Love at First Stock

Yes I did!

I just bought my first stock!

I must say FPH got me at "Hello."

It is like too good an opportunity to pass up.

And why is that and how exactly did I end up buying FPH as my first stock?

Reason is that: the Fair Value (FV) rating of COL Financial for First Philippine Holdings Corp (FPH) is highly attractive in reference to its current price.

I will talk about how did I see it as a highly attractive stock later.

For now, what is COL Fair Value (COL FV)?

As defined by COL Financial:

COL Fair Value is a company's estimated worth or fair market value as computed by various ways specific to its industry (i.e DCF, NAV, P/BV, P/E).

Looking at the table above, COL FV for FPH is ₱119.60 with current market price of ₱71.00.

Technically and if all goes well, that will translate to 68.45% potential gain.

If that is not attractive I don't know what is!

Scenario: If you bought a share of FPH today, let us say 200 shares with its current price of ₱71.00 then you sell all 200 shares when price per share appreciated to about ₱119.60.

How much will you gain?

Please understand that the 67.11% or higher potential gain will only be realized if and only if COL FV has been reached or has been surpassed and at the same time you have bought the stocks at a very low price.

What I did before I get my feet wet on Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)

I already know that owning a share of a stock of a public company makes you a part-owner or co-owner of the said business.

Although, I already have that idea about stocks, I have never figured how it really works.

Well, what do we do if we don't know how things work?

Most of us ask.

Some of us read and research.

Most of us Google. Haha.

Some of us all of the above.

I know reading an owner's manual of a Lamborghini, a Ferrari or even a bicycle before you actually know how to ride or drive will not exactly make you learn how to ride or drive them.

But, I believe it is a start.

Yes! For me reading is a start.

Better than driving them directly when you don't even know how to drive yet.

That is the same approach I intended to deal with this stock investment thing.

Of course someone may argue that no one has learn to ride a car or a bike by reading.

Because it is about steering and balancing until the car or the bike begin to feel like a part of you already.

My argument to that is simple: there is no harm in equipping yourself of knowledge before you enter the unknown.

No one said it is not OK to ask or read.

Or Google for that matter.

Just be careful what you put into your mind.


"Remember, your mind is your greatest asset, so be careful what you put into it."

– Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Before we enter into any agreement or contract what do we do?

Of course we read and understand that contract or know the risks or benefits of that agreement.

Remember it will tie you to whatever it is you are getting yourself into.

Not to mention the effects it may have whether positive or negative might it be long term or even short term.

That is why it is very important to know what you are getting yourself into.

I have yet to buy a single stock in my whole life as of this date but I consider myself having a value of at least ₱75,000 worth of seminars about stock investing.

And I don't want to stop there.

So true, I am like a sponge.

There is so much to absorb about this new terrain.

In 6 months I think I have used Google more than i have used it in my entire college days in searching for documents and reading materials relevant to the Philippine Stock Exchange and the stock market in general.

I have downloaded numerous Philippine stock investing videos from Youtube.com.

Watched them repeatedly at times.

I have learned about Truly Rich Club by Bo Sanchez.

How to, how much, why and why not to subscribe to the said club.

Listened to an audiobook Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

I have read the book Till Debt Do Us Part by Chinkee Tan.

I have read the book Wealth Within Your Reach: Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo!, by Francisco J. Colayco

I have listened to recorded audio of services by Joel Osteen which I will say are really inspirational not just financially but most importantly spiritually.

The books, videos and recordings i mentioned above are not exactly talking about stocks but they somehow widened my view or to be exact my financial literacy.

I have read blog after blog.

Subscribed to excellent bloggers after bloggers.

The list can go on and on.

One blogger I remember, has expressed I tend to newbies tend to read a lot and in the process delaying the next step in stock investing.

Not being defensive it is just that I really hate to be unprepared in this field.

This is real and hard-earned money we are talking about here.

We cannot just jump in the bandwagon of stock investing because everyone is investing.

And it is so cool to become a part owner of the biggest companies in the nation.

There is nothing wrong with the second one actually.

But still it is like jumping off a plane without a chute.

No thanks.

"Rule number 1: Never loose money.
Rule number 2: Don't forget rule number 1."

– Warren Buffett, Tao of Warren Buffett

I invested in knowledge first before anything else.

To acquire knowledge, time is my ally.

I never learned everything in my head right now overnight.

I know no one will.

Like a game, I wondered if there are rules in stock investment.

So I started to search Google with key words like: Do's and don'ts stock market.

That gave me a bird's-eye view of stock investing in addition to my initial idea about stocks.

I did not search right away on: How to invest in stocks? 

Or: How to open an account with an online stock broker?

Those are specifics which I believe should be learned after understanding the whole stock investment picture.

Like Mathematics, which I hate, I began learning the basics then take one step forward to complex structure from there.

Some Do's and don'ts examples are:

Set your goals in investing. | Know the risks involved. | Know your risk appetite. 

Think long term. | Know the terminologies. | Buy low, sell high.

Have an emergency fund. | Do not invest your emergency fund. | Do not use emotions in investing.

Stock investment specifics for me are but not limited to:

Choosing your online stock broker | How to open an account. |  How, what and when to buy or sell.

I smiled when I read a comment on one of the blogs I have visited stating "Can I go to one of the stores of Jollibee to buy some shares of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC)?"

Someone who already has a clear grasp of stock investing might laugh if to be asked by that question.

Fellow newbies, it is not wrong to ask.

It wont hurt.

Nor there is a wrong question.

As long as our intention is to learn.

We wouldn't know a thousand others might have the same question in mind and it is only us who happened to have the guts to speak our mind.

Choosing my COL Financial account type.

There are 3 type of accounts offered by COL Financial. Please see table below.

  

Note: Table above is a direct image from COL Financial's website.

My application to COL Financial was just approved last February 13, 2014 and I have just funded my account last night.

The type of account I opted to choose is COL PLUS with minimum investment of ₱25,000 instead of COL STARTER with minimum investment of ₱5,000.

The reason I picked  COL PLUS over COL STARTER is simply because it lets you do almost everything COL PREMIUM does for a bargain price of ₱25,000, except only that COL PREMIUM provides a Relationship Manager but for a minimum investment of a whopping ₱1,000,000.

A Relationship Manager is someone who provides value-added services to COL Financial's premium investors.

Posts you might want to read:
[What I did before I start investing on the stock market?  As a newbie, I think you should too.]
[I sold my first stock! This is my first triumph as a newbie.]
[Is there a charge for BDO Online deposit to COL Financial? Aren't you curious?]
[Is there a maintaining balance for a COL Financial Account? Don't you want to know? ]

The definitions of features as indicated on COL Financial's website are in blue font:

• Java Charts - Java charts is a browser based java charting application that provides a robust degree of prices in graphic form that can be viewed with a host of technical indicators and tools. Starter accounts can only view End of Day data (if you look today you can only see chart data as of yesterdays close) while Plus and higher accounts can see live streaming data.
  

• Market Data - Market data shows information on stock quotes and various statistical information sent by the PSE. All accounts have access to live data but Starter accounts must call out such data or refreshed' when needed. All other accounts can receive data from the stream and not need to be refreshed.

• Price Ticker - An applet that displays running data of current market prices. This feature must be called out from Starter Accounts, while all other accounts can find this ticker embedded into the basic webpages of COL Financial.

[Is your COL Java Ticker not working? Try switching to Classic Version. Or click here.]

• Research Pages - COL Financial provides a host of research reports and statistical guides that help provide information to customers to aid in rendering analysis and a market view. All COL Financial reports are open to all account types.

• Customer Support/Helpdesk - You may tap the services of COL Financial's Helpdesk or Customer Support group to answer questions about account opening, website use, brokerage services, and other pieces of general information (non-inclusive of market advisory information). You may call COL Financial's hotline at 6-515-888 or email us at helpdesk@colfinancial.com 

• Easy Investment Program (EIP) Facility - this is the feature on COL Financial that allows for the use of cost averaging by providing a convenient EIP Scheduler calendar that reminds you to execute planned trades over in time.

• Margin Facility - this is a credit facility that allows customers to borrow funds and make additional purchases of stocks using their stock and cash assets as collateral. Interest is charged for any loans made. 

• Broker information - a feature available to Plus accounts and higher that provides data that measures brokerage transactions viewed as a whole or through stock specific filters, as well as a Brokers' daily ranking report. 

The Code 203 is for COL FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (COL) This table shows top 10 of a possible 202 most active stocks transacted by COL on a corresponding date/s.

This table shows top 12 of a possible 65 brokers that has transacted PHIL. LONG DISTANCE TEL. CO. (TEL) the most on a corresponding date/s.

This table shows top 10 of a possible 125 stock brokers in terms of total buy and sell amount on a given date/s.

• Expanded 6-Pack - an expanded six pack allows a user to build up to four different 6-pack pages whose headers may be renamed to earmark a specific watch group

I love this already! Information on each Stock is being auto-updated. This is available in COL PLUS and COL PREMIUM  only :)

• Relationship Manager - A personal helpdesk specialist who caters to the needs of Premium customers.

Relationship Manager is a dedicated person, possibly an investment coach who will help premium investors with their account queries.

Source: COL Financial Group, Inc.
http://www.colfinancial.com/ape/final2/home/account_type_details.html


Posts you might want to read:
[What I did before I start investing on the stock market?  As a newbie, I think you should too.]
[I sold my first stock! This is my first triumph as a newbie.]
[Is there a charge for BDO Online deposit to COL Financial? Aren't you curious?]
[Is there a maintaining balance for a COL Financial Account? Don't you want to know? ]

Introduction

Good providers always say that "I will give my family the best life I can."

And our means to make it real is either to work hard, work harder, and work even harder.

I am not saying working hard is not good.

In fact there is this quote i have read just recently that I personally interpret as "Work harder now or work even harder, so that you do not have to work hard in the future it not work at all."

That quote is:

Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't.

-Jerry Rice, Football Player

But for how long should we work hard?

Sadly, most of the people I know refuse to retire to be able to support their grand kids' tuition fees, medical bills, and even everyday expenses.

The cycle continues: work hard, work harder, and work even harder.

I want to break that cycle! Power of positive thinking asks you to say: "I will break that cycle!"

I have been able to work overseas for more than a couple of years and was able to save a few Riyals.

But still i have a few regrets. I wish I could redo my overseas life with the knowledge I now have.

If only i could go back in time, surely i will tell my old self:

"You are going to regret buying those things."

Or "You are going to regret letting your money sleep in your bank account."

And of course i will say: "Learn how the stock market works and invest on it."

Can't remember when I finally said to myself this is it  i want to  i need to start putting my money to someplace where it will work for me.

Thank God! I was enlightened financially. Though He did not tell me those things directly in my sleep, He used a lot of people to give me the knowledge and spiritual insights.

Those people are in the form of family, love ones, friends, books, e-books, published reports, blogs or videos and other offline / online reading materials.

You just have to play your part. In the order as listed below:

Ask.

          Read or research.

                    Compare.

                              Learn.

                                       Apply.

                                                 Learn again.

                                                            Learn some more.

                                                                      Apply. And make it a cycle.



Whatever we do, let us not stop acquiring knowledge and put those knowledge into good use.