Experts shed light on managing personal investments in a flexible environment

Investors feel increasingly bewildered when facing mounting challenges due to market volatility.

However, from another perspective, investors have to find ways to adapt to the uncertainty. By changing governance and business methods, investors can tap into new investment opportunities. In fact, despite the difficulties, Vietnamese investors are actively changing their strategies to meet the new business conditions.

Le Trong Minh, VIR's editor-in-chief said, "In the second quarter of 2022, we witnessed a decline in most investment channels in both local and foreign markets. The decline of domestic and international stock indexes was the most obvious. Gold and real estate also experienced wide fluctuations with shrinking prices and liquidity. Many investors have lost money and returned to traditional investment channels like saving."

However, not all investment channels turned out to be bad, Minh said.

"The derivatives market has become more vibrant than ever before. In the long term, investment channels will gain momentum in Vietnam thanks to the country's sustained economic growth over the past 30 years," he said.

Le Trong Minh, VIR's editor-in-chief

In the first half of 2022, most developed countries had to tighten their monetary policy to fight inflation.

However, Minh pointed out that there are still opportunities for both individual and institutional investors as most assets have suddenly become a lot cheaper than in the previous period.

Many investors have bought stocks for accumulation. Others have actively participated in the derivative securities market and the commodity market.

"A number of mergers and acquisitions are quietly taking place in the real estate market. Thus, it is vital to analyse new investment opportunities as well as the development of investment channels, so investors can manage their investments in a flexible environment," Minh said.

According to economist Le Xuan Nghia, Vietnam's monetary policy would remain stable without demand-pull inflation.

"This is an important reason for Vietnam's economic recovery in the near future. In addition to inflationary pressures, Vietnam's economy is also under other pressures, including the decline of investment channels such as corporate bonds, real estate, securities, and bitcoin. These investment channels are suffering mounting pressure from inflation and global political and economic uncertainties," Nghia said.

"The asset market offers a very high return on investments despite its numerous risks. However, it is very easy to manipulate the asset market if it lacks proper control. In particular, waves of herd investment can cause market crashes. Thus, an individual with limited financial capabilities should aim for asset investment, not speculation," he added.

Nguyen Thi Hang Nga, deputy chief investment officer at Vietcombank Fund Management, said that fund management activities had experienced wide fluctuations in the first six months of 2022.

"However, thanks to the favorable conditions in the first quarter of the year, fund management companies still enjoy the increase in their assets. In the last six months of the year, the funds continue to hold stocks with reasonable growth, particularly those with long-term growth potential and a strong management team. These stocks should also benefit from the growth of the Vietnamese economy," Nga said.

Commenting on new investment channels, Thai Viet Dung, director of Exness Vietnam said, “The most crucial factor in the competition between financial organisations would be how much money is invested in technology and how they could employ automated algorithms to outperform their competitors. The battle now leans towards the decentralised model rather than the centralised one."

With regards to real estate investment, Nguyen Van Ngoc, chairman of RB Group, said that the real estate market will undergo a period of difficulty in the next 6-12 months.

"The downward trend will affect investors who have bought goods in recent times as well as those who opt for short-term and speculative investments or using bank leverage excessively. There are many investors who may have to suffer mounting losses during this period if they don't have good cash flow. Although it is a difficult time to cash in on, we see positive signs in the real estate market in the medium and long term," he said.

Regarding the stock investments, Tran Duc Anh, director of Macro Research and Investment Strategy at KB Securities Vietnam said, "In the second half of the year, the market will be mainly driven by the good resistance of the economy to heightened external risks as well as the profit growth momentum of listed companies. We expect the market will soon enter a short-term recovery in the third quarter in response to the positive macro indicators as well as the second-quarter earnings reporting season, especially after a deep correction in the highly cyclical stocks such as banking, securities, real estate, and related sectors."