Hello Grasshoppa,

Watching The Wolf of Wall Street reminds of those days where people used to trade by using phone calls & watching TV screen to monitor stock prices. This was one of the few things I remembered when I was young watching other adult looking at their TV screen to monitor on stock prices but I have totally no idea what were they doing back then. Not sure you remember if your parents, uncles or aunties used to do that. Those thoughts actually drove me to think further on how did our parents or grandparents used to invest when there were limited choices back then vs current investment options.

For traditional investments, we can see that there are plenty of modernization & enhancement in terms of the way to invest. Modern investment involves more options such as P2P Financing, Robo-Advisor, Cryptocurrency & many others.

How Much Has Investment Changed Over The Years?

1. Stocks Investment
With a little research & based on my memory, investors will have a certificate on stocks they owned. Investors will also monitor their stock prices based on TV screen, remisier & newspaper. Over the years, many banks & stock trading platforms have enhanced their systems by introducing online trading sites where you can invest by using a mobile app or invest using their website. My favorite website to invest in stocks is definitely Rakuten Trade.

2. Real Estate
When I was young, I always hear people talked about buying land instead of condos or houses. Their main focus will always be buying land instead of multiple properties. With limited lands available at city areas, most modern real estate investors are investing in properties instead of land. Maybe in rural areas, buying land is still an ideal option.

3. Gold Investment
Maybe the young adventurous you have uncovered a bunch of gold or jewelries hidden in your parents or grandparents closet or their other hidden spot. I remembered a bit of this where I found my grandma gold stash in her closet. LOL. Traditional investors usually appreciate physical gold more than gold investment account. They prefer to have a hold on their precious gold whereas modern investment platform provides option to invest in physical gold without you physically holding your gold. My current investment for gold such as CIMB Gold & HelloGold provide such option & I can redeem my physical gold when my gold investment reaches certain gram.

4. Mutual Fund
I personally experienced investing in mutual fund where Public Mutual will have auto debit plan to deduct money from my Public Bank account. I am unable to monitor my fund until my next monthly statement. With the enhancement of Public Mutual & other platform such as FundSupermart, I am able to purchase mutual fund with a click of a button.

5. Fixed Deposits
This is another traditional investment platform for investors that want guaranteed return without having any type of risk. Usually they are happy with interest around 3-4%. Traditional FD involves putting money in your Fixed Deposit account & wait for the maturity. If you withdraw the amount prior maturity, you are unable to earn any interest. I started to invest some cash in FD recently & CIMB has introduced me to Unfixed Deposit where I can withdraw money prior maturity & still get to enjoy the interest of the balance amount even if I withdraw my money.

Aside from traditional investments that are enhanced & modernized to suit current digital trend, there are also plenty of modern or alternative investments that have been introduced in Malaysia.

1. Robo-Advisor
This is a new form of investment for investors that are looking to invest with their ideal risk exposure. Robo-advisor investment will be solely based on data & algorithms and  not emotions. The only one that I am using right now is StashAway which I am heavily promoting due to their technology & low management fee. I understand that there are plenty other robo-advisors that are available in Malaysia market as well.

2. P2P Financing
Borrowing money to SME & earning interest at the same time? Why not? You can start with as low as RM50. Most of their borrowers are SME’s that are new or unable to obtain any business loan from banks & that is where company like P2P Financing is there to facilitate their credit. Lenders have to pay high interest to borrowers & P2P Financing companies will earn 1% on average for facilitate the deal. The risk is, you may have default here & there. That is why it’s important for you to not put all eggs into one basket.

3. Cryptocurrency
It started off with Bitcoin but currently there are more than 1600 cryptocurrencies in the market & it’s still growing. I have yet to invest in any cryptocurrency at the moment as I believe that it is pure speculation. No doubt there are times that I am tempted to invest a small portion of money into it but as for now, I’ll skip it. Let’s wait for Libra to be launched & I may change my view on cryptocurrency.

4. Equity Crowdfunding
It is similar to stocks investment but the difference is, those companies may be an early start up. You will be offered partial ownership of the companies depending on your investment & the company valuation. Companies like PitchIn & CrowdPlus are offering equity crowdfunding for Malaysian investors. My one & only equity crowdfunding portfolio is for a company that manufactures artificial limbs called Unlimited Tomorrow which I am investing via Microventures.

Conclusion :

Investment has changed over the course of years. It has evolved to ensure that investors have better visibility & convenience. Many people claimed that investing is hard. Is it really that hard or it is hard because they are not willing to learn? With modern investment platforms & investment opportunities, investing can be as easy as purchasing something online. Prior purchasing the item, you will be doing relevant studies or surveys for that product. It’s the same for investing. You just have to study it & those available investment platforms are as convenient as your online shopping for you to invest.

OSS!