Malta BNI is holding its next online business briefing on Wednesday, May 18, at noon.  Themed ‘The most valuable lessons in investing’, the discussion will revolve around how investing is a good way to put one’s money to work and potentially grow one’s wealth. 

This 30-minute session will be delivered by Joseph Falzon, a professor at the University of Malta and director at Medina Asset Management, and Ann Marie Lia and Christiana Teuma, relationship manager and client relationship associate, respectively, at Medina Asset Management.

Ann Marie Lia (left), Christiana Teuma and Joseph Falzon

Medina Asset Management is an investment company licensed by the MFSA.  Medina’s mission is to protect and grow the wealth of its clients. This is achieved by helping families and businesses to save and invest wisely, while always putting them and ethics first.

 Teuma will provide a thorough explanation of the fundamental financial concepts used in finance. The definitions of individual stocks and bonds will be followed by an explanation of a portfolio of funds. 

She will outline the current events in the financial market, such as high inflation, rising interest rates and the effects of the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

“Achieving long-term financial objectives entails embracing the risk-reward trade-off and comprehending the historical dynamics of various types of investments,” she says.

“Investing is a good way to put one’s money to work and potentially grow one’s wealth”

The salient takeaways from this session will be covered by Lia, where she will go through the main principles for investment success. She says that to have a better chance at investment success, one has to focus on what they can control. 

“It is very easy, and very tempting, to just focus on the market, the performance of individual funds or the economy, which can lead one to overlook the basic principles of investment success,” Lia notes.

Lastly, Falzon will provide a brief history of the stock market, covering market uptrends and declines, while highlighting the critical lessons of investing which is the fundamental message of this BNI Business Briefing.  One has to keep in mind that many of the market declines of the last decades are becoming faded memories and long-term investors know that the market and the economy generally recover over time. 

To give a real-life example, he mentions that during the 2008 financial decline, the US market declined 48 per cent and many investors sold off their holdings. However, after the market bottomed in March 2009, it eventually recovered to its former levels and well beyond. In fact, between the beginning of the bull market in March 2009 and the end of January 2022, the US stock market increased 6.4 times (15.4 per cent increase per annum), which means that for every €100,000 invested in March 2009, this would have grown to €640,000 by the end of January 2022. 

“Investors should be positioned for such a rebound, as in the long term these short-term fluctuations do not affect one’s investments,” Falzon says.

The Malta BNI Business Briefings (BBB) is a series of free online short sessions organised by Malta BNI that are held remotely at lunchtime via Zoom. BNI is the largest and most successful business networking organisation with members and chapters in over 74 countries. 

Visitors are welcome to join these three speakers from Medina Asset Management Ltd, a BNI La Valette Chapter member, to learn about investments and as to why the stock market should be viewed as a vehicle to compound one’s wealth and be better off financially. 

Registration for the upcoming business briefing is free of charge and may be done at https:// bit.ly/3vtNUE8. Contact Carmel Bonello at carmelbonello2020@outlook.com, David Bullock at david.malta.bni@gmail.com or Viviana Premazzi at viviana@gmdmalta.com for additional information about the event.