Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CabbageTownRoyals]

Can anyone recommend a financial advisor in Seoul? I want to get into Mutual Funds, but have no idea where to start.....

(and I have another question: is it better to invest back home in New Zealand/Australia or in Asian markets which apparently are more risky but higher returns?)

Thanks

[bobbyhanlon]

i think it depends on what you want, and your circumstances. how old are you? how much do you have to invest? do you want to invest aggressively, or conservatively (ie. how much risk are you prepared to take)?
also what is your time horizon (how long do you want to invest for)- is this for your old age, or just for the short term?
if you're not experienced with the stock market, don't buy individual stocks by yourself. i think for most people mutual funds are definitely the best bet.
long term i think asia is a good place to invest. europe is not bad; as for the u.s, corporate profits are fine but there is a huge debt binge going on over there that will someday lead to a massive hangover (the weak dollar is a sign of this, i think). healthcare is a good sector- most of the developed world is aging, and these wealthy baby boomers will need a lot of treatment in the years to come. furthermore the price of medical care is continually rising, so the companies that offer it will most likely make superior returns in the years ahead.
have you heard of ETFs? these are funds which trade over the stock exchange, and typically have low costs (basically the same as mutual funds but they trade over the exchange). if i were going to start doing this, i would build up a portfolio of these, investing in healthcare, plus some in european stocks, some in asian stocks, a small amount in us stocks, and maybe a small amount in a more speculative area, such as vietnam.
anyway... good luck!

[CabbageTownRoyals]

Thanks for the great response Bobby-H. Im 28 and don't mind a little bit of risky business. But, then again, Im new to this, so I guess I should start out more conservatively...

Do you know of any investment services that cater to foreigners here in Korea? Or is it simply done via the internet these days?

[bobbyhanlon]

actually i'm sorry but i don't, and i'm not even sure if there is one. do you have any friends here who work in the financial industry?
i know there was an investment club run by westerners around itaewon, but investment clubs are not such a great idea in my opinion.
investment is not easy and i think the best thing to do is for you to start reading and learning as much as you can about it, because even if you have a financial advisor, its your money and you should know where it is going.
and as i said earlier, don't buy individual stocks until you really know what you're doing. stick with mutual funds, and never listen to advice about which stock to buy from newspapers, your co-workers (unless you work at goldman sachs or something), your taxi driver, etc. as soon as you get interested in investment, 100 different people will start telling you 'secret information' on all kinds of different stocks, and 99 of them will be talking out of their arse!

[huffdaddy]

Start with the Motley Fool - http://www.fool.com/ - they have pretty good info for beginning investors.

[buylow sellhigh]

hey, i've given you some pretty good stock picks...

[CabbageTownRoyals]

[bobbyhanlon]

he's talking to me... yeah man you're the exception ㅋㅋ

[CabbageTownRoyals]

Oh, I thought because of his ID name, "buy low sell high" hmmm,
over my head