Finding Solace

After trying our best to withstand the sell off of the stock markets in other countries, our local index succumbed to the pressure. It comes as no surprise because as the cliche goes, no man (or stock market) is an island, even if you're an archipelago.

Investors and traders who witnessed the bloodbath in 2008 must be saying to themselves, "eto nanaman tayo" (here we go again).

Well, not exactly.

My opinion is that the government interventions made in 2009 paved the way for extra money to flow into the markets - whether in equities, minerals, etc. Now that uncertainty is back, the big players may be liquidating their positions, preferring to stay put in cash, hence the sell off.

Further, what's different is that governments worldwide have already used quite a bit of arsenal already. Injecting loads of money into their economies to stave off individual recessions in 2009.

So now, if governments can't do anything else, everybody's wondering if there's going to be a double dip.

And we're not talking about Oreos here.

What's left to do? Perhaps it's time to let the markets play out on its own.

Certainly, governments are scrambling to find ways to mitigate the crisis. What's an investor to do? Wait and see or do like Buffett - but when everybody's selling.

Stocks are usually forward looking, so the crash lately could mean economic hard times in the next few months.

Time to tighten your belt? Perhaps.

You wouldn't be hard pressed if you were able to set an emergency fund first before plunking hard earned money on real estate, stocks, bonds, or managed funds.

People have this notion that the best way to grow their money is to invest it right away.

That's not entirely correct. Before you decide on your investment instruments, you should set aside an emergency or savings fund.

An emergency fund represents 3-4 months of your monthly expenses. However, if you would like to be on the safe side, instead of expenses, use your monthly salary as your guide.


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LBC Bank recently closed shop. According to the news report, the reason is attributable to them offering higher interest rates than their peers.

As you know, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

During financial crises,  poorly managed financial institutions fold up.

The last time that happened locally, it was during the height of the US financial crisis.

Remember Legacy?

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I'm elated that some of the stocks I was talking about last year went up substantially, namely GLO and ORE. My mistake was with MPI (I will have to uncover why it is underperforming).

Until then, appreciate the (heightened) risk, then appreciate the capital!

*** Blogger is a lousy blog service. Truly. I had a long text and it just disappeared. I hope to use a more reliable service in the future. Sorry I just had to say it. ***