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How to buy IPO shares with only PhP 25,000 or less

When there are popular Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), many times the shares are over-subscribed and small investors can be left out of it because stocks are usually taken by large investors through their stockbrokers. This is now addressed by the Philippine Stock Exchange‘s Local Small Investor (LSI) Shares program where investors who are just testing the waters of stock investing or who may not have that much money to buy stocks can still participate in a company IPO.

Under the LSI program, 10% of all IPOs have to be allocated for the LSIs. Any individual (local or foreign) or corporate investor can buy up to PhP 25,000 worth of IPO shares through a Trading Participant (TP), a licensed stockbroker.

Here’s an infographic provided by the PSE.

LSI

Let’s tackle some more questions that may be on your mind.

How many shares can I buy in an IPO?

It depends on the price per share for the IPO. The maximum value of your subscription is PhP 25,000. So to determine the maximum number of shares you, as an LSI, can subscribe to, PhP 25,000 is divided by the cost per share. Also, LSI subscriptions must be at least equivalent to one (1) board lot.

What if there is more than one IPO happening at the same time? Can I subscribe to both?

Yes! You can buy up to a maximum of PhP 25,000 for EACH IPO.

If I already have a broker, can I use him to buy LSI shares?

LSI Application to Purchase forms should be signed by the investor’s stock brokerage firm. So yes, your existing broker can be used to buy LSI shares.

What if I want to buy more than PhP 25,000 worth of shares for an IPO?

Unfortunately, PhP 25,000 is the maximum allowed under the LSI program. To buy more than that, you will have to go through the regular IPO purchase process. However, if you were already able to get offer shares through your broker (via the allocation per brokerage firm) but you want more, you can still subscribe to LSI.

I don’t have a checking account. Is there any other way to pay for LSI share subscriptions?

You may also pay via Manager’s Cheque.

Got more questions? Just leave me a comment below and I will hound my friends at the PSE for an answer. 🙂

Good luck and happy stock investing!

 

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iCon 2016: Investing is for Everyone

The biggest annual investment conference is back and is now on its 4th year with a brand new roster of speakers known in the Philippine financial industry. Among them are my good friends Randell Tiongson (the organizer of iCON) and Marvin Germo, an expert in stock investing.

icon 2016

Last year, I was able to bring two of my kids and a friend’s kids to the conference. Usually kids get impatient with long conferences but my kids listened till the end. Now, they are more confident and manage their own savings with increased knowledge.

To read about our iCON 2015 experience, click here.

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Dear fresh college graduates, your work attitude matters more to employers

Let me start this post with a true story.

One of the biggest mistakes I have made in my working life was to approve the hiring of someone who came from one of the top 3 desired schools by employers and who graduated Cum Laude. One red flag during the interview which I noticed (but mistakenly ignored) was the fact that this person kept asking what the salary would be.  Rather than be mindful of possible implications of that kind of work attitude, I went ahead and recommended the person for hiring, thinking that grades reflected a higher level of intelligence that would compensate for a self-interest attitude.

WRONG!!! Not only was the person totally wrong for the job required but I found myself either re-doing or completing tasks assigned. What my instincts told me about a self-interest attitude became even more evident as time went on. I was actually relieved when the person eventually resigned.

What does that story have to do with you, my dear college graduates? There used to be a saying: “It’s one thing to GET a job; it’s another thing to be able to KEEP it“. But if I were to go by a recent Jobstreet.com survey, you probably won’t even get hired, in the first place, unless you bear the right kind of work attitude that employers are looking for.

A total of 550 companies that used Jobstreet.com to select interviewees submitted their responses to a survey. Read carefully what the survey reveals.

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The Art of Minimalism and Creating Liquidity

Photo source: Trudy Hylant of Art by Trudy
Photo source: Trudy Hylant of Art by Trudy

After over a quarter of a century of marriage and four kids, I have seen how stuff in the house has accumulated, piled up and taken up precious real estate space at home. It was not so bad when it was just the two of us back then. But as the kids started coming, we had to make room again and again and again for new furniture, their clothes, toys, books, etc. And, as they grew older and more fashion-conscious, their stuff also added up.

I have been looking around the house and I have come to the conclusion that I do not need all these stuff. In fact, I still have wedding gifts (yes, MY wedding gifts!) still unused in one closet. So I’ve set myself on a path to minimalism (as best I could) by getting rid of things I may never ever use or have more sets than I need.

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Investment Scams are Proliferating. Be Careful!

I know I have written already about pyramid scams and cited one case of Emgoldex, which is now under investigation, but since then, so many other clones of pyramid schemes have cropped up.

The latest one being investigated is OneDream Marketing headed by a certain Arnel Gacer who, as of this writing, could not be located by the authorities. Similar to previous pyramid schemes that SEC had warned about, One Dream people allegedly offered investment slots of PhP 888 with an exit or pay-out promise of PhP 1,300 after 4 days. A PhP 1,776 investment slot would result in a pay-out of PhP 2,517.60 and so on. Investors were also promised PhP 44 per investment slot for each recruit or direct referral they bring in.

One Dream's domain is now available again. This is what I found in cache.
One Dream’s domain is now available again. This is what I found in cache.

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