Firm sees potential in more Cebuanos investing in stocks

CEBU, Philippines - A stock brokerage firm said there's really a big potential to have more Cebuanos invested in the stock market as many are not still open to investing in this investment vehicle.

In an interview with reporters on Friday, Michelle Ungco, assistant vice president at Unicapital Securities Inc. (USI), said there's so much potential in Cebu given the growing interest to invest in stocks.

"Cebuanos are known to be entrepreneurial. Investing in the stock market is like putting up a business because you are investing in big corporations," Ungco said.

Nationwide, she said only about 2 percent of the Filipino population are invested in the stock market, which presents a lot of opportunities to get the rest 98% encouraged and educated to invest.

"We're tapping the right people, those who are not yet invested. To those people who want to invest, you have to educate them," Ungco said.

She added their Cebu office is beefing up its regular seminars on the basics of stock market investing.

Investing in the stock market allows people to become shareholders of the biggest corporations in the Philippines such as the likes of Ayala, SM, Jollibee, BDO, and Megaworld, among others.

Ungco said there are still a lot of factors why people don't invest in stocks.

She said there's a notion that it would require millions to invest, when one can actually start investing with a minimum amount of P5,000.

"Kulang talaga sa push," she cited, adding that making awareness through education seminars is really key to increase the number of people investing in the market.

'Investing early'

The sooner you start investing, the more money you will have to live on as you age.

"Investing early allows you to develop disciplined spending habits by focusing on your budget and cutting expenses when needed. Investing helps you achieve accelerated financial success and will help improve your entrepreneurial skills at the same time," USI said.

"The goal is to grow your money by investing rather than by saving your money in the bank. When you leave your money in your savings account, you can earn very minimal interest - but the growth of your savings account is not enough to outpace the rise in inflation," the stock brokerage firm advised.

It further added: "You need to find ways to make your money grow without having to work longer hours. You do not have to work for years to raise capital for your business. Change your mindset and see things from an investor’s perspective - you can actually be a part-owner of a big company by investing in that company through the stock market because it only takes a little bit of money to get into investing."

Many Filipinos still have common misconceptions about investing in the stock market such as the belief that you need big capital and many are wary because of the risks involved.

USI provides online stock trading platform, UTrade, which allows people to buy and sell stocks online.

USI is part of Unicapital Inc., a a full-service investment house that provides a wide array of finance and investment banking-related product lines including underwriting of initial public offerings (IPOs). (FREEMAN)