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How to Invest in the Stock Market in the Philippines in 3 Easy Steps

Investing in the stock market is scary for a lot of people.  Others like Warren Buffet love it and end up making a lot of money in the process.  But everyone who wants to be rich through the stock market needs to know some basic things.

Here are the 3 easy steps I followed in getting started on how to invest in the Philippine Stock Market.

Step 1:  Open a stock brokerage account.

To begin investing in the stock market, you have to have a broker.   As for my case, I used an online stock brokerage firm in the Philippines, mainly because of the convenience of doing it all online, at the same time, taking advantage of the relatively lower fees.

A few months ago, my wife and I opened an online stock brokerage account with CitisecOnline.com.  It was after many many months of thinking about it.  I already wanted to open an account even when I was still in Malaysia but I always found an excuse not to do it.  I’d say, it’s hard to open an account since I’m out of the country-Philippines. But the reality is, I can actually fax or mail the application forms to Citiseconline if I really wanted to and they’d be able to open the account for me. 

I came across CitisecOnline.com again when I attended Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Financial Coaching Program after coming home to the Philippines last year. I got to know more about the company and the stock market in the Philippines.  I was pretty convinced this was something I wanted to get involved into so I picked-up the application forms and brought it home with me.  However, taking action on the investment opportunity is a totally different story.  The only thing I had to show for it after a few weeks is the unfilled and un-submitted application forms on my hands.

Getting frustrated with myself for taking a long long time to decide, I finally filled-up the forms and decided to mail it to CitisecOnline.com the next day.  My wife, being the thoughtful person that she is, tried to call up CitisecOnline.com to inquire how we can submit our application forms.  She was pleasantly surprised because CitisecOnline.com offered to pick up the forms for us.  It meant we didn’t have to pay for mailing the forms ourselves after all! So far, so good. 🙂

Step 2: Activate and fund your brokerage account

The CitisecOnline.com agent came to our office that same afternoon to pick up the forms.  He took a quick look at the forms to make sure everything was filled out properly.  After confirming that everything is in order, he smiled and thanked us as he went on his way to file our application forms. 

The application process went on smoothly and after a day we got an email and a call from the COL agent that our application has already been approved and ready for funding. 

Normally, COL requires a minimum amount of P25,000 to fund an account.  For CitisecOnline Easy Investment Program (COL EIP), however, you can open an account for as little as P5,000 minimum. 

We decided to fund our account with P5,000 first.  We went through the nearby BPI branch and deposited the amount to CitisecOnline account number provided to us by the COL agent.  Afterwards, we then faxed the receipt to the agent and waited for our account to be activated. 

After a few days, COL advised us through phone that our account has been activated and our the login name and password have been sent to our registered email address.

Here’s where I encountered a few problems.  The email containing the password was tagged as a spam.  Since the email client I was using then was very old, I went through a lot of trouble trying to un-tag it so I can read the password. With no luck, I requested COL to re-generate the password again. Unfortunately, the new email containing the re-generated password got tagged as a spam too.  Back to square one. 

Starting to get frustrated, I then requested to have my email address changed.  The COL agent sent the application form for changing my email address.  I quickly filled up the form and faxed it to COL. 

Eager to check my account, I waited for their reply everyday, expecting that they generate the new password to my new email address.  But after a week, there was still no response.  This time, I sent an email to follow-up and shared my frustration. 

That same day, I received my login and password via email and was able to view my COL account online. 

Now, we’re getting somewhere! 🙂

 

Step 3: Buy stocks using your brokerage account

After reading the book Rule #1 Investing by Phil Town, I learned that the basic idea of investing is buying a $1 worth of stock for half the price-$0.50.  But calculating the value of a stock is not a very straight forward process, and to some degree, it is more of a guess than anything else.    

I tried to calculate the value but it took a lot of effort digging up historical data.  Fortunately, CitisecOnline provides about 3 years worth of a company’s financial performance but it’s just not enough.  Looking at the negative growth rates in 2008, when stocks and businesses were hit by recession, it is even harder to make a reasonably accurate guess of the company’s future. 

At this point, I had a dilemma. I realized I needed to learn more. However, until I have some money actually invested in stocks, I would not be able to learn through experience.  This meant I had to invest another way, for now.

Enter COL Easy Investment Program (EIP).  The program takes advantage of the Cost Averaging method of investment.   The idea is to invest a fixed amount of money on a regular basis (weekly, monthly or quarterly) on premium growth stocks and take advantage of the power of compounding to grow your money in the long term. 

Since your investing the same amount every week/month/quarter, your money will buy more shares when the market is down.  If the market is up, the value of your shares will also go up.  So in essence, you’re making money both ways.  The only disadvantage is that you have to have the discipline to invest the same amount on a regular basis and leave your money for the long term (COL suggests at least 5 years) and not get carried away by your emotions.

For those investing through COL EIP, you can even choose to invest on the recommended companies/stocks listed on the COL site.

Here are the 3 main advantages of using the COL EIP method of investment. 

  • You don’t have to worry about constantly watching the stock market. 
  • For as low as P5,000, you can invest on solid growth companies.
  • Simple to use, regardless of age, income, or investing experience.

To gain valuable learning experience, I figured this is a great way for me to start investing in the stock market.  Without the necessary experience, I won’t have the knowledge to properly analyze a company and I won’t be able to make an educated assessment of the value of the stocks I want to invest in.

Besides, the Philippine stock market only has a limited number of companies at the moment, so I might as well invest in the most stable of companies for now, those that I think will still be in business for the next 10 years.

I know that P5,000 is a very small amount for some people.  However, it is an amount I’m comfortable
investing in into the stock market.  I may decide to invest more in the future as I gain experience in learning the world of stock market investing, but for now, I’ll stick to investing at least this amount on a regular basis.

How about you?  Have you started investing in the Philippine stock market?  How’s your investing experience been so far? 

52 replies on “How to Invest in the Stock Market in the Philippines in 3 Easy Steps”

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, thank you! I’ve been looking for information like this for the longest time. I’m glad you have this blog. Keep the good work. I’m sure whoever reads it will find it very very helpful.

Thank you very much for this great article! I’m still trying to look for all the info I can get before completely diving into this new field. Although I’ve already started my application on citiseconline, I still have some doubts on trading. This article gave me a boost on trying EIP. Thanks again!

@Vladimir, you’re welcome. I’m glad you found the article useful. Good luck on your investing journey!

@Rhani, glad to be of help. It’s always a good idea to know more about something you want to get into. And opening a COL account is definitely a big step on the right direction. I wish you well on trying out EIP.

Hi,
How is your investment…?
Because I am planning to be involve
in stock market.
Please help me advise.

Thanks,
Ferdie

Good Day!!
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April 26, 7pm
April 28, 7pm
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6 Steps to Financial Independence
How Money Works
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just email me @ norjie_039@yahoo.com.ph or text me @ 09105013342

Hi,
Please continue your stories please…
“…investing in stocks has been an…?

What’s next please…?

5000 pesos! WHOAH! I didn’t know about this! I was getting so gloomy because I could not get started because I don’t have 25k to invest! Thank you Allan! I feel like crying for joy hahaha! There’s hope… There is hope!

im really glad i came across your blog. i got interested with investing in stocks last yr however when i browsed citisec online the initial account is Php20,000. Im glad you pointed me towards this easy investment scheme. how do i apply for this in citisec online? thanks

Hi,

Recently,
How do you apply for this Citisec.online…?

I am interested to investment to stock markets…?
Please advise me…?

wow ayos to…im a newbie about investing on stocks. I really want to learn more about this before investing.Thanks for this nice article!

Thanks to this.

Im planning to invest in the stock market.

just 1 question, the what the minimum years of investment? I read from your blog above that COL suggested at least 5years. Is it ok to invest that long? Thanks again..

@joey, I’ve just started investing last February this year and so far so good considering the Philippine stock market has been on a steady upward direction the past months. It helps to think about your investment on a longer horizon (e.g. 5 years) to allow the money to compound. Otherwise, you’re actually not investing but trading your money.

Hi Allan,

This is a very great article. Very helpful. I’m so happy that I found someone who are also investing in CITISECONLINE EIP.
Hows your COL EIP ? What stocks you choose specifically ?

Best Regards,

t0nz

great article!
but how will you know if your stocks are earning?
i visited COL and was dumbfounded by the charts

Sir Allan,

If I may ask how is the performance of the citisec on managing their investment involving your money? I do have EIP with BDO and a trust fund and I think they performed well, so if you would tell us, please response. Thanks..

citisec does not have a fund manager like mutual funds or UITFs from banks. as for their performance as a company, i have no complains their service is superb and I haven’t had any problem with them in my years of investing. if you’re asking for the performance of the companies i invested in, it’s been great the returns have been pretty good averaging 15 – 20% per annum.

I have been reading info on stocks and dont know wer to start.im thankful of this blog of yours,now i know what to doi first.god bless

The Philippine Stock Exchange offers products and services responsive to the needs of investors and other stakeholders. To know more on how to invest in stocks, visit their official market education website: http://www.pseacademy.com.ph/

this is informative…would like to know if the act. of 25,000. will be paid by me monthly? thank you

Good morning. I like to invest in the Philippine Stock Exchange but i only have the amount of P3,000.00 pesos and i dont know where and how to join it. I live in Pagadian City and long been interested joining this business of trading. Please email me how i may start. Thank you

if you only have p3,000 i’d recommend you to maybe start a side business or something first so you can have more to invest in stocks in the future. hope this helps.

sir allan,

great article!
I am a student,19 years of age, am i qualified to open an account at COL?

Hi Mr. Allan,

How are you? My name is Larry Collin, I am running a small business here in Philippines. This article is very informative however hope you can help me with some of the questions I have in mind.

1) In COL how am I going to monitor my income. What I mean is yung kita po. Like the BPI tumaas ang market, magkanu ang kita ko dun today? then bumaba sa tom, magkanu naman nabawas ko dun? Sorry po beacuse I have NO Knowledge with stock market and want to ask lang kasi curios ako. Of course the reason why were here para kumita, Mamomonitor ko po ba yun?

I want po talaga mag invest sa stock market as in anytime this week. I’m reading some articles online na din.

Hope you can help me.

Thank you so much and looking forward for your response.

More Power!

Larry Collin

the COL interface shows the gains/loss for each stock you own in terms of percentage and peso amount.

This blog rocks, it answered all my question, really looking forward to invest in stocks market for my baby’s future, instead of getting a pre-need plans. Thanks much ALLAN!

you’re welcome Zoi! thanks for your kind words. i appreciate it. 🙂

hi allan!
thank you for this juicy article! i learned a lot on where to properly invest my income. one thing i wanted to ask, saan po makukuha yung profit from the invested amount? will they send it in your bank account or pede pa po ba mawithdraw yung amount sakali gusto mo nang magquit? i am not naman a quitter but i wanted to ask lang to understand the pro’s and con’s of investing in stock market. thank you for the response! <3

you get the profit when you sell your stocks. when your stocks are sold the amount is added into your CitisecOnline account (the one you funded in step 2). you can then choose to invest it in other stocks of your choice, or if you want you can withdraw it from your account in CitisecOnline (or whatever broker you have) by filling-up the required withdrawal form.

wow! i was very interested on this pero akala ko malaking pera ang kelangan, so for the amount of 5,000Php puede na pala ako makakainvest sa stock market! yes! yes! yes! thanks a lot Sir! i plan to invest as soon as possible. 🙂

EIP is simply an investing method wherein you invest the same amount regularly…mutual fund is when someone else manages your investments for you, a fund manager who gets to dictate how and when to invest the funds based on the mf’s prospectus.

Oh my gosh!! thank you so much sir allan for this very helpful blog. i am really interested in stock markets but have no idea about it. I’ve been searching online since last month pa po. :)))

sir allan,
im thinking of investing PHP 10000. how much do i have to invest regularly considering if its EIP?
thanks in advance for the response.

they have board lot rule, w/c means they have minimum # of stocks (based on its price) before you can buy. yes, you need to invest regularly for EUP.

To those who are looking other online stock brokerage companies, you may also check-out Philstocks (www.philstocks.ph), First Metro (www.firstmetro.com.ph) and BPI Trade.

All I can say is thank you! I’ve been reading a lot about investing in the stock market but I just didn’t have a clue on where to start. This really helped me out a lot.

I want to start investing..pero ano ba talaga ang unang step? Lets say i have 5000 pesos na sabi pwede ko gamitin pangsimula. Sa isang company lang ba ako magiinvest? At yun ba 5000 lahat un invest lang sa isang company?

Meron sila tinatawag na board lot rule kung saan may minimum # of shares na need mo bilhin depende sa presyo ng stocks. Depende sa presyo pwedeng yung p5,000 mo kasya lang sa isang company.

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