The Step by step guide on how to open a BDO UITF account online.

Recently, we opened a BDO UITF account online and start investing in Peso Balance Fund. Me and my lovely wife agreed to put our “house downpayment fund” to an investment that has minimal risk but has a potential to earn and grow. If you’re planning to invest in BDO UITF, this article might help you.

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The practical examples and lessons we got from sir Fitz Villafuerte’s book helped us in understanding the basic and fundamentals of investing. You can read my review of his Guide to Investing Book here.

Before we dive in into the BDO UITF requirements and steps, I’d like you to take note of these fundamentals and important reminders.

1. Have an investment goal

You should have a target or at least a specific reason why you’re investing.

Investing without an investment goal is like going to a place you don’t really know.

You don’t have direction. And you can get lost along the way.

That’s why it is important to know your destination first.

It could be for your “house downpayment” like us, retirement, your child’s education, dream house, car, vacation etc. Whatever your intention is, it is important to know it first at the start. Make sense?

You can read setting SMART investing goals here to have an idea.

2. You have an emergency fund

Having an emergency fund is important before you start investing.

Why?

Because your investment could go up and down. And in emergency crisis, you cannot just pull-out your investment for  hospital bills, job loss, calamity and other emergency situations.

Additionally it may not be available during weekends, holidays and midnight where you might have an emergency.

So before diving into the investing stage, it is important to build a solid emergency fund first.

Learn the ABC of building emergency fund here.

Again, emergency is for emergency. Investing is investing. Gotcha?

3. Basic knowledge

As I always advocate on this blog, never invest on the things you don’t understand. That’s the no.1 rule to keep your money safe. It’s your money and it is your responsibility to keep and manage them effectively.

Before you dive in BDO UITF or in any kind of investments, make sure you have at least basic knowledge how it works.

You don’t need to memorize terms, rules and the whole part but having the basic and fundamentals how it works is surely a great help.

Reading blogs, watching videos and attending seminars are just one of the easiest ways to learn.

You can also ask or seek assistance to a professional registered financial planner if you want.

Remember that investing in yourself is the best investment of all time.

Whatever works for you, go ahead. Just make sure you know how it works before getting started.

Read the basic of UITF or Unit Investment Trust Fund here.

Ok, so these are just the 3 basic and fundamental things you need to know before starting to invest. There could be additional like life insurance etc. but we’re not going to dive deep with them.

I hope it make sense.

Let’s go now on the requirements and steps on how you can open a BDO UITF.

BDO UITF requirements

We supposed to enroll or open a normal BDO UITF account. Which is to go to the BDO branch nearest, bring all requirements, fill up forms and open the account personally.

But upon checking on official BDO website, it is now allowed to open a BDO UITF account online. Yes, you read it right. Online!

This cut all the hassle going to the bank, falling in line(in some cases) and filing up the forms manually. PLUS some of the bank staffs that do not understand how it works or at least not encouraging you to invest(it happens).

In short, it save time, effort and money.

The only BDO UITF requirements you need when you’re enrolling online is your BDO online savings account.

I previously shared the steps and requirements on how to open BDO savings account here.

This blog also shared the tutorial on how to activate BDO online banking.

Ok, given that you have a BDO savings account and it is enrolled to online banking, you’re good to go.

Steps on how to open BDO UITF account online

Here are the simple steps you need (what we did) if you want to open a BDO UITF account online and start investing.

1. Login to your BDO online banking account.

2. In your BDO Online Banking account, go to “Account Information” then click “My Trust Account View/Transaction” then click “Transaction“. See screenshot below.

You can also create a shortcut of this. Just click the handshake icon on “My Quick Links” on the top left portion of your screen* and then click “Transaction”.

If you can’t find the handshake icon, Click the gear button and select “My Trust Account View/Transaction” from the drop-down menu to update/show the icon. See below.

3. Choose Regular UITF Subscription or EIP Contribution.

In Regular UITF Subscription, you need to have a minimum of P10,000 to invest. So every time you want to add-up your investment, you need to have at least P10,000.

In EIP Contribution, you can invest for as low as P1,000 per month. It will be deducted to your savings account automatically on the schedule you chose.

We opted for EIP to automate our BDO UITF investing.

So every 30th of the month, BDO will deduct the amount we set from our savings account and will invest that in our UITF account to buy units. And the best part is, it happens automatically. Yes, they are automated.

We just have to monitor our investments from time to time.

Note: For first-time UITF investors like us, a representative from BDO Trust and Investments Group (TIG) will call you within two (2) banking days to explain and ensure that you understand your risk profile and the risks involved in investing in the UITFs. Only after that, your UITF account will be activated.

We got the call after 2 days after opening the UITF account.

4. Take the Investor Profile Questionnaire (IPQ)/Client Suitability Assessment. This will help BDO to propose what kind of UITF suits your personality.

It’s like assessing yourself in with your financial situation and risk appetite.

If you already know what type of UITF fund you’re going to invest, you just have to answer this for formality.

These are the available types of BDO UITF funds.

For reference and additional information, visit BDO official website.

We invested in BDO UITF Peso Balance Fund.

Why?

Because we think this is the best type of UITF suits our goal. You may have different options. As I shared from the start, you need to have an investment goal before getting started.

But if you still don’t have an idea on what type of UITF fund you’re going to invest, please answer the questions honestly and it will suggest what’s the best type of UITF for you.

It will provide you the ideal fund based on your answers.

5. After answering the questionnaire, as mentioned, the BDO system will offer you the type of UITF you can invest in.

Again make sure you have the basic knowledge to understand what you’re venturing to.

If you selected EIP option like us, you will encode your contribution details( the amount you will invest, frequency of contribution & which savings account it will be deducted if you have multiple savings account).

6. You also need and it is important to read the following documents for additional information.

• Client Investment Suitability (CIS) /Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
• Risk Disclosure Statement (RDS)
• Omnibus Participating Trust Agreement (OPTA)

After you have read each document, click on the “Accept” button to signify your agreement.

7. That’s it. You’re done!

Don’t forget to check that all the details are correct before you submit.

Here’s a snapshot of our BDO UITF investment application before submission.

Note: Your BDO UITF application is not approved and not activated yet. Wait for the call of BDO representative. It will be activated after the call.

As I mentioned, we got the call after 2 days and our account has been activated after.

Last November 29(‘coz 30 was a holiday), our BDO savings account was deducted with the amount we set for our BDO UITF investment.

All done automated and automatically.

Here’s the screenshot.

Ok, that’s all.

If you read this far, I hope I provided the things you need to open a BDO UITF and get started.

We’ll share and provide update on our BDO UITF investment in the future.

I hope this has been informative. Until next time, cheers!