Kavee Chukitkasem is the Deputy Managing Director of Kasikorn Securities and completed his Master of Finance from The University of Toledo, Ohio. Kavee is also a TEDx speaker and is the author of a popular investing book on how to identify great stocks and how to sow the seeds for sustainable long-term results (original title:เพาะหุ้นเป็น เห็นผลยั่งยืน).
“It doesn’t matter if you give your money to a fund manager; you still have to know about investing.”
Kavee Chukitkasem
Worst investment ever
Kavee’s worst investment to date happened during the first year of his career. He had just received his first bonus, and all he wanted to do with the money was to invest it. While it wasn’t so much money, Kavee was excited to be able to enter the investment world.
At the time, Thailand’s stock index was at 1,700 points, almost the highest it has ever been.
A bubble near to burst
Around the same time, the Tom Yum Goong Crisis (the Thai name for the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, and also a delicious soup with prawns) was building up in Thailand. Even though the signs were all over, nobody saw the crisis coming. Someone advised Kavee that this was the best time to invest, and he blindly believed him.
Even though he was a finance graduate already working as a financial analyst, he put his trust in someone else. He never thought of researching the company he was putting his hard-earned bonus into. All Kavee knew was that he was buying at a high and was convinced the stock would keep going up.
He never saw that burst coming
Kavee bought stocks at 300 Baht each, but thanks to the Asian Financial Crisis the shares fell to a whopping low of 20 Baht in just three months.
Kavee was utterly disappointed in himself because, as an analyst, he should have known better than to invest in a company he knew nothing about.
Lessons learned
What kind of investor are you?
The first thing you need to do before you start investing is to know the kind of investor you want to be. What is your long-term investment goal?
Before you start investing learn how it works
Whether you’re interested in a long or short investment, you have to know how investing works. You don’t need to understand finance deeply but learn the basics and understand the market. Even if you choose to work with a fund manager, you still have to know about investing.
Don’t expect to be an overnight millionaire
Investing money for beginners can be exciting. Don’t get too excited and expect a hundred percent return in one year, that hardly ever happens. Give your portfolio time to grow.
Don’t follow every investing advice you get
There’s always someone out there wanting to force tips on investing for beginners down your throat. You don’t have to follow every piece of advice. Just listen and take into account and think about it by yourself.
Andrew’s takeaways
- People fail to do their research, especially when starting to invest. They just pick the company, invest right away, even though they don’t know much about it.
- People fail to properly assess and manage risk. Look at your investment before you buy it and evaluate the risk and how to manage it. To reduce risk, you need to have a more diversified portfolio.
- People are driven by money, emotion, and flawed thinking.
- Many people lose their money because they trust the wrong people.
- People fail to monitor their investment. Many people just put their money in something, and then they don’t even look at it ever again.
- Don’t invest in a startup company, blindly.
Actionable advice
Get to know the investment first before you invest. It doesn’t matter how much you have to invest, keep your money safe first before you sign to invest anything. Whatever you want to invest in, you have to know it very well. Knowledge is essential before you get in because you can learn a lot, and you’ll invest from the point of knowledge and not ignorance.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
For the next 12 months and beyond, Kavee wants to focus on training Thai people on how to invest in the stock market so that they can enjoy financial freedom.
Parting words
“Good luck to everybody going into the investment world. It’s very fun, and if you have a successful investment, that’s a good thing to have.”
Kavee Chukitkasem
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