Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

I was checking on GInvest and I'm not surprised that the ATRAM stock investments have gone down. I checked my current portfolio and things went down. I was tempted to panic-sell until I recalled Grandpa Warren Edward Buffet's advice. It's sad that business schools, based on my experience, never taught students how to invest in stocks properly, not even the business schools. It's a good thing that Buffett himself speaks in such a way that I can understand it. I may not be the Oracle of Cebu City (nor do I intend to). I decided to Google Warren Buffett again for advice. I might need to buy a book by Buffett though before I can continue this project.  The article (from Yahoo! Finance ) I found was written last October 23, 2010. Here's some advice that I should heed instead of social media gossip: But numbers are only part of the equation; Buffett also emphasizes the human element in investing. As he stated in his interview, " Some people should not own stocks at a

It's time to begin a new road into investing. I went from a moderate risk taker to a moderately aggressive risk taker. Of course, I need to be careful with how much money I invest or I don't invest the money that I need. I believe that one could start by investing 15% to 20% of one's income. Basically, it's money that's not needed now. Fortune Recommends gives this ideal sweet spot: Many of the experts we spoke with suggested, as a general rule, to invest a set percentage of your after-tax income. Although that percentage can vary depending on your income, savings, and debts. “ Ideally, you’ll invest somewhere around 15%–25% of your post-tax income, ” says Mark Henry, founder and CEO at Alloy Wealth Management. “If you need to start smaller and work your way up to that goal, that’s fine. The important part is that you actually start.”  Some budgeting strategies account for this, such as the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, which breaks your monthly budget into three ca

I do have the nasty habit of checking my portfolio on a daily basis. It's sort of me choosing between buying more units of participation or is it the time to sell here? When I mean time to tell, it's not about panic-selling but selling it because I want some cash. Last year, I wrote about why I'm also investing in ATRAM's Global Technology Feeder Fund . I've noticed that the NAVPU has increased and it may reach up to PHP 270.00 or even up to PHP 300.00. I'm still invested in the ATRAM Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund. It's sort of like not putting all my eggs into one basket. Also, I'd like to say I finally paid my five-year plan with AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund. I did plan to pull out my ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund ASAP. It was because I was planning to buy myself a UPS because of the voltage fluctuations. I bought the UPS because I have big dreams for this site. Big dreams in the sense that I'll be a

I was laughing just thinking about ignorance about the bear and bull markets. Yes, we know about social media gossipers (seldom called a marites in Filipino) tend to spread gossip. I ran into several people panicking when the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) was mostly red. Others would panic but Warren Edward Buffett recommends, "Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." That's the best market timing. Some people do cost averaging because it's practically less risky in contrast to lump sum investing. Buffett recommends that non-technical people should periodically invest in a low-cost index fund over a period of ten years.  Now, the Philippine Star has an article by Wilson Sy, where the first paragraph talks about the Philippines' entry towards the bull market : Most stock markets have undergone a dramatic shift to start the year, transitioning from a bear market to a bull market. Peak inflation, a slower pace of interest rate h

The year is almost over and I guess I'll write a few more Season's Beatings huh? Right now, I'm keeping an eye on the PSEi score is around 6,500+ as of late. I could remember the time when the stock market went bloody red and this never left my mind... I could remember all the sarcastic "YEHEY?" from the toxic world of Twitter. There's also such stupidity on Facebook. I could remember arguing with some people who ended up using Ad Homimens in regard to the red stock market scores. Yet, what Warren Buffett says is, "Buy when there's blood on the streets." (read here ) As Buffett would also say, "Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." That's if one talks about market timing . Still, I believe in timing the market and time in the market. It's like if I decide to cost-average during low-tier days and add more money when the value is low. In my case, I prefer to use an index fund (in my case the Philip

  Just reading the news today from Inquirer Business about the recent panic selling. I'm not surprised given the financial and economic illiteracy in the Philippines. Here's an excerpt that gave me multiple reactions in regards to how they reacted to the bear market: Philippine stocks waded deeper into bear territory on Wednesday, with the benchmark index losing another 2 percent as fearful investors continued to dump their holdings over global recession worries and the falling peso. Stock brokers said the pace of selling had slowed from Tuesday’s bloodbath, which saw the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) plummet nearly 4 percent, amid early estimates on the damage to agriculture caused by Typhoon “Karding” (international name: Noru). Yesterday, the benchmark measure fell 2.33 percent, or 140.39 points, to 5,879.68 while the broader All Shares index lost 2.12 percent, or 68.59 points, to 3,165.64. One retail-focused broker described panic selling from many clients over the

Forex Factory I was looking at my GInvest funds and wondering, "Should I still be buying more?" Right now, what I'm doing is to value cost average . That is, it's best to invest a certain sum per month and buy more during a crash. Though, some people prefer to keep it safe by cost averaging. I was looking at my three recent investments (aside from AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund) are namely the ATRAM Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund, and the two feeder funds namely (1) ATRAM Consumer Trends Feeder Fund, and (2) ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund. So far, my invested amount has had a slight profit as technology stocks have rallied. The Investopedia defines the bear market rally as: Bear market rally refers to a sharp, short-term rebound in share prices amid a longer-term bear market decline . Bear market rallies are treacherous for investors who mistakenly come to believe they mark the end of an extended downturn. As the primary bearish trend reasserts itself, the disappoin

  I think it can be a heated debate at times between (1) cost averaging and (2) buying low and then selling high strategies. I was looking at what Warren Buffett said with this: If you like spending six to eight hours per week working on investments, do it. If you don’t, then dollar-cost average into index funds . I prefer to call it simply cost averaging. It's where one puts the same amount of money per month for a selected period of time. It's like the PHP 8,000.00 rule where one may choose to invest PHP 1,000.00 for eight months or PHP 2,000.00 for four months in buying stocks. Meanwhile, Buffett advises that most people should buy index funds instead. I decided to get the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund via cost averaging and did some lump sums during the crash.  Cost averaging is pretty much a safer way to avoid timing the market . The market moves not just during the opening but also during the closing . That's why I pretty much want to avoid playing casino with da

I remembered writing some time ago about people who panic sell (read here ). It's amazing how these know-nothings try to show themselves as "financial managers" (read here ). I find it really amazing these people talk like they know better than Warren Edward Buffett. Months ago, I remembered this was what the stock market looked like... Business World Online There were lots of panic and sarcastic yeheys when the figure above happened last May 2022. I'm amazed at the economic literacy of the comments in regard to the stock market's status . I bet these people bought stocks in bulk when everything was in green. I bet they were expecting that all the money will return fast. Though, there's the possibility that these people were doing day-to-day trading--something that I wouldn't recommend (read here ) I think they want to get rich quick out of stocks. Chances are they probably sold all their stocks at a loss and are probably gambling instead (read here ). Som

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

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