“How many decades are there in our life?” Will you occasionally recall the people and events that happened 10 years ago and make a comparison with the present?

Is 10-year a long time? It depends but most of the people may think that it is neither too long nor too short. However, with some slight changes everyday, it is enough to have a tremendous shift in 10 years.

It is an unchanging rule that change is eternal and there is no doubt that if we apply this into the development of information technology nowadays. Ten years ago, when we were still in the 3G era, Apple Computer launched iPhone 4 in June 2010, and Apple fans were fascinated by Steve Jobs’s product presentation. Ten years later, we are about stepping into the 5G era and Apple Computer will launch iPhone 12 soon. In Hong Kong and China, the simultaneous online user of QQ, Tencent’s online communication software, reached 100 million in March 2010. However, QQ declined gradually afterward and its popularity has been replaced by Wechat, which was also established by Tencent in 2011.

Many investment experts believe that market trend is always the best friend of an investor. If people can capture and follow the general trend of the market, the chance of making profit is high. As all we know, the development of information technology is affecting our lives in almost every aspect and it is highly likely that the trend will go on. At the same time, the technology industry is also competitive and can change rapidly, the current market leader may not be able to maintain the leading position in the future. Just like Motorola and Nokia which were two of the most popular mobile phone brands in 1990s and early 2000s, however, they have been eliminated by the market in recent years. To capture the growth potential of the technology industry, fund investment may be one of the best solutions since the fund manager would have diversification and invest in both market leaders and innovative companies with strong growth potential as well.

Those leading and innovative technology companies are always the investment market focus. As they have strong growth potential, they tend to be more volatile because of higher valuations. Many investors prefer to wait for a market correction, so they can invest them at a discounted price. However, when the markets fall, most investors would fail to enter the market as planned since they become more risk-averse at that time. Greed and fear ultimately let the investors take no action and miss the investment opportunities. On the other hand, if an investor does not make any market timing judgment and invest technology sector fund on a regular basis, investors may accumulate considerable investment units with an attractive result at the end due to the dollar cost averaging effect. We may look at the following real case example for reference.

Investor A started to invest USD 1,000 in a technology sector fund with Morningstar 4 stars rating in the last dealing day of every month since the end of September 2010. For every subscription, 5% of initial charge was deducted from the investment amount.

10 years later, Investor A has already invested USD 120,000 (1,000 x 12 x 10) at the end of August 2020, while the fund value has appreciated to USD 295,830 with 146.5% growth rate.