UITFs and Mutual Funds have been one of the best ways to invest your money nowadays. This is because these funds give you access to investments managed by financial experts with just a minimum capital requirements.
Although these two funds have both similarities and differences, investing in them gives an investor a potential high yield given enough time.
Let’s take a closer look on both UITFs and mutual funds offered by different banks and investment companies. Who has the best performing UITF and mutual fund?
Performance
When viewing the performance below, take note that past performance is not an indicative of future performance. In addition, mutual funds have a sales load fee of 2% which is deductible upfront upon investment to the fund. That’s an additional cost and a decreased return on the part of the investor.
Below is the top 10 best performing peso-denominated mutual funds as of November 9, 2012 YTD. All of them are equity funds except GSIS Mutual Fund and Philam Fund which are both balanced funds. BPI Philippine Stock Index Fund has the best return with 26.72% and to top it off, it has NO sales load as compared to other mutual funds!
Below are the top 10 best performing UITF product as of November 9, 2012 YTD. All of them are equity funds except BDO Peso Balanced Fund, Metro Balanced Fund, and China Bank Balanced Fund. The best performing fund is Union Bank Large Cap Philippine Equity UITF with a nice yield of 39.9%!
However, don’t get too much excited on Union Bank Large Cap Philippine Equity Fund. Based on research, they have “sales load” similar to mutual funds. In addition, their NAVPU computation is very tricky. When you checked their website, they have “bid”, “offer” and “mid/last” price. Based on my research, when you invest in the fund, the ‘offer’ NAVPU will be used. When you redeem your units, the ‘bid’ NAVPU will be used. They have high OFFER NAVPU and lower BID NAVPU. Higher ‘Offer NAVPU’ means less units to be bought while lower ‘BID NAVPU’ also means lesser gains for the investor. What’s interesting is, the difference between their OFFER and BID NAVPUs is huge and Union Bank is earning a lot from the spread cost!
Index Funds
In terms of performance, hats off to BPI for their Index Funds. BPI has two Index Funds available. These are the Philippine Dollar Bond Index Fund, a dollar-denominated bond fund UITF product and Philippine Stock Index Fund, a peso-denominated equity mutual fund.
Both of these funds have been performing really really well. Philippine Dollar Bond Index Fund tracks the JP Morgan Asia Credit Index as its benchmark while Philippine Stock Index Fund tracks the Philippine Stock Exchange Composite Index (PSEi) as its benchmark. I must say that these are the pride products of BPI.
Last September, I made an article that focuses on Philippine Dollar Bond Index Fund. In my own personal opinion, this is one of the best ways to invest your US dollars if you’re a dollar earner or have dollar savings
UITF Products
BPI has the widest variety of UITF products. With the addition of Odyssey Funds which they recently acquired from ING, they now both offer BPI Investment Funds and Odyssey Funds that give the widest array of choice to their investors.
I made a special mention on BPI UITF products because of two things. They are the only bank which does not have holding periods in all of their UITF products and they are the only bank which allows additional top-up investments online through BPI Express Online.
No Holding Period. BPI recently waived all the holding periods last August of this year 2012. This means you can pull out your money from the fund anytime you want. This gives a chance for investors like you to take advantage of the ultimate strategy of buying low and selling high. Investors may lock in profits by selling units when NAVPU is high and buying more units when the NAVPU is low.
Online UITF Investing. BPI Express Online is one of the best platforms for internet banking. It’s a must to have it when you’re a BPI depositor. They are the only bank where you can invest through their UITF products without the hassle of going to the bank EXCEPT for account opening.
The only time you have to go to the branch is when you open an account. This is because you have to nominate your settlement account. Once you have it nominated and enrolled on BPI Express Online, then you can make additional investments online. No need to visit branch. This is very beneficial to OFWs who don’t have the luxury of time to visit their branches.
When you open an account, just remember to tell the one assisting you that you want to enroll your UITF investments to BPI Express Online. Once you are enrolled, you have the capability to view the value of your investments including its net return. What’s best is that even if you fully redeemed all the units on your UITF investment, your account will remain and will not be closed.
Odyssey Philippine High Conviction Equity Fund. One of the UITF products offered by BPI is their highly hyped Odyssey Philippine High Conviction Equity Fund. This is so because this is one of the best performing fund among UITF and mutual funds BEFORE.
Looking more closely on where the fund was invested, it suffices to say that the recent downfall of the return of the fund can be attributed mainly to the falling stock price of Philex Mining. It’s all over the news. Philex Mining has been involved in environmental sanctions in their Padcal Mine. They were even asked by the government to pay 1 billion pesos worth of damages. This caused the stock price to fall tremendously.
I was invited recently by my branch manager to attend a Coffee Talk session together with the rest of their Preferred Banking Clients. It was an investment insights seminar to brief BPI investors about the different investment funds that they offer. One of the attendees asked the direction of the Odyssey Philippine High Conviction Equity Fund as the fund is experiencing a downturn on its return due to their holdings on mining stocks particularly that of Philex Mining. The seminar facilitator told us that the next big thing are entertainment stocks. The fund managers are keen on unloading mining stocks to re-invest on entertainment stocks. In the news recently is casino developer Belle Corp. signing a joint deal Macau’s Melco to form a casino complex at Paranaque City.
Every investment carries a risk. Before investing in a mutual fund and UITFs, remember to assess your risk profile whether you’re a risk averse, moderate risk, or aggressive investor. After assessment, then you can choose the fund which suits you best. Happy Investing!
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Hi. This is interesting. I have been looking for a good investment. Would like to invest in high yield returns. Which of the products in your article do you suggest? Hope to hear from you. Thanks.
Hi Lynnette. If would surely recommend Index Funds. If you are a US dollar earner or have US dollar savings, then I would surely recommend Philippine Dollar Bond Index Fund. Their NAVPU is really stable. Plus the fact that it has no holding period and you can use BPI’s online facility in making additional investments. This is very ideal for bulk and single huge amount of investments.
For peso-denominated investments, I would recommend Philippine Stock Index Fund of BPI again. This is a mutual fund product but NO sales load fee as compared to other mutual fund products on the list. It has a holding period of 180 days. And as always, you can use BPI’s online facility in making additional investments. This is ideal for peso-cost averaging as BPI has the so-called RSP or Regular Subscription Plan where you can schedule a date and specific amount to be invested in the fund.
I’m also looking at Odyssey Philippine High Conviction Equity Fund since the fund’s NAVPU is low now. However, I would like to see first where the fund re-allocated its investment. I’d like to see if they decreased their exposure on mining stocks. I will wait for the end of October report from BPI first before I could recommend this product.
Others that I can also recommend for UITFs are Metro Equity Fund and BDO Equity Fund. For mutual funds, I could also recommend Philequity Fund, Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Philequity PSE Index Fund, Inc., Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, and First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund.
Thanks for your reply. How about Union Bank Large Cap Philippine Equity with 39.9% yield?
As I’ve said in the article, their NAVPU computation is a bit tricky. The difference on the offer and bid price NAVPU is sometimes large, and it is a leverage to their advantage not to the advantage of the investors. In addition, I researched that they have hidden ‘sales load’ which is deductible upfront upon investment. That is, upon investment, you already have a loss because of that sales load. That is why most investors prefer UITFs than mutual funds because of sales load.
Thanks!
Awesome! I was actually wanting to research on the Odyssey HECF on why it’s NAVPU is going down. together with my investment there. Although I already had a hinch that it’s because of its position on mining, specifically Philex. Thanks for giving me the answer. Hopefully it will rise up again.
I agree that the BPI’s Philippine Stock Index Fund is going great this year. I’m doing an RSP on this and I’m indeed up around 26% as reported. I temporarily stopped doing RSP here, tough, as my direct stock investments is doing better, specifically FPH.
I am actually monitoring it Doc Ralds because it gave me a nice return before. I invested there before and pulled out three months after so I was not affected with the recent fall of NAVPU brought by the environmental sanctions of Philex Mining
I am looking to invest at it again but I would like to see first if they re-allocated their ‘conviction’ on high-yielding but risky stocks.
Doc Ralds, the report for end of October 2012 for Odyssey Philippine High Conviction Equity Fund has just been released here.
As I expected, they decreased their exposure on mining stocks most especially Philex Mining. Philex Mining can no longer be found on the top 10 stock holdings of the fund. Their top stock holding right now is JG Summit. It looks like the fund is quite stable now as compared before.
nice article tyrone. Just one thing I would like to point out – the top performing Mutual Fund – the PSIF – doesn’t actually carry any sales load since it is directly bought from BPI. Similar to other BPI MF which are the ALFM funds – no sales load as well. So not all MF carry a 2% sales load, just so the readers would be aware.
Hi Anthony, yes. I said that in one of the comments. Sorry, I was not able to include it in the article.
Hi Tyrone. I see here an ad about iForex. What can you say about this broker? Do they have positive reviews? Thanks again.
Hi Tyrone, considering the great performance of unionbank, would it still not be better to invest in it even with a sales load of say, 2percent? 39.9% less 2% is still a great return over the other UITFs. thanks!
Hi Ada, the problem with Union Bank is that they have a tricky NAVPU. There’s a great difference on their ‘offer’ and ‘bid’ NAVPU. That, in effect, reduces the return further for investors like us.
Hi Tyrone. Do you know anything about iForex? Thanks.
Hi Lynnette, none, I don’t know anything about iForex. I haven’t done my financial education when it comes to FOREX trading. But one thing is for sure, FOREX is riskier than stocks because it a non-stop operating market. The FOREX market operates 24/7 unlike the stock market which is limited by its trading hours. That means you really have to look and monitor closely when you’re trading and investing on FOREX.
Hi!, I have a few investments with these MFs and UITFs mentioned in the article and happy to know that they are on the top 10 so far, been doing this for the past 2 yrs. now and plan to use these to fund my kid’s college education and for my retirement. I’d like to know if these MFs/UITFs are really reliable for long-term goals like mine? Since, they are giving me good returns so far, but don’t like to cash-in for long-term goals, how can I preserve the returns?
Lastly, Do you recommend having multiple MFs or UITFs in different MF/UITF companies (say 6 accounts mixed of equity/bond/balanced) for diversification purposes or just have 1 for each type in 1 company? Which is a better and wiser strategy to diversify?
Appreciate your reply.
Hi MC, yes they are really reliable for long-term goals. These funds are managed by expert fund managers. You can take advantage of buy low and sell high strategy. Buy when the market is low and sell when the market is high.
Among all the UITFs and mutual fund products, only the UITF products of BPI do not have holding periods. All the rest have holding periods in which when you redeem your units, you will be charged with exit fee which lowers the net return from your investment. That is why I highly recommend BPI UITF products for all those who want to ‘time’ their investments for a maximum return.
For your last question, yes you can invest in different funds across several companies. That is diversification. If you want and if you have excess peso, you can also convert some of it to US dollars to invest on dollar-denominated UITF, especially now that the dollar is weak and peso is strong.
Thanks Tyrone. Please blog also about VUL and rank them too just like what you did here been waiting for that.
More power
Hi,
I learned about your blog thru the Pinoy Exchange website, the HOW OLD ARE YOU AND HOW MUCH IS YOUR SAVINGS NA.
I read it cover-to-cover and I tried to understand it all pero naoverwhelm ako.
I googled Mutual Funds and all pero mas naiintindihan ko kasi kung ieexplain sakin in the vernacular or a least sa level of understanding ko (Nurse ako pero working in BPO).
I just turned 22 this week and I’d love to “invest” the soonest time possible (since di naman ako maluho).
I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Thanks in advance.
hi sir tyrone,good day,i would like to ask where is the best to invest my money.i have a six digit amount that i would like to invest on a high risk for long term investment( 10 – 20 yrs.)i hope you could help me decide thaks so much.
hi tyrone. what do you prefer — the uitfs that has a good performance or the other way around? like BPI’s Equity Fund. Buy low the sell high eh? Thanks!
I prefer investment funds that have a good performance. Track the history of its NAVPU and most importantly, know where the fund is invested.
Hi. Which website can I check the YTD Returns of these Mutual Funds & UITFs as indicated above? Thanks.
Hi. In case you didn’t notice my post above, which website can I check the YTD Returns of these Mutual Funds & UITFs as indicated above? Thanks.
YTD returns of mutual funds can be seen at http://pifa.com.ph/factsfignavps.asp
For UITFs, the former website http://www.uitf.com.ph is no longer present. Better visit each of the banks’ websites to know the YTD returns of their funds.
Thank you.
Hi, I am planning on investing with BPI. Which is better UITF or Mutual Funds?
Hi Rin,
I’ve tried the BPI’s Odyssey funds, Equity Fund and Phil. Stock Index fund. I would definitely recommend their Philippine Stock Index Fund, if you’re going to invest in BPI.
Of course, there are other UITF’s in BDO and Metrobank (FAMI’s Save & Learn Equity Fund). You may want to check those as well. Haven’t tried them, but I’e heard BDO’s uitf gives great returns, and from pifa.com FAMI seems to be doing ok too.
Hi can you make a comparison between BPI’s AMLF and Metrobanks FAMI. thanks
Great article, Tyrone! Thanks or making this comparison. I’ve actually invested in BPI’s Philippine Stock Index fund myself.
And I do agree, mutual funds and uitfs are the best investment for people with limited funds and/or knowledge. Even for experienced investors, it’s great passive income as well.
And thanks for the tip about entertainment stocks!
Hi Sir,
is it wise to invest now in MF, UITF or VUL when the stock market is at its peak? I am an OFW and I could not decide whether to invest now or wait when the prices drop. However, I’m leaving in a couple of weeks and I would really want to invest my life time savings in an instrument that would give me the best returns. Please help. Thank you and more power to you.
“However, don’t get too much excited on Union Bank Large Cap Philippine Equity Fund. Based on research, they have “sales load” similar to mutual funds. In addition, their NAVPU computation is very tricky. When you checked their website, they have “bid”, “offer” and “mid/last” price. Based on my research, when you invest in the fund, the ‘offer’ NAVPU will be used. When you redeem your units, the ‘bid’ NAVPU will be used.”
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How can they do that and still claim to be honest or not into fooling clients?
Is there not some government impositions they are violating with that kind of a trick?
Good! you point that detail out to readers, for I had been wondering how they did so well when they are just a small bank.
And I was thinking of putting some money in their funds, but now with this information I am going to flee from Unionbank like the plague.
Absolutely, when we put our money in other people’s hands, we must be sure that absolutely they do not have a trick card up their sleeves!
Any trick whatever on their part is indicative of an intention to fleece us in the long run at least if not immediately.
Thanks for pointing out that detail of their being tricky with “’bid’, ‘offer’ and ‘mid/last’ price.”
Yes, you are doing your readers a great service, by warning us about tricks people like Unionbank play on their clients.
“Every investment carries a risk. Before investing in a mutual fund and UITFs, remember to assess your risk profile whether you’re a risk averse, moderate risk, or aggressive investor. After assessment, then you can choose the fund which suits you best. Happy Investing!”
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I like to ask you about my impression though I am very new in this investments activity.
It seems to me that funds operators like banks prefer that you be a conservative investor instead of an aggressive investor, because then they make more money from your money, why?
Because: for example you have 1 million pesos and you are classified as a conservative investor, now when you put your 1 million pesos with them, they already have 1 million pesos to work on to make money from your money for themselves, but they don’t have to worry about making as much money as possible for you, since you are happy to get a sure but small return; while if you are an aggressive investor they have got to work harder and longer to make sure that you will be happy with the return on your 1 million pesos, which longer work and longer time cost them more money, than when you don’t require them to work harder and longer for being a conservative investor.
What do you say?
Hi Marius,
My view is that the more aggressive the investor is, the more money the banks make in handling investor’s money. Why? It is because the aggressive funds charge a higher trust fee or a higher fund management fee which is fair and okay.
The more the aggressive the fund is, the harder the fund managers think to generate more return from investors’ money. For example for equity funds, they would think harder which stocks to pick to generate a better return for the fund. This is more time consuming and more effort that needs to be done rather than a conservative bond fund which gives a fixed and more stable return.
In exception are index funds. Index funds follow where their benchmarks invests. For example, an equity index fund, the Philippine Stock Index Fund of BPI follows its benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index or PSEi. Fund managers just follow PSEi. The fund managers of this fund, even if it’s an equity fund, do not think too much on where to invest the money of the investors. It’s a “no-brainer” work for them because they just follow. They don’t have to think harder as compared to regular equity funds. Having said that, index funds should have lower fund management fees because it involves less thinking in it.
You mean with an aggressive investor they work harder and longer and thus they also produce more money for themselves, as they produce more money for you, unlike with a conservative investor.
I agree.
Now, with a conservative investor they don’t have to work harder and longer, therefore they save more money, which means earning more money, for money saved is money earned.
Moreover, with a conservative investor they get to use the money of the investor without having to pay the investor for the use of his money: they just have to return your money to you plus a little extra from money market interest and bonds interest, etc.; but consider how much money they can and do make in using your money while it is in their hands.
You know, Tyrone, there is a lot of explanation on how we can make money handling our money to funds operators, but there is no explanation how these operators make money from our money.
Can you give your attention to this question?
Fund managers make money from investors money through different fees. These fees are minimal and all imputed in the NAVPU of the fund. Since it is imputed, it is not felt by the investors. These include fees such as trust fees, custodianship fees, and external audit fees in the case of UITFs.
For most UITFs, the only fee that is felt by the investors is the redemption fee which are being charged to investors who redeem their investments beyond the minimum holding period. I think all UITF products have their respective holding periods except that of BPI.
My original point is my impression that funds operators tend to discourage people from being aggressive investors.
Of course people have to take a client suitability questionnaire, but the way it is constructed and administered, you would have to be over-confident to not land into the class of conservative investors who are only eligible to invest in slow and small earning funds.
The way I see it, there is no need of a questionnaire of that kind and orientation, banking on the fear factor and humility factor of the client.
When a person is interested in getting into funds of asset management operators, these latters to save time and trouble just have to ask them:
(1) How much money do you really command totally and also properties; next,
(2) How much do you need to meet daily expenses; third,
(3) Do you have money reserved already for any emergency like extreme sickness or accident? Lastly,
(4) Do you have substantial excess idle money which you are at a loss how to make any good use of?
If the prospective investor answers to:
(1) My total assets and my earnings are really of a quantity as to objectively considered put me in the class of moneyed people, and I will show you what money I have and what properties I have, and what debts I don’t have.
(2) I am meeting everyday expenses comfortably, I am not living from hand to mouth.
(3) Yes, I am practical and experienced enough to have put aside reserves of money for emergency needs.
(4) Yes, I have excess money, and look at my bank accounts and investigate what is my credit rating or if I have any outstanding big debts or payments I have to make regularly.
With those answers to the four questions above, then the prospective client is certainly qualified to be an aggressive investor.
Yes, I know that the government requires funds operators to administer such a questionnaire, but they can dispense with it by requiring the prospective investor to sign a waiver.
Hi Tyrone, Regarding the NAVs of Union Bank Large Cap Phil. Equity that you mentioned, which are “tricky”, thats mentioned bank is no tricky than the banks here in Italy. I have stop buying Italian stocks after learning financial literacies. All the stocks did not earn any dividends and if I am going to withdraw it now I will be losing more than300.oo euro, after investing for more than 4 years todate. Not only they (Italian banks) tricky they had overcharged for the sales load. For every 100.00 I bought, I paid 7.5% sales load, the same if I close it. One Italian man commented, “Italian banks here are legal thieves of state” The only advice I could give to any beginners in the field of investing is—learn and study first before buying any UITF or MF. Learning minimize the risk, the cost and the hidden (tricks) charges.
Hi Tyrone,
Can i do the index fund investment online on BPI? I am here in US and i am really interested on investing there in the Philippines, yield is much much better.
Can i transfer the fund from my US bank account to BPI?
Thanks.
Hi Reyn,
Yes, you can. But first things first, if this is your first time to open an investment account (UITF or Mutual Fund), you need to link your BPI Express Online account to your investment account. You need to be back here in the Philippines and visit your branch of account to do this. Tell the staff that you’re enrolling your investment account to your BPI Express Online. The succeeding investments can be done online.
I believe you can transfer funds from your US bank account to BPI. It will be in the form of remittance or wire transfer. Charges apply though.
hi sir,
nagiisip po ako maginvest sa banks either bdo or bpi. kakasimula ko lang magwork so di po malaki yung magiging start-up ko. what would be your suggestion na magandang pag start-an?
Hello Tyrone,
Good day,
Your blogs has been a great help for me in deciding as to which type of investment I should get into. So I thank you for that.
I am with BPI and I am looking to invest on their Odyssey Phil High Conviction Equity Fund. But yet, when I talked to the financial adviser with the branch I went to she tried to persuade me to go into Build Plus Peso Advantage on which I have the option to select maximum of 3 funds. And that maybe I could put 60% to Odyssey Phil High Conviction Fund and 40% to Odyssey Bond Fund.
And in addition to that there is an insurance coverage (A & H).
Minimum investment is 50,000 and then yearly top up of min 50,000 for the holding period of 10 years.
I kind of like it because of the added protection/insurance. But then I am bit concerned of the long holding period of time.
You think it would be a good investment? I take it you are with BPI bank also, so have you heard or been offered with that type of investment?
What advice can you give to me please…
I am also a newbie on this investment thing.
Thank you and your reply will be greatly appreciated.
Hi Tyrone,
Appreciate the information here.
Just a question…
What is the best investment for people working abroad and earning in dollars – would it be the peso or dollar account?
Also, when you talk about dollar account, is in USD? So one is from other countries like SG or AUS, will the contribution be converted to USD?
Please advise.
Thanks,
Jose
I do invest in bdo equity since oct 2012.i started investing 2500 every 10th and 25th of the month.so far i have 9k plus unrealized gain in my investment.