Strategy during crisis investment

Adapted from theedgedaily.com

When market was high, many investors were careful and avoided jumping onto the bandwagon. Now that the market has fallen, and fallen sharply, many investors are still wary about investing. There is nothing wrong about being careful with one’s hard-earned money. Not unless our interest rate falls to 1%, like in the case of US or close to zero in Japan.

The only problem with extremely cautious investors is that they kept their money in banks most of the time. They sighed with relief for not being caught by the market. While they escaped the bear, they also missed the bull. Many Malaysians witnessed the bear and bull during the ups and downs of the economy. Nothing happened to them as they did not suffer any losses and neither did they gain anything from these cycles.

No crystal ball
Many investors were cautious because they do not have a crystal ball to predict where the bottom of the market is. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a crystal ball in the investment world.

Everyone is faced with the same dilemma. Even the professional investment fraternity cannot predict the market accurately. The only difference between a layman and a professional is that the latter is equipped with a bit more information and some knowledge about investing. But their vision is also limited.

They can only see a few feet ahead. Their vision becomes hazier further away from the target. Beyond certain circumference, they probably cannot predict what will happen. Whatever they forecast is purely based on a set of assumptions which may or may not be valid. As such, the predictions of many analysts and fund managers are nothing more than their own assumptions.

Travelling on rainy night
Investment is like travelling in the rain at night. Some may park their cars by the side of the road during thunderstorms while waiting for the rain to stop.

This is especially true for those with astigmatism and poor night vision. They know they can only travel on a rainy night if they have their vision corrected.

Some will drive very carefully in the downpour due to poor condition of their wipers. They know that they are not equipped to speed before changing the wipers.

For those who are well equipped and familiar with the road conditions including the bends and nooks, they can drive on with reasonable speed. Hence, they arrive home early and safe. Getting home safely is important, but getting home early is definitely an achievement. For those who are less equipped, it is better to get someone who knows how to drive to take over the wheel.

In investment, one must be equipped with the basic investment knowledge and familiar with the investment conditions. Otherwise, the road ahead could be treacherous.

Let the savings work
The ability to grow one’s money is definitely crucial especially if we look at how inflation has eroded our savings over time. Gaining a higher return over one’s savings not only can help overcome the erosion due to inflation, it also helps to build up a higher reserve for retirement.

Most financial planners encourage people to save and save early so that the compounded return on the savings can accumulate to a substantial amount leading to financial freedom.

While it is true that early compounding is crucial to amass a pile of wealth, having a higher average return from the investment allows us to achieve the target earlier. The question is how to get our savings to work harder for us.

Crisis means opportunities
The prevailing financial crisis in US may provide the much-desired opportunities. The Chinese character for crisis means danger and opportunity. These meanings must have been coined many years ago based on the Chinese’ experience. The explanation can be seen as a clue and it has helped many successful people to make huge profit.

“Buy when markets hit the point of maximum pessimism.” — Sir John Templeton

For those who have been keeping their savings in the bank, the opportunity arises during a crisis. Their patience eventually becomes fruition. The day of recognition finally arrives and their prayer is answered. Ironically, many who have patiently kept their savings in the safe cradles become more protective of their savings and they just stood by the sidelines, watching the crisis comes and goes. It happened in the past and it is happening now and it may also happen in the future.