Personal Finance: PSEi 8000: Push Mo Yan!

What better way to spend a school-free Saturday (prof has prior engagement, hence no classes today) than to attend a seminar on stock market. I learned about the event from a friend who has a friend with a BPI Trade account. I think it is exclusive to BPI Trade account holders so I emailed the organizer first to check if a) they accept walk-ins and b) non-BPI trade account holders. Luckily, it was yes for both, however, we were required to open an BPI Trade account, which I really didn't mind because it has already been part of my plan to open one. 

The conference is titled PSEi 8000: Push Mo Yan! They had four guest speakers, each discussing specific topics. 

Some points I remember from each speaker:

Sir Marvin Germo

• The market will not go up forever so it is important to have a plan
• Build your skills, build your strategies, change as needed, refine if not working and do this repeatedly over a period of time
• Make trading and investing based on your lifestyle
• Leave emotions out of the door
• Create a checklist of the parameters of the stocks you want to buy and use this checklist to trim down the stock list before you start buying
• More time should be spent on pre-work while execution only minutes
• Profit is made when you have conviction. You have conviction when you have confidence. You have confidence when you did all your pre-work!
• Trade with an end goal in mind
• Follow where the cash is. Capitalize where people spend their money on
• Timing is everything

His book, Stock Smarts Stock Investing Made Easy, was also available so I was able to grab one. I'll probably read this during commutes to work.

He also has a blog, which I came across when I was searching for references on personal finance.

Sir Mike Oyson

• The party is still on-going at 11 PM (meaning it is still an uptrend in the stock market) but parties don't last forever because earnings will drive performance
• Investing is not a science but an art because Psychology comes into play
• Global flows will dominate market movements in the next 12 months
• Take note of the push (global) and pull (local) factors 
• The stock market is not really correlated to GDP but more correlated with the US market
• We need more domestic investors to drive the PH market. Right now, it is still driven by foreigners
• For long term investors, just be in the market
• For short term investors, easy money has been made but there is still some money left
• Differentiate the company and the stock (he mentioned about liking some companies but not their stocks because it is just too expensive)
• Choose entry points
• It is not about getting it right. It is how much money you put in the stock market when you are right.
• SWAN - sleep well at night
• Distinguish money for investing and trading
• Do not be a battered investor. Know when to get out
• Know what you own
• Learn and practice

Sir Tony Herbosa

• Trading is not just about percentage gains. You have to think out of the box and not linear.
• Trading is an art form-all about intuition, gut feel, instincts, inspiration
• The game is poker, not blackjack
• Bagger strategy: position trading to the max
• Entry strategies: should have a starting point
• His most striking question: When the stock price of some companies were on an upward trend, what did you do?

He had slides about the waves. He also had some slides about the stocks he is or he has invested in. He was generous in sharing his buy and sell transactions.

Sir Tony is the man behind Traders Apprentice Pilipinas FB group, and more of a trader than an investor. 

Ms. Salve Duplito

• Her topic is about value investing which is not popular but this is the strategy used by Warren Buffet.
• There is a difference between an investor and a speculator. An investor studies the company, while a speculator follows what the trends say.
• It is not all about the money. Money should be used as a tool to do more.
• Her advocacy is to help those who have lower levels of income be financially literate so they would also have the chance of making their lives better.

Ms. Salve is a resident financial adviser of the ANC show On the Money (which I regularly watch).

I emailed the organizers again to see if they can share to us the PowerPoint presentations they used today. I'll share more should they send it.