UCSI and Bursa Malaysia hold investment event for young adults

KUALA LUMPUR: For fresh graduates, their biggest advantage when it comes to financial security is compounding. Compounding is the ability of an asset to generate earnings, which is then reinvested to generate more earnings. For this to work, it requires two things; the reinvestment of earnings and time – both of which are within the reach of fresh graduates. 

“Know the power of compounding because that is your biggest advantage when you are young,” explained Shahrul Amry Abd Malek, Executive Vice-President, Market Development, Securities Market, Bursa Malaysia.

Shahrul shared his tips when delivering the opening remarks at the UCSI University (UCSI) Bursa University Day that took place on campus recently.

The event was organised by students of the UCSI University Bursa Young Investors Club (BYIC) in collaboration with Bursa Malaysia. It aims to connect youths to financial and investment experts, in order for them to gain financial insights in a creative manner. In addition to Bursa Investor Education Workshops, the event also showcased talks and financial tips by various finance professionals.

The hugely popular event was attended by about 600 students from public and private tertiary education institutions from around Malaysia. 

According to Prof Dato’ Dr Ahmad Haji Zainuddin, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic Affairs and Support, the event was noteworthy as it was the result of the BYIC students taking their own passion for finance and sharing it with their peers by organising this event.

“This is definitely an event specially made for students of all majors but with the passion for finance and investment. I truly believe that youths these days should consider investment for a better future.”

One of the most popular slots of the day was an interactive session with Michael Teoh, Founding Director and Lead Trainer of Thriving Talents – an up and coming training house. He is also a successful serial entrepreneur.

He shared the four approaches that he uses as his investment strategy.

Firstly, he advised the participants to ‘invest in their connections’ that consists of trusted friends who are capable of giving them financial advice. The second tip was to ‘invest in your brand’. This means identifying what makes one’s product or idea different.

He also advised participants to create a following for themselves so that people remain interested in their endeavours. Finally, he emphasised that continuous research and learning was crucial for success.

“I believe that before anyone can invest, they need to have the correct mindset. That is, to be willing to go that one extra step, whether it is reading about investment or asking for financial advice,” he said.

  

There are currently 15 BYICs in private and public universities around Malaysia. Nonetheless, according to Warren Mak, the Vice-President of Investor Education for Bursa Malaysia and main liaison from the company, the event by UCSI was very well organised.

“There is a fantastic mix, we have nearly an equal number of participants from UCSI and from outside universities,” he said.

He emphasised that proper education on investing was important – in the short term it will prevent fresh graduates from being victims of scams. 

“The long term benefit of proper investment knowledge is that first-time investors will not be spooked by relatives or friends who had made bad investment decisions or had been burned by scams before,” he said.

He explained that it would be a wasted opportunity if fresh graduates used hearsay about bad investment experiences or scams as a benchmark for the entire capital market.

A third-year Finance and Investment student and President of UCSI’s BYIC, Chai Kin Onn began investing since he was 19 and decided to share his interest by organising this event. 

“I set up the BYIC to share tips from professional investors to the UCSI community of students. Today’s event was a big hit – the response shows that the students see that it can benefit them,” he said. Planning for the event began since December last year.