After we learnt how to invest in stock market, we normally will discuss topics related to stock investment with friends or colleagues, and different people will have different views on the stock market. However, when you continue to discuss the knowledge of stock investment with them, you will find that most of them have a lot of misconceptions about stock investment. The same thing happens when you browse through investment websites or apps and read the comments, which also show that many people don't really understand what stock investment is. Why do most people have to wrong understanding in stock investment? Because most people only listen to their friends or relatives without really understand what stock investment really is, and they just believe what other people said. Today I want to talk about some of the common misconceptions about stock investment, and break them down one by one, so that everyone can have a better understanding on stock investment.
1. Stock investment is very risky, you’ll lose everything!
I believe that many people have heard of this, and have actually seen their relatives or friends went bankrupt because of stock investment. Stocks are indeed a relatively high-risk investment. However, the actual cause of people went bankrupt in stock investment is that they used borrowed money to invest, not because the stock market is risky. Everyone understands that any form of borrowing or loan must be repaid within a certain period of time, be it mortgage, car loan, personal loan, etc. When you can’t repay your loan, you will face bankruptcy. If you don’t want to go bankrupt, you will have to repay your loan by any means, including selling off your asset, borrow money from friends and relatives, or worst, from the notorious loan shark.
Margin or leverage facilities are services derived from stock investment, which enable you to buy stocks that worth more much more than your available capital. Simply put, it means using borrowed money to invest. For example, some stock brokerage firm provides margin facility up to 3 times your capital, which means you can buy stocks worth up to 3 times your available capital, in the condition that the value of the stocks and your capital must be maintain at a fixed minimum amount. If the value of the stocks you’re holding dropped below that minimum amount, you are left with 2 choices – sell the stocks at loss and repay the money you borrowed to invest; or you can inject more fund into your trading account to meet the minimum amount.
Many greedy investors use margin facility to maximize their return, because it allows you to use less capital to achieve high return. Imagine you use RM 1,000.00 to buy RM 3,000.00 worth of stocks, when the stocks rise 10%, you’ll earn RM 300.00, which is 30% gain. However, many didn’t realize is that when the stocks tumbled 10%, you’ll lose 30%. If the stocks dropped 33%, you’ll lose all the RM 1,000.00. Those that do not wish to sell at loss, will try to borrow money to inject more capital, or even buy more stocks and hope for the stock to rebound, so that it can reserve the loss into gain, but it turned out the stock just keep dropping, which lead to bankruptcy.
2. You’ll need to constantly monitor the stock market
Many people thought that stock investment requires you to constantly monitor the stock market, therefore they do not invest in stocks because they do not have the time for it. This misconception is due to many people can’t differentiate between investing and trading. Trading means buy and sell, the purpose of trading in stock market is to make profit by selling your stocks at a price higher than your purchased price. If you do not wish to make money by constantly trading in the market, there is no need for you to monitor the market every minute. For example, if you invested in a property, you will not check the price of your property every day, or ask if there’s anyone interested to buy your property. This is because you understand that the value of the property will increase gradually with time, and the same applies to stock investment. Constantly monitoring the stock market to buy sell frequently is not considered investment. Most of us invest to earn passive income, which means income that do not required you to work for it. Spending long hours looking at charts is as good as working full time, and it certainly does not fit as passive income.
Some people keep monitoring the movement of the market because they worried about the fluctuation of the market. They worried that the missed the chance to cut loss or take profit if the market suddenly went south. These people normally do not do their own research before they invest and usually rely on various news, rumor or tips to buy or sell, which is why they lack confident or sense of security in the stocks they bought. As long as you do your research thoroughly before investing and set your own investment goals, you will not be bothered by the short-term fluctuations in stock market.
3. Stock market is very risky, you’ll lose money easily
While it’s true that stock investment is a relatively risky investment compared to others, their return is also relatively higher. However, most of the people lose money in stock market is not due to the high risks, but because they don’t even understand the meaning of investing. As per Warren Buffett’s quote: “Risks come from not knowing what you’re doing.” Indeed, many seasoned retail investors do not realize they are actually speculating in the market rather than investing. These investors treat the market like a casino, and believe the key to make money in the market is all about luck or through insider’s news or tips. Therefore, they like to browse all the investment forums, websites, apps, etc. to try to get insider’s news or tips so that they can make money from it. To make matters worse, they’ll blame on bad luck when they lose money to self-comfort; and credit to the insider’s news when they made money. These people will fall into the vicious cycle of speculating in the market
There are some investors that used money that they need to use to invest in stocks, and when they needed the money for other purposes, they are forced to sell their stocks even at loss. When you’re likely to forced to sell your stocks, your risk will become higher than usual. The reason why people did this is because they think that they can make money from stock market within a short period of time, so they used these money to buy stocks, and hoping to sell and make some quick bucks before they wanted to use these money. However, investment often takes time to bear profit, and in many cases, the success or failure of an investment actually has a lot to do with your holding power. If you use spare money to invest, your holding power will be relatively higher, because you don't need this money to survive, so you won't be forced to cash out your investment. This is why financial planners generally recommend that you should only use spare money to invest.
4. If you do not have enough money to spend, you can try to invest in stock market
Well, it’s true that one can make lots of money through stock investment, but if you’re looking to earn income to cover your daily expenses, then you need to look elsewhere. As mentioned above, you should only use spare money to invest. If you don’t have enough money for your daily expenses, and still want to invest in stock market and hope to make money, your ability to tolerate risk becomes very small. For example, if the stocks you bought dropped within a short period of time, you’ll be in a dilemma: either you have to sell it at loss or your money will get stuck in the market and you have no more money for your daily expenses. What you should be doing try to increase your income and reduce your expenses, instead of investing.
5. Stock investment requires a lot of money, and only experts can master it
Since Bursa Malaysia changed the minimum order lot from 1000 shares to 100 shares in 2004, stock investment has become more accessible to ordinary citizens in Malaysia, and it’s no longer a privilege for the riches, nor did it require huge amount of money. For example, based on yesterday’s closing price of RM 8.25, you only need approximately RM 8.25 x 100 = RM 825.00 to buy the minimum required 100 shares of MAYBANK, and became the shareholder of Malaysia’s largest company.
Many people have the wrong perception that stock investment is very hard to master, and only professional fund managers or stock analyst can make money in the market. This statement may still make sense decades ago, but not in this era of information technology, where everyone can access to information about listed companies on the Internet for free, and learn the knowledge of investment through various free websites or videos. It is no longer difficult to get the knowledge and information about investment. Although stock investment is a broad subject, its core principle is not very complicated. As long as one willing to learn and study, most people can master the way to profit from stock investment. Moreover, the key to successful stock investment is usually not the knowledge or skills involved, but the psychological and emotional management by investors.
6. Stock brokers are stock expert, and they often have access to insider’s news
First and foremost, one must understand that a stock broker’s job is to execute investors buy-sell order, and they earn commission from these transactions, which means the investors are their client. Regardless whether their clients make or lose money from these transactions, they will still earn the commission. Although most of the stock brokers do have certain stock investment knowledge, that doesn’t mean that they are the experts, because they do not make a living through investment. Due to the nature of their work which is to service their clients, they often provide some investment advice to their clients, be it good or bad advice. Investors must have the ability to think critically and independently. Just because stock brokers worked in the industry, it doesn’t guarantee that their advices or opinions can help you to make money in the market. One must be clear about one thing – the job of a stock broker is to assist you complete the buy-sell transaction, not to help you make money. Whether you make or lose money in the stock market has zero impact on them. One must always analyze any advice or opinion carefully, and not to follow blindly.
Due to their profession, stock brokers interact with different clients daily, including some wealthy businessman or tycoon, and they will always get some so-called insider’s news or tips from their clients through their interactions. Many people think that you can make a lot of money in the market by following these so-called insider’s news from their stock brokers, so they often ask their stock brokers: “Got any insider’s news ah? What stock will can buy ah? Which stock will go up ah?” Since stock brokers need to serve their clients, they will definitely tell you some of these so-called insider’s news they have heard from other clients or colleagues. Since it’s only a hearsay, it’s almost impossible to verify the legitimacy of these information. Invest based on these hearsay insider’s news is no different from gambling or speculation.
Do you have the same misconceptions about stock investment like the above? I hope this article can debunk all these misconceptions, so that you can use the correct investment approach to build your wealth.
Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion recorded for my personal record. Nothing on this Blog constitutes investment advice, performance data or any recommendation that any security, portfolio of securities, investment product, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. The author shall not be held accountable for any investment decision made by the reader. Invest at your own risk.
不知道大家有没有跟我一样，在学会了投资股票过后就开始会跟身边的朋友或同事讨论一些跟股票投资相关的话题，而不同的人都会对股票有着不一样的看法。然而当您跟他们继续深入探讨股票投资这学问的时候，您会发现原来他们大部分都对股票投资有着很多的误解。然后您去各大投资网站或应用程序上看到很多网友的留言也同样显示原来很多人都不大了解股票投资到底是什么。
为什么大多数人都对投资股票有所误解呢？因为很多人都道听途说，本身并没有真正去了解股票投资这一门学问，所以就人云亦云。今天我就在这儿跟大家探讨一般人对股票投资的种种误解，然后再一一破解它们，让大家可以更深入的了解何为股票投资。
1. 投资股票风险很高，会让你倾家荡产的！
相信很多人都听说过这一句话，而且也真真确确地看过身边的亲戚或朋友真的因为股票而倾家荡产甚至破产。无可否认股票确实是属于比较高风险的投资，然而真正让人倾家荡产的并不是因为股票的风险，而是借钱投资股票。每个人都明白任何形式的借贷都必须在特定的时间内偿还，无论是房贷，车贷，私人贷款等等。当您没法偿还您的贷款，您就会面临破产。如果不想破产，您就必须还款，而变卖您的家产来还贷是最常见的做法，要不然就是跟亲戚朋友借钱，最坏的就是跟大耳窿借钱。
杠杆是股票投资衍生出来的投资工具，可以让您买入价值高出您所拥有的资金的股票。简单来说就是借钱投资。举个例子，某某股票经纪公司提供三倍的杠杆服务，也就是让您可以买入价值相等于您的资金三倍的股票，但是您所持有的股票和资金必须维持在一个特定的最低价值。如果您所持有的股票价值跌低过那个最低价值，您只有两个选择 – 亏着把股票卖掉，然后必须偿还您借来投资的钱；或者您可以选择补仓，就是放入更多的资金进入您的股票户口，让您的股票价值跟您的资金达到那个最低价值。
很多人因为贪心，想要以小博大，所以用了杠杆这个服务来投资。因为如果您用1000块来买入3000块的股票，当股票上升10%，赚了300块，您的赚幅是30%。可是很多时候这些贪心的人没有想到，当股票下跌10%，您就是亏了30%。只要您买的股票跌了33%，您就会亏掉1000块，然后甚至需要倒贴。一些人因为不想亏着卖掉股票，所以到处借钱来补仓，甚至还继续买入已经亏损的股票，希望可以等股价反弹便可以转亏为盈，可是没想到越补就越亏，最后导致破产。
所以，真正让人倾家荡产的是借钱投资股而不是股票投资。如果您不借钱投资，只用自己的钱投资，您最大的亏损也只是把您的钱亏完，而不会让您负债。借了超过您还款能力的钱去做任何的投资都是有可能让您破产的，并不只是股票而已。比如您向银行贷款买了一间需要月供3000块的房地产，然而您却没法如期偿还这3000块的房贷，您一样是会被银行追账然后破产的。
2. 投资股票是需要长时间盯着股市
很多人因为错误地以为投资股票需要花很多时间来盯着股市，然后因为自己需要上班所以以没有时间这个理由而不投资股票。大家会有这种想法是因为很多人都搞不清楚投资跟交易的差别。交易，顾名思义就是买卖，而在股市里的交易无非就是为了用更高的价钱卖掉所买入的股票来赚取其差价。可是如果您不是想要借着大量的股票交易来赚钱，您根本不需要每一分钟都留意股市的起起落落。就比如您投资了一间房子，您不可能每天都去打听您的房子现在值多少钱，有没有人愿意买等等的消息。因为您清楚明白房子的价值是需要一点时间才会上升的，而投资股票也是如此。每天盯着股市走向想要买卖买卖来赚钱的并不是投资。而且我们大多数人投资都是为了赚取被动收入，顾名思义就是您不需要工作而自动获得的收入。花长时间盯着股市仿佛就像工作一样，那又算什么被动收入呢？
一些人则因为担心股价的波动所以一直盯着股市，担心说如果所持有的股票股价突然下跌或上涨，希望可以适时卖出套利或是减少不必要的亏损。通常这些人是因为事前没有做功课，听信各种消息或流言来买入股票，所以对其买入的股票没有信心或安全感，于是长时间盯着其股价。然而只要投资前做足功课，设定好自己的投资目标，您就不会因为股市短期的波动而感到不安。
3. 投资股票的风险很大，很容易亏钱的
上面说到，股票相对于其他的投资工具风险确实比较高。由于它的风险高，所以回酬也比其他投资工具高。然而，很多时候在股市里亏钱其实并不是因为风险高，而是因为很多人根本不知道什么是投资。在股市里亏钱的绝大多数都是以为自己在投资的投机者。股神巴菲特说过：风险来自于您不知道自己在做什么。确实很多浸淫在股市里多年的散户都不知道自己其实是在投机而不是投资。他们把股市当成赌场，认为在股市里赚钱全是靠运气，或是通过一些内幕消息或贴士，所以就经常浏览各大投资网站，希望可以得到一些他们认为可以帮助他们赚钱的消息。更糟糕的是，亏了钱就怪运气不好，安慰自己说投资不一定赚钱，赚钱的时候就归功于内幕消息够力准，久而久之这些人就会陷入恶性循环而继续在股市里投机。
还有一些人则用了自己短期内需要用的钱来投资，然后当他们需要用到那笔钱的时侯，只能被逼在亏损的情况下把股票卖出来套现。当您有可能在您不情愿的情况下卖出您的股票，那么您的风险自然就更高了。会这样做的原因是您以为股票可以让您在短时间内赚钱，所以先把钱都拿去买股票，想说在还没有用到这笔钱时就可以赚到钱。然而投资是需要时间才可以看到成果的，而且很多时候一项投资的成败其实跟您有没有holding power是有着很大的关系。如果您是用闲钱来投资，您的holding power就会相对的高，因为您并不需要靠这笔钱来维持生活，所以就不会出现被逼套现的情况。这也是为什么财务规划师一般都会建议您只用闲钱来投资。
4. 如果钱不够用可以投资股票来赚取额外的收入
没错，投资股票确实可以赚钱，而且还有可能让您赚很多很多的钱，可是如果您是因为钱不够用而想要利用股票来赚取额外的收入以应付日常开销，那么您就大错特错了。上面提到，您应该只用闲钱来投资。如果您现在钱都已经不够用，还拿钱去投资股票希望赚更多的钱，那么您所能够承担的风险就变得非常小。如果您所买入的股票在短时间内下跌，那么您就会陷入进退两难的局面：卖掉就亏钱，不卖就没钱开饭。在这种情况下您连做投资决定都身不由己，更不要谈想要在股市里赚钱了。如果钱不够用，您应该想办法增加收入，然后减少您的开销，而不是拿钱去投资。
5. 投资股票需要一大笔资金，而且只有专家才做得来
其实自从大马股票交易所Bursa Malaysia在2004年把每股最低交易量从1000股改为100股过后，在马来西亚投资股票已经变得更大众化，也不再是富人的专利，更不需要一大笔资金才可以开始投资。举个例子，以MAYBANK昨天的收市价RM 8.25来计算，您只需要以大约RM 8.25 x 100 = RM 825.00就可以买入最低的100股MAYBANK的股票，成为全马最大的公司的小股东。
很多人都有一种错觉，认为股票投资是一门很深奥的学问，只有专业的基金经理或是股票分析员才可能在股市里赚钱。这个说法在几十年前可能还说得通，然而在这个科技发达，资讯爆炸的时代，每个人都可以免费地从网路上找到关于上市公司的资料，也可以通过各种各样免费的网路教学或视频来学习如何投资。想得到投资的知识和资料已不再是一件困难的事情。虽然股票投资是一门很广大的学问，但是它的原理其实并不复杂，一般人只要加以用心地学习一定可以学会如何从股票投资中获利。而且股票投资成败的关键通常并不在于知识的多寡或技术的运用，而是投资者心理建设和情绪管理。
6. 股票经纪就是股票专家，经常得到很多内幕消息
首先大家必须明白股票经纪其实只是负责执行投资者的买卖指令，并从这些交易中收取佣金的中间人，而投资者就是他们的客户。无论客户的买卖有没有赚钱，股票经纪都可以获得佣金。虽然大部分的股票经纪都会有一定的投资知识，但不表示他们就是专家，因为他们并不是靠投资维生，而是靠抽取佣金来赚钱。由于他们的工作是服务投资者，所以有时候在与客户交谈的时候会时不时给出一些投资意见，然而他们的意见并不一定值得参考。投资者必须有独立的思考能力，而不是认为股票经纪因为身处股市所以他们的意见一定能够帮您在股市里赚钱。要认清一件实事 – 股票经纪的工作是帮您完成买卖交易，不是帮您赚钱。您在股市里赚钱或亏钱对他们并没有什么影响。任何人所给的意见，您一定要自己分析清楚，而不是盲目的跟从。
由于工作关系，他们每天会接触到很多不同的客户，当中肯定会包括一些比较富有的商人或富豪，也会从这些客户的口中听说到各种各样的‘内幕消息‘或贴士。很多人都认为听从股票经纪打听回来的内幕消息就可以在股市中赚大钱，所以就经常向他们的股票经纪：有什么内幕消息吗？那一只股票可以买？什么股票会起？由于您是他们的客户，他们的工作是服务您，所以肯定会告诉您一些他们从其他客户，或是他们的同行听说回来的所谓内幕消息。由于大家都是听说的，所以这些消息到底是真是假，根本无从认证。盲目相信这些从别人口中听说到的内幕消息来投资，跟赌博投机其实没有分别。
您是否也对股票投资有着以上的误解呢？希望这篇文章可以帮您打破这些误解，然后用正确的投资思维去创造财富。
免责声明：这只是个人意见，记录下来供我个人使用。此博客上的任何内容均不构成投资建议，绩效数据或任何建议，任何证券，证券组合，投资产品，交易或投资策略均适合任何特定人士的建议。作者对读者做出的任何投资决定概不负责。投资风险自负。