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The picture above is of the main entrance to Bursa Malaysia’s building located at the Exchange Square in Kuala Lumpur. Bursa Malaysia is an Exchange that regulates individuals and licensed bodies that conduct stock businesses in Malaysia. Similar to most stock exchanges in the world, the statues of a bull and a bear greet visitors at the building’s entrance.
The term bull is used during an uptrend, and bear means a downtrend. If you hear someone says, “The bear is coming”, it means the stock market is going to be bearish and will go down further. At that point in time, you might want to clear your position and cash in the profit.
Let’s talk a bit about the stock market. Many people often ask which is a better investment? Purchase physical assets such as properties or buy stocks? As for me, I advocate both sides; people should invest in properties as well as in stock. Both can complement each other to give you a nice balanced investment portfolio. That means you can mix and match between stocks and physical property investment.
Do you realise that if you have a pension fund, unit trust, insurance with investment-linked, or if you’ve bought gold, or even bought your house, you are already an investor? If you have extra cash which you invested in a portfolio of stocks, you can generate dividends from the stocks. This dividend income can be used to cover any shortfall you may incur from your actual physical property investment. This is one way of making both investments work for you. However, for those of you who are quite new to investing; perhaps young adults trying to save up to buy properties, you might want to consider stocks. I am not saying that you take out all your money to buy stocks. It doesn’t work that way. What I mean is you can consider setting up a portfolio which consists of good stocks, and invest in it on a regular basis as long as the price is right.
Which is the better option as an investment? I say both can be complementary to one another. More importantly, with knowledge, one can generate profits in whichever investment he or she chooses.
By Noor Shahalina Jamaludin
*The writer is a MIFP Alumnae and Remisier at JF Apex Securities Bhd. The view expressed is solely her own and for educational purpose only, in no way giving any recommendations to buy or sell any stocks mentioned. In the event that you want to buy any stocks, you do so at your own risk. Her Investment Workshop Series for INCEIF staff/ students/ alumni run through June (see https://inceif.org/investment-workshop-series/). For other enquiries, email her at remisiernsj@gmail.com