Gaining (or Regaining) Investment Muscles with GInvest

I was thinking about the time when I opened a GCash account because some of my favorite restaurants aren't in Foodpanda anymore. Shawarma Gourmet no longer was in Grab Food and I wanted to buy their pita bread to eat steaks with. Eventually, I found the feature called GInvest which is basically investing for a minimum of PHP 50.00 or PHP 1,000.00 for starters. I've had some investments such as AXA's Chinese Tycoon, Retail Treasury Bond (RTB), and Long Term Negotiable Certificate of Deposit. Basically, these are mutual funds. However, I felt the need to do some investment muscles. For privacy purposes, I'm not going to display full data here and neither should you.

I thought about how GInvest has opened some time ago but I only got into it late last year. I decided to drop in a few pesos into the local investments (which have PHP 50.00 minimum) and the international investments (which have PHP 1,000.00 minimum). I took the risk assessment and found myself in the "moderately aggressive". However, the application allows aggressive investment even for that. I guess my risk appetite changed from moderate to moderately aggressive. I decided to drop in some money here and there to see how it goes.

It would be good to know that GCash is short for Globe Cash. GCash is partnered with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) as well as other partner banks. Pretty much, GCash is a legitimate platform for digital money which can't be compared to cryptocurrency which I'm wary about. I decided to give it a try. I admit that I sold one of my earlier investments (which only made a few centavos) and transferred to a more aggressive package. Meanwhile, I try to keep in mind to invest the money only which you don't need now. So what I did was to put some money in GSavings (which is ran by Commerce International Merchant Bankers or CIMB) to take advantage of the 2.5% interest rate. I decided to abide by the minimum deposit since banks do require them. GSavings is a powerful safeguard if ever I need to use GCash for future transactions.

It would be important to know that just investing PHP 50.00 or PHP 1,000.00 will not make it increase in a short amount of time. One reason why people enter into the Ponzi schemes or pyramid schemes is because of the promise of fast gains. Neither stocks nor bonds promise immediate high returns. Both amounts are the starting point. Chances are the PHP 50.00 was raised to PHP 55.00 and the PHP 1,000.00 was raised to PHP 1,050.00 for a start. It's really not an instant wealth maker which is a good thing. It means that the returns are in moderation no matter how aggressive the package is. There's a reminder function that informs you to invest at least a certain amount at a certain period of time. It's like I should invest at least a certain amount per month or per quarter. It would help develop discipline overtime such as dropping PHP 50.00 a day (which would mean investing PHP 1,500 per month) or PHP 1,000.00 a month for a start.

Basically, it will be a good feeding muscle. One of the things that I felt was pay attention to the Net Asset Value Per Unit (NAVPU). If the NAVPU is down then I feel it's time to buy low and sell high. Buying high and selling higher can be good but only if you're quite experienced. Otherwise, buying high to sell higher might soon result in a loss. Though, some people buy stocks to hold on to them if they give dividends. Some of them buy the stocks to get a share in the company. A share is a specific number of stocks required to form at least one share. I think it would be a good idea to at least buy low and sell high. If the NAVPU is low then one can get more units. Though I don't suggest buying when the NAVPU is way too low either. It might mean the performance isn't good. Though buying at a slightly higher price might be the better advantage.

I think one disadvantage with GInvest is the amount of time from purchase and sales. The good news is you bought the value on that day. For some reason, GInvest delivers your units after a certain number of business days instead. I guess it's because the feature is still new so what's why the purchases and sales can't be made immediately. Yet, if you bought it for that day then that's the amount charged to you. One needs to be rather patient in doing GInvest. I feel the feature was deliberately done to avoid overbuying by making purchasers wait for their investments to arrive. Take note that the cutoff time is from 12:00 A.M. to 11:59 P.M.--something I need to take note of when continuing my journey here.

I consider GInvest it as my petty cash investment. It would probably help me build better muscle for investments. The aim isn't all about making millions but making sure to have money to meet your needs. I think putting some money in the Philippine Stock Index Fund would help me get a know-how before I decide to buy stocks and handle them myself from the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEI). Getting some feeder funds would mean getting small units of stocks from global companies. I feel learning all about them would be essential before I enter a bigger amount into them. Then again, I won't be showing financial figures because people have the right to financial privacy.

If You Want to Make the Philippines Better, Study... HARDER?

I grew up complaining and complaining about stuff. I always looked at the Philippines as a hopeless case. I hated studying the Tagalog subject--which was mandatory by the DepEd. I was told, "Look lazy bum! If you want to make the Philippines a better place--study harder!" In college, I began to apply myself more seriously even if I didn't graduate summa cum laude. I felt a sense of achievement when I won a commerce award for making an outstanding difference. What I never thought was that during the practicum--it was working smart and not working hard. Sure, hard work is there but smart work allows more hard work to be done at a better pace. Not long after, I took my MBA course but it was also at that time, I was scammed . I discovered I wasn't alone in being scammed--many MBA students were scammed during the same time I was scammed! However, what I discovered was the problem of saying, "Your grades will determine your future!" It was typical in Philippine sc...

Why I Feel "Play-to-Earn" Games are Too Good to be True

I've been running into ads that promise the "play to earn" games even before the pandemic. Some of them featured a game that all I needed was to merge this and that or pop bubbles and boom--I get money! I remembered finding ways to make money online and they encouraged gambling. There's always the rule of thumb in finances--if it's too good to be true then run from it. It reminds me of how I get irritated by those fake game ads and now these new fake game ads? It's already bad enough I was duped into downloading Gardenscape with the fake ads. Now, these fake ads are probably the worst offenders over mobile demos that irritate us with annoying display of stupidity. Any gamer who probably owned a Playstation 3 or an XBox 360 (or any seventh generation console) would remember having to buy credits to buy extra content. A buyer may have had to buy Playstation Points (or the like) to purchase additional content. Later, there's the pay to play online which a p...

The Lesson of "Bad Genius" is More Than Just "Cheating Never Pays Off"

Sometimes, much truth can be told in fiction, right? Talk about how the great Jose Rizal revealed much truth in his fictional novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo . The digital age today would create more entertaining media. I may encourage book reading over movie watching. However, some movies may do more than entertain. They can also address a real issue. It was said that a cheating scandal in China inspired the producers Jira Maligool and Vanridee Pongsittisak to create the film Bad Genius . Right now, there's even a TV series presumably because a movie can't always deliver the message one wants. How does the whole thing go? I was inspired to watch this film because of comments from a Facebook friend's post. The post also talked about how students cheat because the system cares more about grades than learning. As the world becomes more global, exposure to Thai cinema is definitely not surprising. Sure, one can talk about the South Korean wave or the increasin...

When the Education Cares TOO MUCH About Grades, Schools Produce Idiots Instead of Intellectuals

During the pandemic, I was left in limbo thinking about my poor performance under K+10. It was something to think about that a classmate of mine who was both a summa cum laude and an honor student, ended up posting on his wall, "Students cheat because the education system cares more about grades instead of learning." The class salutatorian of our batch even commented about the good old days. I always had that feeling of insecurity and envy towards people better than me. But as Warren Edward Buffet would say, "Don't hate successful people. Learn from them instead." One of them is currently a teacher and the other is in Canada. I thought about my insecurities especially when I used to believe I was descended from a fine scholar and my family was a family of scholars. I remembered the time I was taking MBA and got conned. I was asked, "Is that what MBA taught you?" I got touchy and ended up admitting, eventually, that I was only taking MBA for the presti...

Weakened PHP and Why Economic Cha-Cha Regarding FDI Restrictions is URGENT

Dubai OFW The recent peso devaluation had happened in 12 years . Should it be a call for panic? It was a few days ago and I feel I didn't want to blog about it immediately. As said, I'm no financial adviser or the like--I'm just another guy who's writing on the Internet to help spread the knowledge of others. The current USD-PHP exchange rate is PHP 54.265 which makes me think about inflation. I feel like it might be time to evaluate car-buying policies in order to reduce traffic and how no garage-no car policy should be implemented. I checked Singapore's gas prices and they're even more expensive. I think it would be more ideal to take public transportation in Singapore than to own a car. That's why I believe people need to learn to ride public transportation. Some entrepreneurs ride the jeepney or bus (when needed) without being ashamed about it. Powerful economies with currencies weaker than the PHP Before panicking--I think it would be good to take a lo...

I Believe Social Media Gossip is Why Some Enter into Cryptocurrency

It would be interesting to think about how people got into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. I watched the documentary Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King on Netflix, (read the review here ). The documentary really showed this one fact--social media gossipers make poor financial advisors (read here ). The trend to join stuff like the Quadriga-CX scam or how Ruja Ignatova (who's still missing and probably still alive) got a huge following. BBC News also shows how Ignatova's Bitcoin following was developed by social media gossip : Why have so many people continued to believe in OneCoin, despite all the evidence? Investors often told us that what drew them in initially was the fear that they would miss out on the next big thing. They'd read, with envy, the stories of people striking gold with Bitcoin and thought OneCoin was a second chance. Many were struck by the personality and persuasiveness of the "visionary" Dr Ruja. Investors might not have understood the...

Soldier Flies as a Key in the War Against Organic Waste

I ran into DNews where I got the video (above) to share. The interesting fact is that flies can get a bad name. In business, there's the term that the place is simply visited only by flies, to show that business is bad . Flies love dirty places and they're carriers of germs. However, I was soon amazed to learn about maggot therapy a few years back. Maggot therapy is using disinfected larvae of flies that only lay their eggs on decaying tissue. These tiny maggots begin as much decaying tissue as possible. With that in mind, I even feel like if one day I ever get diabetic or have a slow-healing wound, I would certainly want that procedure! I would choose to have disinfected maggots on my wound, even if the idea sounds cross. That would be better than losing my foot! After showing interest in maggot therapy, I certainly find this procedure amazing! An interesting concept from Singapore that I wish I knew existed Singapore may be a first-world country but you can't get rid of w...

Bacolod Sugarcane's Industry and Its Massive Business Opportunity with Japanese and Taiwanese Investors

Trying the delicious Okinawa Milk Tea from ITealicious makes me think of the delicious Okinawa brown sugar. I thought about researching Okiwana brown sugar on how it's made. Certain details reveal why the Japanese product is used by certain milk tea establishments around the world. The method of making the Japanese brown sugar is described by Dore by LeTao as follows: Can you guess the origin of this Brown Sugar? Yes of course it is from Okinawa! It is from sugarcane that is grown in Okinawa. Okinawa is famous for their beautiful place, beach, and their longevity. It is well-known that Okinawa’s climate is perfect for sugar cane. W ith strong southern-island sunlight and minerals delivered by the ocean spray, make Okinawa perfect for growing healthy sugar cane ! Production begins with a healthy sugarcane crop then continues to a slow cooking technique to process the sugar cane juice (this method is referred to as kokuto). This method makes them healthier than the usual brown...

Why I Support Taiwanese Politician Yeh Yi Jin's Proposal for Taiwan to Drop Zhuyin Entirely (in Favor of Pinyin)

Taiwan News It may be news from 2018 (meaning, five years ago) but as a person who sees the importance of Mandarin in the international market, I still want to react. Not surprisingly, Yeh Yi Jin lost the Tainan mayoral bid because of her controversial statement to abolish Zhuyin from Taiwan altogether . She may have lost the race but I'm still supporting her for this. It's not because I kept failing hard in Zhuyin back in my days. It's because I feel that as time goes on, some things need to be dropped like asking students to submit their reports written via typewriter or asking documents to be faxed when email (and modern standard mail) are more reliable. Like I argued with an investment before, I said, "You can't fax a book. Can I just mail it?" The bank kept arguing it had to be faxed. Unfortunately stubborn boomers, stubborn boomers, everywhere, right? From The Free China Post , this is what's said about Yeh's argument: Yeh argues that using zhuyi...

Talking Economics with an Overeating Glutton

Two years ago, I wrote an entry about why discussing economics with an overspender is frustrating . Now, I was looking at certain fat people who say really dumb things about economics. Just recently, I was looking at a certain fat idiot (fortunately, he only has 1K+ followers) who posted on Facebook that not only will the parliamentary system cause the Philippines to become a dictatorship, but he also says that changing economic provisions will cause the Philippines to collapse and the country to fall into the hands of foreigners. I won't name the person out to avoid getting personal. However, the person is apparently very fat and he blames capitalism day in and day out. The person even says that businessmen do nothing and it's the employers that do everything. Has that fat slob ever heard that businesses are run by bosses and that if the bosses do screw up, they're the ones who are the most answerable? The employees are the cogs and the boss runs the cogs. I was looking at...

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