Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

It's time to begin a new road into investing. I went from a moderate risk taker to a moderately aggressive risk taker. Of course, I need to be careful with how much money I invest or I don't invest the money that I need. I believe that one could start by investing 15% to 20% of one's income. Basically, it's money that's not needed now. Fortune Recommends gives this ideal sweet spot: Many of the experts we spoke with suggested, as a general rule, to invest a set percentage of your after-tax income. Although that percentage can vary depending on your income, savings, and debts. “ Ideally, you’ll invest somewhere around 15%–25% of your post-tax income, ” says Mark Henry, founder and CEO at Alloy Wealth Management. “If you need to start smaller and work your way up to that goal, that’s fine. The important part is that you actually start.”  Some budgeting strategies account for this, such as the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, which breaks your monthly budget into three ca

I do have the nasty habit of checking my portfolio on a daily basis. It's sort of me choosing between buying more units of participation or is it the time to sell here? When I mean time to tell, it's not about panic-selling but selling it because I want some cash. Last year, I wrote about why I'm also investing in ATRAM's Global Technology Feeder Fund . I've noticed that the NAVPU has increased and it may reach up to PHP 270.00 or even up to PHP 300.00. I'm still invested in the ATRAM Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund. It's sort of like not putting all my eggs into one basket. Also, I'd like to say I finally paid my five-year plan with AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund. I did plan to pull out my ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund ASAP. It was because I was planning to buy myself a UPS because of the voltage fluctuations. I bought the UPS because I have big dreams for this site. Big dreams in the sense that I'll be a

One of the biggest misconceptions that I kept hearing is "Investment is only for the rich." It's a very common thing when I told some of my fellow Filipinos to learn to invest their money. Why is investment often thought of as "just for the rich"?  Here are some reasons I feel are  misconceptions that many Filipinos have   concerning investments: Investment is often thought of as investing in huge amounts of money. This has been true whether the investments would be bonds, stocks, and/or insurance.  Investment is often thought of as building a million-dollar business.  It's very easy to hear the statement, "Invest? I don't have a million pesos!" This brings up the irony that I've observed about turning down investment in favor of gambling (read here ). I remembered laughing while writing that article (all the while I was having my house repaired). Are they waiting until they win a million PHP in the lottery, jueteng, mahjong, etc. before th

123RF The bear market is far from over, right? I wouldn't be surprised if some people are now blaming incumbent Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. for the stock market condition. Some people even blamed former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Maybe, some people felt that the late Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III was to credit for the stock market going up in the first 100 days-- something I find ridiculous. The bear market is in and it's no surprise that social media gossipers are spreading, well, gossip, on Facebook . That's why I wrote about how social media gossipers are poor economists (read here ) and terrible financial advisers (read here ). Sadly, some social media gossipers are even highly educated people . So, we're still in the bear market and it's far from over .  Here's the latest report for today to think about... The latest update has it that the PSEi has closed with a score of 6,209.53 where it went down by 53.86 point

Knowing your investment is very important. I made the mistake of putting some money into the funds to test my skills. It figures out that I really needed to know how it'd work. Now, I decided to invest in the Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund. Here's some data from April 2022 to May 2022 to see where that minimum of PHP 1,000.00 gets spent on.  April 2022 May 2022 Why would I want to invest in foreign consumer stocks? Here's how Investopedia describes consumer stocks:  The term consumer staples refers to a set of essential products used by consumers . This category includes things like foods and beverages, household goods, and hygiene products as well as alcohol and tobacco. These goods are those products that people are unable—or unwilling—to cut out of their budgets regardless of their financial situation. Consumer staples are considered to be non-cyclical, meaning that they are always in demand, year-round, no matter how well the economy is—or is not—performing . As suc

I was thinking about what to write next. Right now, after reaching the minimum that I intended to invest for the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund--I decided to do an update on the ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund. This is part of the feeder funds that I'm starting to invest in right now to broaden my investment spectrum (read here ). A bit of the report from April 2022 and May 2022 would be as follows: April 2022 May 2022 The figures for April 2022 and May 2022 show the companies where the money gets invested during two months as well as the regional exposures. I guess most of the regional exposure is based in the USA for this reason--the funds are American-based. Yet, it has slowly diversified by adding into other countries. For example, Samsung Electronics is from South Korea . Although not listed, having a 4.6% exposure to the People's Republic of China means that there's the possibility that the feeder fund may have picked Xiaomi Inc. but it's not in the top te

If there was one thing the COVID-19 pandemic did--I was practically forced to learn how to invest beyond showing up in person. I still prefer showing up in person to invest or to process transactions for more transparency. Given the conditions, it would be sometimes better to do some things online . I decided to get GCash (to pay restaurants that have deliveries but not through Grab and Foodpanda) and found GInvest. Previous features made it hard to count the number of units. I placed a few pesos to test my skill. I had to watch videos on how to invest effectively. Granted, it's my first time in so long to invest excess savings--I had made mistakes. Now, I decided to start buying a little more index funds and feeder funds. I decided to diversify my basket with two equity feeder funds from GInvest namely the Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund and Global Technology Feeder Fund.  The  Peso Lab - Money Guide for Filipinos  explains the feeder fund (which is also a Unit Investment Trust

There was a time when I had some excess savings. I was worried my money was getting idle . Sure, savings is king but letting it sit idle in a savings account can be a bad thing. Sure, I'm having my AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund for some time and I haven't withdrawn a single cent from it. I decided to use GCash and found out how it's actually convenient. With GCash, there's also GInvest. One of GInvest's greatest products for me to indirectly get into stocks would be the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund. I placed a few pesos at first because of the low rate. However, I decided to aim to invest at least PHP 1,000.00 per month (or more during a dip but not too much either) or reach a certain target before the year ends. Of course, I've got to curb my impulsive behavior by choosing not to invest too much and not have savings. The ATRAM Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund combines both active and passive investment. Some people prefer purely active or purely passive. It&

I guess it's more than time to tackle on Axie Infinity again. Last time, I wrote a post where I talked about how Axie Infinity promised riches but brought disaster . I even laughed writing about how someone may be dismissing AXA but playing Axie Infinity  thinking that it's an "investment". Instead, it might be wise to get an Index Fund that will start with a minimum of PHP 1,000.00 or higher. GInvest (which has both ATRAM and Seedbox involved) allows some people to start investing for as low as PHP 50.00 though it might be wise to spare PHP 1,000.00 instead. There are two index funds namely the Philippine Stock Index Fund and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund--both focused on the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEI).  I still remember I wrote about  the irony of gambling but  not  investing . I guess people will find buying index funds or indexes boring. What I noticed after I bought my indexes (and again, I wouldn't tell how much I've placed and neith