Introduction
2021 has been a roller coaster ride for most of us and here’s a cheer to all of you for making it into 2022!
Financial Literacy for Youths: Malaysia (FLY) is a student-run non-profit organisation that aims to empower youths and spread awareness of the importance of financial knowledge among them through the education of finance, economics, technology and investment. We aim to achieve our purpose via CSR Programmes, Journalism Interviews, Research Articles and, Finance-Centred Seminars, etc. To cater to the aforementioned objectives, we have designed our annual flagship event, Malaysian Youth Finance Series (MYFS). It consists of webinars, panel sessions, and a case study competition designed to empower participants with ample financial knowledge.
MYFS 2021’s theme was ‘Investments and Asset Management’. Before we started the event, we held a pre-event session catering to the participants of the Portfolio Building Competition. We then started off the 2-Day seminar with a Panel Discussion about Cryptocurrency tied in with 2 Webinars and an Interactive Session on Day 1. On Day 2, we concluded with a Panel Discussion regarding the Future of Investing and a Portfolio Building Competition Final Round Presentation.
Pre-Event (4th December 2021)
“Building a portfolio is part art and part science.”
– Mr Kamal Mustadza
We invited Mr. Kamal Mustadza, the fund manager of Value Partners Asset Management Malaysia, to discuss different aspects of building and managing a fund. He spoke about:
- Objective and risk appetite of investors
- Different approaches of constructing a portfolio
- Market Conditions
- Asset & Security Selection
- Portfolio Analysis
As the participants learned more about investing, their curiosity grew. And our Q&A platform was flooded with interesting queries. Mr Kamal answered each question elaborately and gleefully. Here’s a sneak peek of our Q&A session:
“ Can we use leverage while investing?”
“ If you are building a portfolio on behalf of an institution, then you have to check if you are allowed to use leverage. However, if you are a high net worth individual, you can add some leverage. But, when you add leverage into the equation, then the risk of your portfolio is multiplied. So, you have to handle it with care. “
Mr. Kamal spoke from his 9 years of experience in the investment industry and specialisation in equity portfolio management. He was the perfect individual to provide our contestants with valuable insights and make this event a success.
If you’ve missed out on this fruitful session, no worries, you can watch the recorded Facebook livestream here!
MYFS Day 1 (11th December 2021)
Day 1 started off with a panel discussion, two webinars and ended with our interactive session. Read more to find out about each segment of our seminar!
Crypto Unmined: The Truth Behind Cryptocurrency Panel Discussion.
The Panel was moderated by an external moderator, Mr. William Kiong Wai Lum, a Research Analyst at Twimbit.
The panellists were:
- Mr. Chong Jin Yoong, President of CFA Society Malaysia
- Ms. Natalie Cheah Hui Yin, Founder of Secure HODL
In this riveting panel discussion, we covered:
- The risk of investing in cryptocurrency
- The current state of cryptocurrency
- The different use cases and potential of cryptocurrency
- Their underlying technology (blockchain)
In light of the pump and dump schemes around various NFT projects, our panellists also highlighted the importance of awareness about the scams going on, especially since the NFT Space is such an unregulated environment.
“I myself find it hard to understand why NFT ape costs so much? It is not easy to understand NFT have value in future, but it is very useful to prove ownership with the blockchain technology”
– Ms. Natalie Cheah Hui Yin
“If a 20% drop unnerves you, then you probably shouldn’t touch Alt Coins”
– Mr. Chong Jin Yoong
We concluded the panel discussion with an interactive Q&A session. Our audiences were delighted to gain two different perspectives from industry experts.
Commodity Derivatives 101 Webinar
We proceeded with our session and began the 1st Webinar of the day; Commodity Derivatives 101. The Q&A session for both webinars were moderated by our internal moderator, Latt Danial, FLY: Malaysia’s Speaker Series Executive.
The speakers of this webinar were:
- Mr Nicholas Lau, Senior Executive at Bursa Malaysia Derivatives
- Mr Vincent Chong, Trade Division Sales & Operation Officer at Perfect Hexagon Limited
Mr. Nicholas shared about the mechanism and basics of commodity derivatives. He introduced commodities and derivatives and explained their functions and the role this asset class can be utilised in a portfolio. He enlightened participants on the different types of derivatives currently present in the market. Palm Oil is one of Malaysia’s well-known commodities as it makes up 3% of the Malaysian GDP. Mr Nicholas mentioned the significance of Palm Oil and why it is a successful commodity in Malaysia. He ended his presentation by discussing the role of an exchange market and how individuals can use derivatives for risk management, leverage and price discovery.
Our second speaker, Mr Vincent provided us with further insights into the profession of a trader and the mindset it entails. He mentioned how human emotions and behaviour has an impact on financial decision-making, especially when you are a trader. Therefore, it is important to note that a successful trader is one who looks at the market with a practical viewpoint.
“Algorithmic traders theoretically can perform better and faster than humans while excluding the emotional factors. For example, you might have an argument with your partner and end up with a bad day. As a result, you might trade aggressively or not trade at all.”
– Mr Vincent Chong
He further discussed the different types of traders such as Algorithmic Trader, Day Trader, Spreader and ended the webinar by informing the audience about the daily tasks of a trader (i.e. Market Outlook, Market Monitoring and Trade Execution.)
We wrapped up this segment by having a Q&A session with Mr Nicholas. He answered many queries regarding investment in commodities and how we can manage our investment risk.
Oh My Bonds: Insights into Bond Investing
Our 2nd Webinar of the day was Oh My Bonds: Insights into Bond Investing. Bond Investing is usually not for the everyday Joe, but we came out of this segment well-informed.
The speaker was:
- Mr. Tan Dao Hong, Manager of the Fixed Income Division at iFAST Malaysia
Mr. Tan provided a very beginner-friendly introduction into the bond market. He shared some interesting investing philosophies and how bonds can be incorporated into our portfolio. If you are interested in the bond market, feel free to check out Bondsupermart, you’ll definitely be amazed by the information and content about the bond market that you can find here! Who knows, you might be the next James “Bond”…
“You don’t fight the Fed, they can issue as much money into the market as they want as long as the law allows.”
– Mr Tan Dao Hong
Jeopardy Finquiz
The day ended on a high note with our Interactive Session; The Jeopardy Finquiz, an online Jeopardy game in which participants are presented with questions of different difficulties covering the content of this day, and they must answer within 30 seconds. The themes of the question covered investing instruments like bonds, commodities and cryptocurrency. It was a relaxed yet intense competition between the participants but most important of all, they showed a better understanding towards these investing instruments and had a fun time bonding with one another! The winners of the Jeopardy Finquiz were announced on the last day of MYFS 2021.
MYFS Day 2 (18th December 2021)
Day 2 kicked off with a panel discussion session on The Future of Investing followed by the Portfolio Building Competition: Final Presentation.
The Future of Investing Panel Discussion
“A simple tweet can change the fate of our investment portfolio nowadays.”
– Mr. Rahman
The session was a long and fruitful session with our panellists and an external moderator, Mr Danial Rahman, Director of Sunway Education Group (CEO Office).
The panellists were:
- Ms. Lee Ly See, Director of CFA Society Malaysia
- Ms. Linnet Lee, CEO of Financial Planning Association Malaysia
- Mr. Nooryusazli B. Yusoff, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer at NEPS Capital Group
- Mr. Pradeeban Letsumanasingam, Director of The Tech Connectors
“ When investing overseas, we really have to understand the risk, either in the real economy or digital economy.”
-Mr. Nooryusazli B. Yusoff
Accompanied with the panellists and their diverse background, we dove into various topics pertaining to investing. We discussed the rising awareness of ESG investing and its potential to bring positive changes to the society while reducing the negative impacts to the environment.
“Mere mortals like us are subject to sickness, disability and death. How to secure your portfolio of investment for continuity and achieve its goals?”
-Ms. Linnet Lee
Another area of concern for GenZ has a lot to do with the undergoing trend of technology and FinTech that is accelerating and disrupting the financial services ecosystem. Our panellists provided useful insight as to how the upcoming workforce can better prepare themselves for the technological changes.
“The future of investing is changing a lot with digitization and automation. A lot of us have access to different platforms that help us with research and automated platforms like Stashaway.”
-Mr. Pradeeban Letsymanasingam
The current Asian equities market including the bearish situation of China equities after events like Evergrande’s crisis; and also the Metaverse was a topic that was explored. Overall, our panel discussion was highly invigorating! This interactive panel discussion session wrapped up the first half of the event.
“Personally, in my view, the Chinese economy still has ingredients for strong growth in the economy.”
-Ms. Lee Ly See
We moved on to a rather thought-provoking Q&A session that addressed concerns that the current youth is going through.
Portfolio Building Competition: Final Presentation
We concluded MYFS 2021 with our most riveting segment; The Portfolio Building Competition: Final Presentation. Participants took the role of a portfolio manager overseeing a RM100 million fund consisting of various assets like stocks, bonds, commodities, and even cryptocurrency.
During the competition, participants were expected to analyse several asset classes on risk and expected return. They then had to pitch their investment portfolio to our esteemed judges who took the role of potential shareholders.
A big congratulations from the team of FLY to the following finalists that managed to Wow the judges:
- 8HD
- Alpha Ark
- Financeproof
- Million Dollar Babies
- Mind the GAAP
- Money Bean
Most of these participants are university students from vast backgrounds and little to no real-life investing experience, yet they managed to display an amazing performance! Despite the tough questions from the judges, they successfully provided a detailed explanation on things like the usage of KLCL as a return benchmark for the fund or the justification of putting more weightage in Ethereum as opposed to Bitcoin.
After a close competition, the results were concluded as below:
- 1st place – Alpha Ark
- 2nd place – Mind the GAAP
- 3rd place – Million Dollar Babies
Furthermore, the Best Speaker Award for the presentation went to: Kieran Lim Shen Jie from Mind the GAAP!
The winners were awarded with prizes depending on their position.
- 1st place – RM1500
- 2nd place – RM1000
- 3rd place – RM500
The three winners for our Jeopardy FinQuiz were tied. The winning teams were Team Watermelon, Team Banana, and Team Orange.
The panel discussion and competition were live streamed on Facebook. Feel free to check it out here!
Conclusion
MYFS 2021 was triumphant owing to the participation of over 200 people and the support of our sponsors. We would like to thank our sponsors:
Diamond Sponsors
- FWD Takaful
- TYMBA Education
- ACCA Malaysia
Gold Sponsor
- Bondsupermart
Venue Sponsor
- Sunway University
Their kind support towards our flagship event made it possible for us to provide an invigorating and exciting experience for our audience. Their generosity has allowed us to achieve greater heights and make this event engaging and educational!
That’s all for MYFS 2021, or is it? We hoped everyone enjoyed and gained new knowledge throughout the event. Master your finance and you’ll FLY higher! Till next time, Goodbye!
Writer: Bryan Ng
Reviewers: Hurriya Irfan, Sabirah Rasyiqah
