Doble-Doble sa Power Saver: Tax Free Time Deposit with High Interest (Philippines)

Last night I was doing some research about time deposit products here in the Philippines that could offer me a good interest rate. I had a long list of banks here in the Philippines as a guide for me on my research.

The criteria I had in my research are the following:

* Interest Rate

* Credibility and Financial Standing of the bank

* Minimum Placement

* Duration of Time Deposit

I found a lot of banks which offered great interest rates but required a large minimum placement. Other banks which offered high interest rates and small minimum placements were also relatively new and had no large company as a major stockholder.

After hours of research I finally stumbled into a website which had a homepage with a huge ad saying save small earn big. I decided to read further on the site and found some details which made me interested on the bank. This morning I called up their branch here in Cebu and the branch manager confirmed that the product in their ads is in fact true and gave me the requirements.

After reading about their stockholders and researching about the background of the back I decided to invest a small amount in the bank. My confidence in the bank grew bigger after I saw most of their major stockholders were coming from big and trusted companies here in the Philippines.

here are the details of the Product.

Bank: Malayan Bank (not to be confused w/ maybank)

Product: Doble-Doble sa Power Saver

Take advantage of this unique high-yielding deposit! With a minimum monthly placement of Php 500, you can earn a guaranteed interest of 8.5%p.a.

The bank also offers other products asides from this. Just visit their website to know more about their other products.

Source: Malayan Bank

5 ways Small investments can provide Big returns

We often consider “small” as insignificant, as though anything “big” is justifiably sought after and respected. Yet, the tide is changing somewhat as investors and business proprietors recognise that “small” is actually the new “big.”

What am I talking about?

Well, there is no doubt that popular products and services, investments, people, ideas etc draw “big” audiences and attention. They receive a great deal of focus because the media always try and tap fads and exploit them for their own purposes.

But, they are relatively inefficient at posting good returns on investments – particularly for those late to enter the market. Those who recognised the opportunity and milked it are the ones enjoying the cream. The ones who hear about it via the media, like you or I, have already missed the boat.

For this reason many investors are turning their eyes back to the small. The seemingly insignificant investments that large stock miners miss and the popular group have little time for. For small is found in the ‘niche’.

This is a handy tip – which I won’t charge you for, consider it a freebie – because if you can understand that niche’s are the new big, then small investments no longer require mortgage-risking levels of debt. Now, before you head off pioneering that niche goldmine, consider that sometimes opportunities can only be met with a full-hearted commitment. If you’re wanting to keep to your plan of investing small and growing your investments slowly then passing some of these ‘golden’ opportunities are inevitable. Get over it.

So, if you want to invest small here are a few tips;

1. DRP’s or DRiP’s are an easy way to drip-feed your investment into large companies by building your portfolio slowly. They usually only require a regular contribution and can offer some good leveraging of purchasing expenses. Here’s some more info…
2. Join an investment group often we can achieve far more as a group than by ourselves. The concept is called synergy (The effect of two or more agents working together to produce an effect that is greater than the sum of the parts.) More investment capital, more investment ideas. Makes a whole heap of sense.
3. Invest in smaller stocks there are a ton of cent priced shares available especially through speculative mining companies. After some in-depth research you may find their prospects of success are reasonable and therefore worth the risk (albeit small). It’s much easier for a cent share to double to 2 cents than it is for a blue chip stock to double from a $35 base. Not for the faint-hearted though!
4. Invest in mutual funds or listed property trusts these usually only require a small investment because they’re accessing funds from a larger audience and can therefore leverage their investment potential. They can usually return a good profit as well.
5. Diversify away from personally owned stocks and properties non-listed small business and property developers may also be an avenue to try for small investors. The risk is greater bu the returns are usually proportionate.

This is only a short list of small investment possibilities. A plethora of opportunities abound provided you are willing to accept the paradigm shift of thinking ’small’ is the new ‘big’.

By: Stuart
Source: http://yourmoney2keep.com

Philippine Mutual Funds Report – 3rd Quarter 2009

Continuing the winning streak performance of the 2nd quarter, mutual funds in the Philippines have remained on the upswing by the end of the 3rd quarter of the year.

From January to September 2009, all equity (stock) funds have earned double-digit returns. On the average, the funds are up 37% from the start of the year.

The same is true for the rest of Balanced, Bond, and Money Market funds, with the exception of one Bond fund currently in the red.

The complete list of the performance of Philippine Mutual Funds from January to September 2009 below.

YEAR-TO-DATE PERFORMANCE OF MUTUAL FUNDS IN THE PHILIPPINES
As of the 3rd Quarter of 2009 (January to September 2009)

EQUITY FUNDS (primarily invested in Peso equity securities)

1. Philequity Fund – 54.39%
2. Philippine Stock Index Fund – 49.54%
3. Philequity PSE Index Fund – 46.91%
4. Philam Strategic Growth Fund – 40.40%
5. Sun Life Prosperity Phil. Equity Fund – 35.95%
6. First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund – 34.85%
7. ATR KimEng Equity Opportunity Fund – 33.26%
8. DWS Deutsche Philippine Equity Fund – 22.33%
9. United Fund – 16.09%

BALANCED FUNDS (primarily invested in Peso debt and equity securities)

1. ALFM Growth Fund – 58.07%
2. First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. – 31.9%
3. Philam Fund, Inc. - 31.16%
4. GSIS Mutual Fund – 30.89%
5. MFCP Kabuhayan Fund – 21.6%
6. Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund – 17.14%
7. Optima Balanced Fund – 16.57%
8. First Galleon Family Fund – 0.35%

FOREIGN CURRENCY-DENOMINATED BALANCED FUNDS

* Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund – 8.32%

BOND FUNDS (primarily invested in Peso debt securities)


1. Cocolife Fixed Income Fund – 7.52%
2. Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund – 5.57%
3. Philequity Peso Bond Fund – 5.30%
4. Sun Life Prosperity Bond Fund – 4.96%
5. Philam Bond Fund – 4.76%
6. First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund – 3.73%
7. Ekklesia Mutual Fund – 3.70%
8. Prudentialife Fixed Income Fund – 3.67%
9. ALFM Peso Bond Fund – 3.58%
10. DWS Deutsche Philippine Fixed Income Fund - (4.07%)

FOREIGN CURRENCY-DENOMINATED BOND FUNDS

1. Grepalife Dollar Bond Fund – 18.93%
2. Philam Dollar Bond Fund – 16.02%
3. MAA Privilege Euro Fixed Income Fund – 15.93%
4. Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund – 14.90%
5. Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. – 11.36%
6. Philequity Dollar Income Fund – 9.17%
7. MAA Privilege Dollar Fixed Income Fund – 7.48%
8. AIG Global Bond Fund Phils. – 5.87%
9. ALFM Euro Bond Fund – 5.32%
10. ALFM Dollar Bond Fund – 3.87%

MONEY MARKET FUNDS (primarily invested in short-term Peso securities)

1. ATR KimEng Money Market Fund – 1.22%
2. Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund – 1.16%
3. Philam Managed Income Fund – 1.01%
4. First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. – 0.89%

* Figures in (xxx) denote a loss. All data taken from the website of the Investment Company Association of the Philippines (www.icap.com.ph).

Disclaimer: Although the rate of return is a good measure of performance, other things such as consistency of return and exposure to risks of an investment instrument must also be assessed. Note also that past performance of a fund is not and cannot be a guarantee of future returns.

Source: www.pinoymoneytalk.com

BPI Savings and Insurance package

I found this great product from BPI that I want to share with others. A lot of savings account offer minimal interests for placing your money in the bank. BPI has actually made a product which offers a different incentive to depositors. They have a savings account which includes an insurance to the product.

Beloew are the mechanics from their website.

Introducing - - BPI Direct Save-Up
Automatic Savings and Insurance that help you achieve your life goals, payday after payday.

SAVINGS THAT'S EASY TO START AND BUILD.

Start your automatic savings with no initial deposit. Build it up payday after payday and earn higher interest as your balance increases. Do all these while enjoying a low monthly maintaining balance of only Php 1,000.

SAVE WHAT YOU CAN, WHEN YOU CAN.

Remain in control as you set aside a portion of your income automatically each payday. Simply decide how much and how often you want to save from your payroll account and it will be automatically transferred to your BPI Direct Save-Up account.

Start saving for sure for things that really matter for as low as Php250. Just choose from among the following frequencies:

• Once a week
• Every other week
• Once a month
• Twice a month

Got a bonus? You can also transfer funds anytime to your BPI Direct Save-Up.

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