New educational portal for young Malaysian investors

• A new educational portal has just been launched to help tertiary students and young executives invest their money wisely.

Called Young Investors (www.younginvestors.com.my), the site shares the merits and importance of investing and financial planning through its collection of articles, case studies and dictionary of financial terminologies.

"Today's investors are getting younger, willing to read widely on the subject and are more internet savvy. We have forged alliances with reputable partners such as financial institutions and investor educators who share with us a common vision of promoting financial literacy. The result is a portal that will serve as a valuable one-stop shop for young investors, offering them timely, relevant and accurate news and information to make informed investment decisions, reflecting our company's motto - 'Invest with Knowledge'," said Christopher Lee, CEO of ShareInvestor.

A report commissioned in 2009 by Bursa Malaysia found that less than 2 per cent of Malaysians aged 20 years and above actively invested in shares although they are familiar with publicly listed company and share trading. Their perception is that share trading is a high-risk activity and this deters them from investing in shares. Instead, they prefer to invest in savings and fixed deposits which offer lower rate of returns.