Experienced Investor Lo Kheng Hong Talks About 'Relying On' Shares Of Astra's Subsidiaries During The 1998 Economic Crisis, Earns Big Profits 6 Years Later

JAKARTA - Seasoned investor Lo Kheng Hong shared why he continued to work in the stock market even though he had been hit by crises many times. He shared tips where the patience of the investor, nicknamed Warren Buffet Indonesia, was able to pay off because through investing in stocks, his wealth was increasing.

Lo Kheng Hong, at the time of the crisis in 1998, chose to pour all of his remaining money into one stock. The choice is owned by Astra's subsidiary, PT United Tractors Tbk (UNTR).

"In 1998, so if Mr. Jos Parengkuan (founder of Syaliendra Capital) said he went bankrupt, I almost lost. My money was reduced by 85 percent, the remaining 15 percent, at that time I was a full-time investor again. I bought UNTR with my money," said Lo Kheng Hong, on the SyailendraCapital podcast, quoted Monday, December 27.

Lo Kheng Hong did this because UNTR's share price dropped to Rp250. In fact, at that time the operating profit per share was Rp7,800.

The problem at that time, said the man who is familiarly called Mr. Lo, was that the shares he bought had stagnated at Rp400 and did not increase again. Mr. Lo then made a profit after holding UNTR shares for six years, and sold them in 2004, at Rp15,000.

"This is also still common, because my money is small and then suddenly it becomes a lot. I thought what if my money was lost, so I sold it," he said.

Lo Kheng Hong also revealed, "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery". No one knows about the crisis, either 1998, 2008, and 2020. But, to anticipate, Hong avoids not wanting to go into debt.

"I'd rather push 99 percent of my money to buy shares, I'm brave, but don't ask me to add debt. Because when the crisis comes I won't be able to survive. If I don't have debt, I can survive the deep crisis, I hold on to the stock, I will wait for it to go higher," he said.