BPITrade Review for 2009

The Starter Investor Reviews BPI Trade for 2009

Effective from our update on April 5, 2023, we have rebranded from Marginal Investor to The Starter Investor. For additional details, please visit our About Us page.

NOTE: This is an old post and most of the details are not current anymore. We are not updating this post anymore since its posting on June 25, 2009. So readers are advised to go straight to the BPI Trade website for signing up and other details. Here is the link to the BPI Trade FAQs:

BPI TRADE FAQs

BPITRADE WEBSITE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for the beginning stock trader and investor and to anyone who may or may not have any prior experience in the stock market. BPITrade website is neat. BPITrade website is convenient. BPITrade website is functional.

BPITrade is neat

The BPITrade homepage looks plain and is almost bare. But surprisingly, or more importantly -- like what Marginal Stock Trader would like to say -- it covers the essentials.

Other than the BPITrade logo and the VeriSign image link, there is just one other image.

This image is a composite of several pictures showing from different vantage points, the trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exhange or PSE, and the facade of Tower One Ayala Triangle building where the PSE maintains a trading floor.

Within this image is shown the BPITrade tagline: Online Stock Trading... Anytime... Anywhere...

The street address of the PSE is:

Philippine Stock Exchange Plaza
Ayala Triangle, Ayala Avenue,
Makati City 1226

Going back to the BPITrade homepage, the left-hand-side navigation bar contains eight links, namely:

• Sign In
• Apply Now
• Online Tour
• Learn More
• Contact Us
• Home Page
• BPI Direct
• BPI Online

Based on experience of the past three months, about 90% of the time Marginal Stock Trader used only the Sign In link, the most important link, to get access to his BPITrade account.

BPITrade is convenient

What more could you ask for in an online stock trading platform but simplicity and convenience.

Marginal Stock Trader only wants to do online stock trading. Simple.

Put in the money. Buy and sell stocks to your heart's content. Take out some or all the profits anytime you want to. Leave the rest of the funds behind.

Then, you get paper copies of statements of account, official receipts, and other documents for records purposes along the way. All these and more are available with BPITrade.

The best thing about BPITrade is that it can be conveniently linked to your other Bank of the Philippine Islands or BPI account through BPI Internet Banking platform BPI Exress Online at www.bpiexpressonline.com.

BPITrade is functional
Typically, one or two clicks are enough to get to the section you wanted when navigating the BPITrade website. Buying and selling stocks are completed in only a few simple steps.

Let us take for example the procedure for buying or selling 20 shares of stocks of Ayala Corporation:

Step	Action
1	Click on Trading > stocks to land on Order Entry page
2	Click on radio button BUY if you are buying or SELL if you are selling, then type stock symbol (AC for Ayala Corporation), number of shares to buy or sell, also bid or offer price, and then click on Submit button.
3	Type your BPITrade password and click confirm.

Trading stocks menu offers the following pages: Order Entry, Order Information, Symbol List and Broker List.

Other links available on the left-hand-side navigation bar when you log in to your BPItrade account are:

• Market Info
• Portfolio
• News
• Research
• Services
• Learn More
• Sign Out
  

Excluding the Sign Out link, about 80% of the time Marginal Stock Trader clicks on the links Market Info, Portfolio and Services.

Market Info

Market Info link gives us the following pages: Market Info, Stock Info, Quote Page, Time and Sales, Most Active, Top Gainers/Losers, Top Buy/Sell and Ticker Tape [ ON / OFF ] .

Most of the time, Marginal Stock Trader is glued to the Time and Sales and the Stock Info pages to check on prices, volume of trade and other information.

Portfolio

Now, when we click on the Portfolio link, we get the information about our Authorized Cash Position, Available Cash Position and Stock Position.

Favorite pages
In accordance with Marginal Stock Trader goals, his favorite pages are:

• Time and Sales
• Portfolio
• Order Entry and
• Services

Client Services

Services or Client Services page offers the following options for BPITrade clients:

Setup E-mail/Cellphone for Alerts
Allows you to change e-mail address or cellular phone number used for alerts.

Build Your Alert Profile
Allows you to specify high/low prices for alerts.

BPITrade Bank Account Funding
Information on how to add funds to your BPITrade Bank Account.

Withdrawal Request
Allows you to transfer funds from your BPI Trade Account to your settlement account.

Stock Trading Statement of Account
Allows you to view your Stock Trading Statement of Account.

Stock Trading Transaction History
Allows you to view your Stock Trading Transaction History.

Fixed Income Transaction History
Allows you to view your Fixed Income Transaction History.

Mutual Funds Quarterly Financial Statement
Allows you to view your Mutual Funds Quarterly Financial Statement.

Mutual Funds Transaction History
Allows you to view your Mutual Funds Transaction History.

Change Account Information
Updates your Personal Information.

Change Password
Allows you to change your existing password.

Sign In Trail
Allows you to view your sign-in history.

Comments/Contact Us
Allows clients to send in their comments and other issues.


Admittedly, BPITrade does not have the usual bells and whistles of similar commercial websites. Nevertheless, it gets the job done to the full satisfaction of The Starter Investor.

Ayala Corporation Stock Investment Update

The Starter Investor Tracks AC Investment Yield

Effective from our update on April 5, 2023, we have rebranded from Marginal Investor to The Starter Investor. For additional details, please visit our About Us page.

AYALA CORPORATION (AC) STOCK INVESTMENT YIELD for the original 10 shares of stocks bought February 1, 2007, is tracked through this post and updated regularly.

Details of acquisition of these shares were mentioned in a previous post Buy Stocks or Hold Cash in High Market Levels.

Upliftment of Shares

A request for upliftment or withdrawal of the AC shares was forwarded on February 16, 2007 to BPI Trade. Upliftment means the issuance of the AC stock certificate in our name.

The uplifted AC stock certificate was received May 22, 2007 after over 3 months of waiting.

Marginal Investing

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the word marginal as "close to the lower limit of qualification, acceptability, or function: barely exceeding the minimum requirements" among other definitions presented.

This description fits exactly where Marginal Investor is in terms of his investment in Ayala Corporation: starting with the purchase of just one board lot of 10 shares, the minimum buy order for this issue.

Investment Yield Update

The total cost of the 10 shares including the total buy price and BPI Trade upliftment fee is 6,515 pesos. The cash dividends and other receipts net after tax to date are indicated as follows:

Date		Stock Dividend		Shares Held		Cash Dividend per Share	Cash Dividend Net After Tax & Other Receipts		Cash Receipts To Date
01-Feb-07		-		10		-	-		-
16-Jun-07		20%		12		-	-		-
31-Jul-07		-		12		4	43.20		43.20
05/Nov-07		-		12		2	21.60		64.80
29-Jan-08		-		12		2	21.60		86.40
21-May-08		20%		14		-	128.00		214.40
21-Jul-08		-		14		2	25.20		239.60
03-Feb-09		-		14		2	25.20		264.80

Last Update: April 30,2009

This post tracks the performance of the Starter Investor Stock Portfolio consisting of just one issue: the common stock of Ayala Corporation.

Marginal Investor Savings Program Update

The Starter Investor Begins Saving to Build Equity

Effective from our update on April 5, 2023, we have rebranded from Marginal Investor to The Starter Investor. For additional details, please visit our About Us page.

SAVING IS THE BEST STARTING POINT for the beginning marginal investor to build equity for stock trading and investing.

If you have nothing to start with but your definite desire to become a successful investor with millions in assets, then it is most important we find a way that can squarely monetize our talents. One can be employed and receive a salary in return for the services rendered to the best of our abilities. Thus, we can generate some cash flow from which our savings may come. Let me share with you a principle lifted from the book The Richest Man in Babylon:

"A part of all you earn is yours to keep." 

The practical application of this idea was illustrated in one of my previous posts Finding the Money for Investment. For one with a salary of about 150,000 pesos a year, the savings rate of 2% to 3% will result in cash savings of about 3,000 to 4,500 pesos in one year. This would be enough to open a BPI Express Teller Savings account and a BPI Direct Trading account for our BPI Trade stock trading operations. 

Savings Program

Our Savings Program inception date is October 1, 2007. The gross savings amount is the balance at the end of the month indicated.

No.			Month		Gross Savings		Savings To Date		Monthly Average		Per Cent of Salary
1			Oct - 07		160		160		160		1.3%
2			Nov - 07		440		600		300		2.4%
3			Dec - 07		-		600		200		1.6%
4			Jan - 08		-		600		150		1.2%
5			Feb - 08		100		700		140		1.1%
6			Mar - 08		25		725		121		1.0%
7			Apr - 08		-		725		104		0.8%
8			May - 08		-		725		91		0.7%
9			Jun - 08		600		1,325		147		1.2%
10			Jul - 08		500		1,825		183		1.5%
11			Aug - 08		100		1,925		175		1.4%
12			Sep - 08		-		1,925		160		1.3%
13			Oct - 08		-		1,925		148		1.2%
14			Nov - 08		400		2,325		166		1.3%
15			Dec - 08		120		2,325		163		1.3%
16			Jan - 09		1,600		4,045		253		2.0%
17			Feb - 09		2,000		6,045		356		2.8%
18			Mar- 09		350		6,395		355		2.8%
19			Apr - 09		850		7,245		381		3.1%
20			May - 09		575		7,820		391		3.1%
21			Jun - 09		1,975		9,795		466		3.7%

Last Update: July 4, 2009 This post is updated monthly until we reach our goal of 50,000 pesos in savings for this Marginal Investor Savings Program.

Savings Program Reactivation Date: March 15, 2023

After 185 months and 14 days since starting on October 1, 2007, we are concluding this program. We have a net cash savings of Php5,000.00, which we have forwarded to GCash. 

Additionally, we have Php10,000 in savings for maintaining the balance of our Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Settlement Account.

And another Php5,000.00 for maintaining the balance of our BPITrade account. 

We have also used some of our savings to purchase common shares of Banco De Oro (BDO) Unibank, Inc. and Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) through BPITrade for a total of Php15,000.00 stock portfolio.

• BDO acquisition cost: Php 5,000.00

• JFC acquisition cost: Php 10,000.00

Despite the time elapsed since the inception of our savings program, we were only able to accumulate Php35,000.00, which is a small portion of the desired amount. As a result, we have decided to restart the program. This will be the final update for this post.

However, we are not ending our journey here. We are restarting with a renewed sense of purpose and a broader investment horizon. Our goal is to continue providing valuable insights and guidance to our readers as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of the investment world.

We understand the importance of constantly learning and adapting, which is why we are excited to embark on this new chapter. We will be sharing our progress and experiences with you through future posts, so be sure to stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you want to follow our journey as we restart, you can refer to the related post that we will be sharing. We are committed to maximizing our returns while managing risk effectively, and we invite you to join us on this exciting new venture.

Related post:

Building Wealth in Later Life: Investment Opportunities for the Fourth Quarter (Ages 55-65)