Is ignorance really bliss? If you're aiming to be a successful investor, then the answer is a resounding "No".
The better informed investor will not easily fall for scams and will be able to make better investment decisions.
Such individuals will avoid buying shares of a company based on stock tips or treat the stock market like a casino.
But where does one get statistics and data that are reliable whether it is historical or current?
The Bursa Knowledge Centre, formerly known as the KLSE Library and Public Information Centre which first started in 1985, now has more than 15,000 titles.
Located in an annexe block of the Bursa Malaysia building, the library has magazines, journals, annual reports, prospectuses, announcements that caters to those who are interested in the capital market, corporations, strategy, investment, psychology, technology, legal, finance and personal development.
A myriad of books line the shelves with new titles coming in every month. There are also autobiographies and a small collection of fiction. Bursa Malaysia's Director of Group Sustainability Emilia Tee Yoke Hoong said that staff of Bursa can make requests to add titles to the library.
"All Bursa staff have free access to the library, which is also open to the public. But only members can borrow the books. Non-members are welcomed to visit the library," said Tee.
Individual membership is RM100 per annum, while corporate members fees would be RM1,000 per annum where up to five users can have access to the library. Senior citizens are charged RM80 per year, while students and those in the civil service have free access to the library.
The library has a collection of company annual reports that date back to the 1940s.
Among them is the 1941 annual report of United Malacca Rubber Estates Ltd, a plantation company that was incorporated in 1910. It is now known as United Malacca Berhad and is still listed on the Main Market of Bursa.
Besides annual reports, there are also prospectuses that date back to the 1980s and announcements dating back to the 1970s.
These data are crucial for researchers and students (undergraduates or those pursuing their Masters or PhD) who need to analyse the trend or prepare their thesis
Tee said the library started keeping only the soft copies of these announcements since 2012.
"Before the internet was widely used, companies would fax the announcements to the Exchange.
When the Internet surfaced, they would email the announcements over. Since 2015, they just key in the info in our web-based system," said Tee, recalling how the communication modes had evolved with the times.
The library, which opens from 9.15am to 5pm (Monday to Friday), is currently manned by two fulltime staff.
"Although Bursa Malaysia is a stock exchange, we want to be ASEAN's leading, sustainable and globally-connected market place. We want to build an eco-system where the people are wellinformed and be able to trade in a well-informed manner.
"From a company's perspective, it has to be well-managed so that it can offer good value to investors.
"In 2018, we introduced Bursa Sustain for institutional investors and listed companies and in 2020, we launched Bursa Academy for retail investors and traders. Both are online portals.
"The number of viewers for both portals have been growing steadily. Bursa Sustain to date has an average of 170,000 viewers a year while Bursa Academy has an average of 670,000 viewers a year," she added.
The Bursa Knowledge Centre aims to spread its reach by working with other public and private libraries. It will launch an e-book service in September this year so that members can have the option of reading a physical book or reading it online. Digitisation of the library's hard copies of all annual reports and prospectuses started two years ago and is expected to complete by next year.
Another step taken by the Exchange is to organise a series of talks by popular authors to improve investor education and financial literacy. Ng Zhu Hann, the Chief Executive Officer of Tradeview Capital Sdn Bhd and best-selling author of Once Upon a Time In Bursa, kicked off the session
with a talk titled "Investing With The Right Mindset" on May 11, the first in-person event in two years since the pandemic.
On June 15 at 12pm, there will be another talk by Lim Mei Ching, author of "Be Your Own Fund Manager".
"Bursa Malaysia, being a frontline regulator of the Malaysian capital market is keen to play a role in educating the public because they believe "knowledge will never go out of style".
One must always upskill to remain relevant. There is always a need for content, research and learning," she
said.
In October 2015, Bursa Malaysia launched the Sustainability Reporting Framework for its listed companies. The Knowledge Centre is under the purview of the Education unit of Bursa's Group Sustainability department, which is specially dedicated to Bursa's capacity-building efforts.
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