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[SPONSORED] 4 Things I Learned from Kenanga’s Investment Event

BySuraya
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On 12 January 2019, I attended an investment event organised by multi-award winning Kenanga Group. The name intrigued me right from the start – you don’t come across something like Market Outlook Symposium 2019: Smart Investing or Dare Betting? every day. Held from 9am-2.30pm, the event packed in five speakers (and a lunch break). You can check the agenda of the day and speakers’ profiles here.

I had fun live-tweeting the whole event. Click on the Twitter thread below to read 50+ tweets giving play-by-play account of each speaker’s presentation. Among others, you’ll find stock picks by Kenanga Investment Bank’s Head of Research, a warrants trading tool (that may help you get double-digit ROIs), what to do with your money during bear markets and more.

Here are some things I learned from the event. Some commentaries are not specific to the event itself, but an overview of the general investment events scene in Malaysia. This article is sponsored by Kenanga, but all opinions are mine.

#1 – The Kenanga-organised event… exceeded expectations

Throughout the years, I’ve attended my fair share of investment events in Malaysia. Some were good, some were bad/ outright scams, most were average.

I would rate investment events as ‘average’ if they go back to good but generic advice. You know what they are: don’t invest more than what you can afford to lose, know your risk portfolio, start investing sooner rather than later, things like that. Essentially nothing’s wrong with those advice, it’s just you don’t learn something new, you know?

I can honestly say that Kenanga Group’s Market Outlook Symposium 2019 is one of the better investment events I’ve attended so far:

  • The topics are for people who have exhausted beginner-level investment information. If you already know basics of investing by heart, and looking to level up your investment knowledge, then keep an eye out for other events organised by Kenanga. I’ve personally learned a lot during the event.
  • Focuses on the stocks market. Not surprising, considering Kenanga offers a popular share trading account called KenTrade. I enjoyed the many viewpoints presented by speakers, from fundamentals, to technicals, to politics, to global economics and more.
  • There was no hard-selling. The only time they promoted Kenanga is to invite the audience to attend another FREE workshop by Derick Tan, who gave a wonderful presentation about tools and strategies he uses to time and enter the market. The workshop is only open to Kenanga customers, and you can check updates by following Kenanga Group’s Facebook page.
  • The entry fee was more than reasonable. It was free for Kenanga clients, and RM20-RM30 for outsiders, depending if they RSVP or not. Awesome value for an event held at Berjaya Times Hotel. The price included light breakfast and lunch too!
  • The speakers kept to their topics and presentation times. RARE AND APPRECIATED.

#2 – The importance of critical thinking when investing in the stocks market

Let me share with you what each speaker presented during the event.

Speaker Chan Ken Yew, also the Head of Research at Kenanga Investment Bank, presented not just stocks picks, but also explained why his team thought those public-listed companies are poised to do well. Some belong to an industry with growing customer base (like Islamic finance), some are investing in their infrastructure, some announced upcoming projects in the pipeline.

Speaker Derick Tan presented about market cycles and investment opportunities present in the upcoming bear market (almost all speakers during the event agreed that we’re not in bear market yet, but soon). He uses technical and historical data to create this ‘should I buy stocks or not’ chart. The green segment is the best time to buy, as many stocks are underpriced and have high growth potential (this is called value investing).

Speaker Dr Ch’ng Huck Khoon who specialises in investment and behavioural finance presented about investment opportunities during Pakatan Harapan’s term. He emphasised the importance of understanding the government’s focus by reading their manifesto, which helps you to know which industries will be allocated extra budget under their term, when and where cash injections/refunds/boosts will be made, and the impact of relationships between top leaders in the country and between Malaysia and other nations (among others).

Speaker Ooi Kok Hwa talked about what’s happening in the world, and how that may impact your investment strategies.

Investing in the stocks market is essentially trying your best to make good predictions from the data you have. There is a lot (A LOT) of information out there, from timing to politics to trade relations and everything in between. You have to apply some critical thinking skills from those data when making your stocks selection.

I need to emphasise the role of luck here. Experts may give you a lot of information, but at the end of the day, no one can predict the future. Despite the best expert analysis, tools, strategies, projections, teams and other types of resources, you still have to accept that things don’t always happen according to plan. Mergers may fail, projects may get cancelled, the government may re-adjust their budget, lots of things can impact stocks prices. But it’s still better to learn all these than going in the stocks market blindly.

That bring me to..

#3 – Different investment products suit different types of investors

I’ve been to enough investment events to know that some audience members… are not really there to learn how to invest. They just want the speakers to tell them what stocks they should get and when, full stop. I have witnessed this at many events, including at Market Symposium 2019.

I understand that investing can be overwhelming. I also understand that some people need that authority figure or established companies that can give them assurance, make them feel like they are doing the right thing with their investment money. Again, understandable – losing money hurts. Especially if you are retired or nearing retiring age (I estimate roughly 30-50% of the Market Symposium 2019 audience is from this demographic).

The thing is, it’s completely fine to let high-reputation companies manage your stocks portfolio for you so you can focus on growing your income. You don’t have to do everything yourself and stress over picking the ‘right’ stocks and buying it at the ‘right’ price (or worse, finding the ‘right’ stock picker expert!). That’s why there are products like unit trusts and services like investment portfolio management (what Kenanga offers). Check the fees, and if you feel it’s worth it for the value you get, go for it.

If you actually enjoy the process of picking stocks, then I do suggest going for Kenanga-hosted events like Market Symposium 2019. You get like a crash course in different approaches in picking stocks. This event alone introduced me to four approaches (fundamentals, timing, politics, global markets).

#4 – Warrants trading tool

Last but not least, something that I have learned for the first time from Market Symposium 2019 is the existence of warrants trading tools. Some of you may read this and go, duh that’s really obvious Suraya, everyone knows about warrants, but I’m telling you right now that I don’t know much about it – this was something I learned for the first time on Saturday. There’s much to learn about this type of investment, but right off the bat I can see it’s a high-risk, high-returns kind of investment, where having the right tools and interface matter.

I really enjoyed Isabelle Zhen’s presentation, when she shared a demonstration of Kenanga’s new Live Matrix tool, NagaWarrants. I admit I may have developed a bit of a brain crush on Isabelle after checking out her Instagram page. I mean, she describes herself as a ‘fictional character’, lmao!

Finance and investments always have that ‘boring’ and ‘dry’ connotation, so it’s nice when you see the people in it are multidimensional and interesting after all 🙂

Isabelle and her team take lunch appointments and hold educational talks about warrants. You can connect with them at 017-214 5177 during office hours. You can also join their Telegram group, @KenangaWarrants to get access to buy bid promos at one tick cheaper (whatever that means).

Last words about Kenanga Group’s Investment Event, Market Outlook Symposium 2019

I personally don’t own stocks yet, but I’ve been meaning to dabble in it for a while now, especially knowing that the bear market is coming. I do have fantasies of buying good stocks at a low price, keep them for a few years until the market recovers, and sell them off at massive profits.

This is not a new idea. That’s what the rich have been doing all this while – buy low, sell high. I don’t like how the system encourages the rich to get richer, but I also know that I can’t change the rules of the game, so the best thing to do is to learn how to play the game, too. If you can’t beat em, join em.

Those of you who have a stocks portfolio. Who or what influences your stocks selection? How do you decide when to make your entries? Do you actively attend investment events like the one organised by Kenanga group? What did you learn from those events? Let us know what kind of stocks investor you are in the comments section.


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