Share investing thread

[frivolity]

Does anyone here invest in shares? What sort of strategies do you use and how has it worked for you so far? Do you see any investing opportunities at current prices, or are you holding cash in anticipation of further market declines?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by frivolity

Does anyone here invest in shares? What sort of strategies do you use and how has it worked for you so far? Do you see any investing opportunities at current prices, or are you holding cash in anticipation of further market declines?

I used to invest in shares, but have since switched entirely to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

Buying an ETF gives me the broadest possible exposure to the basket of equities I hope to invest in, at the cost of a small management fee. I understand that I have no time nor inclination to read and research companies as intensively as I would need to, in order to make sound investment decisions, so that's why I no longer buy equity directly.

Everything is highly uncertain right now, and anyone who claims to know how things will turn out in the next two quarters is lying. It remains to be seen if businesses that collapsed during lockdown measures can recover. If they don't recover, employment won't recover. Without jobs and salaries, consumers aren't likely to spend, so you're not going to see any recovery.

And this is even before we consider how global supply chains will look like after the coronavirus. Major shifts have already occurred, especially away from China. To what extent will that affect the Chinese recovery? No one knows.

National debts as a proportion of GDP are also at all-time highs, and that limits the ability of governments to launch stimulus plans for propping up economies.

That said, over the last few days, stock markets in Asia and the US have been staging a robust recovery. I personally don't know what to make of it — there's a lot of pent-up optimism from speculators who had been hoarding cash for the past six months, and I suspect that's what is driving the market froth right now. The markets, in my opinion, have become decoupled from the economy, and no longer reflects the actual difficulties of all businesses across the board.

In short, I would hesitate to buy in right now. I would rather wait and see.


As for investing strategies, I'm conservative. My portfolio is split roughly half-half between equity-based ETFs and bonds-based ETFs. And since they are ETFs, I don't really bother about watching the charts or thinking about value-investing — that's something the ETF itself will average out over time. I've been trying to apply dollar-cost averaging, but it's a work in progress.