“Yuk Nabung Saham” During The Covid-19 Pandemic

PT Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) has long echoed the "Yuk Nabung Saham" program as way to invite Indonesian people to start investing in the capital market. Beginner investors can easily invest by buying shares of certain companies regularly. Like ordinary savings, saving stock shares has the same goals and benefits. Need to know, the beginner investors should have a few knowledges about capital markets and the stock that will be bought.  These two things will determine the right time to buy shares and the right company’s shares to buy, so that shares can provide the same benefits as regular savings with minimal risk.

is this the right time to save shares, considering that the Covid-19 pandemic is still happening now? There is the term "Black Swan" which refers to rare events that happened with a large impact. This theory is described by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his  book The Black Swan (2007). Keywords of "Black Swan theory" are (1) rare events, (2) a big impact on the economy and (3) there are no tools that can predict the when its happen and the impact. Then what is correlation between saving shares and "Black Swan theory"? The Covid-19 pandemic is an example of the "Black Swan Event" which has a huge impact on the economy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indonesian capital market was affected as it did in other global stock exchanges. IHSG continued to decrease with a fair severe decline. IHSG was closed down by 6.5% to the level of Rp 5,136 on March 9, 2020, a very rare event IHSG can go down so deep. Very rare event that caused IHSG decreased so sharply can be categorized as "Black Swan Event".

If start to make a saving on shares during the Covid-19 pandemic, of course it can provide substantial returns when the economy starts to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the shares of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BBRI) had up to the level of Rp 4,760 which is the highest record ever achieved before Covid-19 broke out. In May 2020 when Covid-19 began to spread in Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BBRI) shares were traded at Rp 2,160. At the end of June 2020, the shares of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BBRI) were traded at a level of around Rp 3030. This indicates an opportunity to get a high enough yield considering the range of the highest price with prices at the end of June 2020 around 36% (4.760 minus 3.030 then divide by 4.760). Assuming the economy will recover after the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not impossible that the traded price will exceed the average price before Covid-19. Saving shares in the long term will also give the opportunity to get dividends, aside from capital gains.

Saving stock share during the Covid-19 pandemic, is not solely for profit by exploiting the situation. By starting to save shares when the Covid-19 pandemic can actually increase local ownership of the company whose shares are to be purchased. Increasing the portion of local ownership through saving shares can increase stock market immunity against selling actions that are often carried out by foreign investors. Furthermore, investing in the capital market also shows a sense of love for the country. The next question, is it ready to start saving shares? should already.