Keep it Growing with Blend’s Auto Invest
Investing to gain high rewards would always involve some form of risk, one way or another. However, there are several ways to minimize this risk, particularly by carefully choosing and sticking to an investment strategy that works perfectly for you.
Aside from the peer-to-peer or P2P investment strategy that we commonly talk about, Blend PH has launched an Auto Invest feature that will help you simplify the investment process. If you want to take the time and effort out of building your investment portfolio, you can rely on us to do the work for you. All you have to do is choose an auto-invest order, set the amount you want to want to invest, then select the maturity date you want. To top it all off, this hassle-free, risk-free method of investing guarantees a 9% interest of the principal amount you invested annually.
Below are some of the benefits that you can get from using the Auto Invest feature for your Blend PH investment.
Peso-cost averaging
This concept is actually the localized term for dollar-cost averaging. Rather than coming up with a proper “timing” when making an investment, peso-cost averaging involves investing an amount you set on a regular basis, i.e., monthly, regardless of what the market situation is. For instance, if you decide that you want to invest PHP 3,000 every month for three years, cost averaging is achieved when you still get your average returns even when the market is up or down (such as when the COVID-19 pandemic struck).
Set and forget
When you start building an investment portfolio, you’d expect to take a little bit of time and effort in maintaining it. With auto-investing however, everything is done automatically. Maintenance is a breeze. Auto Invest puts your money to work, whether or not you log in on the Blend PH platform. If you have applied the right settings on your account, investing can be fully automatic. It’s very ideal for those who don’t have the time to watch their investments online every day.
No waiting game for growing your portfolio
Compared to other investment options where you have to wait for five years or more before you are able to touch your money and earn an interest, Blend’s Auto Invest allows you to select a maturity date ranging from 12 to 36 months (in 12-month increments).
Smaller effort for regular growth
Many people who participate in investment opportunities set aside a portion of their income every payday or every month depending on their preferences. They would often withdraw money from the bank and then put it on their investment account, either manually or online. But rather than waiting every payday and then making periodical payments to expand your portfolio, you can opt to make automatic payments through the Auto Invest feature. The money sitting on your account is already being put to work by then, without you even having to lift a finger.
Build better financial behaviour
Regular investments can help people with poor financial habits improve themselves completely. By investing money in incrementally and periodically, you remove the fear of investing in one go through big lump sums. It helps people realize that growing money involves developing a proper rhythm – with the right discipline and commitment levels – wherein saving and investing becomes a
normal part of one’s life. You can be successful financially if you stick with a regular investing pattern, and you can fortify this even further when you automate the process as much as you can.
If you set up Auto Invest in your Blend PH account, you can be sure that you’ll grow your investment portfolio with minimal effort. You’ll be surprised how much small amounts invested periodically can add up. And you’ll be surprised with the amount of interest you’ll earn without you even noticing.
So, what is the difference between P2P investing and auto-invest?
The next question you may ask is what makes Auto Invest different from the already effective strategy of peer-to-peer investing. P2P can deliver returns of up to 30% in a year but comes with higher risk. An example would be when a borrower fails to pay and defaults. Automatic investing, on the other hand, brings a 9% return annually, but this one is guaranteed, because your money is invested in different places.
Are there downsides to automatic investments?
Well, if you call a fixed 9% return on your investment as a downside, then you can consider it as such (but really, you can’t argue with the fact that a return of any amount IS still a return). Another downside could be, when your circumstances change – such as job loss in the time of COVID-19 – and you are not capable with making future payments, then there would definitely be a problem.
Lastly, there would be certain people who would think that too much hand-holding would make them blissfully unaware of where their money goes, since nothing is really 100% personalized. These people who have time to kill and want to watch their investments day in and day out would probably not opt for this type of investment arrangement.
Which investment strategy to choose, then?
Deciding the right strategy for yourself when it comes to investing is also dependent upon the type of investor you classify yourself as. If you’re more on the conservative side and you’re just after the promise of getting a return out of your investment, then it’s best to opt for the automatic investment strategy. Meanwhile, if you’re more than willing to take the risk for the promise of better or greater returns, then by all means, proceed with P2P investing.
Probably the best way to invest in this context is through diversifying, meaning, you can always take both routes. Part of your investment can go to funding different loan applications (P2P investing) while the rest can go to Auto Invest mode. This way, you eliminate the risk of losses and you can laugh your way to the bank after your maturity date.
Now is always a good time to take the plunge for automatic investing. You can learn about this new investor arrangement from Blend PH by visiting https://blend.ph/auto-invest. Alternatively, you can learn about P2P investing on this page, to see how it compares to the investment mode featured in this article.