Here are 5 questions that I got regarding personal finance. I kept the answers short and practical.

1) Monica wants to know what are UITFs?

UITF stands for Unit Investment Trust Funds, it is a kind of investment that is being offered by the trust departments of big banks. UITFs are pooled funds, where investors put money in a fund and there is a fund manager that will invest for them according to the objectives of the fund. Depending on where it is invested, UITFs can be conservative, moderate or high-risk investments. UITFs are good investments for long-term objectives such as retirement or the college education of young children. Though they are not guaranteed investments, they have proved themselves to be a good way to grow your money in the long-run. Remember that UITFs are long term investments so if you plan to use your money in the short term, do not put them in UITFs.

2) Should I invest my money in business or in the stock market, Christine wonders.

Comparing a business and stocks is difficult, like comparing apples and oranges. While both are investments and both are risky ones at that, they operate and function differently. Owning a business means you are operating it yourself and you are on top of the company. You have a direct involvement on how the company operates. The benefit of having your business is that you own all the profits and the gains of the business. The downside is that should the business fail, you will bear all the losses and you may not have the competence and experience to make a business succeed. Stocks are fractional ownership of businesses, big ones at that. Buying stocks lets you have a part of a successfully big company or several companies and you stand to earn dividends or capital gain of your shares when you trade them in the stock market. Downside of stocks vs. business is your gain, an issue of scale. You stand to get a much better return for your money when your business succeeds as against stocks.

3) Patrick wants to know what the risks are in investing your money.

Well Patrick, the biggest risk involved in investing is capital loss. While some investments are guaranteed, the good ones where you can earn more are never guaranteed. Returns are always a function of the risk you take – the higher the risks are, the higher the potential returns. Some investments like stocks and mutual funds are fluctuating – they do not appreciate in a straight line and expect them to be fluctuating constantly. But if you invest over a long period, like over 5 years, the chances of loss of money is minimized as investments fluctuate up over the years. Low risk investments are not necessarily free of risk – the biggest risk for guaranteed or low investments is inflation. Low risk means low return and they are often below inflation rates.

4) John asks who should be in charge of the money, the husband or the wife?

Our Filipino custom dictates that the wife should be in charge of the finances. However, our customs are not always right. Finances are conjugal and how to manage money should likewise be conjugal. I don’t think only one spouse should
be given the sole responsibility on how to be in charge of the money – both should discuss and agree as to what to do with their finances. The operation of the family budget like payment of bills, balancing of the check book and the like can be delegated to the husband or the wife. Which spouse? Well, the one who is more financially disciplined should be the one – whether a husband or a wife.

5) Bianca is wondering if there is a formula to be able to build wealth.

Yes Bianca, there is a formula — a fundamental process that you can follow that will allow you to build your wealth. Let me first say that achieving wealth is a process and there are no short cuts to wealth. In my book No Nonsense Personal Finance, I outlined 5 steps for wealth. First step is to increase cash flow; you can achieve this by earning more money and spending less money. Step 2 is getting out of debt – as debt will prevent you from achieving your goals. Step 3 is building your emergency fund – 3 to 6 months worth of your expenses is a good measure. Step 4 is getting insurance for your protection. Finally, the 5th step is learning to invest for your future.

Got more questions? E-mail me at randellt@gmail.com

Sharing with you 5 basic personal finance questions with 5 simple and straight-forward answers.

Julian sent me a question; he asked when the best time to invest is.

Well Julian, the best time to invest was yesterday and the next best time is today. You see, investing is more about time and less about timing. Time is a big factor in investing so I recommend people to start investing as early as they can. Investing is best when is done for the long term especially if you are investing in properties, the stock market or mutual funds. Start investing early and give your investments enough time to grow. Remember, as far as investing is concerned, time is your greatest asset.

Gerald asks what inflation is and how it will affect us?

Simply put, inflation is a measure being used to track the rising costs of general goods and services. Because of inflation, the purchasing power of our peso will actually deteriorate. Countering inflation is done through an increase in income– as long as the increase in income is equal or higher than inflation, things will be ok. The case for your savings is a different one. If your savings do not appreciate faster than inflation, the real value of your savings will go down in terms of what goods and services it can buy. The solution to this is investing your money where it can grow faster than inflation.

Glenda wants to know what a VUL insurance is and if she needs it.

VUL stands for Variable Universal Life insurance. It is a kind of financial instrument that has both insurance and an investment component. It’s like having insurance and mutual funds in one product. VUL will give you insurance benefits but it will also have a fund that is being invested according to your objectives, risk profile and other preferences. If you need both insurance and investment, you may consider having a VUL – but if your sole objective is purely investing, then this may not be the right instrument for you at this time.

Joey is wondering if investing in real estate is still a good idea.

Many of our parents preferred way of investing was through properties and for a good reason. Experience has proven that the value of properties goes up over many years. Personally, I still think real estate investing is good way to grow your money but the issue here is time. In general, for you to see substantial growth in your investment in property, it will take you many years. There also are other costs involved in real estate like association dues, property taxes and transfer costs which should be added in the cost of your investment. One of the big attractions of property investing is that you can also earn from rental income as well. If you have the resources and you are willing to wait for a long time, consider investing in real estate but always remember to consider other investments too as there is no such thing as the best investment.

Should we have a lot of money before we invest? Jesse asks.

There are investments that do not require large amounts of money. You can actually invest your money in the stock market, mutual funds or UITF for as low as 5 to 10 thousand pesos. Some banks even offer auto-debit arrangements that allow you to invest for as low as 1 thousand a month. However, before you invest, I recommend that you build your emergency funds first. An emergency fund of about 3 to 6 months worth of your expenses will be sufficient. To maximize your investments you need enough time for them to grow and it is not a good idea to pull it out whenever you have a need for it, which is why I recommend having an emergency fund first. Once you have your finances in order, start investing in small amounts to get your feet wet. Happy investing!

Got more questions? Ask and let’s see if I can be of help.

I have been busy going to different places to speak to our OFWs and teach them financial education. Although this is a tiring task and despite what other think, traveling all over teaching people is not as glamorous as what others think. There are times that I want to decline invitations already because it takes out a lot of time for me but I never decline because I know that the little I do impacts our OFWs. Studies shows that the OFWs today are saving and investing more than before which is a great development. I also noticed that OFWs respond to financial education more positively and quicker than those in the Philippines. More and more reason why OFW Financial Education is an important advocacy for me and many others.

The growth in the financial literacy for OFWs is largely because of the efforts of many OFWs who are financial educators themselves. My work is such a blessing because I get to have more and more OFW friends who are finance advocates themselves… they have become heroes amidst other heroes.

I am honored to be featuring an article written by a good friend, Rex Holgado — an OFW in Singapore. Rex is one of the most active OFWs in Singapore in financial education and has been instrumental in the amazing growth in financial literacy among Filipinos in Singapore. It is because of OFWs like Rex that there is much hope for the OFWs of the future. I am looking forward standing as a Ninong in his wedding in the not so distant future.

I will be posting may of their articles soon in this website.

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OFWs and their Financial Future
by Rex Holgado

Yo friends ‘zup? I assume a lot you do not know me yet, so allow me to shortly introduce myself first. I am an OFW based here in Singapore for over 6 years now. I came here hoping for a greener pasture and help my family back home. And I guess majority, if not all, of the 10 to 13 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) around the world have the same reason as mine.

But do OFWs really able to improve their lives after their stint abroad?

The Past: Financial Trouble

OFWs leave their families and loved ones to look for better opportunities abroad to make their lives better. But more than 2 years ago, Social Enterprise Development Partnerships Inc. (SEDPI), a microfinance non-governmental organization in the Philippines, revealed in a study that 10% of OFWs end up broke even after years of working abroad. And the same study also showed that most or around 80% of Filipinos working abroad overspent and did not really have enough savings.

“Ate Rose”, a house help for 2 years in Kuwait said, “At first I really wasn’t able to save because there were a lot of debts to pay to in the Philippines and I don’t really earn enough to get through it.” But then I asked, “What if you will get a pay increase do you think you can then able to save?” She then replied, “Actually, I don’t know… My expenses seem already hard-wired with my income, if my income increases same goes with my expenses. At some point when I was able to save a small amount of money I tried my luck in networking business hoping to earn extra. So far ayun, hanggang ngayon wala paring extrang kita.”

Ate Rose and her husband do not have a healthcare and insurance, they have two children and currently in high school. Her husband is a full time house husband to take care of the kids. As much as I don’t want this to sound as morbid as you all might think but what if there’s something happened to Ate Rose and she passed away? Oh, my heart aches.

“John”, a technical professional for 3 years in Dubai said, “I have a very small amount of savings but currently no investments because around 80% of my income already goes to loan payments.” I asked, “Can you live with the rest of 20%? What are those loans for?” “My wife helps me with the family expenses. My loans are for the construction of our house.” he replied.

John and his wife are both insured though but they don’t have any investments, no emergency fund and no healthcare other than what the company currently provides. They have one 3-year old kid. And what if John or his wife get retrenched/lose their jobs? Can they tell their child, “Baby, huwag ka muna kumain kasi wala pang trabaho si papa/mama ha? Oh, my heart aches again.

Last month, I’ve been in a Personal Finance seminar of a Christian group’s outreach program for OFWs here in Singapore. I found out that out of the entire crowd of around 80 people (where around half are professionals), only 3 have savings that can sustain their 3-month worth of monthly expenses, only 1 invests—in real estate, no one from them invests in pooled funds nor in stocks. Nobody talk about money or family’s finance in their households or by any mode of communication—unless they are already in a bad situation. But there’s one individual who’ve said she is confident enough that she won’t depend on anyone once she retire. Large part of their income goes to remittances and their remittances do not contain any amount for savings & investments. When I asked who among them have debts, majority of them raised their hands and said, “Kami!” And believe me, everyone were still able to bursts into laughter even they are aware they’re debt-ridden. I confess, I laughed too. Why not?! Laughter is said to be the best medicine. And that time we thought maybe after we laughed all people’s debts will get paid! But you wouldn’t like how our happy faces changed into after realizing that those debts will not ever get paid by mere laughing. Oh here are the sad faces again… So again, if your sickness is borrowing money ‘till you get into financial trouble, laughter can really help to ease the pain but it is not really the cure.

Kidding aside, OFWs might have their own reasons why they were not or cannot able to save. But if we would take a look deeper at those reasons and find their root causes, it would all surely end up with financial literacy and core values.

The Present: Financial Literacy

Six years in abroad I have witnessed a lot, if not enough, how most OFWs struggled in their finances and have seen how they have wasted their hard earned money into unnecessary expenses and worse into the hands of opportunists or those people with no moral compunction. So I joined in the advocacy of financial literacy to help Filipinos, especially OFWs, to get out of the financial pitfall I once got almost trapped too.

Two weeks ago, I was invited to do a personal finance talk in one of our friends’ friend’s house and there was someone who asked that if he would invest in Mutual Funds how much will he get after. Do you see what the usual problem is? Most of us, not just OFWs but all Filipinos especially those who are new to investing, always ask for the “how much would I get” question. Guess why a lot of Filipinos still get scammed?

Here’s a short thought for OFWs out there to not get into bigger financial trouble, “There’s no shortcut to financial freedom.” None that I know of that would work for everyone of us. So go and reflect back on your ultimate goal—to make your and your family’s life better. Save. Do your due diligence and understand very well your investment options. Invest in investment vehicle that would fit your goal. Communicate with your family to discuss and plan well family’s financial matters. And never forget that money is just an instrument to make your goal(s) happen. Never forget that your family, your relationships, and your future are still what really matter most. Be clear with your core values and use them to have a happier, healthier, and wealthier life.

While I have observed that a lot of OFWs are now getting into something they believe they could make their money grow, here are what our financial experts and advocates can say about some financial instruments that OFWs could choose from to invest in for their brighter future:

1. Mutual Funds: “Investing in mutual funds is the easiest way to participate and earn in our country’s economic miracle. Your investments are being professionally managed while you still can attend on things like your work as an OFW and the thing that matters most—your family life.” —Alfonso Gonzales, Mutual Fund Investing Advocate, Mutual Fund investor for almost 16 years

While it is true that this could be one of the best instruments to grow our money still many of us, including OFWs, are still afraid to get into the stock market. But what can a financial expert tell us about it:

2. Stock Market: “The Stock Market is now in a position that it is now available for anyone and everyone who would want to use it as a tool to gain financial freedom. The stock market is one of the greatest equalizers to give the Filipino a fighting chance to be financially free. Do not be scared to brave the unknown. Study. Study. Study. And when you have developed your own winning strategy and conviction you can ride and trade the markets and win not just now but for the long term. My desire for you is to prosper and use money as a tool that it works so hard for you and become financially free. —Marvin Germo, RFP

Some of the OFWs might like to get into business but according to a statistics 50% of businesses might fail in the first year and 90-95% might fail within 5 years. So here’s a simple advice from a very successful entrepreneur:

3. Entrepreneurship: “Anybody can have the mindset of an entrepreneur, but not all can be entrepreneur. OFWs can try entrepreneurship but it is also important that they have the knowledge, passion, right mindset and attitude to become a champion entrepreneur. ” —Paulo Tibig, Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship Advocate

I and my friends in the advocacy of financial literacy are now stepping up to help more OFWs understand what they are getting into. Instead of falling prey by those who would like to take their hard earned money and lack of financial education for granted.

OFWs Financial Future

If we take a look in Consumer Expectation Survey of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), we will see that there was a consistent uptrend in OFW allotments in “savings” since 2007 to 2010 but the problem is there was also a consistent uptrend in OFW allotments in “consumer durables” like: gadgets/consumer electronics, appliances, furnitures, & the like, we know that these are not our basic needs—and this could be one of the reasons why less OFWs were really able to save. If OFWs would really understand the importance of saving, they won’t get into this financial pitfall.
Lo and behold! OFW households’ allotments in savings and investments increased in the latest report of Consumer Expectation Survey of BSP. OFW households’ allotments in savings and investments have not just increased but reached the all time high in annual average and in the average of the first two quarters of each year since 2007. 46% of OFW households now have allotments for savings and 8.55% have allotments in investments. OFWs are responding to financial literacy. I believe OFWs are now getting the right financial education. I just hope we can able to sustain this for long term and decrease the numbers of OFWs going back broke.