I remembered wanting to invest in stocks but didn't have the money or expertise. Sometimes, it's advised to stay safe and get involved in stocks indirectly. There's the mutual fund and there's the Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF). I remembered when I wrote about how it might be wiser to save up first before investing in GInvest. Another one that I wrote focused on investing money in UITFs while studying stock trading. GInvest funds are UITFs since they are measured by Net Asset Value Per Unit (NAVPU). There are two that involve government securities. Others involve stuck (such as the Philippine Stock Index Fund and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund). Every time I purchase means I get a receipt as proof of purchase. There are also feeder funds which Banco De Oro (BDO) describes as a UITF that invests 90% of the money in a collective scheme. These would involve the use of foreign stocks such as Apple or Samsung--depending on which feeder fund one's investing in.
Meanwhile, Nerdwallet actually has presented the differences. Index funds try to match the performance of the stock market. Mutual funds try to outperform it. What happens is that a more aggressive approach to mutual funds means higher management costs. Meanwhile, management feeds of an index fund are significantly lower because of the less aggressive approach. Index funds are in a fixed set of securities. Mutual funds are in a changing list of securities. In short, the more aggressive approach requires higher fees due to how difficult it is. It's pretty much like choosing between delicious food that's moderately priced vs. super-hard-to-make delicious food.
For example, the ATRAM Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund is invested only in the 30 companies of the Philippine Stock Exchange Index. The ATRAM Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund is invested in foreign companies involved in consumer needs such as Amazon, Sony, Electronic Arts, and General Motors. I think the fund picks change depending on which is ideal for the portfolio of these funds. So far, I reached my ideal minimum target for one (which is worth one month's salary) while the others may be subjected to either getting a minimum of PHP 1,000.00 for a month or slightly higher if the NAVPU is lower. It would be best to combine both money cost averaging and value cost averaging to get the best results.
I won't post the exact figures. Financial figures should remain confidential no matter how small or how big. I'll just suggest that if you have GCash and some cash to spare--you may consider adding into GInvest. If not, there's still other great services out there too.