Mariah Manaois of Paniqui, Tarlac, has been saving money from “aguinaldo”. For instance, on Christmas, school allowance, and the occasional resale to classmates of novelty items since grade 1.
Just 14 and a 10th grader, Mariah has become a new local stock-market trader.
Mariah’s father, 37-year-old musician, and entrepreneur Fidelito Manaois Jr. matched her savings. And then, she recently opened an online stock trading account, with the goal of building up her college fund.
He bought shares of a new grocery store chain at its initial public offering (IPO) for P100,000, the maximum amount allowed for small investors under the electronic allocation system for IPOs of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
“It was a joint agreement between me and my wife that now is the best time to invest in the stock market. In addition, amid the recession (to buy shares at bargain prices) and also for fund diversification,” said Manaois, who formerly owned assets mainly in the form of real estate and cash.
Age Groups
Although the stock trading account is in the name of her father because she is still a minor, Mariah has an online stock trading to that account.
Based on the latest PSE data, the young and the not-so-wealthy are embracing stocks as an investment option, an increasing number of stock brokerage houses offering online trading platforms. Then, it aided the number of stock brokerage.
Total PSE stock market accounts reached around 1.23 million at the end-2019. It was up by 12.7 percent from 1.089 million accounts in the previous year.
This is equivalent to about 1.1 percent of the country’s population. Even so, retail investors may have multiple accounts with different brokers.
Equity investing is usually seen as a suitable investment choice for young people. Moreover, it can afford to take on long-term risk assets. Compared with conventional deposits and bonds, stocks offer greater rewards in return for increased risk in terms of upside.
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