Wednesday, April 29, 2009

BPI Trade Lowered the ADB of their Savings Account

I got this mail last week and I was happy about it. Now, we can use some of the amount use to maintain our account to buy more stocks. I t will not be wasted waiting for the 1.75% interest which is being compounded quarterly. My dumdum have more power.

Dear BPI Trade clients:

Greetings!

Please be informed that the monthly maintaining Average Daily Balance (ADB) of your BPITrade settlement account with BPI Direct Savings Bank has been lowered from P5,000 to P500.00. As a non-ATM deposit account, the BPITrade settlement account will earn interest as follows:

Interest Rates (per annum)
If daily balance is:
PhP 0 - 499 0.000% p.a.
PhP 500 and above 1.750% p.a.

Please visit the FAQs on the BPITrade website for more information.

Thank you.


BPI Trade Team

2009 Goals - 1st Quarter Review

We're not able to review our goals for the previous month because of our busy life. Anyway, I allocated this evening for this review.

1.After giving birth, transfer part of USD savings from BDO regular savings to PS Bank or China Bank TD. - GOOD: DONE. Not in PS Bank or China Bank but in Asia Trust because they have the higher interest rate.

2. Current EF is at 25%. By the end of the year, it should be more than 50%. BAD : It is currently at 21%, we used some of them when I gave birth instead of using all of our USD. It is still a good move because USD/PHP rate now is higher.

3. Transfer part of our EF to either BPI Direct TD or China Bank TD (whichever have the higher interest). BAD: Pending. still scouting for the best instrument.

4. Invest in Mutual Fund (PAMI and/or Phil EQ). BAD: Backlogged because I haven't studied the details of it yet

5. Increase investments in Philippine Stock Market. BAD: Backlogged. No budget. No extra.

6. Renew our insurances. Moderate: I renew one of our insurances. Supposed to increase one of our VULs but we didn't pushed thru because of the market condition.
7. Get a HS and/or College Plan for our soon to arrive Baby or just increase our investments. Moderate: Backlogged. We haven't made up our mind if we'll get one because of the bad news that we're hearing on pre-need plan companies.
8. Keep our Company Stocks (Grants and ESPP) intact and wait for the up turn. GOOD: We're keeping them.

Our Score: not bad at all. We have 2 good, 4 bad and 2 moderate. We're still on the 1st half of the year. I am targeting to have a higher score by the end of the year. Wish me luck. Hehe.

Perk $ Time Deposit of Asia Trust Bank

If you are looking for a bank where to can safe keep your USD for a while, I can recommend Asia Trust Bank. They have a product named Perk $ Time Deposit. I learned about it while googling for the best USD TD account in the Philippines. I remember that I saw it from a forum but can't remember the exact forum name.

Initially, I was comparing BDO, BPI, PS Bank and China Bank. And I was already considering PS Bank. But I changed my mind after seeing the rates of Asia Trust. However, the rates in their site is not updated.

Some infos I can share:
Min Investment: $5K
Prevailing Rates as of 03/19/09 (Sorry, a little old now.):
90D = 3.00%
180D = 3.25%
270D = 3.50%
360D = 3.75%

The interest is not compounded per quarter. But it is not bad after all. You'll still get 3% if you keep them for 90 days. This is the highest interest rate for USD TD that I have seen so far.