Fascinating, isn't it, this stock market of ours, with its unpredictability, promise, and unscripted daily drama. But individual investors are even more interesting. We've become the product of a media driven culture that must have reasons, predictability, blame, scapegoats, and even that four-letter word, certainty.
This is one hell of a scary time for investors. On any day, we could wake up to the headline we all fear. But there is nothing we can do about it... but be prepared.
Colombo Bourse is facing its biggest crisis marred by allegations and counter allegations on manipulation, overregulation, and influence of high net worth investors and plight of small investors
To get through the storm, it will take multiple points of view. There is no magic bullet. And there certainly is no government solution.
It tends to result in some market participants feeling like the market is uninvestable,
Many professional money managers and financial advisors shy away from stock trading, arguing that in most cases the reward does not justify the risk.
Fear is a powerful motivator. It makes investors dash for the exits, dumping their stocks as they flee in sheer terror. That is why stocks tend to plunge much faster than they rise.
The truth is, we are teetering on the edge of depression caused by a series of trigger events that are now converging to create one of the worst "bubbles" we've seen in our lifetimes.
Investors are slowly coming to the realization that the crisis will not take days, weeks or months to unwind... but years.
Some experts say it could take as many as five years to recover. Do you have five years to sit and wait and watch as your hard-earned money evaporates into thin air?
Asoka Samarakone