Most
of us must have heard about the big scam that victimized thousands of people
mostly from Visayas and Mindanao just recently. The Aman Group owners just duped them for billions
of pesos. The promise of getting rich quick was utilized, and lots of people
fell into the bait. This had happened before. And sadly, it still
happens now. As you read this, chances are that some people out there are currently dealing
with their innocent victims of the same scheme.
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| Is it? |
Because
of these scammers, a lot of people becomes too skeptic about anything involving money. From
being too trusting to totally unbelieving. And most of them end up avoiding
risk and investing as a whole. And it makes the ending more sad for them.
It's
not difficult to avoid becoming victims of scams. But it's also
not always easy to identify them. It was said that if something is too good to be true, it usually
is. But sometimes there are things which are good but really is good. And being good doesn't mean it is easy. And
what is good for me may not be good for you. It still depends on expectations.
And it is a good expectation if it is backed up by knowledge. A knowledgeable
person will always have more realistic and attainable expectations.
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| Grandfather of 'em all, Charles Ponzi |
Patience
is a virtue. It's truer in moneymaking. As what the “Great Bear of Wall Street”
Jessie Livermore once said that he earned his moolahs from the sitting, not on
the thinking. Get-rich-quick is not really impossible though. If you check the
stock market chart, doubled and tripled price in a day happens more than you think it does. But how often you can hit those is a different story. It's actually like gambling if you don’t
know what you’re doing there. But still, stock market is a risky thing even with
much knowledge a person has. But at least, you can always give an intelligent bet than an
'ala-tsamba' style of an ignorant one. With knowledge, chances of "winning" is therefore bigger. You can choose to pick on the fundamentally sound businesses and hold them for long. Do the sitting. And there
are also ways like 'cost-averaging' which furthermore lessens the risks. These all sounds good, but again, good doesn't always mean it's easy. And time
is always a friend when you invest. But it can also be your worst enemy if
you don’t know what you’re doing.
Due
diligence is also important. There are a lot of choices of investment available
for you. From all the traditional business options, to paper investments like
buying stocks, bonds, special deposits, mutual funds, UITFs, VUL funds, etc,
the choices are endless. And even if you got offered by one, don’t stop there. Look
at all the other options. At first glance, an offer may look salivating,
with all the hype and the promise. But always remember that it is not the only
vendor that offers the same service. You might get a better deal with another. As a help, some sites are even giving lists of comparison like this site which gives lists of mutual fund
performances. Though past performance will not assure anything in the future,
it will still give you a glimpse on how they manage their funds. Then it will
help you decide.
| Bricks. Oh, wait? |
Lastly, never
put the seller’s sweet words in consideration. Just get the numbers,
calculations, processes and the computations. Understand all technicalities. Leave out the honey-coated words which
are all for the hype. Be more intelligent. Not all that speaks of good things
have the best intentions. Or maybe they have it but definitely not for you, but
for their own pockets. So invest wisely. Choose wisely.….Meanwhile, the next
local elections in the Philippines is coming.....
