Last year, I invested in a mutual fund here just before crisis happened The NAVPS now have gone down to 50% but I’m holding on since I keeping the investment for a few years. My objective is to continue my monthly additional investments and to replenish my emergency fund Despite the fianancial crises, there is still a projected growth here (because the main industry here is natural gas and petrochemicals) though things will slow down.

i mean ..crisis….though plural is crises…

Well I plan to invest most of my savings in time deposit accounts so I can stay liquid when a great business opportunity arises. I believe in 2009, cash is king.

The current market is not an investor’s market, it is a trader’s market. Punters dominate, and these people are willing to snatch quick 5-10% gains in a few days’ time.

If your timeframe is 20-30 years ahead, then I don’t see a need to enter now. Better wait for a clear trend to emerge. Currently it is down, so stay out. Once an uptrend resumes, then enter. Bull markets take 5-7 years to unfold, so no harm done if you miss a year or two.

Last year offered a perfect opportunity to snatch up 10 year treasury bonds that were dumped in the secondary market because of the inflation scare. Yields almost reached 12%. But they are hard to get for small investors. The spreads that banks offer compared to market rate are big. Plus the add-on charges eat up the yield.

I bought Manila Water Corp Bond last year. And I plan to use the interest payments from the bond to buy shares of Manila Water every quarter.

I also bought Ayala Corp preferred shares. I also plan to use dividend payments from the preferred to accumulate Ayala Corp shares every quarter.

Those who were able to invest in Tier-2 instruments issued by banks last year can employ the same strategy to buying banking shares.

Now if you feel you must really invest the money in stocks, then consider stocks with high-dividend yields like PLDT, Globe, Piltel, Alaska Milk, Ginebra San Miguel, etc

stay short..wait for government and prime corporate issues and lock in long term (say five years). That way you get more out of your coupon payments and preserve your principal investment.

30-year-old married here. here are my investment strategies:

* add at least 24K to my MFs.
* continue saving 10% of my monthly gross, which is placed in our company’s employee savings plan, which gives me an average of 8% net per annum.
* save more cash in a rural bank’s time deposit
* open a separate retirement account (meron na din kasi ako sa office)

1. Build emergency fund
2. Invest in Time Deposits
3. Cost average my mutual fund investments
4. Ride on the short term gains of stocks

turning 50 here.

- most of my investments are in real estate
- middle of last year, i have been trying to invest in more liquid instruments by putting about $2k per month on UITFs -money market funds.
- when i would have accumulated at least $100k in liquid assets in the next two years, i would reduce my consulting assignments and try to do other interesting things.

Sixty something here, but still in the game. Investing in Gold EFT (Exchange Traded Fund) while enjoying decent amount of monthly pension benefit after thirty years of civil service.

open a PERA account.

btw, ms. salve, what’s the latest news on the PERA BILL?

I’m in my late 30’s and my goals this year:

1. Continue to set aside emergency fund every month (3K) through a Bank’s save-up product and when it reaches 10K, to put it on time deposit
2. After investing to mutual fund equity for the last couple of years, place succeeding mutual fund investment to a ‘balanced fund’.
3. Continue to allow my company to auto-deduct for our savings/retirement plan (also a mutual fund)

my current investments are in real estate (a condo and a lot in Malolos)…after finishing payment i will focus on other things

i intend to open a dollar time deposit for my blog earnings and shopping for the best rates out there. Also open to LTNCDs once i get advance notice from my bank insider contacts…

lastly, i’m studying a business i have in mind for quite some time…will pursue it this year

I’m in the 30+-something category. Married.

Here are my investment strategies for ‘09:

1) Invest in a house to save on rising rent.
2) Stay invested in MFs.
3) Keep investing in SDA.
4) Stay tuned in to Money Smarts :). Learning more is always a good strategy.

I’ve just migrated to another country and my family will soon follow. Being new to the place, I first needed to invest time in finding the highest yielding savings account before venturing into more speculative vehicles. Starting a new life in another country has temporarily lowered my tolerance for risk.

After gaining a better understanding of the options available, I intend to invest funds in equity funds to take advantage of the ongoing recession which is estimated to be only halfway through.

The best way for 2009 is TO KEEP SAVING your money as possible. DONT take RISK.. but its your choice in the end.. FOR me, World crisis is not yet stable. everything is still at risk, big risk.. If have extra funds, you can use it into food business, especially in agri business sectors.. and probably in oil stocks..

I am in my late twenties and when I saw the stock market went down to more than 40 % of its value I aggressively invested a significant amount of portfolio to depressed values of stocks. I believe in 2 years time earnings will bounce back and stocks will rebound, who knows with the same boom as year 2006

1. Continue building my emergency fund and place the money in my diamond savings account.
2. Add 24k to my mutual fund investment.
3. Put 75% of the monthly child support to my daughter’s VUL .
4. Make a top-up of at least 20k to my retirement account.

1. Will try to increase my stock portfolio with blue chips

2. Invest in short-term time deposits

Kaye,

What’s the rationale having your child on a VUL (Variable Universal Life)? Why not invest her money on a cost average basis to a good equity mutual fund instead? Please Google what is “insurable interest” mean as it applies to your child and you.

Buy yourself “term insurance” from good insurance company until your child/children are not dependent on you financially. Not all insurance agents are strictly following ethical sales practice, so please remind yourself always of the this axiom: caveat emptor

I am exactly 30 and my investment strategy is basically to go into stocks and combine both fundamental and technical analysis to get the best returns.

i have been studying investing in UITFs, Mutual Funds, and VUL and realized that the returns of having myself invest in equities is way higher than having someone do the thinking for you. around 200%++. more the best investment i gave myself is both knowledge and wisdom which i constantly use in tracking down opportunities everywhere. however a word of caution, as in everything, investing in our stock market has its own risks but all you need to do is to manage your risk

if you want to invest in stocks just invest in fundamentally sound companies and sell during their strength it is working for me.

once i have set aside enough from the stock investment i will look for a franchise to create me passive income which will be my medium term plan. my long term plan is to purchase property which will be for me and my wife’s retirement

If I have extra cash, I’d still take the risk and invest in mutual funds specifically bond funds and equities funds because the time to invest is now. as the saying goes, buy low, sell high. However, when investing, you should always set a 5 year timetable to appreciate the gains or earnings of your investments.

Im in my late 20’s and i believe that this is the right time to reinvest in MF’s. Also, im planning to invest in real estate. I believe that this year offers the best prices (low) in both MF and real estate investments.

I intend to follow Warren Buffet’s mantra: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” Now is incredibly smart time to invest for retirement, assuming that you have at least 10 years to retirement.

I’m a bit wary about managed funds mainly because of experience of the past 2 years where we’ve seen the downward freefall of former financial giants AIG, Citi, Lehman Brothers et al.

I’m sticking with index funds for this year and automating my additional investments to take advantage of cost averaging. =)

Suze Orman’s come out with a great book “Suzy Orman 2009 Action Plan”. Thanks to Oprah, it’s been made available for downloading for FREE until Feb 15.

http://www.phbestdeals.com/2009/01/free-ebook-suze-ormans-2009-action-plan.html

Based on what I’m reading, analaysts say that the stock market will rebound on the fourth quarter of this year as the US slowly experience the effects of the bail out. In effect, since our stock market refects most that of US, then it will follow that our stock market will start its rebound on the 4th quarter. I hope this really happens.

As of now, I think that cash is king. If I wouldn’t have some short term goal of working abroad, I would have use my extra funds to invest more in the stock market taking advantage of its beaten values.

I am 25. I lost my job last november and on the same day opened an account in a broker to invest in stocks. Compared to MFs, trading stocks is a lot more rewarding. That’s considering both the financial returns and the knowledge and experience of handling your own finances.

Now, my only reason to find a job is to increase the money I can spend for stocks!

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