Which channel investments will be effective in 2018?

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The customs express talked with a number of economic experts.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Hieu - Banking Finance Specialist: Depositing money into banks is still the safest investment channel.

There is no formula and common method to determine which channel is the best investment. For investment, investors must pay attention to three purposes: investment must be preserved capital, must be profitable and liquid. However, many investors find that some profitable investment channels are focused just on investing, such as the phenomenon of putting money into virtual currency, Bitcoin, in the past, while Bitcoin completely failed to meet all three investment target items. Last year, this investment channel had high growth but now it is down. This is the most risky investment channel since this currency has no intrinsic value.

In 2017, Vietnam’s investment channels, securities grew very well, up to 40%, but earlier this year, there was a break point, now the price is falling, striving for 1,000 points. The stock market has grown but it is does not have stability for sustainable growth, and it can be a growth driven by market forces. Securities meet at least two criteria, profitability and liquidity, especially the leading companies, and this will preserve capital for investors.

With the real estate investment channel, in the past year its growth was good. In 2018, hopefully this investment channel is expected to maintain positive growth. But real estate has cycles as well as stock, it can not go up forever. Real estate is in an exciting cycle, but it is not known when it will stop, and this is what investors need to be careful about, the moment when real estate goes down. With the gold investment channel, investors should note that in 2018 there could be many factors that will negatively or positively affect the price of gold such as in the case of possible military conflict on the Korean peninsula, the Federal Reserve (FED) would raise interest rates ...

Talking about what is the most effective way of investing, in my opinion, depositing money into banks is still the safest investment channel, although the profitability is not high, it is stable and liquidity is high. I think need allocates risk, 50% of investment capital should be put into the bank, the other half invested in real estate or securities.

Mr. Le Dang Doanh – an economist: Securities is one of the attractive investment channels and relatively safe.

I suppose there are many opportunities for investment in the stock market in 2018. These opportunities come from the strong equitization of Vietnam, which is expected to equitize 67 large SOEs this year, which is very important, attracting large foreign investment, so the stock market will be very exciting and receive a lot of attention. I think this is one of the attractive and relatively safe investment channels. With some relatively risky investment channels such as virtual currency, the current legal status is unclear, and it is difficult to say if this is a chance or a big risk. Investors must be very professional to avoid risk.

It is said that there are many risks in the stock market during 2018. In this regard, I think that investors must be qualified enough to recognize and prevent potential risks. In principle, the stock market in Vietnam will develop, especially domestic stocks will be much more attractive to foreign investors, as in the case of Sabeco. I think that this year Vietnam will equitize and divest the capital of many more SOEs, so growth of Vietnam’s stock market will increase. Moreover, investors are looking to bring Vietnam's stock market to the marginal market, not just emerging markets today. If this is done, its stock market will have a different position and attractiveness will be higher.

Nguyen Hoang Hai, Vice Chairman of the Association of Financial Investors (VAFI): Real estate channel has started to saturate

Investing in securities should be for those who know how to read the financial reports. Understand the management of enterprises and evaluate the business to see how good the business is, and because investment securities have high profitability, there is also a lot of risk. Many stocks have the phenomenon of arranging price. They were only several tens of billion Dong a year ago, but now companies are working together to push it up a few hundred billion Dong. Well-informed investors are aware of this story.

In the past few years the stock market continued to grow, so it is now at high prices. As in the real estate market, the stock market with high prices will have many risks and fluctuations. With professional investors, they are aware of the right and wrong investment. By evaluating the business situation of enterprises the stock is still an attractive investment channels. Investors can invest in safe stocks, with annual dividends of around 10%, not to mention cumulative returns.

When investing in what channels, it is necessary to understand the legitimacy and its value. Investors should note that even investing in good companies, but with too a high price, can lead to losses. The stock market has grown over the past few years and is at its peak, so 2018 will be more risky, making profitable investments harder than in 2017, and even harder than 2016, although the macroeconomic level is still developing well. The higher a price is, the greater the stake, and the greater the risk is. The real estate channel is reaching saturation and this is a playground for professionals rather than a playground for the masses. Therefore, in terms of safety and profitability, the savings channel is the best, most attractive one today.

Neil MacGregor, Managing Director of Savills Vietnam: Vietnam real estate attracts large capital flows

It is supposed that Vietnam's economy is on the rise while other countries in the region are slowing down. The real estate market in the country will continue to receive more interest in all real estate fields, in which the focus is on the office and hotel segment following the surge in FDI and tourism, and development of industrial real estate and logistics.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, registered and newly licensed capital, FDI is approximately USD 36 billion in 2017, an increase of 44.4% over the same period last year . By sector, real estate is always in the sector attracting the largest amount of FDI in Vietnam. This shows the interest of foreign investors in investment and business opportunities in the real estate market of Vietnam. With the support from policy elements, the clear legal framework and competitive advantage of the market, Vietnam real estate has attracted large capital flows from both domestic and foreign investors in recent years.

We hope that the Government will support investors to create a healthy business environment with clear and transparent investment policies so that the market can develop sustainably in the coming years.