Money Matters: It's Personal

Being an entrepreneur the past 17 years, with zero business background academically, I am admittedly self-taught in finance matters in business, and proudly self-made as a businesswoman. Having graduated from a communications course, I used to be allergic to numbers and spreadsheets, but due to necessity, I’ve learned to manage the finance part of my businesses also with the help of friends, some experts and consultants in areas I am not that knowledgeable about.Last Friday’s article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled Happy Days Can Move Up and Down, also found here ,  written by Tony Moncupa, Jr., President and CEO of East West Bank, may very well have been written for me.  Perfect timing, I should say, since the past weeks have been about working out finance-related decisions such as investments, interest and cash flow.Everyone’s talking about the stock market’s performance lately, that it is now down but if you have the funds to spare then this would be a good time to buy in. Few have been egging my husband and I to buy in but being the conservative investor that I am, I am more cautious than enthusiastic.My first ever foray into stock market investments was when my husband and i had just gotten married. We did not put in too much money, and that turned out to be a fortunate decision, since as soon as I bought in, the particular stock I bought dropped a few points, then another several points, and never recovered until the company eventually closed down. That experience albeit brief was full of learnings and one of them was to ba cautious in unfamiliar territory.Mr. Moncupa’s very frank statement about investing being a very personal matter is certainly true. There are risk takers and there are conservatives, there are those who look for long term investments and those who want short term placements, there are very hands on investors who stay glued to the market every morning on a daily basis and buy and sell based on impulse, instinct or information, while there are those who place and turn away and have someone manage their business for them.If you are new at investing, it's best to first find out what type of investor you are by asking yourself questions, some of which Mr.  Moncupa asked in his colum:  How knowledgeable are you about investing?  Are you aware of the risks? Can you handle the possibility of losing? How much are you willing to invest and how long are you willing to keep your money in investments before cashing in?Personally, here are my personal philosophies:1) I am a busy mom and mompreneur, thus I do not have time to watch the market and monitor investments. Therefore I choose to rely on experts, fund managers, trusted financial companies to make decisions for me or at least make recommendations I can easily decide on.2) I am not an expert in the field and consider myself conservative or even investment-shy because of previous experiences, thus, I tend to choose investment products that I am more comfortable with in terms of the risk and potential rewards.3) We run several businesses which are relatively cash intensive, we opt to stay conservative and consider our businesses as our primary investments since these are ventures we want to grow in the long term, plus it gives us benefits on the short term.With this, we chose a balanced equity fund placed through an insurance company, which is probably safest, plus a recent stock market exploration wherein we purchased shares of stock from companies with a proven track record, relatively stable and had a lot of promise for the long term. For now, we are happy with our position, but the entrepreneur in me will always keep eyes and ears open for future potential options.I agree with Mr. Moncupa on his points, and understand why it would be difficult to give black and white tips on where one should put his money. Again, these are very personal decisions to make, and we have to remember that what works for one person may not be the same for another. If you find yourself needing more information on money matters particularly on investing, learn it and arm yourself with information- read, research, talk to experts and experienced colleagues or  credible financial institutions.  Learn more about yourself through some introspection, ask yourself the questions mentioned above, then depending on what type of investor you are, you either proceed with caution or go and play!Full disclosure: This post was commissioned by East West Bank. All thoughts and opinions are the writer's own.