Interested to discover other investment outlets aside from stocks and mutual funds? Consider Unit Investment Trust Funds or UITFs.
Check out our easy-to-understand guide below to learn more details about this investment option!
What are UITFs?
UITF or Unit Investment Trust Fund is a collective investment scheme offered by banks and trust companies in the Philippines. As a “collective investment,” this means money from a variety of investors are pooled together into one fund to achieve a specific investment objective. The investment objective could be: capital appreciation, capital preservation, or current income, among others.
UITFs are good investment vehicles for people who do not have the time or expertise to do actual trading, since the funds are entrusted to full-time professional investment managers who will manage and make decisions about the fund on a day-to-day basis.
UITFs seem to be similar with Mutual Funds. How are they different?
You’re right, these two investment options are similar to one another. There are some differences still, though. We have discussed these differences in a previous article.
Read more about it here: Differences between UITFs and Mutual Funds
Which one then is better: Mutual Funds or UITF?
We’ve constantly tracked the performance and rate of return of Mutual Funds and UITFs here at Pinoy Money Talk, and what we’ve seen is that, on average, the two appear to have comparable returns. For us, then, based on returns alone, there is no standout fund.
Still there are a few UITF or Mutual Funds that perform better than their peers, and you can check the top performing funds in these Performance Rankings:
- Best UITF (Unit Investment Trust Funds) in the Philippines, ranked by profits
- Best Mutual Funds in the Philippines, ranked by profits
We’d still like to remind you that the choice of fund should depend on your individual risk profile and investment objective. Conduct due diligence and assess your risk tolerance before choosing the fund to invest in.
What are the benefits of investing in UITFs?
Investors of UITF generally benefit from “professional fund management” and “asset diversification”, among others.
Professional management means an investor can make money by investing without the need for expertise or experience since professional fund managers will be the ones making investment decisions. An investor also does not have to track the market daily, which, in that sense, makes UITFs a passive investment. Relying on the professional management of dedicated fund managers make investing in UITF simple and convenient.
As for asset diversification, by investing in pooled funds such as UITFs, investors get to invest in assets that may normally not be accessible to them. For example, expensive stocks may not be affordable to a low-budget investor or high-yielding corporate bonds will typically be offered only to institutional investors. As an investor of a pooled fund such as a UITF, the investor gets to take part in these investments as part-owner of the UITF fund.
What are the risks associated with investing in UITF?
Of course like any typical investment product, UITFs are subject to market risks and other investment-related risks. Returns are not guaranteed and loss of capital is a possibility.
What are the types of UITFs?
There are four types of unit investment trust funds (UITF) in the Philippines:
- Equity or stock funds, which invest in the shares of publicly-listed companies;
- Bond funds, which invest in fixed-income securities issued by the government and large corporations;
- Balanced funds, which invest in a mixture of equities and fixed-income securities; and
- Money Market Funds, which invest in short-term securities with maturities of one year or less.
What is the appropriate UITF for an investor?
This should depend on an investor’s investment objective and risk tolerance. If an investor wants capital appreciation (therefore, high returns), he or she can choose to invest in Equity Funds but must be willing to part with their money for several years and must be ready to absorb potential losses in the short run.
If, on the other hand, a person is not willing to take some losses or might have a need to get money back in 2 or 3 years, he or she is better off investing in Money Market or Bond funds instead. Balanced funds are a middle choice for investors torn between Equity funds and Bond funds.
OK, I’m decided. How do I start investing in UITFs?
Potential investors need only drop by branches of local banks and trust companies in the Philippines. Staff would typically assist you by introducing various investment offerings of their company.
You would also most likely also be asked to fill out a Client Suitability Assessment form or a Risk Profile Assessment form. Once the appropriate fund is chosen, you can now start investing. In the Philippines, one can invest in UITFs for as low as P1,000.
How about withdrawing my UITF investment?
Buying and withdrawing units of UITF is easy. Just go to the bank or UITF provider where you opened your UITF investment and request for a withdrawal. Your money will be credited to your settlement account after just a few days.
Where can I learn more about UITFs?
Where else but here in PinoyMoneyTalk (PMT) — for free!
Here are some resources we have about UITFs:
- UITF Guide: How to Invest in UITF in the Philippines
- UITF Fund Ranking and Performance Report
- Discussion Forum about UITFs and Mutual Funds
Happy smart investing!
Ultra conservative small time investors main priority is preservation of capital. My friend lost 20k from his 100k investment in just a couple of months. This product should have not been born.It defeats the whole purpose of saving. It was nicer before when banks deposit interest is SLOWLY going up. And your principal is protected. Now the inflation comes into picture. If a person invested 500k in uitf last 2007. His 500k’s worth is lower now.
When banks make a wrong investment they should not pass it on to us. . . . hah! maybe thats why they came up with uitf in the first place dont u think?
Then UITFs are not for people who want to preserve capital. These are for people looking to earn passive income but of course there is risk in this type of investment, they should be ready to lose.
Hi Eric,
I invested in UITF 10,000 USD since Sept. 16, 2016. My investment as of yesterday march 30, 2022 is already 16,800 USD. My profit is 6,800 in 5.5 years, not bad. Just a matter of luck. I recommend this type of investment. For UITF Peso, you are right it is not good for me I’m losing also. I invested 500K since Sept. 22, 2016. My investment as of today March 31, 2022 is only 460,126 PHP, negative 39,874 PHP. What to do, this is life. Conclusion: Better invest in UITF USD rather than UITF PHP.
regards,
Art
Hi Eric,
I invested in UITF 10,000 USD since Sept. 16, 2016. My investment as of yesterday March 30, 2022 is already 16,800 USD. My profit is 6,800 in 5.5 years, not bad. Just a matter of luck. I recommend this type of investment.
regards,
Art
Hi Friend,
I think you may need to read more about UITFs so that you can get a full grasp of what UITFs are. Let me just clarify the distinction between investors and savers. Investors are individuals who take calculated risk to get higher returns while savers are ultraconservative individuals (NOT INVESTORS), who in order to preserve capital, will NOT take on risk except the risk that their depository bank will go bankrupt. Investors are also more willing to have a long-term view in investing their money. An investor in an equity UITF, for instance, should be willing to tie-up his or her money for at least 3 years to reap the rewards in investing. If you are willing to tie your money for only a “couple of months”, then time deposits or SDAs are the best products for you.
I disagree with your opinion that UITFs “should have not been born”. UITFs are great products for investors who UNDERSTAND THE RISKS that they are taking, and are WILLING TO ACCEPT the risk for POTENTIAL RETURNS. I have gotten decent returns from my UITFs investment. As for your comment on inflation, if you have invested in UITFs in 2007 chances are your 500k is not 500k anymore. If you have invested in bonds, yields have gone down big time so you are probably winning now if you took a long-term view in investing and are still holding on to your invesment. Equities have rallied too and are giving returns which are way more than the inflation rate. UITFs are tools that can actually preserve your puchasing power against inflation but they are dangerous to people who don’t understand them.
I have saved to bookmarks this website and plan to read it eventually.
It looks really interesting.
I recommend NOT to invest in UITF based on my experience. I invested UITF last February 2015 for $2,000 but the current value now is $1,800.
Hi Amethyst,
I invested in UITF 10,000 USD since Sept. 16, 2016. My investment as of yesterday is already 16,800 USD. My profit is 6,800 in 5.5 years, not bad. Just a matter of luck. I recommend this type of investment.
regards,
Art
Thank you for revealing what a scam this UITF investment is. Kudos to @eric and @Amethyst for revealing the truth. Banks and many financial institutions will really try to rip you off your money by flowery words such as this that give false pretense to the truth of reality. MGA BOLERO. ISARA NYO NA WEBSITE NA ITO. UTIF NYO NYEKNYEK NYO TANGINA NYO GAGO ULULIN NYO LELANG NYO!!
Hi ASA KA PA,
I invested in UITF 10,000 USD since Sept. 16, 2016. My investment as of yesterday March 30, 2022 is already 16,800 USD. My profit is 6,800 in 5.5 years, not bad. Just a matter of luck. I recommend this type of investment.
regards,
Art