by Cathy Rose A. Garcia, ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines - When it comes to saving money, most Filipinos seem to be content to deposit their hard-earned money in the bank, thinking that interest from the time deposits would be enough to make their money grow. But with the low interest rates, it's no longer enough.

Investing is key to personal financial success, but why don't people invest more? Some say they don't have extra money to invest, others say they don't know where to invest their money. Some are worried about the risks involved in investing, while others are admit they don't know much about investments at all.

"The investment literacy of Filipinos is not that great," BDO Trust & Investments Group senior vice president Ma. Lourdes T. de Vera told ABS-CBNnews.com in a recent interview.

"Ang alam lang natin ay bank deposits, paluwagan. But investing is for everyone, not just the super-rich. But the bottomline is - investing is a need, not a choice,"

De Vera said people need to start saving and investing their money for the future. "We all know that we need to save and invest because we don't want to work forever. One day we want to rest and we don't know until when we can work. Investing provides you with more options," de Vera said.

But the question remains, how do you start saving and where do you invest your hard-earned money? Would-be investors are often concerned about affordability, risks, returns, convenience and flexibility.

De Vera said the Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF) addresses these concerns. A UITF is a collective investment scheme where money is pooled from various investors into a single fund. The funds are invested in government securities, equities, corporate bonds, and other tradeable securities.

"UITF offers good value for investors. BDO has the lowest fees in the industry. There are no agents' commissions, no backend fees. The performance (of the UITF) is better than benchmark. Liquidity and underlying assets are tied to your objectives, so the underlying investment works for your objective. This is very transparent, regulated by the BSP. Prices are available daily, while reports are available monthly and quarterly," de Vera said.

To make it easier and affordable for Filipinos to invest in UITFs, BDO is offering the Easy Investment Plan (EIP). Under the EIP, once you enroll your account, the bank will debit a certain amount (as low as P1,000) on a regular basis (once or twice month) to be invested in a UITF.

Read the original:
Investing made easy with BDO