Aggressive investment when young | Bangkok Post: learning

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Started with gift money, now holds stock portfolio worth 1 million baht at age 25, aims to raise value to 10 million in five years

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Financial Advice

Shooting the lights out

Meet Gun Hopornsiri, a champion of his generation's aggressive approach to investing
Somruedi Banchongduang

Entrepreneurship is an outstanding trait of Generation Y people, those who were born in the 1980s or early 1990s and are around 30 years old or younger.

Gun Hopornsiri, a Gen Y investor, holds a stock portfolio worth one million baht at just 25 years old. His aggressive investment style is a key factor contributing to his wealth at a young age.

With a bachelor's degree in architecture from Chulalongkorn University, he serves as creative manager of Soap Villa Ltd, a family-run business. He is a privileged customer for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) business at Kasikornbank.

Mr Gun learned much about savings and investment on his own a few years ago, beginning with deposits, a basic financial product of many banks.

Back when he was a kid, his mother would deposit and invest money for him, especially in government bonds.

He gathered his savings from gift money, such as Ang Pao or red envelopes during Chinese New Year. When he grew up and studied at university, his mum let him manage the deposit money himself.

At that time, he had about 20 deposit accounts for both fixed income and savings. Mr Gun gradually closed most of them and now holds one main deposit account. He maintains the basic deposit account for its flexibility with financial transactions.

Before reducing his deposit accounts to only one, Mr Gun was looking for a typical product from several banks that gave attractive interest rates. But the low-risk, low-return financial products didn't appeal to the aggressive young investor.

Lately, he has drifted away from deposits and ventured into the world of mutual funds - higher-risk assets that give better returns.

Return is the first factor for my investment, and I normally look for alternative investments with better returns," Mr Gun said. "I love to shop financial products from bank brochures and study the information myself. I can say that I'm interested in mutual funds."

His first foray into mutual funds was a Korean fund when he was at university. Then he moved to money market funds, later looking into gold bars and gold funds.

Mr Gun got satisfactory returns of around 30% on his asset investments the past few years, thanks to a significant rise in commodity prices.

Attractive returns on high-risk assets compelled him to press ahead into higher-risk investments and stocks.

Joining the Kasikorn Securities Young Investor programme through KS the Great Investor offered a gateway to new investing challenges when Mr Gun was 23.

He began pursuing higher-risk assets with an initial investment of 300,000 baht.

Among all 88 participants in the programme, Mr Gun was one of 11 new investors earning the highest return on investment, partly due to marketing advice. He got a Korean trip as a reward under the programme's conditions.

"Even if I'm teenaged, single and have no responsibilities, I prefer to invest in high-risk assets and the key reason is to make a high profit," he said. "As well, I love short-term investment rather than long-term."

His definition of short term is no more than one year.

Of his total investment portfolio, 80% is allocated to high-risk assets, largely via the stock market. He has studied diversifying the portfolio to cover foreign investments, particularly in Chinese and Indian funds to harness strong economic growth in those countries.

He is also interested in derivative products. His short-term investment experience has taught Mr Gun a lot, and he believes he can use his new knowledge to improve his routine life. Risk diversification and risk management are good policies for investment, business operations and life in general.

"Paying attention, good planning and thorough study lead to achievement," he said. "Bad experience and investment loss are also good lessons for the new investor like me." 

Next up for Mr Gun: raising his portfolio value to 10 million baht in the next five years. This aggressive investor vows to meet the ambitious goal of his investment plan

(Source: Bangkok Post, Financial Advice, Shooting the lights out, Meet Gun Hopornsiri, a champion of his generation's aggressive approach to investing
20/02/2012, Somruedi Banchongduang, link) 

Investing Vocabulary

shooting the lights out - in pool, billiards or snooker "a player who is shooting top notch pool is said to be 'shooting the lights out'. Refers to aim and accuracy, like a gun toting trick shot artist who can break glass at a distance" (See Wikipedia)

investor - a person or organisation that puts money into a company in exchange for a future profit นักลงทุน
investment - taking your money and putting it into projects to make a profit or earn interest (buying stock shares, bonds, real estate)
portfolio - a set of investments owned by a person or organization; securities (stocks, bonds) owned and derivatives owned by a firm or individual หลักทรัพย์
investment portfolio - all the investments that a person or organization makes

assets - things owned, especially property and money;  for example: stocks, bonds, real estate, loans to others สินทรัพย์
financial asset - an asset that is not physically useful but has a financial value, for example money, an investment or a right to claim payments (See Wikipedia)
financial transactions - buying and selling financial assets

income - money that people receive from work or some other source, used for household consumption and savings
wealth - how much money and assets a person or country owns
enterprise - an organization, especially a business กิจการ, บริษัท,อุตสาหกิจ,วิสาหกิจ

interest - payments made for the use of another's money for a period of time
interest rates - the percentage of an investment that you receive on money you lend each year
attractive - worth having or doing; something you see that you like to have
attractive interest rates - an interest rate that you would like to get on your money

risk - danger; the possibility that something dangerous or unpleasant might happen ความเสี่ยง
low-risk, low-return
higher-risk assets that give better returns

fund (noun) - money provided for something เงินทุน กองทุน
fund (verb) - to provide money for something ให้เงินทุน
mutual funds - an organization that manages a fund that is invested in a wide range of shares, bonds, etc. The fund is divided into small units which are bought and sold, usually by people who only invest a small amount of money (See Wikipedia)
Korean fund - a mutual fund that invests in Korean companies
money market fund -  a mutual fund that invests in short-term debt securities such as US Treasury bills and commercial paper (See Wikipedia)

stocks - stock shares of a company that investors buy on the stock exchange that make them part owners of the company (See Wikipedia)

commodity - a product or a raw material, such as grain, coffee, cotton or metals, that can be bought and sold in large quantities, especially between countries, every unit (kilo, liter, etc) is the same so has the same price (See Wikipedia)

aggressive - done with great energy and intensity; forceful, determined, and eager to succeed ก้าวร้าว (See glossary) determined to win or succeed and using forceful action to achieve victory or success ซึ่งมีความมั่นใจสูง
approach - a way of doing or dealing with something การจัดการกับปัญหา a particular way of doing something or thinking about something วิธีการทำให้ถึงจุดหมาย
aggressive approach to investing
aggressive investment style

diversification - 1. increasing variety, to protect against any one type failing, you can always use another type; 2. mixing a wide variety of investments within an investment portfolio, spreading out investments to reduce risks because the fluctuations of a single security have less impact on a diverse portfolio, diversification minimizes the risk from any one investment (See Wikipedia) ความหลากหลาย

risk diversification - making investments that have a tendency to rise or decline in value at different times; so that they offset each other (See Wikipedia on portfolio diversification and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM))

derivatives - an asset with a value that is "derived from (comes from, based on) the value of another asset; a financial investment such as an option (= that gives you the right to buy or sell an asset in the future) or a future (= a contract to buy or sell an asset in the future) whose price depends on the value of the asset (shares, bonds, raw materials, etc) (See Wikipedia)

entrepreneur - a business person who makes money by starting or running businesses, usually smaller innovative businesses especially taking financial risks  (See Wikipedia)
entrepreneurship - the act or processes of being an entrepreneur (See Wikipedia)

deposits (noun) -  money kept in banks
deposit (verb)  
deposit accounts - bank account, the name of where you keep money in the bank

bond - an agreement by a government or an organization to pay back the money an investor has lent plus a fixed amount of interest on a particular date; a document containing this agreement (See Wikipedia)
government bonds
fixed income - any type of investment that is not equity, which obligates the borrower/issuer to make payments on a fixed schedule, even if the number of the payments may be variable (See Wikipedia)

generation - the group of people who were born around the same time

Generation Y - also known as the Millennial Generation (or Millennials), Generation Next, Net Generation, Echo Boomers, describes the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when the Millennial generation starts and ends, and commentators have used birth dates ranging somewhere from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, early or mid 1990s, or as late as the early 2000's. One segment of this age-group is often called the “eighties babies” generation, in reference to the fact that they were born between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1989. Members of this generation are called Echo Boomers, due to the significant increase in birth rates through the 1980s and into the 1990s, and because many of them are children of baby boomers. The 20th century trend toward smaller families in developed countries continued, however, so the relative impact of the "baby boom echo" was generally less pronounced than the original boom (See Wikipedia)

champion - to publicly support or defend a set of beliefs, political aims, or a group of people
a champion of X - to support or defend X

Meet Gun Hopornsiri, a champion of his generation's aggressive approach to investing

outstanding - clearly very much better than what is usual ยอดเยี่ยม, ดีเด่น
trait - a feature, quality or characteristic; a part of a description of a person or thing
outstanding trait - an excellent feature of a person (that makes them different than others)
entrepreneurship is an outstanding trait of Generation Y people

Entrepreneurship is an outstanding trait of Generation Y people, those who were born in the 1980s or early 1990s and are around 30 years old or younger.

key - important คนสำคัญ
factor - a fact or situation which influences the result of something ปัจจัย
key factor - an important thing
key factor contributing to - an important thing that helped make or cause something

Gun Hopornsiri, a Gen Y investor, holds a stock portfolio worth one million baht at just 25 years old. His aggressive investment style is a key factor contributing to his wealth at a young age.

architecture - the activity of designing and constructing buildings, houses, and other structures (See Wikipedia) สถาปัตยกรรม

creative - creating and developing new original ideas
creative manager - the manager in a company responsible for creative activities in a company (examples: artwork, writing in advertising that customers find interesting)

privilege (noun) - something special that a person or customer gets (that others do not get) โอกาส, สิทธิพิเศษ, ข้อได้เปรียบ
privileged (adjective) - having special privileges (that others do not have)
privileged customer - a customer with special privileges

With a bachelor's degree in architecture from Chulalongkorn University, he serves as creative manager of Soap Villa Ltd, a family-run business. He is a privileged customer for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) business at Kasikornbank.

Mr Gun learned much about savings and investment on his own a few years ago, beginning with deposits, a basic financial product of many banks. Back when he was a kid, his mother would deposit and invest money for him, especially in government bonds. He gathered his savings from gift money, such as Ang Pao or red envelopes during Chinese New Year. When he grew up and studied at university, his mum let him manage the deposit money himself.

flexibility - can change easily and adapt to new situations and conditions as they occur ความยืดหยุ่น

At that time, he had about 20 deposit accounts for both fixed income and savings. Mr Gun gradually closed most of them and now holds one main deposit account. He maintains the basic deposit account for its flexibility with financial transactions.

appeal - to cause someone to like or want something ดึงดูดใจ ทำให้สนใจ

Before reducing his deposit accounts to only one, Mr Gun was looking for a typical product from several banks that gave attractive interest rates. But the low-risk, low-return financial products didn't appeal to the aggressive young investor.

alternative - another choice ตัวเลือก / ทางเลือก (something that is different from something else, especially from what is usual, and offering the possibility of choice)

drift - move slowly away from a place
drifted away from

ventured into - go into a place where you have not gone before
ventured into the world of mutual funds

alternative - another choice
alternative investments

Lately, he has drifted away from deposits and ventured into the world of mutual funds - higher-risk assets that give better returns.

"Return is the first factor for my investment, and I normally look for alternative investments with better returns," Mr Gun said. "I love to shop financial products from bank brochures and study the information myself. I can say that I'm interested in mutual funds."

foray into - enter into a new area (unexplored); start doing some new activity

satisfactory returns - make enough money for your investment
asset investments - all investments are purchases of some asset

significant - important สำคัญ
significant - large enough to be important or have an effect ที่สำคัญยิ่ง
significant rise - an important increase
significant rise in commodity prices - an important increase in commodity prices

His first foray into mutual funds was a Korean fund when he was at university. Then he moved to money market funds, later looking into gold bars and gold funds.

Mr Gun got satisfactory returns of around 30% on his asset investments the past few years, thanks to a significant rise in commodity prices.

compel - forced him, drove him, caused him to do something
press ahead - move ahead to the next more difficult level or stage in an activity  

gateway - a starting point
challenges - new and difficult tasks or problems to solve, that require effort and determination

Attractive returns on high-risk assets compelled him to press ahead into higher-risk investments and stocks.

Joining the Kasikorn Securities Young Investor programme through KS the Great Investor offered a gateway to new investing challenges when Mr Gun was 23.

initial - first;  early, happening at the beginning of a process ในเบื้องต้น
initial investment - the first investment
return on investment - the money that an investor makes from making his or her investment

reward - something given in exchange for good behaviour or good work, etc รางวัล
programme's conditions - the rules for members in the program 

He began pursuing higher-risk assets with an initial investment of 300,000 baht.

Among all 88 participants in the programme, Mr Gun was one of 11 new investors earning the highest return on investment, partly due to marketing advice. He got a Korean trip as a reward under the programme's conditions.

single - not married
responsibilities - things that you must do as part of your job or position

reason - an explanation of an event, why an event happened เหตุ ; เหตุผล ; สาเหตุ
profit - money that you make from selling goods and services after all your costs have been paid กำไร

term - a period of time
short-term - for a short time
long-term - for a long time

"Even if I'm teenaged, single and have no responsibilities, I prefer to invest in high-risk assets and the key reason is to make a high profit," he said. "As well, I love short-term investment rather than long-term." His definition of short term is no more than one year.

allocated - given for a special purpose or use
diversifying - creating a mix of many different kinds of things, others will succeed even if some fail ความหลากหลาย
harness - to get control of ใช้ประโยชน์จาก

Of his total investment portfolio, 80% is allocated to high-risk assets, largely via the stock market. He has studied diversifying the portfolio to cover foreign investments, particularly in Chinese and Indian funds to harness strong economic growth in those countries.

improve - to make better ทำให้ดีขึ้น

routine - the usual series of tasks that are done as part or a job or work กิจวัตร
routine life - life at work and at home with same tasks and routine repeated each day (cooking, cleaning, managing employees, answering email, etc, etc)

He is also interested in derivative products. His short-term investment experience has taught Mr Gun a lot, and he believes he can use his new knowledge to improve his routine life. Risk diversification and risk management are good policies for investment, business operations and life in general.

pay attention - focusing, doing one thing with your brain so you can do it well, rather than get distracted by many things เอาใจใส่
achievement - something very good and difficult that you have succeeded in doing การบรรลุผลสำเร็จ

"Paying attention, good planning and thorough study lead to achievement," he said. "Bad experience and investment loss are also good lessons for the new investor like me." 

vows - promises, declares they will do
ambitious - has a very high goal that is difficult to achieve ทะเยอทยาน

Next up for Mr Gun: raising his portfolio value to 10 million baht in the next five years. This aggressive investor vows to meet the ambitious goal of his investment plan.