Wise Investing

Where to place one’s money is a decision that investors, especially the new ones, are finding difficult in the face of economic and political uncertainties. To the rescue are bankers Wick Veloso and Johnny Escaler

hances are, someone’s first exercise in building an investment portfolio must have been in a Monopoly game. Deciding which property the roll of the dice will most likely cause other players to stop at—a provincial resort or a building in the city, a means of transportation or a basic utility—and thus earn for the owner money is part luck, part strategy with the former enjoying a heftier percentage. In real life investment, however, luck does not have as much to do with the decision-making process; common sense and sound judgement could be better trusted to win the game.

“To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information. What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework,” said Warren E Buffett, the American business magnate, in the preface to the Fourth Edition of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

With the volatility of a market pummelled by global threats and uncertainties, today’s investors are finding it more and more difficult to make their choices. The bright day today could turn into stormy weather tomorrow.

This prompted the Philippine Tatler to ask two esteemed international bankers—Johnny Escaler of Credit Suisse and Wick Veloso of HSBC—to shed some light on today’s complicated investment journey.