Investing for Retirement in PH
It’s amazing that this Sub has a lot of young people interested in or has already started investing!
But just my two-cents: starting right is just as important as starting early! So some tips for Gen Zs who, by sheer discipline and consistency, wants to retire as multi-millionaires who could afford their own healthcare, travels, and quality retirement:
Except for MP2, do not invest in local equities or locally-managed foreign equities. Unlike US companies for example that invests a lot in R&D to create value (eg AI), local companies lack innovation and are heavily dependent on consumption. So no innovation= poor growth. Local fund managers charge high costs (even if they say they dont) when you compare it with the alternatives available to you (eg lowcost ETFs with very very low expense ratios).
Use your phone as your best investment instrument. Youtube, chatgpt, tiktok are very good sources of investing for retirement contents for as long as you exercise good judgement as to who to listen to. But back it up also with a little bit of research. The words to search to retire as multimillionaires: “ETFs” “retirement investing” “money cost averaging” “index funds” “financial independence” “frugal rich”, etc. manood din kayo ng video interviews ng quite millionaires!
Be intentional with your money. And that means prioritizing investing over non-essential consumption. If youve wired your mind to prioritize investing, youll see yourself cutting wasteful spending. For example, you want to buy a new shoes costing Php6000 when you still have 2 pairs in good condition, youd say if you put that Php 6000 in an S&P 500 index fund, that could well become 100k in 30 years’ time. Tell yourself: investing for retirement is a PRIORITY NOW. That is if you want to travel, live comfortably, and afford quality healthcare pag tumanda ka. At hindi ka aasa sa mga anak mo (which MUST BE the case).
Keep your investment strategy simple. For myself, I maintain a 3-fund retirement portfolio, all ETFs. That’s my preference. I do not invest in individual stocks. The way I go about it is, since I see a lot of potential in semiconductor companies (NVIDIA, ASML, TSMC, etc), instead on investing on these companies individually, I found an ETFs for semicon! So that’s ultra- high growth but also very votatile and cyclical…but it’s better than individual exposure. When I started buying SMH.L (the ticker for the ETF), it was just aroun 30USD per share 1 year ago. It is now at 105USD per share. Again, simple is better.
When you invest for retirement, think of your investments as lost money. Meaning, once you put it in your brokerage account, it’s gone. Not because the markets will collapse beyond repair, but because you should NOT access it until your retirement. So think of it as GONE. And then imagine walking in SM when you turn 60, and you found a wallet that apparently belong to you, and it’s got millions in it. If you start at 25 and plan to retire at 60, keep losing your money to your retirement investment account for 35 years!
Stay healthly. This is the good thing pag lasing ka sa retirement investing! You’ll consciously live a more healthy lifestyle. Kasi paano mo maeenjoy amg retirement mo kung patay ka na o marami kang sakit.
Ask CHAGPT to project your retirement para mainspire ka! At the rate I am going, and if I continue with discipline what I am doing, I should have at least 180M when I retire at 65. And that is what keeps me going. It fuels me.
Finally, pwede din maging milyonaryo tayong middle-class. Consistency. Discipline. Stay curious.
Happy investing!