Tips for universities student to start investing from Taylor’s Alumni

By Chia Yun Fei

Most university students are concerned about assignments, studying for exams, finding a part-time job to save for money no matter what entertainment or things they want, so it's important to know how to earn passive income and obtain knowledge at the same time.

Currently university students are now having virtual classes and restrictive on-campus due to Covid-19 SOPs, with all that students are facing, it’s a wonder that there’s time for anything else, let alone investing.

Hence, every successful investor starts with the basics, no one is born knowing how to save or to invest.

Taylorian’s alumni, Puteri Nelissa Milani says there are three main reasons why it would be good for students to start investing while you’re still in university.

She completed her Bachelor of Business (Honours) Finance and Economics at Taylor's University in August 2020 and is currently working as an internal auditor with Maybank.\

She is also a journalist for the independent student-run organisation Financial Literacy for Youths Malaysia.

“Firstly, students have less financial responsibility in university. Though you may not have a full-time job just yet, you’d have some form of financial assistance either from your family or sponsors.

“Therefore, investing is another method to gain financial independence. After graduating, you’re most likely to land your first job and, more importantly, manage your own finances.”

The third reason she gave was that you have the leverage of time; if you can invest for a longer period of time, you’re more likely to get higher returns.”

However, Nelissa also mentioned that there will be risk along with the possibility of high returns that many beginners often overlook.

Nelissa also advises students who want to start investing that, “don't be intimidated by the technical charts, capital or knowledge.

Like your money, your knowledge compounds. As you learn more, you'll become a better investor.

Lazy people don't attract money— smart people do, so it's easy to follow others' steps but you'll be the only one regretting it if you lose your money. Hence, do a thorough research, justify your investment strategies and learn from your mistakes.”

There are three books recommended by Nelissa, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel which is emphasizing on the training mindset, and also The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham for the practical part of investment.

In addition, she mentio

ned that she prefer textbooks over actual investment books— lesser jargons, clearer explanations (e.g. Financial Derivatives by Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha) for technical parts.

(Source: IESE Business School | University of Navarra , 2021)

Samuel Lim, a student of Taylor's University said: “In my opinion I largely agree with what Nelissa says.”

He said while this doesn't apply to everyone, by and large, students in university have lesser financial responsibility, and thus it would be a good time to get into investing.

“Another issue I see is getting into investing can be time consuming.

“Work life balance could become even more hectic once students enter the workforce, but students in university have their own set of responsibilities and tasks in which they might get bogged down as well.”

He suggests students start investing as early as they can, but know what they're getting into, and also learn to prioritize certain elements in their life, because having many things to do at once can become overwhelming.

As a result, There’s no doubt that investing is a smart strategy for college students for a lot of reasons; not only for money, being responsible and independent of one's own financial wealth, achieving financial targets and obtaining knowledge is undoubtedly a starting point for one's future.