Do Colombian know how to invest?

I don't think too much of the population are aware of the stock market

I am a curious guy, I like to know of everything and be involved in anything that gives me the opportunity to grow personally and financially. I always liked to save money and in some way try to invest it, trying to see how to get profits from it.

I always was aware of the stock market and other financial instruments, I remember when I was around 16 years old I read about option trading in some site and the contacted me to open an account, they say with $500 USD I could start but the reality was I didn’t have the money or the real knowledge to start.

I am not saying I am an expert in the stock market or a master in investing, but I get the impression that here in Colombia most of the people are not aware of how to invest their savings. A lot of people I can imagine just letting their money sit in a savings account with almost no returns or in a Term Deposit Certificate, that I can imagine being the most known option a Colombian knows to “invest” their money.

What I notice is people being completely blind to the opportunities to invest their money and seeing their value go up or down.

What could be the reasons so many people are unaware of investing? If I speak with my friends with regular and nice jobs, when I mention investing they always return to Term Deposit Certificate, maybe some funds from a bank. And also to the idea of investing in real estate, but their idea of investing is in reality to buy a home for themselves and partners.

Investment culture is not that popular here, I can imagine the percentage of Colombians investing in the Colombian Stock Market really low. Knowledge about how to invest, entry barriers and lack of money could be some factors to the avoidance of the stock market.

But also seeing the stock market as something only just a few can do and as a full time job to track all the companies, dividends, stocks, etc. Seeing investing like this could be problematic and just getting mental barriers that won’t allow people to jump in.

I am not saying people should go with all the saving they have to the stock market, my point is people are unaware of how to leverage their money and make it work in the with investments.

For my part, I do like to invest and read about the companies, trying to analyze when is a good time to buy and just invest in good quality companies. Because I know it’s a long term investment and I am aware of the risks, but also because I know how unintelligent is to leave money sitting when it could be invested.