Update: BPI Trade account

Yesterday, I received an email that my BPI Trade account has been activated - a day after I received an email confirming that the bank has received the documents which my Branch transmitted to them. (I should go and thank sir Vic again). Not bad - 10 days processing.

While waiting for my BPI Trade account to be enrolled in my existing BPI expressonline accounts (which will make funding the trade account much convenient), I will familiarize myself with the BPI Trade platform. Really, I can not wait. I even can trade in mutual funds and fixed income through the platform. Yay! So excited.

Here is a screen capture of my account.


Below is an excerpt of the email.




The excerpt:

Greetings from BPITrade!

Welcome to BPITrade. You can now Sign-In to www.bpitrade.com using your nominated user ID and password.

Your BPITrade Bank Account is now ready to receive your initial investment. Please deposit your initial investment to the BPITrade Bank Account that we have opened in your name. To view your BPITrade Bank Account Number, please logon and go to the "Portfolio" screen.

IMPORTANT: Please note that your initial investment will be the funds that you will use to purchase stocks,fixed income instruments, and mutual funds and DOES NOT represent a balance requirement. The monthly average daily balance (ADB) requirement for your BPITrade Bank Account is Php 500.00 to avoid the Php 150.00 standard service charge. This ADB requirement takes into account only the funds that are in your BPITrade Bank Account and excludes the funds that you have invested in Stocks, Government Securities and Mutual Funds. Funds in your BPITrade Bank Account earn 1.75% interest per annum. Deposits made to your BPITrade Bank account shall be reflected in your Cash Position in BPITrade the NEXT trading day.

There are four (4) ways to fund your BPITrade Bank Account.

> Through the Branch : Go to any BPI Branch and make an Over-the-Counter deposit straight to your BPITrade Bank Account Number.

> Through BPI Expressphone or the ATM : You can transfer funds into your BPITrade Bank Account from any of your BPI Deposit Accounts or BPI-Family Bank Deposit Accounts through these facilities. Enroll your BPI Trade Bank Account by calling 89-100 or visiting your branch of account.

> Through www.bpiexpressonline.com : Enroll your BPITrade Bank Account in BPI Express Online and transfer funds from your other BPI, BPI Family Bank or BPI Direct deposit accounts. Click on My Portfolio and Enroll your BPI Trade Bank Account as an Additional Savings Account. If you are not yet a BPI Express Online client, please go to the website and enroll now.

> Through Telegraphic Transfer from your bank, or through any BPI Express Remittance Center located outside of the Philippines ( BPI SWIFT Address for Telegraphic Transfers : BOPIPHMM) .

To take funds OUT from your BPITrade Bank Account, you would simply need to log-in to BPITrade, go to our Services Menu and fill-up our Withdrawal Request Form. We will then transfer the funds within the same day to your regular BPI/BFB Deposit Account which you nominated as your Beneficiary Account upon Application . Cut-off for this withdrawal request is 11:00am (Philippine time, GMT +8).

If you would like to deposit stock certificates or transfer your existing stock position from another broker, please send us an e-mail at bpitrade@bpi.com.ph and we shall gladly send you instructions on how to do so.

Should you have any further queries, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch with us through the aforementioned e-mail address.

Thank you for choosing BPITrade.

Very truly yours,

Maleen S. Feliciano
BPI Trade Online Team

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[Image via BPI Trade]

Go Green, Live Rich

David Bach of the Go Green, Live Rich phenomenon at the Larry King Live.

• About Go Green, Live Rich

  So many of us are concerned about global warming and the future of our planet, but we also tend to think that living a more eco-friendly lifestyle is complicated and expensive - a luxury we might not be able to afford. What most people don't know is that the exact opposite is true! Not only can you save money by "going green", but you can also prosper by taking advantage of the new "green wave" in investing. In Go Green, Live Rich, David Bach takes you by the hand and shows you how to do just that. Let David Bach show you a whole new way to prosper - by going green!

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Read a Book, Enrich Yourself

As I said before, accumulating knowledge on investments and wealth management is as important as the investment process itself. I know this for a fact. I would not be able to trade stocks and other financial instruments without the know-how on when to buy and sell.
Hence, I have committed myself to master finance. I am sitting for the Chartered Financial Analyst Level 3 exam this June. After which, I earn the right to use the CFA designation (after the satisfactory evaluation of relevant 4-year experience. CFA is gold standard in the finance profession.




Aside from the 4-year relevant experience requirement, a candidate needs to pass three exams: Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. This June I am taking the last Level. Sure, the exams are very difficult, but a candidate can take the exams as many as necessary [until he or she passes]. One must strive to pass at the first take - the exam fee can go as high as US $1,000.
For those who are not interested in the Charter, a commitment to read a business book every month is enough. To help you get started, here is a link to a FREE book I have found on the Net. The book is John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
A new investment and business theory, concept and idea you get from a book is worth the time spent reading it. For to grow, you have to learn.

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[Image from CFA]

Is it time to buy?

As my friends and I usually say when we trade stocks especially when buying, we say 'It's shopping time!' Now, is it 'shopping time?'

A resounding YES! Let me explain why it is time to buy stocks NOW. I will show you WHY by using illustrations from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Miko Sayo said, when he talked about stocks in one of my MBA classes, that generally The Philippine stock market shows a cycle of boom-bust in 10 years. He said this in the early 2006 AND he said that time that 2007 will be a bull market in the Philippine stock market - looking back, he was right.





Shown below is the Philippine Stock Exchange's index (PSEi) from 1996 - 2008. It is an interesting study of a typical stock market volatility.

The above graph shows that stock investments are best be done with long term in mind. If an investors want to trade through the stock securities volatilities, then an active portfolio management and perhaps, complicated trading processes, are NECESSARY. But for average investors like me, long term is the way to go.

Now, let's take for example the stocks of Philippine Long Distance Company (PSE: TEL). A year ago, it traded at P3,000, now it is trading at P2,200 AND four months ago, it even traded as low as P1,850! A decline of almost P1,200 in the stock's value!

Once my BPI Trade account is activated, I am buying TEL and so much more.

Folks, it is shopping time!

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[PSEi image from http://finance.yahoo.com/]

rent versus rent-to-own

If you want to be a millionaire, every activity that involves money, no matter how little, is important.

The topic today is what most of us do want to avoid every end of the month - house rent!

Are you tired of paying your monthly rent?
Are you tired of feeling cheated out of thousands of PESOS each month?
Would you rather have that money for you rent to go into the monthly amortization of a place you can call your own, but you think you can not produce the required down payment for a house or condo OR you can not afford to wait for 2 years before you can live in that house or condo?

Well, I do.

See, I am paying P7,000 for house rent each month. That's P84,000 a year AND P840,000 in ten years! That's a lot of money considering that I want to be a millionaire. So what can a girl do?



Actually, there are two options and I will discuss here the advantages and disadvantages of each options.

1. Buy a house through Pag-ibig
   
2. Rent-to-own your current place

Buy a house through Pag-ibig
Advantages

• you get to choose where, what and how much to commit. Buying a house is not as difficult as before - the government has established support financial institutions for the average Filipino to be able to own a house. However, it is STILL a long term commitment. [I pay for my condo not until the next 15 years]
• when you retire, you have a rent-free house to use. Monthly house rent puts a considerable strain in a retiree's budget.
  

Disadvantages

• you might have come to love the place you are staying in now and hesitant to relocate.
• affordable houses are usually located somewhere out-of-center OR off the city which could mean additional transportation cost

Rent-to-own your current place
Advantages

• you'll be buying a house you have come to love
• no additional moving expenses
  

Disadvantages

• you're land lady/lord might NOT be willing to sell, hence give him/her an offer he can't refuse!

How does one go about Option # 2?

First, discuss with your bank your plan to buy the place you are currently renting.
Second, ask your bank how they can help you.
Third, show your offer to your land lady/lord

Banks often enter into transactions like this. The bank offers to buy the house for you, then asks you to make monthly payments until you pay off the debt. At that time, the bank will transfer the title of the house to your name.

However, if you'd rather buy a brand new house here are useful links:

1. ABGarcia Const.
2. Affordable houses
3. Rent to own
   

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CitisecOnline Easy Investment Program

For those who have been wanting to venture into Online Stock Trading, but just do NOT have enough extra CASH for the required opening balance, well here is your CHANCE!




CitisecOnline is offering an affordable program for everyone to participate in the stock exchange. For as low as P5,000 in cash you can open an account for their COL Easy Investment Program.

For additional information click here AND for the application form click here. Let's take advantage of this program while it is still being offered AND while the market is still reeling.

It's shopping time!

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[Image is from www.citiseconline.com]

FREE Seminar: A beacon of hope for investors

The Mutual Fund Management Company of the Philippines, Inc., which is owned by ATR KimEng Group a licensed Philippine Stock Exchange broker, together with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philippine Equity Partners, Inc., and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business is offering a FREE seminar titled

Philippine Investment Opportunities: Shining through the Global Doom

on February 25, 2009 from 5:30 to 8:00 pm

Check details below.
The best things in life are FREE, failure isn't. Accumulating knowledge on investments is as IMPORTANT as the investment process itself.

SPEAKERS:

MR. JOJO GONZALES

Managing Director and Head of Research

Philippine Equity Partners, Inc.

Jojo is Managing Director and Head of Research at Philippine Equity Partners, Inc., one of the leading independent stockbrokers in the Philippines. He had previously been a member of the equity research teams at Merrill Lynch Securities, Philippines, Inc. (where he was President and Head of Strategy and Economist for over four years), at Jardine Fleming Exchange Capital Securities, Inc. (where he spent over six years, ending as Head of Research), and at Sun Hung Kai Securities, Inc. Jojo received the highest individual Philippine analyst rankings in the Institutional Investor surveys of 2000 and 2001. He was also named #1 Philippine equity analyst in the Asiamoney Magazine surveys of 1993, 1996, 2000 and 2001. Jojo was ranked #1 Analyst by the Fund Managers Association of the Philippines in 2008. Earlier in his career, Jojo was briefly an economist and research tutor at the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), which is now called the University of Asia and the Pacific. He holds a BA in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila and an MS in Industrial Economics from the CRC.

MR. GERALD BALDIVIA

Executive Director - Marketing and Sales

The Mutual Fund Management Company of the Philippines, Inc.

Gerald is Executive Director for Marketing and Sales at The Mutual Fund Management Company of the Philippines, Inc. He began his career in credit analysis, first at Far East Bank and Trust Co., and then at American International Group’s trade and political risk insurance division in New York. On returning to the Philippines Gerald worked as a stock analyst, first with Peregrine Securities Philippines, Inc. (now ATR KimEng Securities), and then with Société Générale. After these, he moved to the International Finance Corp. (the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group) as an Investment Officer covering debt and equity in the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Gerald has been a consultant on mergers, acquisitions, and privatization bids in various industries. He has a BS in Business Administration (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines and an MBA from Columbia University. Gerald is a Certified Investment Solicitor; this designation is conferred by the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission as a license to market and sell mutual funds.

CO-SPONSORS:

OFFICIAL ONLINE MEDIA PARTNER:

THE MARKET EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
THE PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE, INC.
T: +(632) - 688-7537 to 38
F: +(632) - 634-6695
E: marketeducation@pse.com.ph
W: www.pse.com.ph

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what happened at BPI today => i went & registered a BPI Trade account

All over the world, financial markets are down - the stock markets, the futures markets, the commodities markets - whatever market you can think of, it's down!

Thus, the million dollar$ question is, is it the RIGHT time to buy? [This I will address in the next issue]

The point is WHETHER it is the RIGHT time to buy, a prudent investor should always be ready. Hence, I am readying myself to be able to take opportunities the moment they arise. **Imagine a frog flicking it's tongue immediately (at the blink of an eye, eherm, tongue) at an insect when it appears** That is my how I picture me now (still far from looking like a frog though). Better yet this picture says it ALL. That is ME celebrating *wink*wink*








So yesterday, I signed up in the Bank of the Philippine Islands' stock trading platform. It is called BPI Trade. I promised someone to share my experience in opening the account, but before that let me tell DDDDD reasons why I choose BPI Trade.

1. BPI has the best online banking platform and processes. It is much better than BDO's which is just a step up from traditional banking.
2. I have heard good things about BPI Trade from friends who have been using it. Using the platform actually made these friends invest more, and hence save more.
3. I like it that trascations in BPI Trade will directly be credited/debited to my BPI account unlike traditional brokerages where you have to wait for the brokers to send you the check for the stock proceeds.

Now, so yesterday, I filled up the application online and the Web site instructed me to print the form AND together with other documents (photocopy of passport, SSS ID, or any 2 allowed ID) submit it to my BPI Branch. My Branch is the one in Cubao Supercentre - the one in front of Shopwise and beside AliMall.

Today, I went there and it was a very FUNNY experience. The branch doesn't know about BPI Trade. Yay! A good thing the branch manager was there and very accomodating. I explained to Sir Vic, the accomodating branch manager, the BPI Trade - BPI branch relationship. Mainly

• I need to submit to the branch the printed form which I filled up online.
• This is for the branch to verify my signatures (total of 5 in the BPI Trade application form)
• If I am not an existing BPI account holder, then I need to open an account right there and then.
• But since I am a cardholder, the branch needs to attach a photocopy of my account's signature card to the BPI Trade application form
• Then the branch has to forward the complete form to BPI's Fulfillment Banking (whatever that is)

It was fun though. Funny that I have to inform the bank about one of its products. Sir Vic promised to send the form right after I submitted it to him.

Now, let's wait and see how fast BPI's Fulfillment Banking works and how soon I get my BPI Trade account.

Thanks Sir Vic!

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