EDC Stock Price Plummet

January 31, 2012 3 Comments


EDC (Energy Development Corporation) is primarily engage in the business of exploring, developing and operating geothermal energy projects in the Philippines. As of December 31, 2010, EDC operates twelve geothermal steamfields in five geothermal service contract areas where it is principally involved in the production of geothermal steam for sale to the National Power Corporation (NPC) pursuant to steam sales agreements. (source : PSE)

After the news came out last Monday (30Jan2012)  that EDC’s Bacman plant rehabilitation will be delayed until September 2012. The Philippine Stock Market react negatively on this kind of bad news. And in just 2 days after it’s announcement, EDC stock price were down by more than 10%.

Of course equity market normally react like this, “sell on bad news and buy on good news.”

For me, this kind of bad news is an opportunity to add more positions on this fundamentally good stocks. Although this stock were temporarily battered, I am very much optimistic about its potential growth.

There is always a bright prospects on the profitability of EDC once the much awaited Bacman plant gets ramped up to its full capacity. I guess it may not be a good bite for a short term investor but, I still believe that a good earnings for this company is within the horizon.

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Philippine Mutual Fund Performance for year 2011

January 27, 2012 3 Comments


Even though 2011 was a year of high market volatility created by EURO and US debt crisis, the Philippine Stock Exchange index managed to exhibit a modest 4% gain.

Below is the list of top Mutual Funds in the Philippines and their return for year 2011.

Equity Fund

Rank

 Fund Name

Yield

1

 First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund

8.2%

2

 Philequity PSE Index Fund

8.2%

3

 Philequity Fund

6.1%

4

 Philippine Stock Index Fund

3.0%

5

 Philam Strategic Growth Fund

2.7%

6

 Sun Life Prosperity Phil. Equity Fund

2.4%

Balanced Fund

Rank

 Fund Name

Yield

1

 First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc.

6.6%

2

 Optima Balanced Fund, Inc.

6.3%

3

 Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc.

3.1%

4

 NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc

2.9%

5

 Philam Fund, Inc.

2.8%

6

 GSIS Mutual Fund, Inc.

0.86%

7

 Bahay Pari Solidaritas Fund, Inc.

0.85%

Bond Fund

Rank

 Fund Name

Yield

1

 First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund

12.3%

2

 Ekklesia Mutual Fund

10.4%

3

 Philequity Peso Bond Fund,

9.0%

4

 Sun Life Prosperity Bond Fund,

8.3%

5

 Philam Bond Fund,

7.4%

6

 Cocolife Fixed Income Fund,

6.8%

7

 ALFM Peso Bond Fund,

6.7%

First Metro Save and Learn Funds (FAMI) top them all on all funds category.

Source: ICAP (http://www.pifa.com.ph)

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OFW Corner : Job Security

January 26, 2012 1 Comment


I was thinking about the macro-economic event like US and EURO debt problem start to unravel. Actually, this debt problem was always the subject of talk of most economist and financial analyst.

Have you ever think about the potential effect of this debt crisis to an OFW like us?

Normally, if this crisis will happen, the job of an OFW always hangs by a thread. Since, most of us are working in a multinational companies, the 1st reaction of a company to ease its financial burden is to cut cost. Of course, the most effective way to cut cost is to reduce manpower. And since, we are considered as an EXPAT the privilege of getting kick-out 1st is on our side.

With this, I just come to realized that being an OFW offers no job security tenure. Once, the $$$ or the world economy was battered by any Financial crisis, there goes our $$$ earning job.

If this event happens, many OFWs returning home ends up empty handed (without any savings or investment). Although there were some who gets an awesome retirement or severance package, it sometimes ends up with nothing because of their inability to save or invest.

With this, it is a must that every OFW must be an investment literate. I have read some very interesting article about an Investment Literacy and why it is a must for OFWs. (Please click on this link –
http://theofw-microinvestor.com/?p=16
 if you’re interested to read it.)

On this article, the author enumerates 3 compelling reasons on why investment literacy is a “must” for OFW.

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Filed under Financials, OFW Corner Tagged with , ,

What I’ve Learned From Blogging?

January 16, 2012 Leave a comment


It’s been 8 months that I was blogging by convincing Filipinos that investing is one way of making wealth, and at the same time helping our country. Actually, for this short period of time, blogging taught me a lot of things.

To enumerate, below are things that I’ve learned from blogging.

  1. Be Patient – before I started this blog, it never came to my mind that readers/visitors of this blog will have some comment. Of course, a good comment is definitely most welcome, but believe me there are some that will get into your nerves.  Normally, I have a short patience especially if I read some non appreciating words, but blogging has taught me how to handle this kind of situation.
  1. Be Responsible and Accurate – as a blogger, I understand that I will be held responsible for all the articles that I have posted so I make it sure that it is accurate. I was not saying that all the content of this site is 100% correct but, I am trying all my best to make it accurate. Of course, I will be happy to correct it if you found something wrong on some content of this blog.
  1. It Is A Continuous Learning – in my quest to write a good and interesting article, I was reading a lot of investment books, attending different investment and financial literacy seminar. Actually, I just come to realize that blogging is twice learning.
  1. It Is Fun – Honestly, I go into blogging because I heard a lot of story about bloggers earning more money and for that they don’t need to go to work. However, there are other things than making money from blogging. It is  fun, because it is one of the places where I can share my thoughts to the world. Sometimes, I even share my frustration thru it.
  1. Learn How to Care for the readers – Actually, I received an offer from some networking companies in the Philippines asking me to publish some articles about their companies. Normally, this article is about the success stories of their members (rags to riches stories) that are somehow impossible to believe. (Honestly, I have a bad experience with a networking company before so I don’t publish their article.) Although, this site has only few followers, it feels good knowing that I don’t present them to a potential scam.
  1. Freed me from playing PVZ games – Hate to admit it, but I was obsessed with the PVZ (Plants vs. Zombie) game. It is game where a zombies attack your house and you have to depend it by shooting peas on them. Since, I need to write a fresh article for my blog regularly, my obsession for playing this game was lessen until I quit. (I don’t want to offend the PVZ game developer, but honestly this game is good.)

For an OFW like me, I think responsible blogging can be a good outlet to share my thoughts to other Filipinos, and a good way to relieve me of  stress.

I think there are lot more things to learn from blogging, and I am looking forward to learn more from it.

Happy BLOGGING.

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The Budget

January 9, 2012 Leave a comment


Wikipedia defines Budget as a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues.

From the definition above, the word budget simply restrict us from spending our money freely. However, for those who have a large income they generally assume that it is not necessary to have a budget plan since, the household expenses easily fits in. People with healthy income flows only do a budgeting when they are planning to buy or start something that needs huge amount of money.

For me, the right attitude about budgeting will lead us towards financial freedom. Actually, budget has only 2 elements, Income and Expenses. Easier said than done, but sticking to ones budget plan needs a hard discipline.

To create a budget plan, every source of income should be write down so that we can have an idea of the exact earnings coming every month.

The next step is to write down all expenses made. These expenses should arrange according to priority to get a clear picture on where the income is going. Essential expenses like foods, house rentals, children school fees, clothes, insurance etc. should not be compromise in any situation. Less priority expenses like dining, shopping, vacation, entertainment was also a part of our household, but in case that income inflow is low we can completely remove them from the list. Normally, this kind of expenses mess up our budget plan if not kept under control.

A simple budget plan will help us see the clear picture of our finances. In the Philippines, the husband is the bread winner and the wife manages the household budget, so it is important that they both understand their income flow and overall expense.

Of course, any amount left from this financial planning can be put into a savings or investment. As I said before, every amount we save or invest will serve as a stone foundation to our financial freedom.

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2011 Review : My Investment Portfolio Performance

January 2, 2012 7 Comments


Year 2011 is a tough time to most investors. The 2011 macroeconomic event like Euro Debt Crisis, MENA (Middle East North Africa) crisis, Japanese earthquake/ tsunami, and the news that US economy would likely go into another recession somehow create a ripple that increase the volatility of the Philippine Stock Market.

Although the develop markets were struggling, it is good to think that our market shows resiliency. Actually, from the way I look at it right now, there is a promising growth story on our mining sector.

I would like to share the performance of my investment portfolio for the year 2011.

My Mutual Fund Investment

- I am very happy to see that my MF performance gain 7% in spite of the market turmoil. (These are my investment on FAMI Balanced Fund and PEMI Equity Fund.)

My UITF Investment

- My UITF investment is in Fixed Income Fund and it gains around 4%.

My Philippine Stocks Portfolio

- Of course, I am very happy to see it gained by almost 10%. The 10% gained is the combination of 7% capital gain and another 3% from the dividend yield. I have 30 stocks in my portfolio right now and 60% of them are doing well.

My Top 3 Best Performing Stocks

1. URC (Universal Robina Corp) – with a 33% year to date gain.

2. JGS (JG Summit) and PX (Philex Mining)- with 23% gain, but I only have a little position on the PX stocks.

3. TEL (PLDT) – with 18% gain.

My Top 3 Worst Stocks

1. CEB (Cebu Air) – with 27% loss.

2. RLC (Robinsons Land) – with 19% loss.

3. SMC (San Miguel Corporation) and BPI (Bank of the Philippine Island) – with both 6% loss.

It turns out that the Gokongwei’s stocks that I owned were the best and worst performing stocks in my portfolio. Even though the year 2011 gives us a tough ride, I am happy to see that my overall investment in the year 2011 profitable.

The next question is what will 2012 year brings to our investment? Will it be tough or a profitable one? I guess no one knows, but if we are holding a stock with good fundamentals I am very optimistic that investment success will soon follow.

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