Investing Habits

The Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE) Literacy Campaign was an event full of insights. Aside from being free, I enjoyed the food, the place, presentations and information from Philippines Stock Exchange personnel. So before going through with this post, I would like to thank the people from PSE – Philippines Stock Exchange for providing this FREE Learning Session.

The Stock Market Literacy campaign was initiated in order to educate us Filipinos on STOCK MARKET INVESTING. This is evidenced by lots of myths and misconceptions about Investing in the Stock Market and that less than 1% of the Philippine Population invest in the stock market (That’s about less than 500,000).

They have also made campaigns and lobbies to include financial literacy into schools such as the Stock Markets will finally be taught in Philippine High Schools and the creation of the CMO39 which will teach Stock Markets in College, as a requirement for graduation which shall not only be limited to Business courses.

Fun Facts:

• The 1st Stocks Exchange in the Philippines was in Manila Stock Exchange (1927);
• then the Makati Stocks Exchange was created (1963);
• fast forward to 1992 wherein the two was merged to form, today’s PSE – Philippines Stock Exchange, Inc..

They then show that our country’s Financial Market was quite sturdy and robust, which is evidenced by the recent Global Financial Crisis.

(Busting the Myths & showing reality) Most Pinoy Think that stock market investing is:

• Complex - It is basically common sense, being up-to-date with market drivers and simple mathematics [I agree, no square roots, calculus, or even algebra]
• A form of Gambling – It’s not gambling if you have the right information and the right discipline~it can be for short term and long term benefit
• Only for the Rich – With a minimum Php5,000-Php10,000 you can start investing, but take note: don’t invest money you cannot afford to lose.

They left the audience some simple advice:
“The right knowledge, and the right discipline is necessary when investing in the STOCK MARKET.”

AND a lot more! I will be posting more on specialty topics as well!