The great American investor Warren Buffett bought his first stock at the age of 11. It shows that one can learn stock investing at a young age.
@TheJoker17
I'm 18, turning 19 next month basically. And I'm mainly a student, a full-time student, and I work at MG Marketing, which is a kind of like a warehouse for vegetables and stuff. So basically, I take on orders from other businesses and they have like the vegetables that they want. And then we go around to all the crates in the warehouse and then we put them on a pallet and then they get delivered by a truck to their store and stuff like that. So right now, at Uni, I'm doing commerce with an economics major, but I also want to do an accounting major. I've realized that I quite like accounting as well.（Social media names are the same：bubble._.lin）
Q：What made you start trading investments and what is your investment story？
Well, so the first time that I heard about investment was from my father. So, he started investing at uni as well. And yeah, I just remember talking to him about the investments and how they work, because I was quite interested in investing at the time. Because for me, it's always kind of been like money is very up there and important stuff. I like to learn about economics and those things. And we talk about how the purchasing power of money decreases. So, we always got to find ways to kind of maintain our wealth or stuff that we have. What got me started was my friends at high school, during Covid, everybody was talking about how all the stocks were very low and it's a great time to buy and stuff like that, and that kind of got me interested in it.
Q：How did you hear about Tiger Brokers?
I got into Tiger Brokers because of social media. I found the advertisements and then saw you on Instagram, and I like the kind of content that you were showing on it, it was an informative update. And then I saw that you guys were doing, promotions to get new customers in. And that was when I kind of stepped into Tiger Brokers.
Q：What is your Tiger account size like at the moment? How much have you invested?
So, I've personally invested maybe between three thousand to four thousand dollars somewhere around there. And then because I was quite active on Tiger Brokers’ Instagram, I was lucky enough to win a $1,000 USD promotion at the end of last year. And that was also a big drive.
Q：What shares have you invested in and why have you chosen these companies?
My portfolio at the moment is pretty much purely tech, which I know is not very good for risk and stuff like that. Basically, just tech stuff like Apple, Nio, Salesforce and Coinbase. I'm very much into tech myself, so, it's kind of like me trying to support and just be part of that kind of community.
Q：Do you have any investment styles or strategies at the moment?
So, previously I've been kind of looking at YouTube videos and seeing how they logic out if it is a good investment and just reading other people’s opinions, which I know is not always the best because not everybody is right, obviously. I'm trying to get into learning more about reading the graph and stuff like the support lines and those kinds of things, like peaks and dips, the candlesticks. Sometimes there are noticeable signs, ups and downs and stuff that you can kind of like assume something is happening. It’s just like looking into the future. So, I try to read the graphs to speak with the short term and then I look at the businesses, what their proposition is and what they're trying to accomplish in the future or in a couple of years. And then if I kind of like that idea, what the company's future goals are and if it matches with what you think, stuff like that.
Q：What about your return so far? How has it been?
When I purchased Apple, it went up I think like 5% or something. But then obviously now everything is just kind of down. So, at the moment, I am down USD 553.
I'm also trying to just kind of look at some research. This is my first time getting into an economic downturn during my investment career. I'd like to learn more about what kind of things investors tend to do during the downturn. I hear a lot of people are down cost averaging and buying in at the dips and stuff. I just want to know if that's kind of safe and how to just see the signs of a recession, stuff like that, which we're learning in economics at the moment.
Q：What piece of advice would you give to a beginner such as yourself or even maybe a younger generation?
Well, I would say that I'm also kind of dabbling a little bit in crypto. I think with crypto, I joined into the hype of some of those hype coins, like Shiba and stuff. I think the main thing is to not get carried away by what other people say and remember to do your own research because that kind of stuff can really blind you to what you should be doing is the right choice.
I guess I'm still working this out. So, I'm kind of an opportunist. So, like I see something that is a great opportunity, and I'll try to take it, but it's not always the best for my situation in general. So, I would say that just to remember when you're investing that you also need to kind of manage your personal expenditure. If you have rent or other monthly fees or weekly fees, remember to pay them off before you invest because it's really important to ensure that you are capable of meeting your responsibilities before you get into investing.
Q：What stocks or options are you watching right now?
I think a lot of people that I've just seen online continue to kind of go into FAANG stocks. They think that the FAANG stocks have like they're very good in economic downturns because they are very large and they're unlikely to fail and they're likely to be able to come out of that economic downtrend. Whereas other smaller companies like growth stocks and stuff, where people expect that they will potentially explode in the future, like in like ten years or whatever, they're relatively smaller. So, they're obviously riskier. And during an economic downturn, it's harder for them to really meet their goals and stuff like that. So, I guess I will most likely be looking at FANG stocks like Amazon, Google and stuff like that just for that kind of security and also maybe just S&P because I really need to kind of diversify my portfolio.
Q：What are the characteristics of your ideal stocks?
Every time I think about it, I've kind of like given myself like a mental push to kind of diversify, but I just really kind of like the tech side of things. So, for me, other than tech, I'm most likely just going to go with index funds like S&P and stuff like that. My friends tell me that health is a very risky one. Like it can be really up and down. I just think I need to do more research on other stocks to kind of understand.
I hear energy is something that people tend to also invest in. And there's also, gold and oil and other things. Those things I've never really delved into. I need to understand more about that kind of stuff. But mainly tech.
Q：Do you have any opinions on what is going to happen?
That's hard to say. It really depends on what the government do. Like interest rates and stuff like that can affect stocks. I think it will depend on things like that, external factors.
Q：What is your memorable achievement so far and what have you learned from it?
You could say my progress through my investing career is an achievement. Yeah. Kind of just learning from my mistakes, being able to learn from the mistakes and trying to be better at each step of the way.
Q：Are there any mistakes you have made in your investment journey and what did you learn from them?
I’ve just kind of just been going along with the flow. Like I said, with the crypto stocks, the hype coins, stuff like that, it’s the bandwagon effect, and me and my friends, our very first investment was with Coinbase at the peak of coming out of, Covid. So, I think it's mainly just when I get pulled along by friends in the sense that we're all optimistic about something, but we don't have a great understanding of it. That was my biggest mistake. Not really doing enough research and kind of just like going with it and then putting my money in stuff like that.
Q：What is your investment goal for this year?
For this year, I guess I want to keep being active in the community and learning just to have a good understanding and maybe just be more knowledgeable. I wouldn't really want to set a goal for myself when it comes to putting my money in because I feel like there's just an unneeded pressure. In that case, just being more knowledgeable I think would be good for the future.
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