Why is this necessarily the case? Is there no way for us to tame the massive beast that is financial markets?
Well, according to our friends at Wahed, the trick to making the most of financial markets may actually be far simpler than we think!
When it comes to time, we all know one thing for sure: no one ever knows what the future holds. It's difficult to predict whether your favourite mamak will be open tomorrow with 100% certainty, just as it's difficult to predict whether a financial market will absolutely grow or decline.
The challenge of timing a financial market and its performance can be broken down into the following factors:
1. Markets Vs Economy
The valuations of products and instruments in financial markets are often based on estimates and do not necessarily determine how the larger economy will perform. For instance, the Malaysian market for housing loans may be anticipated to grow greatly over the next two years, but this does not reflect that the Malaysian economy will also grow in that period. In fact, the Malaysian economy could experience a sudden downturn in that period.
2. Bull Vs Bear
The ups and downs of any financial market are influenced by a colourful variety of factors, which makes it difficult to accurately pinpoint when a bear market will become a bull market and vice versa. Additionally, the change between bull and bear can often happen very quickly, and both can prove to be challenging when it comes to making long-term investment plans — since the fear of missing out on a good deal in the present encourages stock buyers and sellers to focus on short term returns.
3. Monitoring takes time
As life revolves heavily around splitting a limited amount of time between so many areas of focus, it is difficult to keep track of financial markets and all our investments around the clock, while also attempting to stay constantly updated on market trends and developments without tiring ourselves out sacrificing our interests in other areas.
These are all elements which make timing financial markets a genuine challenge at any point in time — and truth be told, unless we are able to master time travel itself or gain access to Doctor Strange’s Eye of Agamotto, we shouldn’t expect to gain complete control over such markets at all.
However, this certainly does not mean that we cannot overcome these challenges and turn the tides in our favour!
So, what can we control in a financial market?
When it comes to taking things into your own hands and making a financial market for you, Wahed’s biggest advice is to differentiate between what you CAN and CANNOT control.
We’ve already established the latter in the section above — that is, a financial market itself is most likely out of your control due to the fact that it is very difficult to time a market and predicts its behaviour with complete accuracy. We also tend to place a lot of emphasis on trying to control the size of the returns we get from investments, but this is largely up to the market itself.
Let’s focus on what we CAN control:
1. Risk
What are your risk preferences? Before you make any investment in any financial market, know how much risk you are willing to shoulder. A larger risk can bring larger returns, yes, but there’s also a larger possibility of losing an investment completely in such a scenario.
2. Cost
Know your finances well so that you can allocate an amount to be invested that suits your lifestyle closely. Settle for an amount that will not affect your livelihood severely, if lost, and this would help you reduce the cost of your investment.
3. Time
This refers specifically to your own time in the market and the time period that you would like to invest. While you cannot time the market itself, you have complete control over how long you stay in that market and how long you would like to make any investment.
4. Behaviour
Keep in mind that you understand your needs best and that although various investment guides will advise you to behave in different ways when investing, you should make your own decisions — such as when to invest and withdraw from the market — based on your personal financial needs.
Along with the pointers explained above, Wahed also advises you to focus on long-term investments, to take advantage of bull markets because it’s cheap, undertake dollar-cost averaging by investing small amounts in regular intervals over a period of time, and diversify your finances by investing in various products or instruments instead of focusing all of your capital in just one market or product.
Wait, you’re wondering what Wahed is and why they’re able to give such insightful advice on investing?
Wahed Invest is an online investment platform which grants investors access to a healthy mix of portfolios such as US Stocks (Wahed FTSE USA Shariah ETF), China Stocks (VP-DJ Shariah China A-Shares 100 ETF), Sukuk Fund (RHB Islamic Bond Fund, Maybank Malaysia Sukuk Fund), gold, cash and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).
Driven by the mission to provide exposure to the global financial markets such as the US and China through ethical investing, the platform only requires a minimum capital of only RM100 with fee rates between 0.39% to 0.79% annually to get started. This definitely opens the door to smaller investors who lack large sums of money but want to take advantage of the bull market and invest consistently for the long term.
But, how do they work?
Easy. Sign up and answer a few risk-related questions. When you make your first deposit, they'll automatically invest your portfolio according to your specific risk profile:
- Very conservative
- Conservative
- Moderate
- Moderately aggressive
- Aggressive
- Very aggressive
Let’s assume your risk appetite is moderately aggressive. Based on that, your portfolio would consist of 59% of Global Stocks, 30% of Sukuk, 5% of Emerging Market Stocks, 5% of Gold and 1% of cash. You can get more details about the investment portfolios here. This is excellent for those who have limited experience or find it hard to make time to manage their investments.
What’s the best part about Wahed?
Wahed has been licensed by the Securities Commission (SC) of Malaysia to provide robo-advisory services. This means you can have peace of mind with better transparency and regulatory protection when you invest with the platform.
Another key point that is worth to note is that Wahed Invest is also deemed as the world’s first automated Islamic investment platform governed by Shariah law. To remain aligned with the Islamic financial principles as well as the Socially Responsible Investments (SRIs), they would steer clear of certain industries, including those associated with gambling, tobacco, alcohol, and adult entertainment.
Additionally, there’s no lock-in period when it comes to investing with Wahed Invest — and, that means that you can withdraw your investments anytime.
So, what are you waiting for? Kickstart your investing journey today — #LaburCaraWahed by downloading the Wahed Invest app HERE.
SIDE NOTE: When it comes to investments, there is #CapitalAtRisk and investors are advised to read Wahed's disclaimer before investing. Read more here.
*The above article is intended for informational purposes only. Loanstreet accepts no responsibility for loss that may arise from reliance on information contained in the article.
