- WINSTON SILL/Freelance Photographer
Patrons pay keen attention to a presenter at the National Commercial Bank's Capital Markets Investor Seminar, held at Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, St. Andrew, on Tuesday.
Dennise Williams, Staff Reporter
JAMAICANS ARE hungry for investment advice if the audience turnout at National Commercial Bank's (NCB) Capital Markets Wealth Management seminar was any indication.
Held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, St. Andrew, on Tuesday, the investment banking arm of NCB discussed the benefits of investing and not just saving.
Debra Lopez, vice-president of wealth management and the road, the state pension and not even your company pension will allow you to retire comfortably."
SHARE PRICE SOARS
Indeed, one loyal customer enthused to the audience: "Your company's pension also is not going to work alone. Imagine, I bought Lascelles at $27 per share and now it shoot up to over $300 per share. That is better than any pay increase!"
Ms. Lopez then unveiled NCB Capital Market's top five stock picks for 2005.
Pan Jamaican.
Lascelles de Mercado.
National Commercial Bank.
Grace, Kennedy & Company.
First Life Insurance Company.
When questioned as to why just five when many other gurus tout three times that number, Ms. Lopez stated: "If you think about the wealthiest people in Jamaica, they invest in a few good businesses with solid management and hold them for the long term. For many wealth individuals, they just own one business. For example, look at Butch Stewart, he focuses on the tourism business. Can you image if he sold out just because he had a bad year? No, he knows that tourism is a long-term growth business. We recommend that you take the same approach buy, hold and prosper."
Ms. Lopez went on to say that her company focused on picking conglomerates because they "touch our lives on many different levels."
"Look at Lascelles, I mean they sell a product; J. Wray & Nephew you drink when you are happy and you drink when you are sad. That is an enduring product that is in a growth industry."
ALTERNATIVES
However, for individuals not inclined to invest in the stock market, wealth managers Paula Brown and Ingrid Spence explained that the brokerage firm offers other alternatives.
Ms. Brown stated: "Jamaicans are ready to be wealthy, and we want to show people that as you turn around it is time for retirement, so you must be prepared. The way to be prepared is to focus on your objectives, of which retirement is just one. Besides the stock market, investors can look at fixed-income products."
Ms. Spence added: "There is money market investments and then there is the bond market. Bonds pay interest semi-annually, and so you can get cash flow while preserving your capital. Plus there is the option to minimise taxation."
And Ms. Brown added: "The news is spreading. The way to go is creating wealth with what you have and finding ways to make more."
