Taking Advantage of the High Exchange Rate

24 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Dexter Panganiban in Personal Financing

Tags

exchange rates, OFW, OFW Investment, Stock Market

As an OFW, I am used of sending money to the Philippines with an exchange rate of 1 USD to Php 44. But there was a turn of events in the world economy that is why from last month I can see an exchange rate higher that Php 45. I know that some OFW are happy on what is happening because higher exchange rate will mean higher money will be received by their relatives. But is it really true that money value will be higher on this days? Actually it is not because the higher the exchange rate the lower the economy, It is indirectly proportional. The PSEI (an economy indicator of Philippines) keeps on going low.

The following scenarios might be experienced

Higher cost of commodities due to higher cost of raw materials
Most of the items that uses imported materials will definitely have higher prices.
The higher tuition fee.
Fare hike, due to the cost of maintenance auto parts
Low investor in the Philippines

So how will you take advantage of the situation?

If there are some surplus money due to exchange rate it is better be placed in an investment. If you are paying your land or house amortization at an amount of Php 44,000 before you need to send USD 1,000 to pay off your monthly amortization. Now if you send the same USD 1,000 it will be converted to Php 45,000 therefore you will have a Php 1,000 surplus. The surplus would be better placed in an emergency fund or be placed in the stock market or an equity fund. Economist knows that this will be temporary. Therefore, if you put your surplus money into an investment, the moment that the economy recovers and exchange rate become lower, your surplus money will grow.

I hope OFW will take advantage of the situation and not just spend money in wants.

OFW Investors Should Take Advantage Now

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by Dexter Panganiban in Stock Market

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

exchange rates, OFW, OFW Investment, OFW Investors, Online Filipino Workers, Overseas Filipino Workers, PSEi, PSEi Index, saving early

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

PH Stock Index All Time High at 7,313.46 breaches 7,300 for first time in history

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Dexter Panganiban in Stock Market

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Equity funds, Highest gain, Mutual Fund, OFW Investment, PSEi, Stock Market

PH Stock Index All Time High at 7,313.46 breaches 7,300 for first time in history

Once again PSEi set a record of an all-time high at 7,313.460 a day after the election. It only means that investors have trust on the recently concluded election. In addition a new intra-day high was likewise hit at 7,349.95. It is 30th record breakout for the year and the 91st under the Aquino administration.

This sign is really good for investors because they could see gains from their investment. People who are not yet investing will not really feel the effect of the economy.

I believe that it’s high time for people to go to Investment. If you don’t know how to read graphs, and if you do not understand how the stock market works, I believe that is now high time to learn about this things. If you want to start you can go to banks or Mutual Fund Company and ask about equity funds.

Equity funds performance depends on the stock market movement. Just make sure that you know the risk that you will face in going to stock market.

Investing in stock market could give you a really high profit but likewise it could also give you a very high lost. The higher the Risk the Higher the possible gain and the lower the Risk the lower possible gains.

Your investing appetite will determine the type of investment that you will push through.

If you invest in equity funds, you will not bother about fundamental analysis and technical analysis of a certain stocks. But likewise you will not also have any part in decision making about which stocks to pick or to sell.

The beauty in stock market is that you control your investment but if you do not know this things better go to equity funds then learn about stock market.

Happy investing and I hope that many OFW will start investing and not just waster their money in gadgets and useless wants.

Invest Through SSS Flexi Fund – Know Its Advantage & Disadvantage (Exclusive for OFW)

01 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by Dexter Panganiban in Personal Financing

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

Financial Plan, Flexi Fund, Investing, Investment, Metrobank, Metrobank Online Payment, Newbie Investor, OFW, OFW Investment, SBR, SSS, SSS Online Portal, Treasury bill

Yesterday, when I was browsing SSS Website, I came to know about the SSS Flexi Fund. Here is an idea about the Fund.

The SSS Flexi-fund is a voluntary provident fund for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). It is an additional of the SSS on top of its regular OFW membership. The program gives OFWs the opportunity to set aside part of their earnings abroad and maximize the return on their Flexi-fund contributions, thus providing good security for their future.

SSS Flexi-fund is a risk free investment that is being invested in government securities, with Interest earnings are computed based on the average 91-day Treasury bill rate, thus ensuring a transparent, high yield and risk-free investment of members’ hard-earned income abroad.

Metrobank

It’s a good time to invest through SSS flexi fund due to the fact that we recently have an investment Grade from Fitch.

SSS Flexi Fund, is any amount beyond Php 200 from the maximum monthly SSS payment. As of this time, the maximum payment or contribution for OCW Members is Php 1,560 monthly. So if you pay Php 2,000, the Php 440 will automatically go to SSS Flexi Fund, which could be withdrawn anytime, should you need money.

Here are the list of bank that could receive payments.

Allied Bank
Asiatrust Bank
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Equitable PCI Bank
International Exchange Bank
Land Bank of the Philippines
Metrobank
Philippine National Bank (PNB)
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)
Security Bank
Luzon Brokerage Corporation (LBC)

According to the SSS website:

Interest under the SSS Flexi-fund is. . .

Tax-free
Based on prevailing 91-day Treasury bill rates, quoted on a per annum basis
Subject to quarterly re-pricing, to make it more reflective of current market conditions
Computed at actual date of payment of Flexi-fund contributions, and posted to individual accounts at the end of the month.
Compounded monthly, such that earnings at the end of each month are taken into account in the computation and application of earnings in the succeeding months.

I am paying my SSS via Metrobank Online banking System. I have also accessed the SSS Online portal by using the “Host Server Number” that was provided by Metrobank upon online payment in replacement for the SBR number which is a requirement for accessing SSS Online Monitoring System.

Updates : At this time since the prevailing rate of T-Bill is only 0.4%, I am not recommending investing in SSS-Flexi Fund, however keeping your SSS payment up to date is I belived a necessity for every Filipino.

Complete Pesos and Sense Season 1 Youtube Links

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Dexter Panganiban in Personal Financing, Stock Market

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Budgeting, Diversification, Insurance, Mutual Funds, OFW Investment, Personal Finance, Stock Market, Youtube Links

Learning about investing can be done through reading and Watching Videos.

I have informed you before that I am part of the Facebook group called TGFI (The Global Filipino Investors ). The group members is helping me to learn new things about Stock Market as well as importance of insurance. Today I have seen a collection of Youtube links for Pesos and Sense headed by Aya Laraya. I would like to give credit to Khristian Santos (TGFI Admin) for his research for this videos.

I believe that the below mentioned videos is a must see for newbies and those who are starting to invest.