Skip to main content

Gambling or Investing During This Still Ongoing Bear Market?

CardCow.com

Right now, I decided to monitor the stock market opening and closing almost daily. It looks like the bear market is far from over. I decided to Google "bear market not yet over". This is the latest report from the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) website:


The recent observation has some scores in green but the percentage changes are anything but significant. In short, the bear market is still on. It's a good time to buy more stocks (either through DIY or through a stock index fund). The PSEi's overall change is barely one percent. I feel Warren Edward Buffett's excitement right now since it might mean, "I'll probably buy in bulk yet again." In another case, the AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund will end up buying more units per month than it was during the bull market. I would dare say that the bear market is far from over based on the scores. True, they are in green (signifying an increase) but the increase is far from significant. 

This would be a good question to ask. Are you gambling or investing in this bear market? I was thinking of possible reckless moves that people could be doing during the bear market:
  1. Some people may have decided to withdraw their AXA funds to play Axie Infinity thinking it's an "investment" (read here).
  2. Some people may have decided to panic-sell their stocks because the value went down (read here). My assumption is that these people are more on day traders than those who choose to invest long-term (read here).
  3. Some people may have chosen to stop investing altogether (because the values went down) and decide to do gambling instead (read here). 
  4. Some people may have decided to withdraw their investments to transfer them to get rich quick schemes (read here).
  5. Some people may have decided to go with cryptocurrency instead of regular investments. I think these people decided to go for cryptocurrency based on social media gossip (read here).
All the moves above are financially stupid. Yet, the allure of instant riches is always there, right? Sometimes, those who are lured into it are highly intelligent people. That's why Buffett said that temperament plays a better part than intellect. One needs a good temperament to survive this ongoing bear market (read here). One can have straight As but a bad temperament can mislead one into a get rich quick scheme or to move from investing to gambling. Part of this gambling includes day trading which I don't recommend at all (read here). None of the moves I mentioned are investing--only gambling. True, there can be gains but it's very short-term. 

Buffett recommends investing over gambling


Meanwhile, what does it mean to invest during a bear market? It's seeing the opportunities of the stock market. Rather than panic, Buffett says, "If there's blood on the streets, buy stocks." Blood on the streets is an idiomatic expression. The stocks are in red? It's not a sarcastic yehey but a real yehey. There are some stocks from good companies in red. What happens is that it's a perfect buying opportunity to buy in bulk. If one's having a stock fund--a good opportunity for that stock fund to earn more in the long run. 

There's always the option to invest in an index fund. Granted, there's the PHP 8,000.00 rule in investing in stocks. One can always work to start with PHP 1,000.00 and then slowly put more on the same stock. For example, I buy stocks from Jollibee with PHP 2,000.00 during the first month and then PHP 6,000.00 because the bull market got hit by a bear market. Though, Buffett's other advice has been to buy an index fund if you don't want to do all the work in the stock trade. For PHP 8,000.00--I could buy an index containing the Top 30 companies in the PSEi. That would be easier than having to make sure I get a minimum of PHP 8,000.00 per stock to minimize losses. 

What I saw was the sale of the Philippine Smart Equity Index Fund (read here). I pretty much got excited that I decided to reach the PHP 8,000.00 goal and go beyond it. It would be interesting to think about the list of companies invested in the PSEi. So, for every PHP 1,000.00 or higher I plan to add-- I practically buy a basket of stocks per transaction. The top picks would be companies like SM Investments Inc., Ayala Corporation, and JG Summit Holdings. If I continue to put money into it--I'm practically letting the money grow in the long run. This is very different if I decided to play day trading with SM Investments stocks only to risk losing all my money in the long run.

This is the question right now. Are you investing or gambling? If you're gambling then I'm sorry--you're at a loss. In my case, I'd invest and wait. It would be boring but there are other sources of excitement. I can still play games, watch shows, etc. and then monitor investments to see if there's still more room for more units. I guess I can take comfort that when people gamble--it means investors will just invest more for the long-term.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Does the Grades-Over-Learning Approach Contribute to Students Hating Mathematics?

Schoolessons Some time ago, I wrote about why I used to hate school . The big problem has to be that the education system cares more about grades than learning . A good grade is indeed a sign of good character. A good grade is only good if it is achieved without cheating. However, for a grade to be really good--I believe that it must spring out from learning . However, the education system has been so focused on grades over learning that students end up cheating as a result (read here ). It affects every subject since a faulty system is a faulty school of thought. I'm going to really point out that I hated school because of the grades over learning approach. It's always all about grade shaming and even the best teachers end up indirectly or inadvertently participating in it. I still remember two of my best strictest teachers. One was as stern as the late Miriam Defensor Santiago. Another was the reason why I never dropped out.  This time, I'd like to focus again on mathemat...
Read more

Is Jollibee "Invading" South Korea Now as It's About to Acquire 70% of Shabu All Day?

I must confess that I find this new rather hilarious . It's because the word shabu is often associated with drugs. All the while, shabu shabu is a Korean delicacy! Well, I'm going to say that Jollibee Foods Corporation has now become a multinational buyer . Jollibee acquired 70% of Compost Coffee back in 2024 . This year, Jollibee as a multinational corporation is now acquiring Shabu All Day for PHP 5.1 billion pesos. Is Jollibee checkmating South Korea or is the Philippines conquering South Korea not just by OFWs but als through Jollibee? The answer is still no. From GMA News , we can read this article by Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas: Under the deal, Shabu All Day will be consolidated into Jollibee Foods Corp.’s (JFC) financial statements immediately upon completion of the acquisition for a total consideration equivalent to KRW127 billion. Completion of the transaction is subject to closing and financing conditions. The acquisition is expected to lead to a 2% jump in revenues, incre...
Read more

Are We Teaching Math in School... Wrong?

Schoolessons I could remember hating math while growing up. I actually and frequently had a vicious cycle that went like this--(1) I hate math, (2) I don't study math because I hate it, (3) I'd rather play video games or watch TV than study and practice math because I hate it, (4) I fail math exam because I didn't study, (5) it's always I hate math because I believe I'll never get it. In fact, I even felt like I wanted to quit school altogether and get into a fight with my parents because of math. It was a vicious cycle hard to break from, especially during our K+10 days. I remember being enrolled in Kumon classes for the summer when I was approaching Grade 6 (graduating year), I almost didn't graduate because of mathematics, and I had to have tutorials. I always felt math sucked, I'll never get good at it, and I'll never get better. I just kept thinking how "I hate math!" was my mantra and hating people who were better in the subject than I am...
Read more

The Tragic Windfall of the Late Flor Contemplacion's Family

PEH.ph Last year, I wrote an article talking about Flor Contemplacion crybabies spreading fake news for 30 years . I noticed that the movie could be watched for free on YouTube (which is one hour and 52 minutes long), and the one that you had to pay for via rent or personal soft copy ( which is two hours and two minutes long). I was looking into the film and realized the "for free" version lacks the exaggerated water dunking and electrocution torture scene, which I believe is available, which is a ten-minute difference. I remember seeing the old version where Flor was tortured by Singaporean police via water dunking and electrocution, to get an answer out of her. The famous line by the late Nora Aunor was, "I did not kill anybody!" It's 31 years, and I don't expect the fake news about Flor to stop just because  it's past 30. No, fake news is that hard to kill even in the digital age. It reminds me of the fate of Flor's sons , where one of them, Sandr...
Read more

Why Being a Miser Isn't the Right Way to Do Business or to Live Life

Sometimes, people can confuse frugality with being a miser. I think about a couple of times when I watched Spongebob Squarepants back some time ago and getting irritated at Mr. Krabs. Unfortunately, there are some people who are so obsessed with money (or money comes first) that they end up becoming misers. As I was watching Spongebob while studying to get my bachelor's degree in business administration--I felt that the Krusty Krab model won't work well in real life. I mean, I tend to eat at Jollibee almost daily since I was studying in the University of San Carlos-Main Campus (USC-Main). As I was eating there--I thought would have Tony Tancaktiong build Jollibee as an empire if he was a miser? Mr. Krabs ran his Krusty Krab on a miserly mindset--just one cook and one cashier. Mr. Krabs would even artificially inflate prices just to get more money. In real life, Mr. Krabs should go to jail. Drawing the line between being thrifty and stingy It's often easy to confuse both of ...
Read more