Investing Needs Focus, No Risk Free Investment

22 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Personal Financing

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If you decide to invest you need to be focus. You need to focus on your goals. I need to remind you the basics of investing, know your goal before investing into any investing vehicle.

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For short term goal, invest to a non-risky investment and for long term goal you may invest in riskier investment. It is a fact that time reduces the risk of any investment, but time does not eliminate the risk. Every investment has its own risk you just need to make sure that you understood the risk before allowing yourself to be part of that investment.

When a broker says that they are offering a “Risk Free” investment I could say that it is a scam, or the broker does not know what he is selling and he is only after the commission.

Many of my colleagues who got their insurance due to sales pitch of brokers does not know their policy well, they don’t even know why they get those insurance. And worse they feel that it is a burden paying those insurance.

Insurance is a must in investing. Without insurance, your investment might be wasted. Just imagine being sick without insurance, definitely the last resort to do is to touch your investment especially if you did not work out you emergency funds.

There are lots of investment vehicle, before going to a certain investment, learn and know the risk associated with it. Before getting the next investment you need to master the ins and out of your chosen investment.

In addition always remember not to keep all your eggs in a basket. Which mean don’t keep your investment in a single investment company. Diversify.

Investing is Not Easy, But Definitely Rewarding

18 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Personal Financing, Uncategorized

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invest-2Who says that investing is easy? For me it is not, it involves self discipline and goal setting. Imagine choosing to invest your hard earned money in replacement of having fame in your office by owning a new gadget that worth thousands of pesos. I was a spender for almost 10 years before I learn investing, and I could say that it is not easy changing paths going to Financial secure life.

It was easy to spend and use my credit card and spend on my “wants” rather than stopping my craving with new gadget in town. After learning about financial literacy by joining different Facebook groups and talking to mentors as well as reading books about finance, it made me realize that even investing is hard at first, time will come that it will be your life style. In addition it feels good to know that at least you are expecting something for your future.

I said it’s rewarding because time will come, you will harvest the fruits of your hardship in investing. Time will come that you can meet your goals and objective in investing.

Imagine being financially secured when you get old, you can do whatever you want like doing your ministry for the Lord or even travelling all over the world.

It is better to suffer for a while and gain in the future.

Here are 10 things I regret in doing for the past 10 years before i become an investor.

  1. I did not bother paying my SSS
  2. I did not even save or open a mutual fund account while blogging earning is good.
  3. I did not put 20% of my income to any investing vehicle.
  4. I did not read books during my spare time.
  5. I did not talk to people who knows about investing.
  6. I perceived insurance as not important because I am young.
  7. Investing to educational funds which I did not learn first  and ended me paying for nothing due to bankruptcy.
  8. Not investing in Training and seminars.
  9. Procrastination
  10. Believing that every financial adviser only wants my money.

Some of the items as mentioned above might be what you are doing now, I suggest learn from my mistake and start learning before investing. Good day.

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COL Financial Will Soon Offer Mutual Funds and UITF

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in Business and Economic News

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investing_thumb.jpgSoon COL Financial will offer mutual funds and UITF as mentioned in the Philstar article. COL Financial who happen to be my stock broker will broaden their product to include mutual funds and UITF. This is an advantage for us OFW who like to diversify our investment through other types of investment.

It is always good to be in mutual fund if an investor cannot monitor their stocks investment.

In reported disclosures, COL Financial said it entered into agreement with the asset management arm of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMCI).

ColFinacial have also signed a memorandum of agreements with BPI-Asset Management and Trust Group “with respect to the participation of the company in certain funds of BPI for the benefit and account of the company’s clients.”

For the SLAMCI partnership, COL Financial said it plans to offer mutual funds to its clients. Mutual funds are also pooled funds, but are offered by insurance and other investment companies, and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

ColFinancial customers can tap in the SLAMCI mutual funds which currently manages seven mutual funds under the Sun Life Prosperity family of funds, including fixed or bond fund, equity fund, balanced fund, government securities fund, money market fund, and dollar-denominated funds.

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Start Investing As Early As Possible

19 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in Personal Financing

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Asset.jpgDid you know that you are losing potential gain every time that you delay your investing. This is what I regret in doing 10 years ago. I just started investing about 2 years ago, and I told myself that I should have done this the first time I had my salary. I had wasted lots of potential gains for the last 8 years buying unnecessary things that easily depreciate. I mean buying high tech mobile phones and Laptop including accessories. I have also paid lots of interest to the credit card company because I do not know how to handle my finances.

Some say that it’s not good to invest this year because the market is down, if you would like to ask me then I think it is a good time because after some time, market will definitely go up, then the shares that you bought low can be sold high which could turn into high profit.

It’s a matter of starting and studying. Whenever you started investing and study about it’s in and outs you will definitely make it a habit.

Investing is not only for rich people, it’s for wise people. Wise enough to think about the future. Actually most of the rich people have invested time studying the market and studying the pros and cons of the market. They read a lot of books.

For me, I would like to retire happy and do whatever the Lord wants me to do in His ministry.

Just a reminder don’t be too focus in richness because it will lead to greed. Always remember that the God controls everything. Either Market up or Market down our Lord does not change and so are you. Happy Investing.

OFW Investors Should Take Advantage Now

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Stock Market

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We know that Philippine Stock Market (PSEi) is now low due to what is happening in other part of the world like Syria and the possible FED tapering as they say. Lots of foreign investors are pulling out their money and transferring to some places where there is possibilities of gaining more. In fact as of this writing PSEi is trading at 5605 which is almost the same price as of November 2012.

So how are we going to take advantage of this time?

For your information Peso exchange rate is now higher than before, upon checking, the present exchange rate is Php 44.5/USD. For us Online Filipino Workers and Overseas Filipino Workers, our salary is higher than before when it is converted to Philippine Peso. Technically all dollar earning people should take advantage of this time.

So here we go, If we have a higher salary and the market is low, it is really high time to invest, so that when the exchange rate goes back to it’s normal rate which is 40 to 42 and the Philippine Stock Market (PSEi) goes back to 7403, which is the all-time high in PSEi, your gain will be sizeable.

So don’t spend your extra earnings due to higher exchange rates, invest the difference and delay your gratification. Because the tendency of OFW is to buy things which are not important when they have extra cash. So better change your attitude towards money.

I suggest to have a cost averaging strategy in investing, just invest a constant amount on a monthly basis and wait until the market goes up. This is really advisable for younger generation but if you are already at age higher than 60’s I would not suggest you to enter into stock market or mutual fund connected with equity fund. Instead go for a less risk investment.

Younger generation have lots of time to recover, as the market have it’s cycle. I would like to share my Video Blog about saving early.


Video is edited by my daughter : Micaella

How to Eliminate Bad Debt

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

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Elimination of debt is a dreams of many Filipinos buried in debt. Debt can be categorized in to two types, good debt and bad debt. So today let us discuss about the bad debt. Bad debt is commonly accumulated through excessive spending of wants. It is also called consumers Debt. Consumer debt is a big problem in Philippines that needs to be eliminated. people in Debt needs to pay it off before moving to investing. I believed that paying off your loans is already investing, since you can stop the compounded interest of your loan.  I suggest not to invest if you are buried in debt. Commitment, Focus and Discipline shall be the attitude of a person who want to get out of debt.

So here are the 13 steps out of debt as suggested by Rowena Suarez, Registered Financial Planner, in her interview at ANC Money.

  1. Face the problem
  2. Commit to get out of debt
  3. Decide of the time frame.
  4. Make an inventory of your debt
  5. Record your expenses – Getting out of debt is like going on a diet, you need to be aware of everything you eat.
  6. Determine your needs and wants
  7. Let go of your wants
  8. Use your wants money to pay your debt
  9. Choose Debt with the highest interest rate then pay it off.
  10. Work out a payment scheme with your creditors
  11. Pay with Cash
  12. Find other source of income
  13. Learn from your experience and make it your life choice.

Above mentioned steps are really practical ways in order to eliminate debt. This might sound easy but in reality it is not. Again those in debt shall be Committed, Focus and Disciplined.


ADVFN acquisition of Financemanila.net for P6Million in cash and share of stocks

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Business and Economic News

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I just learned that FinanceManila.net has been acquired by ADVFN Plc (“ADVFN” or the “Company, for about Php 6 Million payable as PHP2.5 million in cash and PHP3.5 million inf new ADVFN shares of 1p each as reported in online.wsj.com.

“I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Finance Manila which, in my view, is the most exciting trader community in the Philippines. Financemanila.net hosts large, active investor communities, which I believe are a perfect match for ADVFN’s premium subscription and advertising offerings. We will use the Investors Hub template we have developed in the US to take the site to the next level and accelerate ADVFN’s planned expansion into the fast growing markets of Asia.” said Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN.

Just to give you an idea about the traffic of financemanila.net I made a comparison with sulit.com through alexa graph pageviews/user. The graph shows the margin of difference when it comes to pageviews/user. It also shows that it has almost the same pageviews/user of sulit.com.ph, which another successful pinoy website that becomes a business venture.

Compare Sulit and Finance Manila Rev 2

According to who.is, Finance Manila has been registered and become online since October 18, 2004. In just 9 years this website has attracted millions of visits per month and has a reported 2 Million Page Views per month.

Finance Manila Whois Data

So is it a good buy? Let me do some calculation as follows:

2,000,000 Pageviews x 0.05 (Ad Clicks Rate) x $0.05 (cost per click) = $ 5,000 per month x Php 43/1 $ = Php 215,000 per month

So based on my calculation ADVFN can have its ROI for its cash payment in just a matter of 1 year, as long as the financemanila.net will hold its visitors or even increase its visitor. It is a good decision from ADVFN since  lots of Filipino are now starting to learn about Financial Literacy. This is story is another success stories of the those netrepreneur that started earlier than most of us.

Congrats to FinanceManila.net and to ADVFN partnership.

Attend Free and Paid Seminars at Money Summit and Wealth Expo 2013

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Business and Economic News

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It is always recommended that before we invest in stocks, mutual funds, and other investment portfolio, it is always right to invest first in ourself. It is either by reading books or attending different seminars that could expand your knowledge about our chosen subject. It is good to report that there will be a Free and Paid Seminar from July 12-13, 2013 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Below are the details of the seminar. Thanks to Fitz for this details:

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Money Summit & Wealth Expo 2013 Details

This event will happen on July 12-13, 2013 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. That’s two whole days, Friday and Saturday, of learning which you should not miss.

The summit is actually composed of 2 events happening at the same time. There’s the Expo and there’s the Conference.

EXPO (Free Financial Seminar)

There will be Expo talks where various Registered Financial Planners will be speaking about basic personal finance and investments. Some of the topics include financial planning, risk management, estate planning, stocks, bonds, VUL’s and real estate.

Below are the Expo topics and speakers:

Day 1

  • Financial Planning 101 with Jesi John Bondoc, RFP®
  • Risk Management 101 with Allain Aquino, RFP®
  • Education Planning 101 with Jeremy Jessley Tan, RFP®
  • Estate Planning 101 with Christopher Cervantes, RFP®
  • Investing 101 with Paul Michael de Jesus, RFP®
  • Day 2
  • Stocks 101 with Ramir Libre, RFP®
  • Bonds 101 with Jesi John Louie Areopagita, RFP®
  • Building Your Investment Portfolio with Malaya Laraya, RFP®
  • Pooled Funds 101 with Lawrence Yu, RFP®
  • VULs 101 with Jake Lingan, RFP®
  • Forex 101 with King San Jose, RFP®
  • Real Estate 101 with Christopher Lim, RFP®

CONFERENCE (Paid Advanced Financial Seminar)

The main event of the summit is the conference where various topics on financial and property markets will be discussed. This is where all the advanced learning will happen.

Below are the Conference topics and speakers:

Day 1

  • Investing Beyond Market Cycles: Mario Miranda, Bank of the Philippine Islands
  • Building Your Wealth Through Stocks: April Lee Tan, COL Financial
  • Women & Investing, a panel to be facilitated by Salve Duplito, with:
  • Miriam Quiambao, Managing Director, 3Win Realty & Development Corp.
  • Leila Hernandez, Author, The 9 to 5 Millionaire
  • April Alemania-Dayrit, Real Estate Investor

Day 2

The second day of the conference will be composed of break-out sessions where you will learn advanced and detailed strategies on investing and trading.

Stock Market Track

  • Pick the Right Stocks: Introduction to Fundamental Analysis: Malaya Laraya, Certified Securities Representative and Founder, Pesos and Sense
  • Selling Your Stock: Knowing When to Walk Away, Knowing When to Run: John Mangun, Analyst and Columnist
  • Profiting from Triangles and Breakouts: Ron Acoba, Chief Technical Strategist, Trading Edge Consultancy
  • Experienced Stock Trading: How Not To Be Deceived By Company Disclosures and Financial Statements: Prof. Benjie Sandoval, BPI Securities
  • The Death of Day Trading: Mac Murray, Emerging Markets Specialist
  • Forex Market Track
  • Real Estate Market Track
  • Getting Started in Forex Trading: Fitz Villafuerte, Founder, Ready to be Rich
  • How To Trade Forex For A Living: Trade Secrets Of A Full Time Trader: Mark So, Chief Forex Trader and Founder, Forex Club Asia
  • Advanced Price Action Strategies: Paul Familiaran, FXCM Account Manager
  • Algorithmic Trading: Admiral Markets
  • Tips for First-Time Homebuyers and Investors – Jay and Cherry Castillo, Founders, ForeclosurePhilippines.com
  • Do’s and Don’ts of Investing in Rental Properties: Carl Dy, Real Estate Investor
  • Investing in Office Condos: Melo Porciuncula, Head of Capital Markets, KMC MAG Group
  • How to Fix and Flip Foreclosed Properties: Noli Alleje, Managing Director, The Property Forum

Attendance Fee?

  • EXPO: totally free!
  • CONFERENCE:
  • Standard Pass: P2,495.00 – access to Day 1 only
  • VIP Pass: P5,995.00 – access to Day 1 and Day 2

I believe that the mentioned seminar is really a great investment for somebody who wants to learn Financial Literacy.

Register Here

PSEi Closes at 5,971.05, So What is Your Plan?

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Stock Market

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Investors have mixed reactions on what was happening on the market nowadays, The PSEi broke the 6,000 level today which closes at 5,971.05 with -3.41% decline from t’s close on Friday. Many believes that the next support will be at 5,800. Questions like “Should I cut Lost?”, Should I transfer my position?, should I close down my computer?, Should I sell “Company x” stock or not? , This are just common questions you can see in any forum about investment.

The market was down for almost 1 month and it all started last May 22 upon Ben Bernanke announcement for possible tapering of the QE.

As an investor we need to have goals and plan in every investment that we make. We need to understand that stock market is not meant to be for short term. In time like this if you buy stocks, you could get more stock with same value of your money last month. Peso Cost Averaging is a great methodology in investing.

Nobody knows when the market will rebounce, there might be some technicians that are telling things but nobody knows what investors will be thinking tomorrow or on the next few days or even months.

If you think that you cannot handle your lost, then make a cut lost. If you are for long term, then the market correction that we are experiencing today would not mean anything 10 years from now.

The best thing to do in time like this is to increase our cash flow so that we can have something to invest. Diversified your asset so you will not be much affected by the volatility of the market.

Bear in mind that we gain from stocks not only from price appreciation but also from dividends.

Here some reminders before joining stock market or equity funds:

  • Equity Funds and Stock Market is not for Short Term but it is for Long Term
  • You need to be insured prior to Investing
  • You need to have Emergency Fund before investing
  • You need to be bad debt free before investing
  • Money invested in stocks and equity should not be withdrawn within 5 years of your investment.
  • Do Peso Cost Averaging
  • Equity and Stocks is a High Risk Investment but with a probability of High Gain

My YTD was reduced to +3.82%, but at least I am still on the gain side for this year.

Electrical Engineers in Saudi Arabia Listen to Financial Literacy on their Annual Convention

22 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by in Speaking Engagement

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Yesterday I was invited by Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines Inc. (IIEE-CRCSA) Central Region Chapter, Saudi Arabia to discuss about Tendering Process and Financial Literacy. It was indeed a great experience to discuss financial literacy with more than 100 attendees of the convention. There are some attendees who have already started having their stock market or even mutual fund but majority of the crowd have not yet started investing. OFW’s in Riyadh needs to be literate on things like this since as what I have told them in the seminar, it is not a matter of how much salary do they have but how much savings do they have  as part of hat salary.

IIEE 2013 Plaque of Appreciation Dexter Panganiban

IIEE 2013 Plaque of Appreciation for Dexter Panganiban

 

IIEE 2013

I teach them the basics about 70%-20%-10%, in which 70% goes to expenses, 20% to investing and 10% as your good will or tithes.

Here is the topic that was covered during the seminar:

FINANCIAL LITERACY:

  • Money Mistakes Among Pinoys
  • Income Management
  • Increase Cash Flow
  • Debt Management
  • Create Emergency Funds
  • Ensure Proper Protection
  • Build Long Term Savings

It’s really more on Financial Literacy 101. An Introduction that could open their minds about investing and Financial Literacy. If you happen to be one of the attendee during the event. You may get the presentation files at http://bit.ly/iiee2013

For speaking engagement you may contact me through our contact page.

Learn to Start Investing

17 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Personal Financing

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One day when I was discussing about Financial Literacy in one of my colleagues, he told me that he doesn’t want additional insurance or any other investment because he have already invested in a reputable company. When I asked about his policy he cannot tell me anything about his investment in that particular company, what he have told me is that he is pretty sure that he will earn.

The next question I ask him was when did he think that he will earn from that investment and the answer was he did not know all he knew was he will earn because his friend invested in the same company and later earn more than 50% after 2 years.

It is so sad to know that there are lots of sales agent whose mission is just to sale, they don’t care if their client knows the risk that they are going to face. There are lots of sweet talk from different agent.

As an investor we need to know the specific details on how a certain company will make our money become bigger. We also need to know the risk that we might face after investing. We need to understand that there is NO risk free investment.

We need to ask everything from the sales agent, and if he cannot respond it only means that he/she is not the right person to advise you about the particular investment. But still give him a chance to ask his superior maybe his just new, but if he cannot answer it with in one day that means his support is weak.

We need to be wise in investing our hard earned money. Don’t make your friendship, family relationships, and church relationships as your basis of investment. You need decide after knowing the ins and outs of your investment.

In investing we need to have some goals, it is why you need to know the estimated time frame of growth of your investment.

This morning my youngest son, Daniel, 6.5 years old, gave me 1 Saudi Riyal (11 Php), he told me that he want to start investing like his older brother. I asked him about his goal and replied “ What is goal” and after discussing with him the meaning of goal he understood and told me that he want to buy his own Nintendo DS next year.

One Saudi Riyals

I am glad that at a young age my son is starting to understand the idea of investing. He understood that in order for him to get what he wants, he need to sacrifice a portion of his daily “baon” and stop buying some of his wants.

So if my son got the idea and decided to start savings, I challenge you to act and move to start saving for your goals.