Jamaica and investing. I have some thoughts to share. Once I’m done driving.
Sorry. Rotary. Couldn’t access the phone. Alright, here goes. We really don’t realise what we have at our disposal in Jamaica. Imagine, there are listed companies who have managed to survive FINSAC, World Financial Crisis of 2008-2010, rampant devaluation, hyperinflation etc
They are going for USD pennies on the market, and are overlooked in favour of what may be easier. Don’t get me wrong, there is (unjustified) mystique around the market, but even those knwoledgable don’t buy-in. That is fact. Ask your financial advisor which stocks they hold
We don’t know what we have. Foreigners looked on Red Stripe and paid a premium of FIVE times for it. Heineken, that is. Red Stripe was being sold for $4 in 2015. $4. A 6-pack case could almost buy 100 units. Heineken paid $0.25 or $32 for it based on FX rate. In USD I should add
Now, I say this as one who buys more in the US for the portfolios than JMD. I dare say that none of the chatterboxes you see yapping about the USD buy more USD stocks than me (they’ll tell you) and that is only important because I STILL ADVOCATE FOR JAMAICAN STOCKS DAILY.
And it’s not because I am looking twitter clients, because trust me, I DO NOT. The problem with black people sometimes is that we don’t share information. Someone makes money and people say it’s drugs etc etc. But hear this someone bought NCBFG at $18 in 2010 and it’s $180
In a month. That house deposit money he or she may have sacrificed can now buy that same house cash, in 9 years. I maintain, we don’t appreciate what we have. People have approached me, friends and said, ‘I have $250K and want to buy NCBFG.’ So I said ‘buy it’.
I am sure it wasn’t bought. Sure. We have a fascination with what’s new and ‘shiny’ as I spoke to last week Monday. That’s why Bitcoin was so fascinating. But when bitcoin was about $7,000 NCBFG was $90 and people bought bitcoin that is now about $4,500 and NCBFG is $160.
Oh re the NCBFG story earlier, that person is getting their initial deposit in dividends now, by the way. Without lifting a finger. I have some more thoughts, will revisit this later. Open a JMMB account, tell them you want to buy NCBFG, PJAM, GK and forget about it.
Another thought, if these companies managed to grow during the hardest of times, what will they do now? Forget the worlds trends, which suddenly make the Caribbean (Jamaica) an appealing place to invest now. This is public - Seaboard Corp bought 21% of KW at $6, in 2014.
Today it is $78. Seaboard is a multi billion dollar, USD-listed (NYSE/NASDAQ, can’t remember) company. What on earth do they have caring about Jamaica? Yet they made 1300% in 5 years. Seems worthwhile to me. I say follow the money. Seaboard’s $17 million is north of $220 mil now.
USD, that is. There’s no excuse. I understand that people will want to see their money in the ground/party/ventures and that’s worthwhile but don’t ignore where the real money is. I’m sure this will fall on deaf ears but hey, I’m wired to share my thoughts.
Lastly, for me, as a 27 year old at the time, I viewed Jamaica as being serious in 2009 with the advent of the Junior Market. We must encourage and develop our capital markets to move forward. That we are doing so is great. To not do so is suicide. Maybe more later. Peace ✌🏾
If I had to choose Jamaica Stock Exchange or US markets right now with $0 in both, I’d choose JSE 9 times out of 10. Not because of patriotism, but it’s just the better option. But don’t believe me, just ask @business bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Keep forgetting. Doesn’t have to be large amounts either. I bought some bits of Berger with $10K JMD. It’s just what I had at the time. Kept buying where possible. Work with what one has. $10K in Red Stripe in 2014 would have been $80K by time they got bought out.
Didn’t expect this to catch fire at all 😳😱. You’re all welcome. Couple more thoughts to share when I’m done here. Thank you ✌🏾
