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random musings from the philippines

Review: Forex Cargo

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Forex CargoIn preparation for our firstborn, my husband and I bought a lot of baby stuff online from Amazon.com and Diaper Junction, including cloth diapers which I wrote about recently. Family and friends in the US also gifted us with more baby stuff. All of these were too many to fit in my husband’s checked baggage on his flight to the Philippines, so he sent them ahead of time in two jumbo balikbayan boxes via Forex Cargo.

Why Forex Cargo? Apparently they are the only balikbayan box shipping company available in his corner of the US, which doesn’t have too many Filipino residents. (In contrast, there are more choices in Pinoy-laden cities like New York and LA.)

It was my first time to be the recipient of a balikbayan box, so I was a bit anxious, especially since the two boxes contained baby essentials that weren’t available locally. It was also peak Christmas holiday season, so the delivery time was three times longer than usual. It didn’t help that their official Facebook page is beset with customer complaints and negative reviews, which added to the anxiety.

The boxes were picked up at home by a Forex Agent, who provided receipts with tracking numbers. One can easily track the status of one’s shipment online on their Box Tracker page, which is a big plus.

The first box arrived on time and without incident. Obviously, we were very happy that our baby goodies were all intact and nothing was missing.

The second box, on the other hand, sat at their provincial office for more than two weeks (!). The delay was unreasonable, as we were only a two-hour drive away. We politely sent them a message on Facebook to deliver our box ASAP. To their credit, they replied quickly, and the box was finally delivered three days after we contacted them.

TL;DR: Yes, your balikbayan box will arrive safely with Forex Cargo. Although our second box arrived late, it was unopened and in good condition. We’re cutting them some slack as it was peak holiday season.

Personal investing in the Philippines: the cheapest equity index funds

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1-year returns of Philippine index funds versus the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi)
One-year returns of the cheapest equity index funds versus the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (source: Bloomberg)

Four years ago, I wrote a post recommending passive index funds over actively-managed funds. An index fund is simply a fund that replicates the components of a market index. Back then, my choice of equity index funds were Philippine Stock Index Fund, a mutual fund, and BPI Philippine Equity Index Fund, a unit investment trust fund (UITF). Both funds, managed by BPI subsidiaries, track the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi).

However, as I wrote in a recent post recapping my first four years of investing, I have since redeemed all my local mutual fund and UITF shares. One reason is because of their high fees — the aforementioned BPI funds have management fees of 1.5% per annum.

That figure may not seem exorbitant compared to other Philippine funds, whose annual fees go as high as 2.5% (!). But, considering that index funds are just run by computers simply programmed to mirror index performance (hence “passive”), it’s definitely too high.

I still invest in index funds, but only in the US, courtesy of my husband who’s from there. Due to vast competition, many US index funds have famously low fees — one of our picks, the Schwab Total Stock Market Index Fund, has a rock-bottom expense ratio of only 0.03% (!) per annum. This means more of our hard-earned money is invested in the fund instead of lining the pockets of fund managers, resulting in higher returns in the long run.

I realize not everyone has an easy way to invest directly in the US stock market, so I took a second look at the Philippine scene. It’s good to see that more index funds tracking the PSEi have cropped up since I first wrote about them in January 2013 (at that time, there were only three). Still, only the following funds have annual fees below 1%:

You can invest in the above funds by visiting their banks’ respective branches. Both UITFs charge early redemption fees, which shouldn’t be a concern for long-term investors. Both also charge custodian and external auditor fees (some banks incorporate these into the management fee while others don’t).

You can buy shares of FMETF through a brokerage firm. I hesitate to include FMETF because it’s not very transparent with its fees; one has to dig through its latest Annual Report for the figures. I’m too lazy to do the math, but FMETF has a bunch of hidden fees — custodian and transfer agency fees, directors’ and officers’ fees, etc etc. In addition, since an ETF is traded like a stock, you have to pay commission — which depends on your choice of stockbroker — and other transaction fees every time you buy or sell its shares. Click here for a breakdown of these fees.

For all three funds, the Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVpU) is already net of management fees. For the UITFs, the NAVpU is also already net of the 20% withholding tax on gains.

As you can see from the graph above, the three funds closely mirror the PSEi. Sadly, fees are not likely to go super-low anytime soon due to lack of competition. It doesn’t help that stock market penetration in the Philippines is quite poor, with less than 1% of the population investing in it. Still, while 0.50% and 0.75% are far from rock-bottom and pales in comparison to 0.03%, it’s a start.

Review: Sun Life Financial Philippines

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Life insurance benefit check from Sun Life Financial Philippines
Life insurance benefit check from Sun Life Financial Philippines

Thinking of getting life insurance? If you compare the policies of the major insurance companies here in the Philippines, you’ll discover that they’re more or less the same, offering similar benefits and riders. So the deciding factor then is: customer service.

We all know how life insurance agents (or financial advisors as they now call themselves) can be so attentive to the point of obsequiousness when they’re trying to make a sale, but what about afterwards?

This is not a review of the insurance products of Sun Life Financial Philippines per se — like I said, you’ll most likely find comparable offerings from its main competitors such as Philam Life or Manulife. Instead, this is about our experience with their after-sales service, especially the all-important claims time, which is the true test of an insurance company.

Twenty years ago, my mother bought a simple endowment life insurance policy from Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), the life insurance arm of Sun Life Financial Philippines. With this particular plan, the beneficiary (me) will receive a guaranteed payout, called an endowment, plus non-guaranteed returns in the form of dividends, upon maturity of the policy or death of the policyholder (my mother). (Sun Life no longer offers this plan; among their current products, the closest to it is Sun Acceler8.)

Update December 2017: A reader shopping for an insurance policy e-mailed me asking for the specific details and figures of my mother’s plan. I’d rather not post such information for privacy and security reasons, but below is a redacted summary of her policy. Hers was a participating policy, which means it paid dividends. My mother availed of the Premium Offset option, wherein the plan’s dividend allotment was used to pay its premiums.

My unsolicited advice to folks looking to buy life insurance: insurance is not investment, so don’t confuse or combine the two. The main purpose of life insurance is not to grow your money, but to financially cushion your dependents from the loss of your income due to death or disability. Keep your insurance and investment vehicles separate. As such, I don’t recommend Variable Universal Life (VUL) insurance.

Wishful thinking: what if I could travel back in time to twenty years ago, knowing now that my mother remains healthy and outlives her policy? Well, I would tell her to invest her premiums in Philequity Fund — which I believe was the only existing mutual fund in the country at that time — instead. The return on investment (ROI) would have been around 480% (!).

(No, I’m not advising to forgo life insurance and dive all-in on investments, especially if you have dependents. I was just imagining a hypothetical scenario with the benefit of hindsight. I would only recommend it if you are single with no dependents and planning to stay that way.)

Summary of life insurance policy from Sun Life of Canada (Philippines)
Summary of life insurance policy from Sun Life of Canada (Philippines)

I don’t know if the other local insurance companies offer this, but one thing I appreciate about Sun Life is that they have a convenient online portal, My Sun Life, where one can easily check policy details. Through My Sun Life, we were able to keep tabs on the dividend values, so we knew exactly how much the policy was worth.

The policy matured last month, and we’re happy to report that we received the benefits from Sun Life with no problems at all. My mother called their toll-free number at 1-800-10-SUNLIFE (7865433) the day after maturity for confirmation, and the rep said they will issue the benefit check within several business days and send it to the address on file via courier.

True enough, the check arrived after 14 business days. My mother and I were pleasantly surprised and impressed at Sun Life’s easy claims process, as we were expecting to have to haul ass to one of their branch offices to fill out a bunch of forms and submit a ton of identity documents in order to personally claim the payout. (In comparison, my mother had to go through exactly this laborious process a few years ago with another insurance company, PhilPlans, for her pension plan with them.)

It was indeed hassle-free dealing with Sun Life. Basically, the only action on our part was to call their call center at no cost. One of the reasons my mother chose Sun Life was because of their longevity — apparently they pioneered life insurance in the country and have been around here since 1895 (!). I can see now why they’re still standing strong when other insurance companies have gone belly-up. Our experience with Sun Life has been positive, and as such I don’t hesitate to recommend them for your life insurance needs.

Cloth diapers: Choosing our “stash”

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TL;DR: It’s prefolds with covers.

As a would-be first-time mother, I’m a total newbie to modern cloth diapering. Here in the Philippines, I’ve only ever seen disposable diapers, which rule supreme, and the traditional lampin (flat cloth diapers) on babies. (I myself was a lampin baby, as apparently I wouldn’t stop crying when they made me wear disposables).

As my due date grew nearer, I started researching on diapering options online, and was surprised to discover that cloth diapers are all the rage these days. They now come in all shapes and sizes, not just flats. The thought of not dumping more disposables to landfills appealed to my husband and I, so we decided to go with cloth diapers. We still plan to use disposables at night and when going out (we love the environment and all, but we’re not martyrs). Family members also gifted us with lots of Pampers Swaddlers and Baby Dry newborn diapers, so we plan to start cloth diapering at three months.

Anyone who has ever Googled cloth diapers will know that the web is strewn with mommy blogs obsessed with them. These moms have mountainous “stashes” of various cloth diapers. The wide range of choices — and opinions on which one is the best — certainly didn’t make it easy for me to settle on which type and brand of cloth diaper to buy. I did know that I wanted a one-size-fits-all one that can be used all throughout our child’s first years.

SoftBums All-in-Two (AI2) cloth diaper
Source: SoftBums

My initial choice was SoftBums, an All-in-Two (AI2) cloth diaper consisting of an outer cover and an absorbent insert. It was the only one I came across that uses an elastic drawstring (apparently their own patented invention) instead of rise snaps to adjust the size of the cover. It seemed to me that this drawstring system is more likely to provide an exact fit compared to rise snaps, which offer limited adjustment settings.

It was the cost that dissuaded me from going with SoftBums, as they are considerably more expensive than other brands. In addition, the inner lining of their covers is fleece, which I feel is too warm for the weather here. Fleece also soils easily, which means the covers aren’t that reusable. (It didn’t help matters that apparently the owner of SoftBums is a drama queen who can’t take criticism of her product and argues with reviewers online.)

Looking further for a cheaper alternative, I started to lean towards prefold cloth diapers. They seemed intimidating at first with all the folding and pinning involved, but the price can’t be beat. Besides, if my parents managed to lampin me for 2+ years, surely my husband and I could handle prefolds, right?

Now the real question was, which brand? We were actually gifted with a bunch of Gerber prefolds, but it appears that most people use them as burp cloths, and their performance as actual diapers leaves a lot to be desired.

Diaper Rite natural (unbleached) cotton prefold diapers
Source: Diaper Junction

After researching some more, I finally went with the highly-regarded yet affordable prefolds by Diaper Rite, the store brand of the diaper specialty store Diaper Junction. We bought 30 pieces of the natural (unbleached) cotton ones in the largest size, as babies grow big fast (I figured we could just fold the prefold at the back while the baby is still small). As for fasteners, I chose the Snappi over the Boingo.

Next up was the diaper cover. Mom bloggers say it’s a necessity when using prefolds, but the modern cover is a fairly recent trend, at least here in the Philippines. Before the disposable diaper became king here, Pinoy babies of yore — myself included — simply wore lampin secured with safety pins and nothing else. Before our child starts to crawl, we plan to do the same and go coverless most of the time. I feel it would be more presko that way, especially with the warm weather here.

So just a few covers for us, but which brand? I was heavily leaning towards another AI2 diaper, the popular Duo Wrap by Thirsties. Unlike SoftBums, the Duo Wrap is a PUL-only cover, which can be easily wiped for reuse. It comes in a lot of cute colors and prints, and can be used with flats, prefolds, inserts, or fitteds. The feature that attracted me the most was the leg gussets for added leak protection. The only downside is that it’s not one-size — it comes in two sizes, hence the name. While at first glance it appears cheaper than SoftBums, in the end it comes out as more expensive since you eventually have to pony up for the Size 2 when the baby gets bigger. 

I overlooked it when I bought their prefolds, but browsing through Diaper Junction again, I noticed they had their own brand of diaper cover, the Diaper Rite 3.1 One Size Diaper Cover. Like the Thirsties Duo Wrap, it’s PUL-only and comes with leg gussets. It’s basically the Duo Wrap’s cheaper cousin that comes in just one size (the description says it can fit babies up to 35 lb).

I was a bit hesitant at first, because outside the high ratings on its product page, I only found this blog review and the video feature above. The baby in the video looks happy enough wearing it, though, so we went ahead and bought six covers.

That brings our cloth diaper “stash”, which is on its way in a balikbayan box, to 30 prefolds, six covers, and five Snappis. The total cost is only about USD 130, which isn’t bad compared to disposables. As for other costs, we plan to just handwash and line-dry them (an added challenge, I know), so no extra electricity charges. Water is inexpensive here, and so is detergent.

Of course, the real test of these cloth diapers is yet to come, and we can’t wait to use them with our baby. Here’s hoping my husband and I are up for the challenge.

Why I don’t do sponsored posts

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Every once in a while, I get emails from folks requesting me to write a sponsored post or review featuring their product or service. Among other things, I’ve been asked to promote a feminine hygiene spray and a couple of visa procurement agencies. When I do receive such feelers, I couldn’t help but feel flattered, as my blog traffic is average at best. In the end, though, I never take them up on any of their offers, nor have I been tempted to do so. All views expressed on this site remain my own.

I don’t begrudge bloggers who do write sponsored articles, but it’s just not for me. This site has always been a hobby, and I don’t plan on turning it into a career anytime soon. I don’t post too often — in the seven years since I started blogging, I’ve only published around eighty posts, which averages to less than one per month. I want this blog to remain as a fun writing exercise, and not something I’m obliged to do for compensation.

I do monetize the site through Google AdSense and some affiliate links, but it’s only to pay for web hosting and domain name fees. The site pays for itself thanks to this ad revenue, with a little extra left over. Not too shabby for a sporadic hobby.

Besides, I personally just don’t like sponsored posts. Many bloggers, especially here in the Philippines, don’t disclose on their posts that they’re being paid for the promotion. Still, I can easily spot them from a mile away — they’re just way too obvious. They definitely lower a blog’s credibility for me, as it makes me question if the writer is being completely honest in his or her opinions.

Would I change my mind if it’s a product or service that I truly like? Probably not. I mean, I like to buy, say, Tisyu coreless tissue for the bathroom, but I’m not about to write a lengthy ode to this particular brand of toilet paper in exchange for cash.

I’ll never be a brand ambassador, and that’s perfectly fine with me. I just want to write about whatever I want, whenever I want. Here’s to more years of sponsorship-free sporadic blogging.

Private umbilical cord blood banking in the Philippines: Yea or nay?

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TL;DR: After reading many academic articles on the subject, It’s a NAY for us. Click here to jump directly to our detailed rationale. Fellow parents considering cord blood banking in the country will find it helpful. O’Connor et al (2012) sum up our sentiments:

“Currently, there are few clinical indications for autologous transplants using stored cords. Cord blood is stored privately largely on the assumption that it will eventually prove to be an important source…for regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine remains little more than a promising possibility…and although some clinical trials are currently underway, the value of cord blood in this wider enterprise also remains uncertain. The medical utility of private cord blood banks is thus more potential than actual… [Private banks] market their services by tapping into parents’ sense of obligation towards their own children, and parents’ anxiety that they may in future regret having missed the opportunity to protect their children and feel guilty for doing so.”

My husband and I are expecting our firstborn in a few months, and one of the things we discussed was whether or not to preserve the baby’s umbilical cord blood (UCB) for potential future use. UCB is rich in hematopoietic stem cells, which are used to treat hematological disorders such as anemia and leukemia.

In several other countries like the USA, there are public cord blood banks that accept and store donations for free. Sadly we do not have such an institution in the Philippines, where only private, for-profit cord blood banking is available.

There are only two options for UCB storage here in the Philippines: Cordlife Philippines and StemCord Philippines. Both are local subsidiaries of private companies with headquarters in Singapore. Their main selling point is that saving the newborn’s UCB is invaluable health insurance, and they really hammer home the fact that the window of opportunity to avail of it is very small — it’s once-in-a-lifetime! It’s during childbirth or never!

Cordlife Philippines umbilical cord blood banking plans and rates
Source: BDO Unibank

As anxious first-time parents, our gut reaction was to bank to avoid later regrets. Between Cordlife and StemCord, the former is more transparent with the cost. Cordlife’s rates for their 18-year UCB storage plan range from PHP 184,800 (if paid up-front) to PHP 230,720 (if paid in annual installments for 18 years).

It’s expensive, but not unattainable. So I searched online for information on these two companies, and the only site with real feedback from local Pinoy parents is this GIRLTalk forum thread. The folks there who actually visited Cordlife’s facility at UP-Ayala Land TechnoHub in Quezon City are unimpressed, saying that it looks like a “kitchen” and is “kakatakot para lang silang magluluto ng kakanin.”

Their descriptions hardly inspired confidence in Cordlife, so we inquired first with StemCord through their Facebook page. Lo and behold, they never followed up after their initial reply. StemCord’s terrible customer service was actually a blessing in disguise, as it cooled our parental knee-jerk response and allowed me to research properly on the matter.

Unfortunately, the web is strewn with obviously sponsored “news” articles and blog posts promoting private cord blood banking. There is a lot of misleading information online, which are certainly not helpful in making a truly informed decision. To separate the wheat from the chaff, I narrowed my search to scholarly articles published within the last several years.

Based on these recent scientific data, we decided NOT to pursue private cord blood banking with either Cordlife Philippines or StemCord Philippines. Below are our reasons why:

  • Our family is at low risk for hematological disorders.

There is no history of blood diseases on either side of the family. The chances of our child or other relatives needing UCB for a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is low. According to the UK National Health Service, “the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists do not support the commercial collection of cord blood for low-risk families due to the current lack of research evidence to support the procedure.”

Non-hematological disorders like Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes do run in our family, and there are clinical trials underway on the use of UCB stem cells to treat such diseases. However, I’m not holding out hope that they will arrive at a standard treatment anytime soon — clinical trials last years, even decades. Many of them are still testing on animals such as mice.

  • There are few established therapeutic indications for autologous HSCT.

If, heaven forbid, our child does need to undergo HSCT, the chances of her using her own UCB is low. There are two main types of HSCT: autologous and allogeneic. An autologous transplant uses a person’s own stem cells, while an allogeneic one uses stem cells from a donor.

Allogeneic HSCT is actually the preferred choice and considered the standard treatment for many blood diseases. According to Waller-Wise (2011), “autologous cord blood stem cells cannot be used to treat malignant cancers such as leukemia because the genetic mutations for the cancer already exist in the DNA of the cord blood. Using one’s own stem cells would be, in effect, ‘contaminating’ oneself with the same disease process.”

Based on the guidelines from the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation for pediatric patients, autologous HSCT is indicated as the “Standard of Care” over allogeneic HSCT only for solid tumors such as Ewing’s sarcoma and neuroblastoma. For the rest, autologous HSCT is “Not Generally Recommended”.

  • The amount of cord blood stored is too small.

According to this mom on the GIRLTalk thread who met with agents of both companies, Cordlife and StemCord only store up to 25 ml and 40 ml of UCB, respectively. (I assume these are post-volume reduction figures after plasma and red blood cells are depleted). Another local mom shares her actual Certificate of Cord Blood Storage from Cordlife on her blog, and it states that her UCB unit has a Total Nucleated Cell (TNC) count of only 7.72 x 108.

This is lower than the storage standard of public cord blood banks. According to Ilic et al (2012), “in the majority of public banks, the criterion for an UCB unit to be considered for storage is >109 [TNC] count…Due to an insufficient number of nucleated cells, ca. 60% of collected UCB is discarded.”

Basically, a public cord blood bank would have thrown out the UCB unit collected by Cordlife. A high TNC count is important, because according to Karasu et al (2014), “approximately 30% of cell loss is expectable in cord blood transplantation because of either cryopreservation or thawing. It should be kept in mind while assessing acceptability of cord blood units with limited cell counts.”

  • A single UCB unit is only enough for one transplant to a child or small adult.

Still, even with the requisite >109 TNC count, Ilic et al (2012) state that “the minimum threshold for an optimal UCB transplant is 2.5 – 5.0 x 107 TNCs/kg of recipient’s body weight…one UCB unit can be sufficient for a [recipient] of 20 – 40 kg.”

Basically, the chances of our kid using her own UCB when she weighs beyond 40 kg are slim. As for adult family members, the likelihood of them using her UCB for an allogeneic HSCT is pretty much zero.

Cordlife even admits it in their own newsletter: “the patient would have to be only 40 kg or less to realize the maximum benefit of these stem cells. This limits the average use of an umbilical cord blood sample to a pediatric setting.”

But what about the possibility of stem cell expansion, you ask? Yes, there are clinical trials underway aimed at increasing the cell dose of UCB. Again, the keyword here is “trial” — I’m not holding out hope that a UCB expansion technique will be available outside the research laboratory anytime soon.

Let’s not forget that even without UCB, all hope is not lost — it’s not the only source of hematopoietic stem cells in the body. There’s still the bone marrow and peripheral blood. That being said, I totally support public cord blood banking. It’s a shame we don’t have such a system here in the Philippines, because I would gladly donate. (Miriam Defensor Santiago actually filed a Senate bill proposing it in 2010, but nothing happened.)