It’s been seven months since the hubby and I became direct stock market investors (through COL Financial) and so far, I’ve been enjoying the experience. I said “I” because the hubby has left the Herculean (exagg lang!) task of managing our stocks portfolio to me. He just helps put money into our account and I just report to him every transaction I make.
a glimpse of our stocks portfolio
When 2014 ended, I tried computing our profit and was amazed to find out that we earned 7.55% from our original investment in just six months. I think we just got lucky because I bought mostly blue chip stocks like BDO, JFC, ALI, etc. For this year, I set a realistic target of 8% profit. If I could achieve a bigger profit percentage, I’d gladly take it.
I decided to write down the lessons I’ve learned and continue to discover about stock market investing on this blog starting with this post. Hopefully, I could pass on these knowledge (if I may call them that) to people, especially to young Filipinos who, like the hubby and I, hope to achieve financial freedom someday. Below are some of them in no particular order:
1. Learn to observe and time the market. During trading days (Monday to Friday), I try to take a peek of our stocks portfolio twice per day. First is in the morning at the opening of the market (9:30 a.m.) and the second is during its closing time (3:30 p.m.). By looking at the drop or surge of our stock picks, I try to think of a strategy with each one. Should I buy more shares or sell them in that instant? Should I wait for a few weeks or months before doing something on it? Those are some of the things I ask myself. Aside from reading the business news and checking out my fave stock market blogs, I don’t do a serious study of the stock market. Most of the time, I just follow my gut feel and the way the stock market and my stock picks behave. I say it’s all about observation and timing.
2. Be always ready to grab opportunities. In my very short experience in the stock market, I cannot claim to be anything but an ordinary investor. You see, I only started last year, July 21, 2014 to be exact. But since then, I think I’ve already learned a lot. There’s still so much to learn, though, especially that thing called technical analysis which I know nothing about. Haha.
If there’s one thing that a stock market investor should learn, it’s that you should always be ready to grab opportunities. It could be to lock in profits or to buy stocks at lower prices. It could also be to just find new stock prospects. You have to make sure you are at the right place at the right time. Otherwise, you won’t gain anything.
3. Be patient. Aside from being stock market savvy, people have made money from the stock market because of patience. You have to be patient in waiting for your money to grow. Some stocks grow fast while others grow slow. If you don’t have patience, expect to commit many mistakes as you go on with your investing.
4. Being emotional can hurt you. Yeah, right. In the first few weeks that I’ve been investing, I couldn’t help but be emotional whenever there would be a drop in the prices of our stocks. I had read, prior to my dip in the stock market pool, that being emotional is a big no-no in stock market investing. Instead, you have to be brave and calm. But it was not that easy for me. I remember I once had a stock that dropped to a pitiful -35%. I almost felt like crying! But over time, I have learned to control my emotions. Now, I can look at our stocks portfolio filled with reds and I won’t have any negative reaction at all. I’m so proud of myself! Haha.
That’s all for now, guys. I’ll add more lessons as I learn them. ‘Till next time! 🙂
P.S. If you also have stock market lessons to share, please do so at the comment section. I’d appreciate it very much.
May you choose happiness always,
Great tips para sa mga first timers sa stock market. Mukhang di pa ako ready para mag invest kasi di ko pa na meet yung mga criteria dito sa post mo. Still not closing my door and open parin matuto about stock market. =)
Korek, Joy, dapat open matuto sa lahat ng bagay. I say invest when you’re ready. 🙂
Nainspire ako sayo sis tsaka kay Frugal Honey, and some officemates kaya I already accomplished a form in COL. I’ll just have to send them together with other docs :). 7% is not bad!
Wow, that’s good to know, sis! Excited na rin ako for your COL Financial journey! Good luck! 🙂
7% is good! im looking into this too (feeling may pang invest hahaha!!), seriously though, gusto ko ring magtry maginvest in stocks para pagtanda ko may pambili ng Omega at Katinko.
Following this sis, hopefully it goes really great this year!
Thank you, sis! Ikaw pa mawalan ng pang-invest! Hahaha, at pambayad din sa mag aalaga pag uugud-ugod na tayo. 🙂
“being emotional” wala, yari na ahahaha
Pero bilib ako sa tiyaga mo 😉 i appreciate your article kasi very raw and direct from experience.. not too structured and boring 🙂
Hahaha, natawa ako sa “yari na.” Thank you, sis, coming from you, I appreciate that comment about this article. 🙂
Wow good for you.. Hubby started on stock market last Nov with First Metro but he recently moved to COL.. He told me about not being emotional on your stocks. I remember him feeling really bad when he first had a loss. But he overcame easily..
Keep the lessons coming!! Abangan ko tong series mo..
Thank you, sis! Uy, you guys are into stock market investing rin pala. Sure, madami pang lessons, busy busyhan lang ako now. 🙂
I learned a huge deal about myself when I opened an online broker account din last December lang.
Para sa newbie… I realized na masyadong mataas yung risk tolerance ko, and masyado akong optimistic in a bad way. I opened UITF accounts kasi wala akong alam sa stocks. Tapos yung ‘stocks money’ ko, I consider it literally, disposable money. So kapag bumababa kebs lang. What I should be doing is that I should take time to learn how to read fundamentals at kung ano-ano pa. I have a tendency to be overly optimistic na overtime, tataasan din naman lahat. I should learn din how to know when to pull out my money.
Yes, there’s really so much to learn about stock market investing. Try mo lang bawasan pagka-optimistic mo siguro. Hehe. Ang prob ko naman, hirap ako pigilan sarili ko bumili ng stocks hangga’t may pera pa akong nakikita sa account ko. Kaya kadalasan, kahit mataas price, nabibili ko. I should learn to control myself in that aspect. 🙂
Hello po… I am a fan of Mr Chinky Tan pero struggle tlaga sa akin ang pag start ng mga investment n Yan kasi sa totoo Lang po, hndi po ako fan ng numbers. Wla din ako time at konti Lang ang aking pasensya . Then eto na, Lumabas na si Corona, nareliaze ko wla p akong maayos n back up plan s pag reretiro ko. I was browsing online when I saw your posts regarding your COL journey. Pwde po b patulong kung paano po eto?… Can this be possible as I am still currently working in UAE? How much po ba? I am very desperate to find a way how to be financially stable and successful. I am not after becoming a millionaire just wanted to have that financial freedom.
May mga tutorials po sa Youtube paano magsimula sa COL Financial, as low as P5,000 po ang investment dun. Ang advice ko lang po sa inyo, mag-invest regularly maski mababang amount lang at bumili po ng stocks ng blue chips company yung mga matatatag po like SMDC, JFC, BDO, AC, atbp. Magbasa basa lang po kayo ng mga blogs at manuod ng vlogs about personal finance madami po kayo matututunan. Also, unahin nyo po mag-invest sa MP2 ng Pag-IBIG Fund kasi sure po iyon, malaki ang dividend/interest na bnibigay nila, nag-aaverage po ng 6-8% annually unlike pag sa bank na wala pang 1% kadalasan.