(The third prize winning writing contest entry was published on: Vietstock.vn)
Stocks are not gambling, lotteries or lottery tickets to “play”. Before investing in stocks, invest your time, mind and even money in studying.
I learned about the concept of stocks when I was in high school, surprisingly through comics, basically it was like this: A boy listened to a teacher, used his savings to buy shares of a company whose stock had been sold off, the price had been at rock bottom for a long time. Every day the boy passed by the company and felt uneasy when he saw that the company was always closed, even though there were still lights inside. But the boy still believed in his teacher’s advice, every night he came to watch over the scrap collectors to prevent them from destroying the company he had invested in. After many months, the company announced that it had successfully researched a new product and the stock price increased sharply. The boy had the money to realize his dream of becoming a professional football player. I vaguely realized that stocks are not just about buying, selling, selling…
When I was a student, I was extremely excited when Vietnam launched the stock market. I was fascinated by the virtual account that the securities company allowed me to verify my knowledge and understanding, because at that time I didn’t have any money to invest. It was dangerous when the virtual money in my account kept increasing every day… because it made me have the illusion that I was really good during my school years.
When I started working, I had a little savings, then the market crashed, the stock price plummeted. I was like a child watching the market panic without understanding anything, the things I knew could not be explained, I only knew one thing: if I bought, I would definitely lose. Luckily, I didn’t have any money before.
Life taught me the lesson that if I want to understand something, I need to study and practice. I plunged into learning about stocks by reading books, following the news and attending seminars. The clearest proof of my learning results was when I bought my first stocks with my own real savings and made a profit of more than 30%. Also during this time, a friend who had previously invited me to “play” stocks… was suffering heavy losses. I wish I had enough knowledge and experience to advise my friend that stocks are not gambling, lotteries or lottery tickets to “play”.
Later on, I became more and more convinced that stocks cannot be “played” because I spent a lot of time and mind to learn but still lost money regularly. In fact, in the world, people only mention “Successful Stock Investors”, but no one says “Successful Stock Players”. And I concluded for myself that: before investing in stocks, you need to invest time, mind and even money in studying. Take investing seriously! Don't "play"!
Gieo Quảng
