I am probably the last person on this planet who will invest in stocks. Despite my Business and Finance background and a lot of introductions about stocks when I was still in college, I never really had the guts to give it a try.
For me, stocks is for those who have excess money. Obviously, I didn’t have excess money in my bank account. For me, stocks are those who are willing to risk their money, only to lose it. I didn’t have much faith to risk my hard-earned money as well. For me, stocks is complicated and difficult to understand. I don’t really want to spend time understanding how the stock market works.
So yes, I settled with time deposits and savings. Of course, my husband will never be contented with that. He convinced, more like persuaded and brain-washed, me to give it a try. After much “convincing,” I said yes. We pitched in and well, we tried.
Photo from Perpetual Tourist, Creative Commons, Flcikr
After a few months, it turns out it’s not that bad. Surprisingly, I’m even enjoying it and learning a lot from it, which I want to share with you.
1. Never ever sell or give up at a loss. Being the inexperienced one in the situation, I tend to panic every time I see red signs on our portfolio. I always tell my husband to sell in case the stocks of this company goes down the drain. “Rookie mistake,” that’s what he always tells me. “Never, ever sell at a loss. You’re throwing away the money na pwede mo kitain.”
Same goes with life. If you invested into something, it’s going to take some time before you reap the benefits. Just because you lost NOW, it doesn’t mean you are going to lose forever. Don’t throw away those efforts you put in just because you are losing now. Sayang ang effort, mommies.
2. Life is too short. Take risks once in a while. I have to admit, I am never a fan of change. Any changes, even a change in the arrangement of the room, makes me “slightly” uncomfortable. Yes, I don’t even go out of my comfort zone too. I always settle with the safe choices since they are less risky. I tend to be conservative too even in business. I know what you’re thinking. I am boring. Life is dull without any challenges and risks, right?
Well, at least I made an improvement when I agreed to invest in stocks. It is something new and not within my comfort zone but it’s a risk I am willing to take. Sure, there are good days and bad days – just like life. Without these risks, we will never know our limitations and how far can we go. Who knows, these risks might be the biggest surprise of our life?
3. Trust. Have faith. Think about the companies you are investing as strangers. It’s difficult to trust them, right? Still, you look into their track record, history, financials, etc until they earn your trust. Once you start trusting them, you also start to believe what they can do for you.
Trust and faith are very important in any relationships. Without these two, how do you expect to move forward? Still, you need to keep your guard up too. Just because you trust someone, it doesn’t mean they won’t hurt you. Sometimes, those who we trust are the ones that hurt us the most.
4. Be contented. Being greedy won’t bring you anywhere. I invested in different blue chip companies since I genuinely believe in them. Every time their stocks go up and our portfolio turns green, my husband will always say we should sell. For me, I told him to just wait until the price per stock is really high. There was even a time when we saw the stocks of this company went up and we waited so we could (hopefully) earn more, biglang bumagsak. He would always tell me, “wag masyado greedy.”
Well, true that. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more than what you aim for. However, life’s a bitch. You’ll never know when it’s going to hit you. Be contented with what you have and be thankful for it. Some even have less than what you have. Are you still going to complain?
5. Patience is really a virtue. Okay, patience for me is something people can learn. Patience was never my virtue until I became a mom. Believe it or not, this concept can be applied in the stock market too.
Stock market can be pretty cruel. Again, there are good days and bad days. From what’s happening lately, I have more bad days – at least in the stock market – than good days. Therefore, being patient is really a must. Why would you sell at a loss, right?
It’s the same with life. Oftentimes, we want to fast-track everything and forward it to the moment we achieve success. Life doesn’t work that way. You have to go through a truckload challenges before you reach the top. And yes, it’s going to take some time so be patient.
6. Four words: think about the future. You always hear people say “live in the present” or “seize the day” or “don’t worry too much about the future.” Fine. They have a point. The future is something uncertain but does it mean you should not think about it?
When I started investing in stocks, I learned to look at the company in a “futuristic” perspective – or at least have a foresight. What are their future plans? Are they planning for an expansion? What properties have they acquired? Did it buy out several smaller companies? You know, those sort of things. I need to know if the company I am investing for is worth it by projecting or looking at the companies five or 10 years from now. So yes, watching the news and reading the latest (Thank you, Yahoo!) were part of my routine. 
That’s the same with life. Always have a foresight. Don’t just focus on today and start thinking about what might happen tomorrow. In other words, prepare. You’ll never know what’s going to happen.
I am not encouraging everyone to invest in stocks. You lose some, you gain some. I am merely sharing out some of the things I learned which I think can be applied in real life 🙂
Ayi is a stay-at-home mom of two. When her kids are in their best state, she keeps up with chores, work, and ensuring that her sanity is intact. Join her as she navigates through this rollercoaster ride called motherhood.
Actually, my friend has been nudging me to invest in stocks, but I don’t have the extra money haha. Atleast now I have an understanding how it works. 🙂
I enrolled in COL Financial and their minimum is 10K, which is affordable narin for those who are still starting 🙂 But its true. Investing in stocks requires money as well since you can’t just cash out anytime you want. Plus, it’s risky too.
My husband wants to try investing in the stock market but as far as I remember, he allot Php10,000 for stocks c/o his officemates and according to him medyo bagsak daw pero minsan mataas daw. I can’t understand it basta ang alam ko future namin ni Rhian ang iniisip nya. Thanks for sharing this ha, now I’m thinking na pag aralan yung stock market para join force na kami ni hubby. 🙂
yes mommy, that’s true. Minsan talaga mataas, minsan mababa, just like these past few weeks! The truth is its not very complicated pala. Though I suggest up to date ka with current events and make sure to invest only in blue chip companies since stable na sila 🙂
Actually, I will be meeting with my financial advisor, tomorrow. I’ve read a lot of articles about this, and I think it’s about time to invest.
you can give it a try and explore your options 🙂 There are risks of course but its not advisable as well to put all eggs in one basket 🙂
I’ve been browsing through Marvin Germo’s book on stocks and these things you enumerated are more or less, the same things he recommends for aspiring stock investors.
Hi Mommy May! Who is Marvin Germo? Hehehe.
Actually investing in stocks is not that complicated once you get used to it. there are so many concepts and numbers lang kaya it looks intimidating 🙂 I think this explains why me and Marvin Germo have the same concepts 🙂
Yes, I guess so. We’re interested in stocks but we need to study it some more. Marvin Germo is the author of Stock Smarts: Winning strategies for investing. 🙂
Oh okay. I’ll check out his book 🙂
Like you, I have business background and stocks is one of our subjects in college. But i’m not a risk taker and I thought only rich people can invest in stocks. I started investing in stocks last year in BPI Trade because you only need P500 for maintaining balance. I was able to persuade my husband to invest in stocks too and now we’re planning to transfer my son’s savings in stocks too before the year ends.(Nabasa ko kay Bo Sanchez, para millionaire na anak ko by age 18yrs old. 🙂 I can really say that you can earn more in stocks than savings and time deposits.
Yes mommy, I have to agree with you on that. Savings and time deposits, maliit lang ang interest. And because of inflation, bumababa pa ang value ng money.
A piece of advice, don’t put all eggs in one basket. Stocks kasi can be risky so we should just balance it out to minimize any (possible) loss 🙂
This is very informative. My friends have slowly been investing in stocks but Im too afraid to try (short on funds too, hehe).
Thanks for sharing this, Mommy. My husband and I are planning to invest in stocks – we were convinced by my “bilas”. Before reading your post, I was still having some doubts… probably because I have no idea how this thing works.:D
Very helpful. Pinaghahandaan din namin ni hubby ang pag-iinvest sa stock market. Looking forward for more similar posts. 🙂
Thanks! I’m glad you found the post helpful 🙂 Because of that, I’m inspired tuloy to write some tips about investing in stocks. 🙂 Will keep you posted!
Hi Mommy! I actually started investing using COL this year lang. It’s funny kasi ginawa ko yung #1! Rookie Move :)) nag panick kasi ako. Then after that I decided to buy blue chips company – I started lang kasi sa 5K. I also do not know to play the game since I’m into long term investment. Mas kailangan pag aralan if malaki iinvest na money + short term investment lang. I hope out stocks would grow in the (NEAR) future 😀 I’m happy investing my money sa stocks unlike sa bank since mas malaki yung interests. Hindi ko nafeel na nalugi ako.
http://www.glendacandedeir.com/
True that! But yes, I would recommend that you look into stocks as a long-term investments. Meron kasing mga day players so they win some, they lose some. Plus, mas malaki ang kikitain if you hold into your stocks for quite sometime 🙂
I do hope that the stock market will peak anytime soon. Taas-baba kasi ngayon eh.
Friends have been been telling me to invest in the stock market pero I really can’t understand it. Ayoko naman na pumasok on something I don’t understand. I settled for insurance and investments instead. 🙂 And is trying my luck on business. Cheers for pagpapayaman!
Of course mommy. I was only confident enough to invest because of my husband. But if it were up to me, I wouldn’t even put my money in there :))
If you don’t mind me asking, what business are you into? 🙂
This is such a very timely post! These past few days, I’ve been very busy studying about different investment options that we could take and that includes the stock market. My husband had been trying to convince me ever since but just like you, I was scared. But then I realized, I’m letting go of the opportunity to grow money by not investing. So soon, I’ll be joining you in playing with stocks! What I learned even before starting is to “invest only the amount you are willing to lose.”
That’s right mommy! I always say this – “never put all eggs in one basket.” Investing in stocks can be risky so make sure not to use the entire family savings. Once you get the hang of it, slowly increase your investment, but yes, only up to the amount you are willing to lose 🙂
I love this post! The beauty with long-term stock investing is that it gives allowance for mistakes and risks. Whatever pitfalls you encounter, when you view it from a long-term perspective, you’ll realize they were just minor bumps pala.
I agree mommy! 🙂 At the same time, we learn something from these mistakes too 🙂
I’ve been wanting to invest in stocks but I don’t have time and skills yet to manage it. For now, mutual funds first. I realized it’s a lot better than having the money in the bank but still relatively safer than directly buying stocks.
Mutual funds are okay too. Actually where we invest the money depends on where we’re comfortable with also 🙂 Meron nga iba, they prefer savings and time deposit lang talaga eh 🙂
My mom is in SunLife and I have invested for as low as 5K in mutual funds. It’s nice that you can keep the money, though how little or the rainy days. They get bigger interests gains pa compared to banks
Been hearing a lot from Stock Market but I think I’m not yet ready to invest on stocks.