Celebrated investors offer their wisdom

Encouraged by his parents to manage his own money since he was a young boy, Ponkong Panyangarm, winner of the Thai Securities Institute’s Young Financial Star Competition 2012, said the advantage of starting young meant that he could accept more risks, while his returns could multiply over time.

Like all of his friends in the YFS programme, Ponkong, winner of the SET Star Investment Planner category, did not jump immediately into buying shares. He stressed the need to first study the system. “I started with mutual funds and studied to get a basic understanding first, then later when I gained more confidence, I transferred some money to invest in shares with some in savings,” said the 23-year-old investment-banking officer of Maybank Kim Eng Securities. 

Wanrob Boontham said he found investing in stocks both fascinating and inspiring and became eager to learn more about the businesses he was investing in. He would look into the fundamental factors of the companies, their executives and the business trends. “For example, when I first invested in the shares of property companies, I studied the business and learned that they use different accounting systems – partly because there are many stages in terms of construction and sales,” he said.

He first began investing when he was a second year student at Thammasat University. Studying finance, he started with bank savings and then moved on to higher interest rates at the university’s savings cooperative, before investing in shares. In the meantime, he had a part time job as a tutor and traded goods online. 

Boonmaytar Nannar, a graduate of economics from Thammasat University, who is now a strategy and product developer of Kiatnakin Securities, said that before she put her money into stock investments, she practised for months in the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s Click2Win simulator. 

Before graduation, she invested 80 per cent of her savings in shares and kept the other 20 per cent in savings and other investments with low-risk rates. She chose the Government Savings Bank’s lottery. 

When she began working, she kept 25 per cent of her salary separate from her monthly spending. About 20 per cent went into stocks while the other 5 per cent went into savings.

Anurak Suwanichkul, a Chulalongkorn University graduate and winner of the K-Expert Star Financial Planner category, said salary is not enough to liberate a person financially. “We should also have passive income from other sources,” he said. Last year he began investing in stocks, even before he entered the programme.

“If we invest but do not study the system, the risks will be higher in the short term. Look at the financial crisis in 1997 – investors traded shares as if they were gambling,” he said.

Atikom Sirichoompun said investment was a good thing, but inexperienced investors should invest carefully and moderately. They should start with small amounts of money and study the market, before investing larger sums when they become more confident.

Teerachart Phuthamrongwat, who is the winner of the Muang Thai Star Insurance Planner category, said he was inspired by his father and started investing in stocks when he was in high school. 

He stressed the importance of insurance and compared it to a car’s airbags. 

“Many cars today have airbags, which seem useless until you have an accident. But if your car doesn’t have airbags and you have an accident, it will be no use you buying airbags then, no matter how expensive they are,” he said. 

Another star financial planner, Nodtaporn Chaichoochai, agreed that insurance was essential – adding that it was lucky her mother had maintained her three health insurance plans. The premium had covered the Bt200,000 cost of a recent operation, which she would otherwise have had to pay for herself.