The survey by the Chinese-language Business Weekly magazine involved 7,543 subscribers of its online edition between Feb. 15 and March 3.

Results of the study show that while 77.3 percent of the investors are confident of their grasp of world trends, only 2.5 percent made money from each of their investments.

Some 50 percent said they have made profit occasionally, but another 34.2 percent acknowledged they have never made any money from their investments.

More than 94 percent of those interviewed admit that although they are knowledgeable of world trends, they entered the investment market at the wrong time, resulting in their failure to reap a profit.

That percentage included 50 percent who said they have occasionally made the wrong decision on the timing to enter the investment market and 20 percent who indicated that they have made mistakes frequently. Another 3.6 percent said their choices concerning when to enter the market have been wrong all along.

Analysts at HSBC Investments (Taiwan) Ltd., which sponsored the survey, said that most investors obtain their knowledge of the global trends from newspapers, magazines and TV programs. These trends, they added, include rising new markets, alternative energy sources and world population aging.

However, the analysts said that in order to take advantage of the transient, fast-changing investment opportunities, investors should let financial market experts handle their investment portfolios.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email