Newbie to the stock market? Before you dive-in, take time to learn about stock analysis. Learn about stock trading. Learn about the company you are interested in. Or if you do not have the time to study and learn, go for peso cost averaging or choose mutual funds.
We started investing in the stock market in 2016. It’s been almost 5 years now. Did we do well? I’ll share on this post.
We attended two seminars,Titus and I, when were newbie to the Philippine Stock Market. I was the one so eager to enter this field, my husband is there to support me on my newest project.
Our stock tradings and activities are all my decisions, I am in charge of our household finances as well. Yeyyy or nayyy? Hehe
The first seminar we attended was conducted by COL Financial which is the basic stock investing seminar, it’s free and open to members and non-members of COL.
The second one is a paid seminar, conducted by TAP’s Maestro and Senyor. You will know who Maestro is if you too will join the Traders Apprentice Pilipinas group on Facebook and Senyor by joining PISO | Philippine Institute of Stock Operation Facebook group. That was the longest seminar that is not school or work required we’ve attended, it was 7 or 8 hours long, I already forgot lol.
Did we learned anything? Yes, on both seminars. But the riding feeling then was more of amazement at the gains and profits from stocks that these experts have experienced over the years which they shared.
Why Attend Stock Trainings and Seminars?
Learning through a speaker in a conference or training setting far surpass the learning you’ll get striking it on your own, by way of youtube videos, books, and even forums, especially if you are a total newbie.
It is faster to learn if there are experts explaining how they got to where they are in person. In seminars and conferences you can also ask questions and get instant replies.
If you want to progress in leaps and bounds in stock trading and investments, attend trainings and seminars. If you have to shell out money, do. Invest in yourself. But heyyy, there are quality free seminars, look for them.
If you have a mentor who is doing well in stocks and can guide you as you start to navigate stock investment, then all the better.
Recommended Stock Market Books
By the way, we bought two stock market books, recommended by Senyor. We ordered it through National Bookstore SM MOA, it took awhile to deliver since none of the NB branches have it. I think they ordered it through Amazon US.
If Amazon services your area, you can also order the books, links provided below. You can choose the ebook format or the physical book.
First stock market recommended book is the How to Make Money in Stocks by William J. O’Neil and the second one is Stock Market Rules by Michael D. Sheimo.
Anyhow, at the end of the day, what is most important though is to apply what you learned from conferences, from books, from own online search, from mentors, etc. Learning without action translates to nothing.
Our Biggest Stock (Paper) Loss
In case you don’t know, I am a Cebuano. My husband is a Tagalog from Laguna. Anyhow, on our first month in stocks, I let ‘regionalism’ run amuck.
Of course at that time I did not know I was being regionalistic. I honestly thought that the stock was a winner. I insisted to my husband that MRSGI is a good buy just because I grew up frequenting Gaisano Metro, Metro Ayala, and there are lots of Metro supermarkets and department stores opening even in Luzon. And they have lots of customers. LOL. LOL. LOL. Hahaha.
I know nothing about stock analysis or even checking stock fundamentals at that time. I just bought MRSGI because well, it’s from home, I like it, and I believed in it. The result? Well, MRSGI is the stock with the biggest loss right now on paper. It is still paper loss because we haven’t sold the stock. We are keeping it though its negative 70% now, January 15, 2021.
The highest price we paid for MRSGI is P5.50 per share. MRSGI price per share last Friday is P1.47. Ouch!
I did try to average down in 2016 by buying more as the stock price goes down. But when the price hit below P3.50, I stop buying. It makes no sense to me to still try to average down. I used the remaining capital instead to buy other stocks.
How much is the paper loss at present? P90,000++. The loss reached P95k+ at its lowest during the pandemic in 2020.
So why didn’t I cut loss when I have the chance?
Well, first because I don’t know how to cut loss then and most importantly I was afraid to cut loss. And I was in denial about the stock.
One of my realizations from the seminars which we attended after buying MRSGI, is to liquidate your position on a losing stock, if the trend is not your friend anymore. To not be afraid to cut loss. That cut-loss is sometimes necessary.
I still haven’t sold the MRSGI shares because the paper loss is too big now. Maybe I haven’t really learn about cutting losses, eh?
This stock is what I considered as our “tuition fee” for entering PSEI, so I just let it be.
But hey MRSGI gives out yearly dividends, so we get a few hundreds annually from this stock hehe.
- MRSGI Cash Dividend of P0.05 x 24,300 shares given last May 2, 2017 was ₱1,215.00.
- MRSGI Cash Dividend of P0.06 x 26,200 shares given last April 10, 2018 was ₱1,414.80 .
- MRSGI Cash Dividend of P0.06 x 26,200 shares given last April 10, 2019 was ₱1,414.80 .
I’ll update how much will be the cash dividend of the MRSGI stock this 2020, once we received it. I am hoping this company will continue to give dividend. Pampalubag-loob hehe.
Another Stock Lesson For Newbies
Here is another lesson I learned over the years of stock trading and that is not to buy too many stocks. Too many positions will make it challenging to keep up with the news about the companies behind the stocks. It also dilutes one’s capital.
Example you have P100,000 for stock investment and you spread the capital too thinly like this:
JFC 150 shares at P195 = P29,250
SMPH 300 shares at P37 = P11,100
BDO 160 shares at P109 = P17,440
MPI 4300 shares at P3.98 = P15,824
MEG 4000 shares at P4.05 = P16,200
You will not earn big from having too many stocks even if the stocks moves high, simply because you have too few shares to make a significant profit.
At one time we had 11 stocks in our portfolio. That was not a good strategy. Our biggest wins came about after we liquidate most our stocks and concentrated on just a few.
Some stock traders suggestion is to keep 1 to 3 stocks so it is easy to monitor and act-upon as the need arises.
How many stocks do you have in your portfolio right now?
Coming Clean With The Stock Losses
I did not let my husband see our stock portfolio for 4 years, toinks. But I do mentioned to him if I made good deals. Like buying DD at P54.00 then selling it at P70.44. Like that time I traded ISM, buy and sell on the same day, and earned us P4,838.42. Or the more recent buying of PHA at P0.49 and selling it at P1.41.
My husband trust me with money and finances completely that’s why he did not bother taking a peek at our COL account. Nope, we don’t come from money, far from it. There was a time my husband’s shoes were Robertsons after Robertsons after Robertsons because that is all what we can afford. Together we worked hard and smart until we have extra for savings and investments. I may blunder, yes, like with MRSGI, but I will never allow us to get ruin financially.
Anyhow, finally just last week, I made him see our stock portfolio in COL Financial and what is happening there. It was his first time to see the P90K++ negative on MRSGI. His reaction? He told me “sabi sayo nag regionalistic ka eh” then he laugh. Heheheh
Why just this time? Well, our paper loss from MRSGI is finally overtaken from our gains from other stocks – MM, PHA, and MRC.
Our total portfolio value is now at 33% gain on paper, despite the P90K paper loss on MSRGI. If I were to sell all stocks in our portfolio now, we will make profit from our stock investments.
It took close to 5 years to finally get positive, green figures on the total value, just because on our first year, when we were newbie to the stock market, I made a huge mistake. Lol.
But oh I do wish that MRSGI will again trade at P5 and up so we can exit this position. Wishful thinking? You never know, it could go up and up. Panalangin ng mga ipit heheh.
But hey I will still say, invest in the stock market!
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