Notes from My Desk

So, You Want to Sell Your Shares?

2009-05-01T01:07:00.000-07:00

The only way for shareholders to realize their losses or gains is to sell their holdings. The predominant negative signs in some quarterly statements recently are losses which will remain in paper unless the shareholder wishes to realize them. Mutual fund investors should not be getting in and out of a fund to cut losses during downtrends in the market. The management company does the positioning of the investments on behalf of the shareholders. That's the main reason why people delegate their money to mutual fund management companies - to pass on the "muscle" work.

In the event that a shareholder does decide to redeem his shares, here are the step-by-step procedures:

1. Prepare the documents.

REDEMPTION FORM / LETTER OF REDEMPTION REQUEST

If a shareholder is able to drop by any MFMCP office, he may fill-up a Redemption Form indicating the number of shares he wishes to sell and his preferred form of receiving his redemption proceeds. Proceeds may be deposited to the shareholder's bank account (bank account should be able to accept check deposits) or by a crossed check.
If a shareholder is unable to visit any MFMCP office, he may write a letter of letter indicating indicating the number of shares he wishes to sell and his preferred form of receiving his redemption proceeds.
Signatures of the account owners, or authorized signatories for Institutional Accounts, should be affixed on the documents. For joint accounts ("and/or" accounts), either of the owners may sell their shares.

IDENTIFICATION CARD/S, DOCUMENTATIONS

A copy of at least one valid ID should be submitted. Hereunder are our acceptable ID's:

For Individual Clients:

- Passports

- Birth Certificates

- Driver's Licenses

- Employment IDs

- GSIS/SSS/BIR IDs

- Philhealth

- Other cards:

Issued by other government agencies

Medical cards, credit cards and student IDs may be used but should not be accepted as the sole means of identification. The identifying documents should provide evidence of true name or names used, permanent address, office address if any, date of birth and nationality.They should include at least one (1) bearing a photograph and pre-signed.

Redemption proceeds are produced through checks. Checks are named under the owner's name on record.If a shareholder has recently changed her name due to marriage, for example,and would like to receive her check under her married name, she may submit a copy of her marriage certificate.

If client is abroad or nowhere within NCR or physically ill. A notarized Special Power of Attorney (SPA) from the client, duly verified, is needed detailing who is the official representative to do the business in his name and the power given to the representative.

One primary ID (government issued) will suffice but if a representative per SPA will get the check, 2 IDs are needed.

2. Send the documents to MFMCP Investor Relations Department.

For immediate processing, shareholders may send their letter of request and copy of valid ID to MFMCP-IRD through fax or e-mail. The redemption request will be processed based on the cut-off time. If the documents are received before 12:00 nn on a business day, the Net Asset Value per share (NAVps) that will be used for the computation will be based on the value on that same day.

Computation on redemption requests received after 12:00 nn will be based on the NAVps on the next business day.

Redemption proceeds will not be released unless the original letter of redemption request is received.

3. Know the service expectation.

The standard service expectation for redemption requests if documents are in "good order" ("good order", meaning original duly-signed Redemption Form or letter of redemption request and copy of at least 1 ID), is 3 business days. For check deposits, an additional 3 business days for check clearing is set.

Common cases when a redemption processing exceeds the service expectation:

1. Documents are not in "good order"

2. The bank account do not accept check deposits

3. A combination of #'s 1 and 2

For clarifications, feel free to contact me through my e-mail address: donna_pascua@mutualfund.com.ph / YM ID: donnaphoebe

2009-01-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

January 3, 2009
11:30pm

It's half an hour away before midnight. Gunfire-like explosions outside the sober streets echo the aftershock of the recent New Year's Eve.

Last night, my heart was ripped open with the atrocities of the most powerful novel I've read in months. The Kite Runner, penned by Khaled Hossein, has become more popular when it was translated into the silver screen. (Well, this is neither a book review nor a film criticism. I haven't seen the film, by the way. )

It amazes how a book or a film changes me. More than widening my literary aptitude, they educate my heart.

I graduated from a public school and I can rant about the malignant disease plaguing our educational system for hours, or even more. But the problem of educating people's minds is measured. Yes, the solution is complex, but there is a solution. Massive revisions in government decrees, election of leaders with integrity and promotion of sustainable social development. However, educating the heart is another thing. Not even the most powerful nations that produce minds of the highest caliber could cure prejudice and discrimination.

Books like The Kite Runner and films such as Hotel Rwanda paint the two faces of hardcore humanity: the profound degree of man's hatred and cruelty and his unquantifiable capacity for unconditional and sacrificial love.

Most of the time, I wish the books I read and the movies I watch stay fictional. That the stories remain in the author's laboratory where they were created. But orphaned children and husband-deprived wives in war zones, entangled limbs around land mines, dried up wells and withered hopes, shattered heritage and broken dreams are tangible realities. They don't remain encapsulated in paperbacks, tucked in shelves. They are happening somewhere not very far from the comfort of our own safe dwellings.

A few weeks before graduating from the university, I am assessing myself if I attained the genuine purpose of education: knowledge and character. Did more than four years in college refine my heart as much as it sharpened my brain?

I have always been open in my blog entries about my emotions. This is my way of relieving. Like a water dam that need flushing every now and then. I've been mourning for the death of my dear grandmother for 3 years now, and my wrecked personal relationships. But love is too great, too powerful to be buried 6 feet under with my grandmother or emaciated to a failed bond. They're gone and so are a lot of children killed by political crimes, but there are more who are waiting to be saved and loved and to be given new lives.

The children in the carnage zones of war-stricken Afghanistan, Congo and Gaza are deprived of one thing as essential as life itself: their childhood. We actually do not need to look as far as overseas. Children in the battlegrounds of Southern Philippines are losing their childhood faster than the streak of bullets over their heads. War is a business and that enterprise will survive as long as the money flows in, and greed prevails. But the damages caused by man's insanity could be alleviated if we open our minds and hearts that something should be done to help the war victims. If every middle-income family would only open their doors to one orphan, whether from war zones or the streets, then life could be a lot better.

After flipping the last page of The Kite Runner, I felt a familiar sting in my chest. It was almost the same pain I felt when my younger brother was lying unconscious in the ICU ward. There was nothing much I could do. My brother's condition may be incomparable to the perils of man's cruelty. But the futility on my part drew the same guilt.

One thing my college professors did not teach me is how to stand up against cruelty and injustice. It is something that I should learn on my own. By then, I'd know that I've accomplished the genuine purpose of education.

The aftershocks of New Year's Eve remind me that I am very blessed to hear only fireworks and not real gunfires and bombs over my roof.

To know more on how you can help war victims, please visit:
www.un.org (United Nations)
www.icrc.org (Red Cross)
www.warchild.org

When "sound" advices could lead to bad investments.

2008-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

No one wants advice -- only corroboration. --> John Steinbeck

I am not fond of participating in online forums. But I find it a joy browsing through the sarcasm and "below the belt" commentaries. What started as an intellectual exchange of ideas end up in ridiculous battle of insults. One of the top online forums in my list is PinoyMoneyTalk.com. As far as I know, it is the biggest online venue where discussions on finance, investments and business ventures take place. I personally know sales agents who create their accounts and open topics to get hold of prospective clients. They say it's an effective marketing campaign. I dismissed the idea for several reasons: (1) whenever I join argumentations, or discussions that turn into argumentations, I am loaded with sarcasm; (2) I cuss every time I emphasize my point and ; (3) after a few comments, the forum admin kicks me out of the community.

Last weekend, I dropped by the online forum after a few months of being "inactive". And not surprisingly, I've read aggravating "advices" by some self-proclaimed finance gurus. Here's a list:

1) "Mutual funds earn compounding interest."

= First of all, mutual funds do not earn INTERESTS. Interest is essentially an amount paid to a borrower by a lender for the use of assets. Banks (borrowers) offer depositors (lenders) an interest rate (very minimal) for their savings deposits. But mutual funds do not operate like banks. Yields and capital are not guaranteed. Would you lend someone your hard-earned money if the borrower tells you, "Well, if my venture turns profitable, I'll pay you more than the prevailing interest rate. Otherwise, by the time you'd need the money you may receive less than the money you lent me." Second, earnings do NOT compound. The market value of mutual fund investments depends on the Net Asset Value per share. An investor who bought shares 2 years ago at the NAVps of 1.00, then redeemed at the value of 0.96 when fears of global recession set in, realized a loss regardless if the share price peaked at 1.50 within the period he held his investment.

2) "Investment companies have "hidden charges". Management fee is one of them."

= Investors who buy shares from investment companies like mutual funds buy ownership. As shareholders of the funds they are investing in, they have the right to know everything concerning their investments. All information are published in the prospectus, in the website and in other marketing materials. There are no hidden charges in mutual funds because nothing are be hidden from shareholders.

3) "If you are assured of a steadily increasing NAVPS, investing in lump sum will give you a higher return, however for a volatile market were fluctuations are expected, cost averaging will give you a better return."

= Beware of dangerous words: "assured of a steadily increasing NAVPS".

4) "Buy eei, edc, jgs...those are the stocks that might fly, even soar, this coming week. trust my word..it's already written in the stars..."

= Whoever posted this piece of "advice" should replace Madam Auring.

5) "The US index has a history of 90+ years and does show an upward trend, so much so that if you bought good stocks fifty years ago, guaranteed, you'd profit. But the PSEI has hit peaks that NEVER HAPPENED AGAIN!! Like the 3800+ of 1997! So, the local market DOESN'T HAVE AN UPWARD BIAS!!! Therefore, if you have mistakenly invested at a high, like October last year, then THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL EVER MAKE YOUR MONEY BACK!!!"

= He/she obviously did not live fifty years ago to prove that those stocks bought during that time "guaranteed" profits. In the first place, the words STOCKS and GUARANTEE should not be used in the same sentence. He/she was probably hibernating somewhere in North Pole during the high times of PSEi in 2006. This comment should win the top prize for The Most Dangerous and Misleading Advice of the year.

The world is a dangerous place. Ignorance can lead into massive destruction (okay, that's too much). The point is, be careful in taking and giving advices. They may be free, but the cost brought by utilizing them may be more than paying a professional consultant.

There won't be anything "corporate" about this blog

2008-11-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

Since I started my grueling life as a working student, I stopped writing for publications. I think the toxicity in the office and the pressures in school drained all my creative juices. Though I resigned from proof reading and other editorial mantra, I can't stop writing. My sanity demands for it; but nothing worth of publishing anymore. Just pure ramblings and musings. In light to this, I would like to apologize to the readers who "accidentally" landed on this page through our corporate website (www.mutualfund.com.ph). I am neither writing academic papers here nor posting "intellectual" commentaries on financial markets and economic meltdowns. Before I start throwing in my metaphors, I would first like to establish the scope and limitations (or lack thereof) of this "corporate" blog.

1) There won't be anything "corporate" about this blog. No excerpts from our fund manager's economic outlook, no press releases, and no sales pitches (well, maybe a little). In the first place, I am not a corporate animal. I am a child of a writer/activist who traversed into the hearts of impoverished farmers in mountainous Cagayan and who once fought against the Marcos regime. Like my father, I write with a raging heart. I recognize no boundaries when I condemn apartheid, genocide and extra-judicial killings. I am unapologetic when I criticize the structures of policies and the ignorance of policymakers.

2) Since I don't take comments personally, I somewhat expect the same from my readers. With the Human Security Act of 2007, I know better than forgetting to place a disclaimer in my blogs. I am a self-confessed activist, but I am not a terrorist. I am aggravated by the inefficiencies of the government in implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, but I am not affiliated with any rebel group.

3) I always try to balance realism and romanticism. But more often than not, the latter outweighs the former.

4) My opinions are not in any way parallel to that of my organization's. There is no way any organized institution collectively thinks the way I do.

5) I am not running an advertising company. I don't get monetary compensation for mentioning third-party firms and organizations in my blog entries.