Ryan Garaygay on Code, Creativity, and Community

I just bought while the stock market is 7% down, was I wrong?

I got some dividends lately (though not a lot) which went to a cash account. Today I logged in to my account and the Philippine Stock Market/Index was down 7%. Hmmm, but I went ahead anyway and bought a stock selling only about half of what I believe is fair value (according to COLFinancial – let’s just say they’ve proven their valuations to be valuable to me). I will just post this and I’m logging off to sleep (it’s trading hours there but it’s evening where I’m based at)

Many will say
* I should have waited for a bottom
* I shouldn’t have bought in the first place
* I should have sold instead (take profits and go on vacation)
* I should have… shouldn’t have (or maybe you wouldn’t care what I do – possible as well)

If you are a fundamental + technical investor then maybe yes, should have waited for a bottom or technical indicators for a rebound. Or not buy (or in fact sell) if technical indicators really say it’s that bad.

But more than buy-sell I suggest you choose a strategy first and stick with it (unless you don’t really believe in it – then maybe that means you haven’t done enough work/reading to see if that strategy would fit you – in which case keep looking). Maybe I have a reason why I cannot check for technical indicators (automated or otherwise).

I definitely appreciate those making it simple to encourage more people to invest in the stock market (I believe in the value of public exchanges/market) but I highly encourage everyone to choose a strategy instead of just following an advice that might not be the best for your situation. You might get lucky but blindly following an advice is very risky for you.

I do not want to lose money, it is very important to me and my family. It probably is for you as well so if you are in the market, learn as much as you can. I did not (do not) gamble, I believe the stock is cheap and I just don’t have time (or facility to automate) at this time to spend time on watching indicators. That’s why. And I think the “why?” is a better question than “is it right or wrong?”.

My outlook for the Philippines is positive and if the news are right it has a very strong economy (definitely somewhere in the top of the list) so I intend to support it any way I can and encourage everyone to do so. And hopefully these dips are temporary.

So yes, I may be wrong (in the opinion of a lot of people) but one thing for sure – I’m gonna sleep soundly tonight – that one at least no one can argue I got right…

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