How To Invest in the Stock Exchange

Say you have some spare cash sitting in the bank, but are unhappy with the interest rates. One option is to invest that money in the stock exchange.

Of course, investing in stocks is a high-risk activity, especially if done in the short-term. The following advise is for long term investing.

How to buy stocks? The best is to transact online through your bank like BPITrade or trading facilities such as Citiseconline.com. Set aside an amount and start buying stocks.

How to choose which stocks to buy? The idea is to invest in a group of stocks, called an index. For the Philippines, there is what is known as the (Phil Stock Exchange) PSE index, which is a group of 30 stocks that have been selected from various industries and are known to be good performing (mostly blue-chip stocks).

When to sell? For long-term, turn-over is usually after 18 months. Otherwise, you can essentially keep the stocks forever and reap the stock dividends.

Disclaimer: The advise above is at your own risk. I am advising from an amateur's perspective. Get professional advise if needed.

Here is the PSE Index list, together with their stock symbols:

1. Ayala Corporation   AC
2. Aboitiz Equity Ventures   AEV
3. Alliance Global Group, Inc.   AGI
4. Ayala Land   ALI
5. Aboitiz Power   AP
6. Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc.   BDO
7. Bank of the Philippine Islands   BPI
8. DMCI Holdings Inc DMC
9. Energy Development Corporation   EDC
10. First Gen Corporation   FGEN
11. Filinvest Land   FLI
12. First Philippine Holdings Corporation   FPH
13. Globe Telecom   GLO
14. GMA Network   GMA7
15. International Container Terminal Services Inc.   ICT
16. Jollibee Foods Corporation   JFC
17. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company   LC and LCB
18. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company   MBT
19. Megaworld Corporation   MEG
20. Manila Electric Company   MER
21. Manila Water Company   MWC
22. Philippine Stock Index PSE
23. Philex Mining Corporation   PX
24. Robinsons Land Corporation   RLC
25. Security Bank Corporation SECB
26. SM Investments Corporation   SM
27. San Miguel Corporation   SMC and SMCB
28. SM Prime Holdings   SMPH
29. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company   TEL
30. Universal Robina Corporation  URC


PS New changes to the index last Nov 2009. New inclusions: DMC, SBC, and PSE. Removed from the list: ABS, RCB, VLL.