Lesson 7: Insuring your Resources
Topic/s: Health and disability Insurance
At the end of this module, you are expected
to:
1. Evaluate risks which can lead to
costly consequences.
2. Gain an understanding of a health
insurance and health care policy and
be able to identify when they see an
actual contract
3. Choose the best policy insurance
applicable to given life situation
INTRODUCTION
Protecting financial assets and managing
risk are the key concepts of insurance. This
module will cover risk management
strategies, choice, chance and control
behavior issues, insurance terminology,
ways to determine coverage needed and
purchasing options, cost control strategies,
state regulations and resources, and public
insurance programs such as Philhealth,
Medicare, family leave, and disability
insurance.
LEARNING CONTENT
Every human being, every business or other
organization, every nation, and every item
(whether living or not) on which a ‘monetary
value’ can be placed, is “exposed to” or
“faces” dangers, which we collectively refer
to as ‘risks’. Amongst very many, risks
which might be faced include:
The Nature of Risk
Risk or danger is present whenever human
beings are unable to control or foresee the
future with certainty. For example, the risks
to a homeowner arise because neither he
nor she - nor anyone else - can know for
certain whether or not his or her particular
house will be flooded, burned down, struck
by lightning, burgled or vandalized. No
matter how “safety conscious” the owner
might be, the house cannot be completely
protected from all those risks. In the same
way, there is risk in running a business,
because no business person can guarantee
that he or she will make profits rather than
lose money from the activities of the
business. Although no-one can foresee the
future, it can to some extent be measured.
For example, if we “toss a coin” we don’t
know what will happen; whether it will land
on its “head” or its “tail”, but we can make a
very good guess as to which it will be. In
this case we have an equal chance: 50
percent or 50% or “50-50”, of the result
being either a “head” or a “tail”.
Risk and Insurance
Buying insurance - or taking out ‘insurance
cover’ as it is called - is one method of
controlling the financial aspects of the
unknown future. A person who takes out
an insurance policy exchanges:
A situation of risk - A situation of financial
where different financial certainty, that is, with
outcomes are possible. only one definite
financial result.
That is because the insurers guarantee the
insured, subject to certain provisos, that his
or her financial position will not be affected
by the occurrence or non-occurrence - as
the case may be - of certain specified
events. In effect, the risk is transferred from
the insured to the insurer.
For example, an uninsured person’s house
burns down. In the first place he will have
lost an asset possibly worth a considerable
sum of money. In the second place, even if
he was sufficiently wealthy, he might have
difficulty in raising the cash, at short notice,
to pay for the rebuilding of the house -
because he did not know when (or if) the
fire would occur. But had he been insured
against the loss of his house by fire, his
insurers would have provided the money
necessary to rebuild the house as and when
the cash was required to do that.
In some respects, the risks faced by
insurers are the same as those faced by
everybody else; insurers are unable to
foresee the future any more clearly than can
thseir clients. Insurers must therefore
consider the possibility that the values
of their policyholders’ losses - resulting
in claims being made - will exceed the
total value of claims that they have
anticipated.
The risk for an insurer is much less than
that for an individual policyholder, however,
because the insurer knows far more about
possible losses through having collected
together a group of similar “exposure units”,
and as well as through data collection,
analysis, and experience.
The Main Function of Insurance
The main function of insurance is to
compensate the ‘insured’ (the person or
organization who “effected” or “took out”
and paid for the insurance) for loss or
damage caused by the risk insured against.
In many cases the ‘compensation’ by the
insurers takes the form of ‘indemnity’, which
involves:
‘Placing the insured in the same position
financially as he or she or it was in
immediately before the loss or damage
took place.’
The insured should be no better and no
worse off than he or she or it was before the
loss or damage occurred.
We consider indemnity, but you should note
at this stage that the ‘indemnity’ might take
the form of one or more of the following:
Restoration,
A payment of The The repair
money (equal to replacement of a for example,
the value of the of the lost or damaged rebuilding
a house
item lost or damaged item.
destroyed by
damaged). item. fire.
It is obvious that indemnity cannot apply to
personal accident insurance or to life
insurance, as a lost limb cannot be replaced
(expect perhaps partially by an artificial
limb) any more than a dead husband or wife
or child can be replaced. In such cases the
insurance (or what is sometimes still called
“assurance” in the case of life) seeks to
alleviate (to reduce) the suffering or
hardships caused by the injury or death.
For example, the insurance will provide for
the payment of medical bills, special
equipment (a wheelchair for example)
required by an injured person, and possibly
provide an “income” if the injured person is
no longer capable of undertaking
employment and earning a salary or wage
for any length of time, or permanently.
In cases of death, the payment made will
seek to reduce hardship. For example, the
payment made to a wife on the death of her
husband might be intended to ensure that
she can still maintain a reasonable standard
of living despite having lost the “wage
earner” or “bread winner” of the family, and
that any children will still be properly fed,
housed, clothed and educated, etc.
It is important to remember that the
function of insurance is to compensate
or reimburse an insured for loss or
damage; but not to allow the insured the
opportunity of gaining more than the
value of the loss or damage. That is, he
must not “profit” from his insurance.
Buying Insurance
Learn how to find a trustworthy and
affordable insurance company.

Types of Insurance
Insurance protects you from financial loss in
the event of a disaster or other hardship. By
purchasing insurance policies, you can
receive reimbursement for losses due to car
accidents, property theft, natural disasters,
medical expenses, disability, or death.
Health insurance—helps pay your doctor’s
visits and other health care expenses
Disability insurance—replaces some of
your income if an injury or illness prevents
you from working
Life insurance—helps pay bills and your
family’s future financial needs after you die
Auto insurance—protects you against
financial loss if you have a car accident
Homeowner’s insurance—pays you if
there is damage to your home, or for loss of
personal property due to damage or theft
Flood insurance—protects you against
property loss from flooding
Renter’s insurance—pays claims for
damage or loss of your personal property as
a renter Pet insurance—helps pay
veterinary bills for your pet
Crop and livestock insurance—protects
your farm from loss due to natural disasters
or declining prices
Catastrophic health care insurance—
covers certain types of expensive medical
care, like hospitalizations
College tuition insurance—refunds
college tuition if you must withdraw because
no matter where you are in the world. The
policy term is flexible, so you can purchase
it only for the time you will be out of the
country.
Liability insurance—pays if you are sued
for negligence or injury to another person
Host protection insurance—protects you if
you rent your home out or use your car to
drive others for a fee
Travel insurance—protects against losses
during travel. There are four kinds of travel
insurance: travel cancelation insurance,
baggage or personal effects coverage,
emergency medical coverage, and
accidental death.
Umbrella insurance—supplements the
insurance you already have for home, auto,
and other personal property. Umbrella
insurance can help cover costs that exceed
the limits of other policies.
Having an Insurance
Before you buy insurance, do your
homework. Research the insurance
company to be sure that the company is
financially sound and provides good service.
Also find out what factors matter so that you
can get the coverage you need at the best
price.
Check Out the Insurance Company
Make sure Make sure

of a serious injury or illness the insurance

company is
you receive a
written policy.
licensed and This tells you

Dental and vision insurance—helps pay covered by

the stage’s
that the agent
forwarded
guaranty Find out what your premium
your dental or vision care expenses Find out
whether the
Check the
financial
fund. The
fund pays
others think
about the
to the
insurance

Identity theft insurance—reimburses you

government stability and Research the claims in company’s company. If
offers any soundness of company’s case the customer you don’t
information the insurance complaint company service by receive a

for the cost of restoring your identity and concerning

insurance
company with
credit rating
record. defaults. Your
state
reading
online
policy within
60 days,
companies agencies. insurance reviews from contact your

repairing credit reports if you’re a victim of and rates department

can provide
current
customers.
agent and the
insurance
this company.
identity theft. This insurance may be part of information.

your homeowner’s insurance policy or a

stand-alone policy. International health
care insurance—provides health coverage
Find the Best Rates
Compare quotes from several companies to
get the best better deal.
Ask your insurance agent about discounts.
You may be able to get a lower premium if
you have safety features in your home, such
as deadbolt locks, smoke detectors, an
alarm system, storm shutters, or fire-
retardant roofing material. Similarly, you
may save on car insurance based on your
vehicle’s safety features, the number of
miles you drive, your age, good grades if
you’re a student, and your driving record.
You might also be able to get discounts if
you’re a member of civic or alumni
associations, or have multiple policies with
the same company.
Consider a higher deductible. Increasing
your deductible by just a few hundred
dollars can make a big difference in your
premiums.
 Personal Insurance
 Disability Insurance
 Health Insurance Plans
 Life Insurance
 Disability Insurance
Disability insurance protects individuals
and their families from financial hardship
when illness or injury prevents them from
earning a living. Many employers offer some
form of disability coverage to employees, or
you can buy an individual disability
insurance policy.
Types of Disability Policies
There are two types of disability policies:
 Short-term disability policies have
a maximum benefit of two years.
 Long-term disability policies have
benefits that can last the rest of your
life.
Employers may offer short-term disability
coverage, long-term disability coverage, or
integrate both of these as part of a
competitive employee benefits package.
When purchasing individual disability
insurance coverage, you should ask:
How is disability defined?
How is disability defined?
How is disability defined?
How is disability defined?
Social Security Disability and
Supplemental Security Income Programs
Both programs are administered by the
Social Security System (SSS), and they
serve as the largest of several programs
that offer assistance to people with
disabilities.
The Social Security disability insurance
program pays benefits to you and certain
members of your family if you are “insured,”
meaning that you have worked long enough
and paid Social Security taxes. The
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
program pays benefits based on financial
need.
Health Insurance Plans
Health insurance helps you pay for medical
services and sometimes prescription
drugs. Once you purchase insurance
coverage, you and your health insurer each
agree to pay a part of your medical
expenses–usually a certain dollar amount or
percentage of the expenses.
Types of Health Insurance Plans
When purchasing health insurance, your
choices typically fall into one of three
categories:
Traditional fee-for-service health
insurance plans are usually the most
expensive choice, but they offer you the
most flexibility in choosing health care
providers.
Health maintenance organizations
(HMOs) offer lower co-payments and cover
the costs of more preventive care, but your
choice of health care providers is limited to
those who are part of the plan.
Preferred provider organizations (PPOs)
offer lower co-payments like HMOs but give
you more flexibility in selecting a provider.
Choosing a Health Insurance Plan
Read the fine print when choosing among
different health care plans. Also ask a lot of
questions, such as:
Do I have the right to go to any
doctor, hospital, clinic, or pharmacy
I choose?
Are specialists, such as eye doctors
and dentists, covered?
Does the plan cover special
conditions or treatments such as
pregnancy, psychiatric care, and
physical therapy?
Does the plan cover home care or
nursing home care?
Will the plan cover all medications
my physician may prescribe?
 What is the most I will have to pay
out of my own pocket to cover
expenses?
 If there is a dispute about a bill or
service, how is it handled?
What are the deductibles? Are there any co-
payments? Deductibles are the amount you
must pay before your insurance company
will pay a claim. These differ from co-
payments, which are the amount of money
you pay when you receive medical services
or a prescription.
Life Insurance
A life insurance policy states that you will
pay premiums to an insurance company
over time, and, in exchange, the company
will pay a lump sum amount to a designated
beneficiary upon your death. The money
from your life insurance policy can help
pay bills and help support your surviving
family members’ living expenses. You
may need to adjust the amount of your life
insurance policy related to major life events,
like buying a home, getting married, or
having a child.
There is no set amount of life insurance you
need. If you have dependents you want to
provide for, or leave an inheritance to
charities, you may need more life insurance
than someone without dependents or
charitable causes to support. Consider
potential future expenses that your loved
ones may need. The life insurance payout
could be used to replace the money you
would have earned to pay for their college
education, moving expenses, or retirement.
You can buy an individual life insurance
policy from an insurance agent. You may
also be part of a group life insurance policy
through your employer or civic organization.
There are two main types of life
insurance policies:
Whole (or universal) life insurance
policies are considered permanent. As long
as you pay the premium, the policy is in
effect. In addition to paying a benefit upon
your death, whole life insurance policies
also have an investment or savings
component. This means that you
accumulate cash value over the life of the
policy, so you can borrow money from these
types of policies if you need to.
Term life insurance policies are in effect
for a certain period of time, or term. If you
have this type of policy and pass away
during the term that the policy is in effect,
the insurance company will pay a benefit. If
you live past the time that the policy is in
effect, the insurance company won’t pay a
benefit or give you a refund.
Term life insurance policies are usually
less expensive than whole life insurance
policies. This is because term life insurance
policies only cover a set amount of time,
while whole life insurance policies are
intended to be permanent and because part
of the money you pay is put away for
savings.
Lost Life Insurance Policies
If you have misplaced a life insurance
policy, your state’s insurance commission
may be able to help you locate a copy of it.
A policy locator service can search for it for
a fee.
 Lesson 8: Insuring your Resources part 2

INTRODUCTION things affect the premiums you pay for this

You have already know what are the protection, including your:
different types of risks and how to manage  Gender
them. In this lesson, we will discuss how to  Age
identify risks to your assets and ways you  Marital status
can reduce those risks. If you have your  Credit history
vehicle (motorcycle or car) & home, this will  Car’s make and model
help you protect your assets.  City and neighborhood

LEARNING CONTENT Types of Auto Insurance

Every country requires drivers to carry
Assets and Risks minimum levels of auto insurance coverage,
An asset is something you own that has or the equivalent in financial responsibility
value. Risk is the potential for harm. You waivers. These requirements ensure that
can protect the value of your assets by you can pay for property damages or
taking steps to reduce risks. medical expenses. There are several
components that can make up you
Assets = Something you own that has insurance policy:
value  Liability coverage protects you if
Risk = Potential for Harm you are at fault for a collision. It pays
for medical expenses and vehicle
Property Insurance damage for the other driver and
Learn about the different types of insurance passengers.
for you property.  Uninsured motorist coverage
pays for damages to your car and
Automobile Insurance medical expenses if an uninsured
driver hits your car.
Protects Comprehensi  Collision coverage pays to repair
you from ve coverage your vehicle, if you were at fault for
paying the Depending on helps pay for
the collision.
full cost for the policy, it damages to
repairs to may pay for your vehicle  Underinsured motorist coverage
your vehicle disaster– due to theft, pays damages for your car if
that result related fire, or falling someone hits it, but doesn’t have
from an damage objects
enough insurance to cover your
accident
medical expenses and car damages.
 Comprehensive coverage pays for
damages to your car due to theft,
fire, or falling objects.
Auto or Car Insurance Auto insurance requirements vary from
Auto insurance protects you from paying the state to state, but liability coverage is
full cost for vehicle repairs and medical mandatory in most states. You may choose
expenses due to a collision. A number or to opt out of certain types of coverage,
depending on your budget and car’s age.
Check with you states insurance regulator
to learn more about its requirements and to
research potential insurers.
Be sure to read the declarations page of
your auto insurance policy. This summary
includes your policy’s important details: the
duration of coverage, annual premium, the
maximum amount your insurance company
will pay out for each type of claim, and how
you premium payment is split between each
part of your coverage.
Homeowners Insurance
For people who own Insures you in case
their home someone gets hurt at
you home
renter, do not assume your landlord
carries insurance on your personal
belongings; you may wish to purchase a
separate policy.
What Can Homeowners or Renters
Insurance Cover?
Homeowners or renter’s insurance
may pay claims for:
 damage to your home, garage,
and other outbuildings
 loss of furniture and other
personal
property due to
damage or theft, both at home
and away additional living
Accessibility upgrades, such as an entry ramp or
accessible bathroom features

Amount of insurance
should include the May not cover
value of any significant expensive items,
Insures your home Probably doesn’t upgrades to your such as mobility
and personal cover damage home, including devices like scooters,
property against caused by floods or accessibility upgrades, electric wheelchairs,
damage or loss earthquakes; ask to such as an entry ramp or other accessibility
add a rider if needed or accessible devices; ask to add a
bathroom features rider, if needed

Homeowners and Renters Insurance

Homeowners and renter’s insurance
protect your home and personal
property against damage or loss, and
insures you in case someone gets hurt
while on your property. you may already
have insurance on your home if you expenses if you rent temporary quarters
have a mortgage on the property, while your house is being repaired
because most lenders make insurance a
condition of the loan. Homeowners or renter’s insurance may
Renters insurance, or tenant insurance, also:
offers renters coverage similar to
homeowners’ insurance. If you are a
  include liability for bodily injury and
property damage that you cause to
others through negligence
 include liability for accidents
happening in and around your home,
as well as away from home, for
which you are responsible
 pay for injuries occurring in and
around your home to anyone other
than you or your family provide
limited coverage for money, gold,
jewelry, and stamp and coin
collections cover personal property
in storage
In addition to general shopping for
insurance tips, keep these points in mind
when shopping for homeowner’s
insurance:
 Insure your house, not the land
under it. If you don’t subtract the
value of the land when deciding how
much homeowner’s insurance to
buy, you will pay more than you
should.
 Purchase enough coverage to
replace what is insured.
“Replacement Cost Coverage” gives
you the money to rebuild your home
and replace its contents. An “Actual
Cash Value” policy is cheaper but
pays the difference between your
property’s worth at the time of
loss minus the depreciation for
age and wear.
 Ask about special coverage you
might need. You may have to pay
extra for computers, cameras,
jewelry, art, antiques, musical
instruments, stamp collection, etc.
 Flood and earthquake damage are
not covered by a standard
homeowner’s policy. The cost of a
separate earthquake policy will
depend on the likelihood of
earthquakes in your area.
Homeowners who live in areas
prone to flooding should take
advantage of the National Flood
Insurance Program (NFIP)
 If you are a renter, do not assumer
your landlord carries insurance on
your personal belongings. Purchase
a separate policy for renters.
For help in deciding how much insurance
coverage to buy, contact an insurance
regulator.
Flood Insurance
Since standard homeowner’s insurance
doesn’t cover flooding, it’s important to have
protection against flood damage. If you live
in an area prone to flooding, you should
take advantage of the National Flood
Insurance Program.
Reducing Risks to Your Assets
You cannot eliminate all risks, but you can
reduce some of them.
Be careful
Make with
informed personal
choices information Know your
rights and
Get
that responsibilities insurance
anticipate
risks
Preparing Financially for Disasters
 We will discuss steps you can take
to prepare for a disaster that might
affect your finances.
How Disasters Can Affect Finances
 There are natural disasters, such as
earthquakes, floods, hurricanes,
and tornadoes. There are also
 human-made disasters, such as
terrorism, fires, and hazardous
material incidents.
Disasters can strain us mentally, physically,
emotionally, and financially.
Prepare in Advance for Disasters
 If a disaster occurs, the government
and disaster-relief organizations will
try to help you, but you need to be
ready as well.
 No one is ever 100 percent
prepared for a disaster. To be better
prepared financially, you can take
the following actions before disaster
happens:
 Get the insurance you need
 Set money aside in an emergency
savings fund
 Keep some cash in a safe place
 Sign up for direct deposit
Lesson 9: Investing your Financial Resources
When people have too much money to
spend immediately, that is, an excess of
disposable income, they become savers or
investors. They transfer their excess to
individual, companies, or governments that
have a shortage or too little money to meet
immediate needs. This is almost always
done through an intermediary – a bank or
broker – who can match up the surpluses
and the shortages. If the capital markets
work well, those who need money can get it,
and those who can defer their need can try
to profit from that. When you invest, you are
transferring capital to those who need it on
the assumption that they will be able to
return your capital when you need or want it
and that they will also pay you for its use in
the meantime.
Investing happens over your lifetime. Your
income increases as your career
 Consider arranging for online or
mobile banking
 Keep financial documents in a safe
place
Preparing in advance for
disasters
safe
palce
insurance
cash
mobile
emergency fund banking
direct deposit
progresses. You begin to think about your
investment options.
You may reach that stage of investing
earlier or later in your life, but at some point,
you begin to think beyond your immediate
situation and look to increase your real
wealth and to your future financial health.
Investing is about that future.
Investments and Markets
Before looking at investment planning and
strategy, it is important to take a closer look
at the realm of investments and markets
where investing takes place. Understanding
how markets work, how different
investments work, and how different
investors can use investments is critical in
understanding how to begin to plan your
investment goals and strategies.
You have looked at using the money
markets to save surplus cash for the short
term. Investing is primarily about using the
capital markets to invest surplus cash for
the longer term. As in the money markets,
when you invest in the capital markets, you
are selling liquidity.
The capital markets developed as a way for
buyers to buy liquidity. In the past where
many of our ideas of modern finance began, Financial markets are the following types:
those early buyers were usually monarchs  Bond Market (exchange of long-term debt
or members of the nobility, raising capital to securities, usually in the form of bonds);
finance armies and navies to conquer or  Money Market (lending and borrowing on
defend territories or resources. Many short-term basis, exchange of short-term
securities);
devices and markets were used to raise
 Foreign Exchange Market/ Currency
capital, but the two primary methods that
market (trading of currencies);
have evolved into modern times are the  Predictive Markets (exchange of good or
bond and stock markets. service that takes place for the future)
Generally, a market is a set up where two  and in a Stock market, sellers and buyers
or more parties engage in exchange of exchange shares or what we call STOCKS.
goods, services and information. Ideally a
market is a place where two or more parties Bonds and Bond Markets
are involved in buying and selling (Buyers Bonds are debt. The bond issuer borrows
and Sellers). by selling a bond, promising the buyer
regular interest payments and then
There are different types of market repayment of the principal at maturity. If a
namely: company wants to borrow, it could just
go to one lender and borrow. But if the
 (Shopping malls,
Commodity Market company wants to borrow a lot, it may be
dep’t stores, retail
difficult to find any one investor with the
stores);
capital and the inclination to make large
 (online shopping, a loan, taking a large risk on only one
Virtual Market
eBay, Lazada etc.); borrower. In this case the company may
need to find a lot of lenders who will each
 (Subasta sales, lend a little money, and this is done through
Auction Market
Auction sales); selling bonds.
A bond is a formal contract to repay
 (exchange of raw
borrowed money with interest (often
Factor Market materials to produce
other goods); referred to as the coupon) at fixed intervals.
Corporations and governments (e.g., central
government, municipal, and foreign) borrow
 (exchange of illegal by issuing bonds. The interest rate on the
Black Market goods like drugs bond may be a fixed interest rate or a
and weapons); floating interest rate that changes as
underlying interest rates – rates on debt of
 (exchange of
information and
comparable companies – change.
Knowledge Market
knowledge based
products); and

 (exchange of rights
Financial Market and liquid assets
like money);
(Underlying interest rates include the prime
rate that banks charge their most
trustworthy borrowers and the target rates
set by the Federal Reserve Bank.)
There are many features of bonds other
than the principal and interest, such as the
issue price (the price you pay to buy the
bond when it is first issued) and the
maturity date (when the issuer of the bond
has to repay you). Bonds may also be
“callable”: redeemable before maturity
(paid off early). Bonds may also be issued
with various covenants or conditions that
the borrower must meet to protect the
bondholders, the lenders. For example, the
borrower, the bond issuer, may be required
to keep a certain level of cash on hand,
relative to its short-term debts, or may not
be allowed to issue more debt until this
bond paid off.
Stocks and Stock Markets
Stocks or equity securities are shares of
ownership. When you buy a share of stock,
you buy a share of the corporation. The size
of your share of the corporation is
proportional to the size of your stock
holding. Since corporations exist to create
profit for the owners when you buy a share
of the corporation, you buy a share of its
future profits. You are literally sharing in the
fortunes of the company.
Unlike bonds, however, share do not
promise you any returns at all. If the
company does create a profit, some of that
profit may be paid out to owners as a
dividend, usually in cash but sometimes in
additional shares of stock. The company
may pay no dividend at all, however, in
which case the value of your shares should
rise as the company’s profit rise. But even if
the company is profitable, the value of its
shares may not rise, for a variety of reasons
having to do more with the markets or the
larger economy than with the company
itself. Likewise, when you invest in stocks,
you share the company’s losses, which may
decrease the value of your shares.
Corporations issue shares to raise capital.
When shares are issued and traded in a
public market such as a stock exchange,
the corporation is “publicly traded.” There
are many stock exchanges around the
world. In the Philippines we have the
Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). In the
United States, there are New York Stock
Exchange (now NYSE Euronext), and the
NASDAQ, a computerized trading system
managed by the National Association of
Securities Dealers (the “AQ” stands for
“Automated Quotations”).
Only members of an exchange may trade
on the exchange, so to buy or sell stocks
you must go through a broker who is a
member of the exchange. Brokers also
manage your account and offer varying
levels of advice and access to research.
Most brokers have Web-based trading
systems. Some discount brokers offer
minimal advice and research along with
minimal trading commissions and fees.
Commodities and Derivatives
Commodities are resources or raw
materials, including the following:
Agricultural products (food and fibers), such
as soybeans, pork bellies, and cotton
Energy resources such as oil, coal, and
natural gas
Precious metals such as gold, silver, and
copper
Currencies, such as the peso, dollar, yen, and
euro
 Commodity trading was formalized
because of the risks inherent in producing
commodities – raising and harvesting
agricultural products or natural resources –
and the resulting volatility of commodity
prices. As farming and food production
became mechanized and required a larger
investment of capital, commodity producers
and users wanted a way to reduce volatility
by locking in prices over the longer term.
The answer was futures and forward
contracts. Futures and forward contracts
or forwards are a form of derivatives, the
term for any financial instrument whose
value is derived from the value of another
security. For example, suppose it is now
July 2020. If you know that you will want to
have wheat in May of 2021, you could wait
until May 2021 and buy the wheat at the
market price, which is unknown in July
2020. Or you could buy it now, paying
today’s price, and store the wheat until May
2021. Doing so would remove your future
price uncertainty, but you would incur the
cost of storing the wheat.
Alternatively, you could buy a futures
contract for May 2021 wheat in July 2020.
You would be buying May 2021 wheat at a
price that is now known to you (as stated in
the futures contract), but you will not take
delivery of the wheat until May 2021. The
value of the futures contract to you is that
you are removing the future price
uncertainty without incurring any storage
costs. In July 2020 the value of a contract to
buy May 2021 wheat depends on what the
price of wheat actually turns out to be in
May 2021.
Forward contracts are traded privately, as a
direct deal made between the seller and the
buyer, while futures contracts are traded
publicly on an exchange such as the Manila
Commodity Futures Market/ Manila
International Futures Exchange.
When you buy a forward contract for wheat, for
example, you are literally buying future wheat,
wheat that doesn’t yet exist. Buying it now, you
avoid any uncertainty about the price, which
may change. Likewise, by writing a contract to
sell future wheat, you lock in a price for your
crop or a return for your investment in seed and
fertilizer.
Futures and forward contracts proved so
successful in shielding against some
risk that they are now written for many
more types of “commodities,” such as
interest rates and stock market indices.
More kinds of derivatives have been created
as well, such as options. Options are the
right but not the obligation to buy or sell at
as specific price at a specific time in the
future. Options are commonly written on
shares of stock as well as on stock indices,
interest rates, and commodities.
Derivatives such as forwards, futures, and
options are used to hedge or protect against
an existing risk or to speculate on a future
price. For a number of reasons,
commodities and derivatives are riskier than
investing in stocks and bonds and are not
the best choice for most individual investors.
Mutual Funds, Index Funds, and
Exchange-Traded Funds
A mutual fund is an investment portfolio
consisting of securities that an individual
investor can invest in all at once without
having to buy each investment individually.
The fund thus allows you to own the
performance of many investments while
actually buying – and paying the transaction
cost for buying – only one investment.
Mutual funds have become popular
because they can provide diverse
investments with a minimum of transaction
costs. In theory, they also provide good
returns through the performance of
professional portfolio managers.
An index fund is a mutual fund designed to
mimic the performance of an index, a particular
collection of stocks or bonds whose
performance is tracked as an indicator of the
performance of an entire class or type of
security. An index fund is mutual fund invested
in the same securities as the index and so
requires minimal management and should have
minimal management fees or costs.
Mutual funds are created and managed by
mutual fund companies or by brokerages or
even banks. To trade shares of a mutual
fund you must have an account with the
company, brokerage, or bank. Mutual
funds are a large component of
individual retirement accounts and of
defined contribution plans.
Mutual fund shares are valued at the close
of trading each day and orders placed the
next day are executed at that price until it
closes. An exchange-traded fund (ETF), a
fund that tracks an index or a commodity or
a basket of assets but is traded like stocks
on a stock exchange, is a mutual fund that
trades like a share of stock in that it is
valued continuously throughout the day, and
trades are executed at the market price.
The ways the capital can be bought and
sold is limited only by the imagination.
When corporations or governments need
financing, they invent ways to entice
investors and promise them a return. The
last thirty years has seen an explosion in
financial engineering, the innovation of
new financial instruments through
mathematical pricing models. This explosion
has coincided with the ever-expanding
powers of the computer, allowing
professional investors to run the millions of
calculations involved in sophisticated pricing
models. The Internet also gives amateurs
instantaneous access to information and
accounts.
Much of the modern portfolio theory that
spawned these innovations (i.e., the idea of
using the predictability or returns to manage
portfolios of investments) is based on an
infinite time horizon, looking at performance
over very long periods of time. This has
been very valuable for institutional investors
(e.g., pension funds, insurance companies,
endowments, foundations, and trusts) as it
gives them the chance to magnify returns
over their infinite horizons.
For most individual investors, however,
most portfolio theory may present too much
risk or just be impractical. Individual
investors don’t have an infinite time horizon.
You have only a comparatively small
amount of time to create wealth and to
enjoy it. For individual investors, investing is
a process of balancing the demands and
desires of returns with the costs of risk,
before times run out.
Investment Planning
Allison has a few hours to slay while her
flight home is delayed. She loves her job as
an analyst for a management consulting
firm, but the travel is getting old. As she
looks at the many investment magazines
and paperbacks on display and the several
screens all tuned to financial news networks
and watches people hurriedly checking their
stocks on their mobile phones, she begins
to think about her own investments. She
has been paying her bills, paying back loans
and trying to save some money for a while.
Her uncle just died and left her an
inheritance of Php250,000. She is thinking
of investing it since she is getting by in her
salary and has no immediate plans for this
payout.
Allison is wondering how to get into some
serious investing. There is no lack of
information or advice about investing, but
Allison isn’t sure how to get started.
Allison may not realize that there are as
many different investment strategies as
there are investors. The planning process is
similar to planning a budget plan or savings
plan. You figure out where you
Investment policy statements, outlines of the
inventor’s goals and constraints, are popular
with institutional investors such as pension
plans, insurance companies, or nonprofit
endowments. Institutional investment decisions
typically are made by professional managers
operating on instructions from a higher authority,
usually a board of directors or trustees. The
directors or trustees may approve the
investment policy statement and then leave the
specific investment decisions up to the
professional investment managers. The
managers use the policy statement as their
guide to the directors’ wishes and concerns.
are, where you want to be, and how to get
there. One way to get started is to draw up
an individual investment policy statement.
This idea of a policy statement has been
adapted for individual use, providing a
helpful, structured framework for investment
planning – and thinking. The advantages of
drawing up an investment policy to use as a
planning framework include the following:
The process of creating the policy
requires thinking through your goals
and expectations and adjusting those
to what is possible.
The policy statement gives you an
active role in your investment planning,
even if the more specific details and
implementation are left to a
professional investment advisor.
Your policy statement is portable, so
even if you change advisors, your plan
can go with you.
Your policy statement is flexible; it can
and should be updated at least once a
year.
A policy statement is written in two parts.
The first part lists your return objectives and
risk preferences as an investor. The second
part lists your constraints on investment. It
sometimes is difficult to reconcile the two
parts. That is, you may need to adjust your
statement to improve your chances of
achieving your return objectives within your
risk preferences without violating your
constraints.
Defining Return Objective and Risk
Defining return objectives is the process of
quantifying the required annual term (e.g., 5
percent, 10 percent) necessary to meet your
investment goals. If your investment goals
are unclear (e.g., to “increase wealth”), then
any positive return will do. Usually,
however, you have some specific goals –
for example, to finance a child’s or
grandchild’s education, to have a certain
amount of wealth at retirement, to buy a
sailboat on your fiftieth birthday, and so on.
Once you have defined goals, you must
determine when they will happen and how
much they will cost, or how much you will
have to have invested to make your dreams
come true. The rate of return that your
investments must achieve to reach your
goals depends on how much you have to
invest to start with, how long you have to
invest it, and how much you need to fulfill
your goals.
As in Allison’s case, your goals may not be
so specific. Your thinking may be more
along the lines of “I want my money to grow
and not lose value” or “I want the
investment to provide a little extra spending
money until my salary rises as my career
advances.” In that case, your return
objective can be calculated based on the
role that these funds play in your life: safety
net; emergency fund, extra spending
money, or nest egg for the future.
However specific (or not) your goals may
be, the quantified return objective defines to
annual performance that you demand from
your investments. Your portfolio can then be
structured – you can choose your
investments – such that it can be expected
to provide that performance.
If your return objectives is more than can be
achieved given your investment and
expected market conditions, then you know
to scale down your goals, or perhaps find a
different way to fund them. For example, if
Allison wanted to stop working in ten years
and start her own business, she probably
would not be able to achieve this goal solely
by investing her Php250,000 inheritances,
even in a bull (up) market earning higher
rates of return.
The greater the RISK, the greater the RETURN.
In investing there is a direct relationship
between risk and return, and risk is costly.
The mature of these relationships has
fascinated and frustrated investors since the
origin of capital markets and remains a
subject of investigation, exploration, and
debate. To invest is to take risk. To invest
is to separate yourself from your money
through actual distance – you literally give it
to someone else – or through time. There is
always some risk that what you get back is
worth less (or costs more) than what you
invested (a loss) or less than what you
might have had if you had done something
else with your money (opportunity cost).
The more risk you are willing to take, the
more potential return you can make, but the
higher the risk, the more potential losses
and opportunity costs you may incur.
Individuals have different risk tolerances.
Your risk tolerance is your ability and willingness
to assume risk.
Your ability to assume risk is based on your
asset base, your time horizon, and your
liquidity needs. In other words, your ability
to take investment risks is limited by how
much you have to invest, how long you
have to invest it, and your need for your
portfolio to provide cash – for use rather
than reinvestment – in the meantime.
Your willingness to take risk is shaped by
your “personality”, your experiences, and
your knowledge and education. Attitudes
are shaped by life experiences, and
attitudes toward risk are no different.
Figure 12.7 “Risk Tolerance” shows how
your level of risk tolerance develops.
Risk Tolerance
Asset
Base
Time
Ability Horizon
Liquidity can slow your progress from investing
Risk
Needs
Tolerance
Personality addition, you will have ongoing expenses
Willingness Experience to use some liquidity to cover your
Knowledge transaction costs such as brokerage fees
Investment advisors may try to gauge your
attitude toward risk by having you answer a
series of questions on a formal
questionnaire or by just talking with you
about your investment approach. For
example, an investor who says, “It’s more
important to me to preserve what I have
than make big gains in the markets,” is
relatively risk averse. The investor who
says, “I just want to make a quick profit,” is
probably more of as risk seeker
Once you have determined your return
objective and risk tolerance (i.e., what it will
take to reach your goals and what you are
will and able to risk to get there) you may
have to reconcile the two. You may find that
your goals are not realistic unless you are
willing to take on more risk. If you are
unwilling or unable to take on more risk, you
may have to scale down your goals.
Defining Constraints
Defining constraints is a process of
recognizing any limitation that may
impede or slow or divert progress
toward your goals. The more you can
anticipate and include constraints in your
planning, the less likely they will throw you
off course. Constraints include the following:
Liquidity needs
Time available
Tax obligations
Legal requirements
Liquidity needs, or the needs to use cash,
Unique circumstances
because you have to divert cash from your
investment portfolio in order to spend it. In
from investing. For example, you will have
and management fees.
You may also wish to use your portfolio as
a source of regular income or to finance
asset purchases, such as the down
payment on a home or a new car or new
appliances.
While these may be happy transactions for
you, for your portfolio they are negative
events, because they take away value from
your investment portfolio. Since your
portfolio’s ability to earn return is based on
its value, whenever you take away from that
value, you are reducing its ability to earn.
Time is another determinant of your
portfolio’s earning power. The more time
you have to let your investments earn, the
more earnings you can amass. Or, the more
time you have to reach your goals, the more
slowly you can afford to get there, earnings
less return each year but taking less risk as
you do. Your time horizon will depend on
your age and life stage and on your goals
and their specific liquidity needs.
Tax obligations are another constraint,
because paying taxes takes value away
from your investments. Investment value
may be taxed in many ways (as income tax,
capital gains tax, property tax, estate tax, or
gift tax) depending on how it is invested,
how its returns are earned, and how
ownership is transferred if it is bought or
sold.
Investors typically want to avoid, defer, or
minimize paying taxes, and some
investment strategies will do that better than
others. In any case, your individual tax
liabilities may become a constraint in
determining how the portfolio earns to best
avoid, defer, or minimize taxes.
Legalities also can be a constraint if the
portfolio is not owned by you as an
individual investor but by a personal trust or
a family foundation. Trusts and foundations
have legal constraints defined by their
structure.
“Unique circumstances” refer to your
individual preferences and values as an
investor. For example, some investors
believe in socially responsible investing
(SRI), so they want their funds to be
invested in companies that practice good
corporate governance, responsible
citizenship, fair trade practices, or
environmental stewardship.
Some investors don’t want to finance
companies that make objectionable
products or by-products
is the term for taking
Divestment money out of
investments.
or have labor or trade practices reflecting
objectionable political views.
Grassroots political movements often
include divestiture campaigns, such as
student demands that their universities stop
investing in companies that do business
with nondemocratic or oppressive
governments.
Socially responsible investment is the
term for investments based on ideas
about products or businesses that are
desirable or objectionable. These
qualities are in the eye of the beholder,
however, and vary among investors. Your
beliefs and values are unique to you and to
your circumstances in investing and may
change over time.
Measuring Return and Risk
You want to choose investments that will
combine to achieve the return objectives
and level of risk that’s right for you, but how
do you know what the right combination will
be? You can’t predict the future, but you can
make an educated guess based on an
investment’s past history. To do this, you
need to know how to read or use the
information available. Perhaps the most
critical information to have about an
investment is its potential return and
susceptibility to types of risk.
Return
Returns are always calculated as annual
rates of return, or the percentage of
return created for each unit (peso) of
original value. If an investment earns 5
percent, for example, that means that for
every Php5000 invested, you would earn
Php250 per year (because 250 = 5% of
Php5000).
Returns are created in two ways: the
investment creates income or the
investment, you need to know the
income created, the gain (loss) in value,
and the original value at the beginning of
the year. The percentage return can be
calculated as:
[Income + Gain] ÷ Original value = percentage rate
of return
[Income + (Ending value – Original value)] ÷
Original value = percentage rate or return
Note that if the ending value is greater than
the original value, then Ending value –
Original value > 0 (is greater than zero), and
you have a gain that adds to your return. If
the ending value is less, then Ending value
– Original value < 0 (is less than zero), and
you have a loss that detracts from you
return.
If there is no gain or loss, if Ending value
and Original value = 0 (is the same), then
your return is simply the income that the
investment created.
For example, if you buy a share of stock for
Php5000, and it pays no dividend, and a
year later the market price is Php5250, then
your return = [0 + (5250 – 5000)] ÷ 5000 =
5%. If the same stock paid a dividend of
Php100, then your return = [100 + 95250 –
5000)] ÷ 5000 = 350÷ 5000=7%.
If an investment was worth Php500,000 five
years ago and is worth 701,300 today, then
500,000 x (1 + r)5 = 701,500. Solving for r –
the annual rate of return, assuming you
have not taken the returns out in the
meantime – and using a calculator, a
computer application, or doing the math,
you get 7 percent. So the 500,000
investment must have earned at a rate of 7
percent per year to be worth 701,300 five
years later, other factors being equal.
While information about current and past
returns is useful, investment professionals
are more concerned with the expected
return for the investment, that is, how much
it may be expected to earn in the future.
Estimating the expected return is
complicated because many factors (i.e.,
current economic conditions, industry
conditions, and market conditions) may
affect that estimate.
Returns are the value created by an
investment, through either income or
gains. Returns are also your compensation
for investing, for taking on some or all of the
risk of the investment, whether it is a
corporation, government, parcel of real
estate, or work of art. Even is there is no
risk, you must be paid for the use of liquidity
that you give up to the investment (by
investing).
Returns are the benefits from investing,
but they must be larger than its costs.
There are at least two costs to investing: the
opportunity cost of giving up cash and
giving up all your other uses of that cash
until you get it back in the future and the
cost of the risk you take – the risk that you
won’t get it all back.
Risk
Investment risk is the idea that an
investment will not perform as expected,
that its actual return will deviate from the
expected return. Risk is measure by the
amount of volatility, that is, the difference
between actual returns and average
(expected) returns. This difference is
referred to as the standard deviation.
Returns with a large standard deviation
(showing the greatest variance from the
average) have higher volatility and are
riskier investments.
What risks are there? What would cause an
investment to unexpectedly over –
underperform?
Starting from the top and working down,
there are:
economic industry company asset class market
risks risks risks risks risks
Economic risks are risks that something
will upset the economy as a whole. The
economic cycle may swing from expansion
to recession, for example; inflation or
deflation may increase, unemployment
may increase, or interest rates may
fluctuate. These macroeconomic factors
affect everyone doing business in the
economy. Most businesses are cyclical,
growing when the economy grows and
contracting when the economy contracts.
Consumers tend to spend more disposable
income when they are more confident about
economic growth and the stability of their
jobs and incomes. They tend to be more
willing and able to finance purchases with
debt or with credit, expanding their ability to
purchase durable goods. So, demand for
most goods and services increases as an
economy expands, and businesses expand
too. An exception is businesses that are
countercyclical. Their growth accelerates
when the economy is in a downturn and
slows when the economy expands. For
example, low-priced fast food chains
typically have increased sales in an
economic downturn because people
substitutes fast food for more expensive
restaurant meals as they worry more about
losing their jobs and incomes.
Industry risks usually involve economic
factors that affect an entire industry or
developments in technology that affect an
industry’s markets. An example is the effect
of a sudden increase in the price of oil (a
macroeconomic event) on the airline
industry. Every airline is affected by such an
event, as an increase in the price of airplane
fuel increases airline costs and reduces
profits. An industry such as real estate is
vulnerable to changes in interest rates. A
rise in interest rates, for example, makes it
harder for people to borrow money to
finance purchases, which depresses the
value of real estate.
Company risk refers to the characteristics
of specific businesses or firm that affect
their performance, making them more or
less vulnerable to economic and
industry risks. These characteristics
include how much debt financing the
company uses, how well it creates
economies of scale, how efficient its
inventory management is, how flexible its
labor relationships are, and so on.
The asset class that an investment belongs
to can also bear on its performance and
risk. Investments (assets) are categorized in
terms of the markets they trade in. Broadly
defined, asset classes include:
corporate stock or equities (shares in public
corporations, domestic, or foreign);
bonds or the public debts of corporation or
governments;
commodities or resources (e.g., oil, coffee, or gold);
derivatives or contracts based on the performance of
the other underlying assets;
real estate (both residential and commercial);
fine artthose
Within and collectibles (e.g., stamps,
broad categories, coins,are
there baseball
cards, or vintage cars).
finer distinctions. For example, corporate
stock is classified as large cap, mid cap, or
small cap, depending on the size of the
corporation as measured by its market
capitalization (the aggregate value of its
stock). Bonds are distinguished as
corporate or government and as short-term,
intermediate-term, or long-term, depending
on the maturity date.
Risks can affect entire asset classes.
Changes in the inflation rate can make
corporate bonds more or less valuable, for
example, or more or less able to create
valuable returns. In addition, changes in a
market can affect an investment’s value.
When the stock market fell unexpectedly
and significantly, all stocks were affected,
regardless of relative exposure to other
kinds of risk.
As you can see, the link between risk and
return is reciprocal. The question for
investors and their advisors is: How can you
get higher returns with less risk?
Diversification
Every investor wants to maximize return,
the earnings or gains from giving up
surplus cash. And every investor wants to
maximize risk, because it is costly. To invest
is to assume risk, and you assume risk
expecting to be compensated through
return. The more risk assumed, the more
the promised return. So, to increase return
you must increase risk. To lessen risk, you
must expect less return, but another way to
lessen risk is to diversify – to spread out
your investments among a number of
different asset classes. Investing in different
asset classes reduces your exposure to
economic, asset class, and market risks.
Concentrating investment concentrates risk.
Diversifying investments spreads risk by
having more than one kind of investment
and thus more one kind of risk. To truly
diversify, you need to invest in assets that
are not vulnerable to one or more kinds of
risk. For example, you may want to diversify
between cyclical and countercyclical
investments, reducing economic risk;
among different among different among different
sectors of the kinds of the kinds of firms,
economy, investments, reducing
reducing reducing company
industry asset class risks;
risks; risks;
To diversify well, you have to look at your
collection of investments as a whole – as a
portfolio – rather than as a gathering of
separate investments. If you choose the
investments well, if they are truly different
from each other, the whole can actually be
more valuable than the sum of its parts.
Steps to Diversification
In traditional portfolio theory, there are three
levels or steps to diversifying: capital
allocation, asset allocation, and security
selection.
Capital allocation is diversifying your
capital between risky and riskless
investments. A "riskless" asset is the short-
term (less than ninety-day) Treasury bill.
Because it has such a short time to
maturity, it won't be much affected by
interest range changes, and it is probably
impossible for the government to become
insolvent - go bankrupt - and to have default
on its debt within such as short time.
The capital allocation decision is the first
diversification decision. It determines the
portfolio's overall exposure to risk, or the
proportion of the portfolio of the portfolio
that is invested in risky assets. That, in turn,
will determine the portfolio's level of return.
The second diversification decision is asset
allocation, deciding which asset classes,
and therefore which risks and which
markets, to invest in. Asset allocations are
specified in terms of the percentage of the
portfolio's total value that will be invested
in each asset class. To maintain the desired
allocation, the percentages are adjusted
periodically as asset values change.
Asset allocation is based on the expected
returns and relative risk of each asset class
and how it will contribute to the return and
risk of the portfolio as a whole. If the asset
classes you choose are truly diverse, then
the portfolio's risk can be lower than the
sum of the asset's risks.
One example of an asset allocation strategy
is life cycle investing - changing your
asset allocation as you age. When you
retire, for example, and forgo income from
working, you become dependent on income
from your investments. As you approach
retirement age, therefore, you typically shift
your asset allocation to less risky asset
classes to protect the value of your
investments.
Security selection is the third step in
diversification, choosing individual
investments within each asset class.
Here is the chance to achieve industry or
sector and company diversification. For
example, of you decided to include
corporate stock in your portfolio (asset
allocation), you decide which corporation's
stock to invest in. Choosing corporations in
different industries, or companies of
different sizes or ages, will diversify your
stock holdings. You will have less risk than
if you invested in just one corporation's
stock. Diversification is not defined by the
number of investments but by their different
characteristics and performance.
Investment Strategies
Capital allocation decides the amount of
overall risk in the portfolio; asset allocation
tries to maximize the return you can get for
that amount of risk. Security selection
further diversifies within each asset class.
Levels of Diversification
Just as life cycle investing is a strategy for
asset allocation, investing in index funds is
a strategy for security selection. Indexes are
a way of measuring the performance of an
entire asset class by measuring returns for
portfolio containing all the investments in
that asset class. Essentially, the index
becomes a benchmark for the asset class,
a standard against which any specific
investment in that asset class can be
measured. An index fund is an investment
that holds the same securities as the index,
so it provides a way for you to invest in an
entire asset class without having to select
particular securities.
There are indexes and index funds for most
asset classes. By investing in an index, you
are achieving the most diversification
possible for that asset class without having
to make individual investments, that is,
without having to make any security
selection decisions. This strategy bypassing
the security selection decision is called
passive management. It also has the
advantage of saving transaction costs
(broker's fee) because you can invest in the
entire index through only one transaction
rather than the many transactions that
picking investments would require.
In contrast, making security selection
decisions to maximize returns and minimize
risk is called active management. Investors
who favor active management feel that the
advantages of picking specific investments,
after careful research and analysis, are
worth the added transaction costs. Actively
managed portfolios may achieve
diversification based on the quality, rather
than the quantity, of securities selected.
Also, asset allocation can be actively
managed through the strategy of market
timing - shifting the asset allocation in
anticipation of the economic shift or market
volatility. For example, if you forecast a
period of higher inflation, you would reduce
allocation in fixed-rate bonds or debt
instruments, because inflation erodes the
value of the fixed repayments. Until the
inflation passes, you would shift your
allocation so that more of your portfolio is in
stocks, say, and less in bonds.
It is rare, however, for active investors or
investment managers to achieve superior
results over time. More commonly, an
investment manager is unable to achieve
consistently better returns within an asset
class than returns of the passively managed
index.
Your best protection against your own
behavioral impulses, however, is to have a
plan based on an objective analysis of
goals, risk tolerance, and constraints, taking
your entire portfolio into account. Review
your plan at least once a year as
circumstances and asset values may have
changed. Having a plan in place helps your
counteract investor biases.
Following your investment policy or plan,
you determine the capital and asset
allocations that can produce your desired
return objective and risk tolerance within
your define constraints. Your asset
allocation should provide diversification, a
good idea whatever your investment
strategy is.
Financial Fraud
Fraud is certainly not an investment
strategy, but bubbles attract fraudulent
schemes as well as investors and
speculators. A loss of market efficiency and
signs of greater investor irrationality attract
con men to the markets. It is easier to
convince a "mark" of the credibility and
viability of a fraudulent schemes when there
is general prosperity, rising asset values,
and lower perceived risks.
During the post-World War I expansion and
stock bubble of the 1920s, for example,
Charles Ponzi created the first Ponzi
scheme, a variation of the classic pyramid
scheme. The pyramid scheme creates
"returns" from new members' deposits
rather than from real earnings in the market.
The originator gets a number of people to
invest, each of whom recruits more, and so
on. The money from each group of
investors, however, rather than being
invested, is used to pay "returns" to the
previous group of investors. The scheme is
uncovered whenever there are not enough
"returns" to go around. Thus, the originator
and early investors may get rich, while later
investors lose all their money.
How can you avoid a fraud? Unfortunately,
there are no foolproof rules. You can be
alert to the investment advisor who pushes
a particular investment. You can do your
own research and gather as much
independent information on the investment
as possible. The best advise, however, may
come in the adage, "it is seems to good to
be true, it probably is." The capital markets
are full of buyers and sellers of capital who
are serious traders. The chances are
extremely slim that any one of them has
discovered a market inefficiency
undiscoverable by others and exploitable
only by him or her. There is too much at
stake.
The Practice of Investment
Once you have developed your investment
policy statement and have determined your
goals, risk tolerance, and constraints, it is
time to choose a strategy and to act.
Whether you entrust a professional advisor
or you do it yourself – or both – depends on
your confidence, knowledge, and the time
and effort that you want to devote to your
decisions. As is true of any personal finance
decision, the ultimate responsibility for and
consequences of your decisions are yours
alone. Whatever you decide, the more you
know about the practice of investment, the
better an investor you will be.
There are four broad areas to take into
account: (1) how to find and evaluate the
information you need, (2) the agents and
fees involved in securities trading, (3) the
ethical standards and regulatory
requirements of the securities industry, and
(4) the special considerations of investing
domestically and internationally.
Economic Indicators
To gauge the economic environment or
cycle, the most widely used measures are
the following:
 Gross domestic product (GDP) is
a common measure of the value of
output.
 Inflation measures the currency’s
purchasing power.
 Unemployment measures the extent
to which the economy creates
opportunities for participation.
 Interest rates affect the future value
of money.
In addition, interest rates are another
financial market indicator. Interest rates are
tracked intently because so much capital
investment, consumer investment (for
houses, cars, education), and even daily
consumption relies on debt financing. The
prime rate, the lowest available retail
interest rate, and average mortgage rates
are the most commonly followed rates.
All these measures indicate how productive
the economy is, how successful it is at
creating jobs and incomes, and how benefit
it can for consumers. A decline in the
leading indicators for three consecutive
months is thought to be a strong sign that
the economy is in a downturn or even
heading toward a recession.
Industry and Company Information
An industry’s media is another place to
research how an industry is doing. Most
industries have online trade journals and
magazines that can give you an idea of
industry activity, optimism, and overall
health. Another source are companies that
specialize in research and analysis of
industry and company data, such as PSE
edge (https://edge.pse.com.ph/).
When professionals analyze a company for
its investment potential, they look first at
financial statements. You can access this
data as well, because all publicly traded
corporations must file both annual and
quarterly financial reports with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC). Those
files are then made available on the SEC’s
Web site (https://www.sec.gov.ph/) through
Electronic Data Gathering and Retrieval, the
SEC’s data bank. The annual reports are
audited, and the quarterly reports are
unaudited, but both have to show the
company’s financial statements and report
on important developments and plans or
explain unusual financial results.
Evaluating Sources of Information
Investment information is readily available.
Accessing that information is easy, but
evaluating its reliability may be difficult,
along with knowing how to use it. It is
important to distinguish between objective
news and subjective commentary. A
reporter should be providing unbiased
information, while a commentator is
providing a subjective analysis of it. A new
article ideally conveys objective facts, while
an editorial or opinion provides subjective
commentary. Both kinds of “news” appear in
all kinds of media, such as print, radio,
television, and the Internet. Most print
publications have continually updated Web
sites, some with streaming video, and there
are financial social networks and blogs
providing online and discussion and
observation.
 Is the site’s bias clear? (Read the
“About.” Look for a statement or
purpose. Read the author’s profile.)
 Does the site have a professional
look? (Look for a clean design and
error-free writing.)
The more questions you can answer in the
affirmative, the higher the credibility of the
Web site and the more you can trust it as a
source of information. The same questions
can be extended to evaluate the reliability of
specific online financial news sources.

Sample of Financial News Sources

As you survey these new sources, be aware
of features that might lead you to trust an
online source of information. The following
are some questions to help you evaluate the
credibility of a Web site:
 Can be the content corroborated?
(Check some of the facts.)
 Is the site recommended by a
content expert? (Look for a rating or
recommendation.)
 Is the author reputable? (Search on
the author’s name.)
 Do you see the site as accurate?
(Check with other sources.)
 Is the author associated with a
reputable organization? (Search on
the organization.)
 Is the publisher reputable? (Search
on the publisher’s name.)
 Are the authors and sources
identified? (Look for source citations
or references.)
 Do you see the site as current?
(Check “last updated” of headline
date.)
 Does the domain include a
trademark name? (Look for a
trademark in the URL.)
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