It may seem to be a no-brainer to invest in the stock market due to its potential increase in the investments but not all people, particularly Filipinos including myself, have the hundred percent confidence of doing it. Whose fault is it really? our parents? our culture? or ourselves?
So, why are most Filipinos don’t invest in the stock market?
- Lack of knowledge – A vast majority of Filipinos is attached to traditional methods of lifestyle, and so is their way of saving or investing money. Due to this, they just stick to what they’re used to and furthermore hindering themselves in trying and exposing to new methods of investing such as this one. They just tend to not give it a try because they don’t know what to do before, during, and after investing in a stock or even a general grasp on information in the stock market in general.
- Laziness – Rizal’s longest essay, the “Indolence of the Filipinos” with regards to his insight of factors as to why some Filipinos are indolent. He claimed that Filipinos have the natural disposition of indolence due to the climate’s natural condition of being too hot at certain points and is not hereditary. I think this is true because in an experiential perspective, when I used to get to work in a nearby restaurant, I find it difficult to do daily tasks and jobs when it is too hot. In the stock market investing, indolence is pretty much a factor because due to this, Filipinos become unproductive and just not feeling like giving it a try in investing.
- Fear of risking – Most of the Filipinos tend to find their comfort zone and just playing safe when it comes to investing. They see stock market investing as just flat-out “gambling” and having the risk of losing more than what you really gain in return, resulting into a fear of taking risks.
- Lack of time – Filipino breadwinners are busy with their work on a daily nine-to-five schedule, implying that they dedicate most of their time working for the whole day. I concur to this when I was in a very tight schedule to the point that I barely had time to sleep. One of the prerequisites of stock market investing is to monitor your investment status at all times. Having time insufficiencies in stock market investing can have the risk of your investments to go down or even lose them.
As a Filipino, these causes are some of the common ones to sum up the take of Filipinos in stock market investing. But being successful as a Filipino stock market investor is not an impossibility. With the right knowledge, perseverance, taking risks at certain points with contingency plans, and dedicating some of your time, this can be possible. It is indeed a way to go and can help you significantly in the long run.
