Yesterday, I posted a blog on the best performing mutual funds in the last 3 years. The performance of the funds in the last 3 years had been stellar because of the good performance of the markets.

Mutual funds, like any other pooled fund are not guaranteed and would most likely reflect how the markets are performing. Due to the credit crisis of 2008, the markets took a heavy beating in the years 2008 and 2009 before seeing some recovery. If you invested in mutual funds (or UITF, VUL) in those years and pulled out your money, you would have lost a significant amount of your investment. However, had you kept your money in the funds, you would have recovered the losses and actually still see good yields.

Again, let me reiterate that yields are not your only criteria when choosing an investment as I mentioned in my blog yesterday. But, it would be good to see how the funds are doing and how they fare against each other right?

To start off our outlook series, it is such an honor to present the views of one person I admire and respect much, Mr. Henry Herrera. 

An actuary by training, Mr. Herrera has become one of the most influential figures in financial services industry. He is one person who truly practices what he preaches and allowed him to retire from the corporate life at a young age of 50, largely because of proper investments throughout the years.

2013 Outlook of Henry Joseph Herrera

2013 will be interesting for the financial markets – the Philippines included. The US and a number of EU nations face strong headwinds on fiscal challenges and rising debts. We may see more nations see the sovereign ratings downgraded as a result of these issues. As such, markets in these countries may experience increased volatility in 2013.

The contagion from developments in these advance nations in the US and EU will surely impact other economies, Philippines not excluded.

However, the Philippines may continue to be in a sweet spot of continued economic growth without the attendant rise in inflation given that the economy is largely domestic consumption driven.

As such, we can expect a continued low interest rate environment. Thus, investors may continue to flock to investments in real estate and stocks. The Philippine peso will likely remain stronger against the US dollar and may end the year below the P40 level.

Mr. Henry Joseph Herrera was the former President and CEO of Sun Life Philippines and a well sought after expert in his field.

Henry joined Sun Life in 1998 and has held a number of senior positions including EVP & Actuary, VP & Actuary, and SLAMC COO.  He was AVP, Actuarial for the Region in 1998.  Prior to his career at Sun Life, Henry was the President and Director of Philippine Asia Life Assurance Corporation.

Henry has over 28 years experience in the life insurance industry. He holds an MBA degree major in finance and a B.S. in Statistics, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines. He is also a Fellow and past president of Actuarial Society of the Philippines and a member of the International Actuarial Association.  He is a past president of the Philippine Life Insurance Association.

Mr. Herrera has recently been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Pru Life U.K.

Sometime last year, I posted a blog on the best performing mutual funds so I decided to do one again especially since a lot of people are now interested in investing.

But what really is a mutual fund? A mutual fund is a pooled fund and you can read read about what a pooled fund is from a previous blog – click here.

Before we get overwhelmed with the numbers, I wish to reiterate that while important, historical returns are not the only factor that you should consider in selecting a mutual fund. As they say, past performance is never an indication of future performance. A fund manager who has a riskier preference will most likely have a fund with better yields as compared to one who’s a bit more mo