Losing Tet because of chasing after crowds
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan - a retired official who is over 60 years old this year - is still in shock, said that the day before yesterday she saw TV and newspapers saying gold prices increased to a record high, and heard neighbors invite each other to buy and hoard because they were afraid that money would depreciate, she withdrew 200 million VND of retirement savings to buy 1 tael of SJC gold for more than 190 million VND.
At that time, Ms. Lan was just afraid that if she didn't buy quickly, the price would go up to 200 million VND, losing the opportunity. Unexpectedly, just after buying, taking it home to put it in the closet, today opening her eyes, she saw the store quote a purchase price of only 169 million VND. She sadly lamented that after only two days, she had lost more than 20 million VND, equal to the motorbike of her nephew or money to buy for the upcoming Tet holiday.
Not only the elderly, but even young people are caught up in the psychological vortex of fear of being missed. Hoang Minh - a 28-year-old designer - shared that seeing his friends on social networks all boasting about buying gold, Minh also borrowed more to buy 4 taels of gold rings for good luck and intended to surf the wave to earn some money to spend. Gold rings prices have fallen deeply following the world trend, selling is a heavy loss and keeping is a worrying price drop. Hoang Minh considers this a lifelong lesson about investing based on emotions, running after the psychology of the crowd.
Price difference trap causes buyers to lose money immediately
What causes people the heaviest losses this time is not only due to the market plummeting, but also lies in the gap between buying and selling prices. Ms. Thu Huong - a small trader trading at Nghia Tan market (Hanoi) - shared the story from the perspective of a person who often transacts.
According to Ms. Huong, people who go shopping usually only look at the selling price of the gold shop and forget the price they bought. On January 29, she bought for 190 million VND, but at that time they only bought it for 187 million VND.
'That is, just stepping out of the door, without even knowing how the market went up or down, I immediately lost 3 million VND per tael. Until today (January 31), when world prices crashed sharply, gold shops continued to widen this gap to hedge against risks. As a result, people suffered double losses, both losses due to price drops and losses due to buying and selling differences. The total loss of up to 23 million VND per tael after only 2 days is too large a number for salaried workers" - Ms. Huong shared.
Never put all the eggs in one basket
Before the strong fluctuations of the market, Mr. Pham Van Tuan - an investor with many years of financial research in Hanoi - said that the biggest mistake of many people is to focus all their efforts on an investment channel when it is hot.
He shared his personal opinion that, for him, gold is a good asset accumulation channel but not a place to get rich quickly in a few days. Pouring all your savings or borrowing money to buy gold at peak prices is an extremely risky action.
According to this investor, to have a peaceful and financially solid Tet, everyone needs to comply with the rules of asset allocation in a scientific way. The first layer of assets to prioritize is the defense layer, which is to always keep a cash amount or deposit savings in the bank enough to spend on living expenses for 3 to 6 months. For accumulated assets such as gold, investors should be calm, temporarily stand aside and observe the market instead of rushing to buy more to recoup losses. Trying to bottom-fish when prices are not stable can make losses even more serious.
