise addiction, or afraid of being left out. It didn't matter how much theoretical information   I learned if my  temperament is bad. As Warren Edward Buffet said the following: The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd. The issue is people tend to take pleasure in going against the crowd or for the crowd. I've experienced both of them and who hasn't?

Make no mistake that I didn't vote for Robin Padilla. I feel like I've had enough of voting for celebrities, athletes, and those who I felt are know-nothings in the legislative. However, Padilla recently had his proposal to remove the 60-40 restrictions regarding foreign direct investments (FDIs) . Former Philippine Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona-Robredo was even in favor of that amendment. I guess that's why Philippine economist Andrew James Masigan endorsed Robredo. I may have not endorsed Robredo while Masigan remains to be one of my favorite local sources. The news from GMA News Online reveals these plans by Padilla himself: Senator Robin Padilla said he wanted to revise the Constitution to scrap the 60-40 rule on foreign ownership of businesses to accelerate job creation and competition among industries . In a Monday interview, Padilla said the move would attract more foreign investments to support the country’s economic recovery. “Para sa akin mas

Knowing your investment is very important. I made the mistake of putting some money into the funds to test my skills. It figures out that I really needed to know how it'd work. Now, I decided to invest in the Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund. Here's some data from April 2022 to May 2022 to see where that minimum of PHP 1,000.00 gets spent on.  April 2022 May 2022 Why would I want to invest in foreign consumer stocks? Here's how Investopedia describes consumer stocks:  The term consumer staples refers to a set of essential products used by consumers . This category includes things like foods and beverages, household goods, and hygiene products as well as alcohol and tobacco. These goods are those products that people are unable—or unwilling—to cut out of their budgets regardless of their financial situation. Consumer staples are considered to be non-cyclical, meaning that they are always in demand, year-round, no matter how well the economy is—or is not—performing . As suc