Financial literacy key to wealth creation – TAP
With the Filipino's growing affluence comes the desire to learn more about how to invest his hard-earned money.
Hence, it is no wonder that the demand for "financial literacy" seminars and events has equally exploded to the upside with many stock market investing seminars and property forums getting their fair share of fresh walkins streaming into wide mall-based convention halls.
One group that has literally exploded in membership is Traders Apprentice Pilipinas (TAP). Since its inception in late 2013, this primarily "social media Facebook group" now counts close to 49,000 serious stock market followers and investors.
Most of its members swear allegiance to "The Principles of TAP” which is easily digestible from threads of TAP’s primary blogger Antonio “Tony” Herbosa, a seasoned investment banker with more than 20 years experience in corporate finance, capital markets and property development.
His blogs are an easy read, meant to impart lessons in as few words as possible and focusing on trading, investing and wealth creation.
Perhaps this explains why the most ardent TAP followers have come to actually label him as "Maestro,” confirming a deep-seated respect for the wisdom that he has shared so unselfishly.
He says, "You know TAP is our advocacy. It is 100% free, and our goal is to build on the works of the financial literacy advocates.”
"However, we have taken a step forward and focused on wealth creation not just financial literacy. Because at the end of the day, literacy is not the end game; it's the starting game and the end goal is how to get wealthy. So, in TAP we try to teach the principles of wealth creation in three primary asset classes: Stocks, property and art,” Herbosa said.
He noted that, "for instance, while we have 49,000 members and followers, only 2,500 have probably taken our beginner's seminar in the course of two years, Tony laments. Some just jump right into our FB site and start buying and trading based on what they read other experienced traders are doing. What results is a complete disaster. They lose money because they are trying to mimic trades without a Trading Plan.”
Herbosa said TAP also had an initial problem given the explosion in its membership base, where fake Facebook accounts with fake profiles and pictures would join TAP and try to "hype" certain stocks, with many TAP newbies following them and also losing money.
Tony says he has instituted reforms to minimize the possibility of "hyping and dumping" in some of the TAP threads. “From now on, if an FB account is fake, it is automatically banned from TAP's site,” he said explaining that, “if your FB profile is authentic, complete with photos of relatives and your children, why would you engage in hyping and dumping? The only ones who would resort to that come into TAP in a pre-meditated manner, concealing their true identities.”
Tony also laments the implicit restrictions of being a social media forum. "How can we aggressively censor what people say in our threads? Would that be the acceptable culture in social media? If a dude who has a real FB profile posts, "time to bet the house in $PGOLD!" – would this be a form of hyping? Should I censor this statement, – after all it is just his opinion and he seems like a legit individual perhaps just voicing out his exuberance,” he said.
Whatever concerns Tony may have on how to move TAP forward, it doesn't seem to show on his TAP followers.
One ardent TAP follower is 8990 Holdings CEO JJ Atencio who had this to say, "I like TAP because this stock investment club also promoted the same values of inclusivity and financial literacy that 8990 believes in. In TAP, the complicated stock market has become accessible to ordinary middle class and working Filipinos and TAP's seminars enhance the probability of success."
Ves Legaspi, a newbie TAP trader who now does public speaking engagements also shares her views on how TAP has helped her. She expounds, "TAP inspired me to discover my own trading style and not just follow others blindly. I learned the importance of planning the trade and trading the plan. TAP also promotes tapping into our instincts as trading like other art forms is essentially instinctive."
Also a newcomer to TAP, Alfredo Palconit Jr. who works as Talent Content Manager for United Health Group, had this to say, "If you don't attend a TAP Class you will have a hard time understanding what others are talking about. You will blindly follow what people are recommending and lose money." He recommends hooking up with the right TAP mentors who are the "Kuya traders" so a TAP newbie has the best chance of learning how to invest or trade.