TAP pushes continued wealth creation

MANILA, Philippines - The Traders Apprentice Pilipinas (TAP), a group of stock market players, continues to push for its advocacies of wealth creation and financial literary, with the aim of bringing the stock market to ordinary Filipinos.

TAP promotes its advocacies through its online platform on social media giant Facebook.

Investment banker Tony Herbosa, TAP’s trading advocate, said since its inception in 2013, TAP now has close to 49,000 stock market followers and investors.

The group has been conducting seminars and events and has also expanded to discussions and trainings on asset foreclosures.

“Literacy is not the end game, it’s the starting game and the end goal is how to get wealthy. So  in TAP we try to teach the principles of wealth creation in three primary asset classes: stocks, property and art,” he said.

Commenting on TAP’s efforts, TAP follower JJ Atencio, president of 8990 Holdings, said the stock investment club promotes the same values of inclusivity and financial literacy that 8990 believes in.

“In TAP, the complicated stock market has become accessible to ordinary middle class and working Filipinos and seminars enhance the probability of success,” he said.

Herbosa said investors must have a balance.

“The key to making wealth is not simply avoiding risk. It’s understanding risk and embracing it. To learn to fight, you have to spar a lot.

For instance, if you turn over your money to UITF guys or the banks, your chance of making money short term is higher. But longer term, you will not develop the right ‘life or death’ instincts,” Herbosa said.

Furthermore, Herbosa said there is no such thing as a five-year horizon in stocks.

“It depends on the bull cycle wave. You can be a five-year investor if you came in 2009,” he said.

He said investors must also learn to embrace chaos.

“Chaos in markets is your friend. It is the one that gives you a chance. Without chaos, only the most logical, linear, deep pocket guys will make money,” he said.