MONEY MATTERS : HOW TO OPEN A MUTUAL FUND ACCOUNT AT ATR KIMENG?

Mutual Funds or in layman's term: pakikibakas is becoming big in the Philippines. This is a good by-product of the financial literacy spike among Filipinos. I believe it's about time to take control of our future (up to some extent).

Whether your goal is to travel Europe or to enjoy a comfortable retirement, you need to do something about it. You can make your money work for you, BUT, before you do that, arm yourself with INFORMATION! One of the six factors that can make you rich! Click HERE for the other factors.

I've been invested directly in PSEi (stocks) via COL Financial. To open an account at COL is an altogether topic we've covered HERE.

As part of diversification, I am dipping my feet onto another investment vehicle called Mutual Funds!

WHY ATR KIMENG?

There's a big chance that this is the first time that you've heard of ATR KimEng. Trust me, I've heard about them, quite recently too. However, I opted to invest a portion of my savings here because of one BIG TIME REASON! They are listed as Number 1 on Top Mutual Funds in the Philippines list. (Source: HERE). 

SPECIFIC FUND THAT I CHOSE.

I consider myself as an aggressive investor since I intend to remain invested for the next 5 years. I chose ATRKE Equity Opportunity Fund. This is an equity fund invested primarily in Philippine equity securities.

HOW TO OPEN A MUTUAL FUND ACCOUNT AT ATR KIMENG?

Step 1: Familiarize yourself about it.

Someone said that the riskiest investment you'll make is the one that you know nothing about. With that in mind, it wouldn't hurt to brush up some publications about how mutual fund works. When you have time, visit ATR KimEng Website.

Step 2: Personally visit ATR KimEng office.

It is MANDATORY because they need to see you for signature specimen (as I've been told). If you're familiar with Makati, this is a good news for y'all.

ATR KimEng Asset Management
15th Flr. Tower One & Exchange Plaza,
Ayala Triangle, Ayala Avenue, Makati City 1200

Step 3: Deposit your Money at HSBC, BPI or BDO.

In my case, since there's a BDO office at Ayala Stock Exchange, I decided to drop by and deposit my initial investment. You only need to fill up a deposit slip, hand over the money to the smiling cashier and that's it!

Note: Someone from ATRKE will give you a tiny paper that has their partner banks. It also includes the bank details to make your life easier!

Step 4: Email your deposit slip to ATRKE.

For them to process your initial investment, you need to send the machine-validated deposit slip at ird@atram.com.ph. I also cc'd Nikole on my email since I want to touch base with someone personally {for my own peace of mind}. Nikole is one of ATRKE's Investor Relation Associates. Hello Nikole! :)

Step 5: Log in to their online portal.

After 2-3 banking days, you will receive an email with your log-in credentials. Simply put, you can see your gain (or loss) in there along with other important details. Note that you need to expressly state if you want your user details to be e-mailed. Otherwise, you have to wait for the snail mail. For me, that means foreverrrrr! Obviously, I asked them to email the credentials instead.

That's it for now! Hope you learned something new today! -CMK