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In the Philippines, insurance could be synonymous to VUL. But did you know that this kind of insurance could not be fit for your needs? There are many other types of insurance policies that you could choose from and that could better serve your needs and your capability to pay.

Before you invest your hard-earned money into insurance, take note of these different types of insurance policies so you could really maximize their benefits.

Term Life Insurance

Term Life Insurance requires the policyholder to pay premiums and guarantees payments to his/her beneficiaries if the policyholder dies during a specified term. The specified term is offered at a range to best fit the policyholder. There are level term policies that cover 10 to 30 years and a yearly renewable term policy that can be renewed every year as the premiums change.

Term life premiums are based on a person’s age, health, and life expectancy. In most cases, there will be a required medical exam to determine these factors. This policy promises death benefits but features no saving components. Because a benefit is only offered in a specified term and provides no saving components, term life insurances are usually the least costly life insurance available. 

Whole Life Insurance

Also known as the “traditional” life insurance, whole life insurance provides permanent death benefit coverage for the policyholder. Besides the death benefit coverage, whole life insurance also contains a savings component where the initial cash value can accumulate.

This savings component can be invested and is accessible to the policyholder to withdraw or borrow when needed. Over time, the interest earned on the policy will often provide a positive return to investors growing their money larger than the total amount of premiums paid.

Universal Life Insurance

Just like whole life insurance, universal life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance with an investment savings element and low premiums. This insurance option provides more flexibility than whole life insurance since policyholders can adjust their premiums and death benefits. Universal life insurance premiums consist of two components, the cost of insurance amount (COI) and a saving component also known as cash value.

As the name suggests, the cost of the insurance amount is the minimum amount of premium payment to keep the policy alive including the charges for mortality, policy administration, and other expenses. This will vary based on the policyholder’s age, insurability, and the insured risk amount. Excess premiums will be accumulated within the cash value portion. Over time, the cost of insurance will increase but if sufficient, the cash value can cover the increased costs.

Variable Life Insurance

Variable life insurance is an insurance policy where the payout amounts are determined by the performance of the underlying securities in the policy. Like in the market, variable policies will return more when the market is up and less if the market is down. Because of this, the variable life insurance policy is considered much more volatile than other life insurance policies and is only ideal for those who are willing to take on that additional risk.

Which one of these would you like to explore on? Do you think getting an insurance would be beneficial to you at all? Comment down your thoughts, Ka-Investa!

 Have you ever tried riding in Vikings, Star Friskbee, or Surf Dance in Star City? Well, that’s the overall summary of how you will feel while investing and trading in the stock market.

The enjoyment, the fear, the euphoria, or the panic all of these emotions make you go crazy or insane after you experienced the volatility of the market. As you can see, the stock market is filled with emotions of the trader and investors. You will see that there is a sudden spike of volume of demand or sudden drop of price in the market due to a pile of sellers.

If you are weak or fragile and not yet ready to take volatility in the market, I guess you should go invest in other investment instruments. Because the stock market is not a get rich scheme due its volatility. 

The stock market talks about managing your emotions and how you will approach the market on your own bias. If you are afraid to see losses or red stuff in your portfolio, then why not go for conservative investment instruments such as: time deposit or money market.

I guess, there you won’t have any heart attack since there is a low volatility of the market. Hence, if you’re ready to take the parachute and jump from the airplane or ride the massive rollercoaster volatility of the market, why not try to trade or invest in the stock market. Just educate yourself more about the foundation of how the market works, analysis on how to understand the market well on your accord, and managing your emotions through up and down volatility of the market.

How will I approach the market?

First, before you trade or invest in the stock market you must first educate yourself on how this system works. Second, if you already know the basic concept of the stock market then you should go examine yourself if you are a trader or investor.

If you are a trader, meaning, you are willing to participate on the market fluctuation through day to day basis or even hourly basis depending on your strategy that will suit you. Having said that if you’re an investor, meaning you will invest your capital through the long-term horizon of the market and avoiding the short-term fluctuations of the market.

Third, if you already distinguish what type of trader or investor you are then create your own strategy and system on how you will approach the stock market. For traders, technical analysis will be your guide in analyzing the market. While for investors, fundamental analysis will be the guide in analyzing the market for the long-term horizon. 

Last, ready yourself for the volatility of the market because the stock market is not just a type of investment for the sake of investing. It is a type of investment where there are strong and brave investors and traders that are investing and trading in the market. 

Now that you know the core concept on how the market works, I am telling you once again. Are you really ready to take this road to your financial freedom? As quoted by Robert Kiyosaki “Financial Freedom is available to those who learn about it and work for it.” Get yourself up and start working!

A single cent reflected on your electricity bill, net loss on your income statement, or even a big sack of coins given to you may give you a big wow on your face! But you may want to go back and check on the value of money you have received.

Where did it come from?

What am I supposed to do with such amount?

Is this from a legitimate source?

How am I supposed to interpret this?

A good and critical researcher of any fields must know how to measure and interpret the performance of the research topic.

The measurement and basis of the figures on everything you see must always be checked to assess the reliability of the sources and the methods performed to answer the research problems. Clarifying the construction of figures does not necessarily mean that you can never trust numbers.

It is just being well-informed on the constructed data. It’s always better to stay vigilant and know whether or the not the information is credible. Being fed with baseless data and statements can harm your knowledge on certain things. It is very dangerous wherein you are situated in a dilemma that you keep on accepting information.

Understanding the basis of data is just like mga chismis sa bayan. Saan nga ba talaga galing yang balita yan? Sino nagsabi? Paano mo naman nasabi? Numerical and qualitative fluency is a substantial yet critical skills for every investor and trader.

If you are easily swayed with the comments, opinions, and feedbacks on the stock market, you may want to consider on reflecting and going back with the initial process of gathering your data. Knowing the foundation and basis of data is not solely for the purpose of verifying and justifying the credibility of the results reflected upon charts or financial statements.

Evaluating the data can also direct you on evaluating the performance. At the same time, assessing your basis will assist you on identifying the rooms for improvement in your analysis and decision making. Also, biased and prejudiced statements are dangerous; these can lead you to poor literacy.

Understanding the market is more than performing both fundamental and technical analysis. Even countless of indicators used in reading charts are useless if you are deceived by baseless data all around the media or even among your peers.

Quantifying the value is not just about computations of your net sales, the Price-to-Earnings Ratio, checking on the last candlestick, or being informed with the 52-week low price of a stock. We just don’t want to gain money, to gain investment, or to be the top shareholders among all, we must know how can we justify the value of the money. Once we set this kind of mindset, we can build up a new discipline on accountability.

Numbers and figures can be interpreted in various ways. Metrics are difficult and challenging, but being focused on critically understanding the data will help you realize the value interpreted on customer behaviors, market structures, sustainability, profitability, the law of supply and demand, maximization of profits, and the like. The challenge in interpreting the data is also evaluating the methods selected in gathering the needed information.

“Nakita mo na ba yung bull stock? Parang magbear na siya this week.”

“Nag-IPO na yung negosyo.”

“Gamitin mo lang yung moving average sa mga blue-chip stocks.”

Are these common phrases in the stock market confusing you? This article’s got you covered. These are some essential stock trading terms for beginners.

Bull/Bear Market

Bull and Bear are terms used to describe a stock market or stock trend. Bull, which is often depicted as a bull’s horn pointing upwards, describes a stock or stock market price that is expected or is on the rise. Bear, on the other hand, is the opposite of a bull market. This means that the stock or stock market price is declining or expected to decline.

Blue-Chip Stock

A stock can be recognized as a blue-chip stock if the company it represents is well known, have a good reputation, and often are leaders in their respective industries. Blue-chip stocks are known to deliver superior returns in the long run as well as have consistent annual revenue over a long period. Some examples of blue-chip stocks in the Philippines are Ayala Land, San Miguel Corporation, and BDO Unibank Inc.

Shareholder

A shareholder can be any person, company, or institution that owns at least one stock from the company. Shareholders are essentially owners of a company and therefore, get to reap the benefits of a business’s success in a form of increased stock prices and in some cases, dividends.

Contrarily, if the company loses money, the stock price drops and the shareholder will lose money. Shareholders who own more than 50% of the company’s stocks are known as majority shareholders while anyone with less than 50% is called minority shareholders.

Dividend

As said, some companies offer dividends to their shareholders. A dividend is the distribution of a percentage in the company’s earnings. Dividends aren’t mandatory. This means that the company is solely responsible for deciding what percentage of their earnings go to the shareholders and how often they are willing to give it throughout a year. Dividends, depending on the company, can be paid out in cash or additional stock shares.

Initial Public Offering

An initial public offering, also known as an IPO, refers to the process of turning a private corporation into a public one. Prior to an IPO, the private corporation has a small number of shareholders which usually includes the founders and their family and friends.

The IPO process allows the corporation to issue new stocks for anyone in the stock market to invest in their company. This means that they are willing to open their corporation to the stock market and therefore, offer the company an opportunity to gain more capital.

Moving Average

In a mathematical perspective, a moving average is calculated by adding the price of an instrument over a number of time periods and then dividing the sum by the number of time periods, shown in the picture below.

It determines the average price of the given time period, with equal weight given to the price of each period. The moving average is used as a stock indicator, usually calculated to identify the trend direction of a stock or determine its support and resistance levels. Most traders use this because it is based on the historical data of the company which makes predictions more accurate.

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