Trading Stocks (2003.6.30)
When I was a university student, I went to an English conversation school.
Learning English there was a part of my life. I enjoyed talking with foreign
teachers and classmates there.
One day, before lesson, I saw one teacher checking some figures in a newspaper.
I asked, “What are you looking at?”
He replied, “I’m checking stock prices. I have some shares in several companies
and trade them.”
I didn’t know about stocks at all then, but I got interested. He told me
about stock trade enthusiastically.
“You know, if you put your money in a bank, it will HARDLY increase. As
you know, the interest rates are very low now. But if you have stocks and
trade them well, you CAN INCREASE your money. ANYBODY CAN DO THAT. So putting
your money only in a bank is the SAME THING as LOSING your MONEY. You should
not do it.”
When I heard this, I could not completely believe in his theory. He may be EXAGGERATING, I thought. And I didn’t have such money to spend on trading stocks. So
I didn’t think about buying stocks in those days.
But I respected the teacher very much. His lesson always gave me new points
of view. So, his words REMAINED in my mind.
A few years had passed. I worked as a researcher in a company. In the research
center, there were "cleaning ladies". Their main job was washing
laboratory equipments such as beakers, flasks and test tubes which we researchers
had used. In lunch time, I sometimes chatted with one of them, who was
in her fifties.
One day she told me, “I speculate in stocks,” and she explained to me about
the stock market. This was the second time that I heard about stocks directly
from an investor.
At this time, I have a little savings in a bank, but that was not enough
to start stock trading. Plus, I didn’t know much about economy. I seldom
read articles on economy in newspapers then. So I thought, I should not take up trading stocks yet. I need to have some knowledge
to start. I need to study first.
A few more years had passed. I changed job and I worked in a drugstore.
That company had a “mochikabu-kai” (stock holding group of employees).
The members of that group pay some money to the group every month. And
using that collected money, the group buys the stocks of our company. And
the stocks are given to each member according to the money they paid.
One of my co-workers was already a member of that group and he suggested to me that I should
join the group.
He said, “You can make a profit if you join. I bet you that the stock
prices of our company will be higher and higher from now on.”
I trusted what he said, and joined the group. I thought, If I join the group and get some own stocks, I will study about stocks
and economy. That is a good thing for me, even if I don’t make a profit.
Starting that month, fifteen thousand yen was paid to the group from my
salary every month. And I got a few stocks of our company every time.
About three years later, I owned about two hundred shares in our company.
One day I decided to LEAVE the group and SELL all the shares of our company.
There were several reasons why I decided to leave, but the biggest reason
was that I wanted to trade stocks FREELY. Under the law, we can NOT sell
stocks of our own company FREELY. When you want to sell them, first you
have to tell that to your company and ask for the permission. Sometimes,
the company may decline it, because it would be a “insider trading”.
“Insider trading” is trading stocks knowing the insider information of
the company. It is ILLEGAL. So, companies have obligation to stop their
employees to do it. For example, companies don’t permit their employees
to buy or sell the stocks of their own company in a certain period before
the closing report of the fiscal year is published. Because if we knew
that our company would publish the annual gross sales which was incredibly
good (it is a kind of insider information) and bought the shares before
the publication, we could make a profit easily. That is illegal. And companies
shouldn't allow their employees to sell the shares during a certain period
before bad news of their company is announced. For an extreme example,
if we got the insider information that our company would go bankrupt and
sold all the stocks we had before everybody had known the news, it would
be illegal trade.
Anyway, I felt it was inconvenient to have stocks which I can’t trade in
the timing I like. Of course, I knew our company is a good company and
I believed that the stock price of our company would go up, so I felt sorry
for selling the stocks. Besides I always wanted to contribute to our company,
so I felt GUILTY when I left the group. However, I rethink like this and
I got rid of my guilty conscience: I don’t have to contribute to my company with my MONEY necessarily. I
can contribute through my JOB!
I left the “mochikabu-kai” and sold all the stocks I had. Finally I got
some money to start investing in stocks in a true sense.
I told my friends about my plan to buy stocks. You know, sometimes it is
very effective talking about your plan to your acquaintances when you start
new things. Talking about the plan, you could get your ideas in shape,
and you could get some advice.
One of my female friends told me that I can choose the brands I buy by
their complimentary tickets for shareholders. Complimentary tickets are
the tickets which we can get if we buy some stocks. Using those tickets,
for example, we can buy the goods in the shop which the company manages
or we can eat some foods in the restaurant which the company runs. Some
companies give us those tickets, and others don’t. It depends on the brand.
She also advised me that I had better choose the securities company I use
by its commission and service. Commission is the fee we have to pay to
the securities companies when we buy or sell stocks.
While talking with her, my plan gradually took shape. And on that day,
I bought three books about stock trading on the way back home. Those books
were very helpful.
Now the preparations are complete. Just go for it ! I gave the green light to myself. It was on the 17th of March this year.
For buying stocks, I had to open an account in a securities company in
the first place. I chose a famous securities company. The trading fee of
the company was a little bit high, but the service was pretty good. For
example, I can trade stocks on the Internet or mobile phone even in the
midnight. I often come home from work late at night , so this service is
really convenient for me. And on the screen, I can see stock prices, economic
news, and stock chart almost anytime. It is a great help for me when I trade stocks.
Following my friend’s suggestion, I bought some stocks which have useful complimentary tickets for my daily life. Luckily, one of the stocks rose dramatically and I could get big "capital gain". It may be, so to speak, “beginner’s luck”, but I really appreciated her for her advice.
As I expected, I came to pay attention to economy and learned what was happening in the market. I aquired a habit of checking industrial news and stock prices almost every day. It is definitely a PROGRESS in me.
Perhaps some of you have bad images for stock trading that it is like GAMBLING
or that it is very RISKY. But how about thinking like this?
Trading stocks, we are helping the company which we invest. We lend money
to the company, and the company can produce some goods and make a profit
using that money. Trading stocks, we are also helping the securities companies
because we pay the commission when we trade. And we contribute to the economy
as well because the stock market gets lively when we trade.
When the stock prices go up, we sell stocks. That means we had grown the
company while we were lending money. And we can make good money through
that period.
So, trading stocks skillfully is good for us, good for the company, good
for the securities company, and good for economy. EVERYONE IS HAPPY!
Am I EXAGGERATING?
