Pride hurts but lessons are learned: A bittersweet story of an OFW investing in the Philippine stock market

When I wrote about my losses in the stock market on the second week of November (read Yikes! I lost a lot! I'm panicking because of the stock market pullback), one of my readers immediately emailed me about his experiences during the same time. His story was very similar, showing how our pride can eventually harm our (financial) lives. But I'd like you to focus not on the losses (he didn't actually loss money, rather 'lost' the opportunity to have higher gains if he sold earlier), but the experience and lessons he has gained. Indeed, a victorious warrior doesn't usually come back from a war unscathed. These wounds make us stronger and wiser in making the right decisions.



I also like to share this story because here is an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) based in the Middle East, which is thousands of miles away from us, and he's able to invest/trade the Philippine Stock Market through a Philippine online broker. This only means that if you are an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), you can follow his model and start investing for your future by investing in the stock market.

DISCLAIMER: The suggestions about which companies to buy in the letter below has nothing to do with what I want to say. The story is presented here bare and unedited so that readers may understand the OFW's emotions during the time of writing. 

Hi. Bry, 

Musta na. kakatuwa naman tong blog mo Bry (patungkol talaga sa tulad ko). Tumpak ka talaga dahil sa pride (& greediness na rin sa part ko) ayon bagsak pero nakabangon konti kc binenta ko lahat except MPI & Fgen para makakuha ng DMC at AGI. Bakit kc mahirap bitawan ang stocks lalo na umaasa ka pa rin na tataas pa lalo't mga big caps nman. Alam mo ang Fgen ko umabot pa 20+% dati at ang MPI nman mga 12% ata. Ngayon 12.63% & 1.67% na lang.hehehe (kainis). 

Sa nangyari ngayong week na-realise ko na dapat mag-stick talaga sa strategy – pag medyo naabot na yong TP benta na. Nagdesisyon ako knina na magsimula ako uli sa lahat kaya apat na lang stocks ko ngayon (+ NKL kung mabigyan kc thru raffle lang daw at 1T lang – nagsubscribe ako ng 5T). 

Simula bukas i-monitor ko na at babangon na talaga ako ng maaga (tulog ng maaga para d mapuyat – baka dito pa ako magkakasakit.hehehe). From 25% overall profit ko ngayon 19% na lang. 

Eto na ba yong CORRECTION na sinasabi nila? Dapat pala tandaan ko to kc kung di ka pala handa talo talaga. Sa totoo lang akala ko sa ganitong panahon (post-crisis) d na talaga bababa pa ng mga 10+% (in 2-3 days) ang mga blue chips. Nangyayari din pala.

Kung d ako mabigyan ng Nkl or 1T lang URC ang kapalit (wow ha ang galing mo 55% ka na sa URC dati). Yan ang nangyari sa akin sa Fgen at MPI kkaasa ko na aabot ako ng mga 30% bago ang release ng quarterly reports nila kc hinahambing ko performance nila sa ibang stocks ayon…. toinkkkkk

Stock Code	Market Price	Ave. Price	% Gain/Loss	% Portfolio
AGI	11.0000	10.7917	1.93%	16.74%
DMC	34.9500	33.8718	3.18%	31.91%
FGEN	12.6400	11.2225	12.63%	19.23%
MPI	3.8000	3.7375	1.67%	32.12%

Overall, magandang experience to sa mga baguhan tulad ko….dapat talaga extra lang yong pondo na nasa stock market.

Hayy ang daming pwding bilhin pero stick to the plan muna ako ngayon. Try ko till end of this year na pag me profit na 5-7% benta ko na agad (yong Fgen ko +3% pa para mabenta ko na.hehehe- bias pa rin)

Good luck….

Best regards sa lahat.

So, what have you learned from that letter from an OFW based in the Middle East? Did you also experience the same 'losses' during the November stock market correction? Did any of you actually sold before the correction? Do share you thoughts.

May you achieve true success!

Bryan

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