Down..on your luck?

The market now has a direction: Down.

Last year, the PSEi went up by more than 30%. Now, we're down by about 10% already, if I remember the news correctly.

In between there were a lot of superstar stocks like Aboitiz Power (AP), Semirara (SCC), DMCI (DMC), among others, that went up more than 50%.

I don't know how many were able to enjoy the ride of the aforementioned stocks. If you're one of them, then congratulations to you!

While experts and pundits will say that stock selection is a skill, you still need an element of luck on your side.

Few - if not none - business books will tell you that luck is also needed to be successful in business. I think that applies also to stock trading (and not investing).

People of course will question the credibility of a business book if luck was somehow placed in the equation of success.

I say that luck is important because I've had experiences in the past when I bought a stock and then it just goes up. I've also had experiences counter to that of course, i.e. for no reason it goes down. And when I say "going up" or "going down", it's more than 10%.

Mostly these are small to medium companies that get jockeyed for what reason, I don't know.

Of course, this is not to say that you if you are "unlucky" in stocks you should choose to avoid it completely. By unlucky, I mean if you have only made money 1 out of 10 trades you've made.

You don't have to stress yourself by choosing what to buy. Go to a professional and get yourself a mutual fund or UITF.

The commission, fees, charges that you get billed for are well worth the stress.

Until the next post!