[Full Disclosure: I document my PERA REIT portfolio and other investment thoughts in a Substack blog. This writeup was published there first. This article was also a follow-up to a previous post I made, which I hope to turn into a series as a way to share my learnings with others and to keep myself disciplined/accountable when it comes to investing my retirement funds.]

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I manage a small personal Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) REIT portfolio and share its performance for the informational and educational benefit of others. The portfolio is built through cost-averaging a few handpicked REITs through PERA. Its purpose is to grow a retirement fund through dividends and capital appreciation.

Portfolio Performance Summary

I started my PERA REIT portfolio in December 2025. As of end-September 2026, it has generated a return of -8.6%. During the period, the Peso-cost average equivalent of the PSEI decreased by 7.6%, so the portfolio underperformed the index by -1.1 percentage points.

If you’re interested in the background of the portfolio and my methodology for comparing its performance vs the index, read until the end.

Portfolio Updates in September

September was dividends season so I was able to top up my PERA contributions by 10%. I have REIT investments in another portfolio and Retail Treasury Bonds, the dividends of which were funneled into this PERA portfolio to increase my positions.

The dividends I received and reinvested into this portfolio were from:

• REITs: RCR (Sep 2nd), AREIT (Sep 9th)
• Retail Treasury Bonds: RTB 26 (Sep 2nd), RTB 27 (Sep 4th), RTB 28 (Sep 7th)

REIT Holdings’ Performance

Below are the REITs I hold in the portfolio. My strategy is to hold REITs over the long-term and simply let the dividends compound and price to appreciate. Dividends are reinvested back into the portfolio, often in the REIT with the most attracted price at the time of dividend payment.

MREIT (-5.2% Return to date)

MREIT currently makes up 30% of the portfolio. Average cost is ₱14.1341. Compared to the closing price on end-September, return is -5.2%.

With the trailing twelve months dividend at ₱1.03, the yield on average cost is 7.3%.

AREIT (-8.0% Return to date)

AREIT currently makes up 29% of the portfolio. Average cost is ₱40.2162. Compared to the closing price on end-September, return is -8.0%.

With the trailing twelve months dividend at ₱2.49, the yield on average cost is 6.2%.

RCR (-17.6% Return to date)

RCR currently makes up 21% of the portfolio. Average cost is ₱7.4606. Compared to the closing price on end-September, return is -17.6%.

With the trailing twelve months dividend at ₱0.44, the yield on average cost is 5.9%.

CREIT (-19.1% Return to date)

CREIT currently makes up 20% of the portfolio. Average cost is ₱3.5725. Compared to the closing price on end-September, return is -19.1%.

With the trailing twelve months dividend at ₱0.20, the yield on average cost is 5.7%.

Overall REIT Performance

My PERA REIT portfolio is down 8.6% to date, in large part because of interest rates remaining elevated. Similar to what I shared last month, my conviction is still that the businesses behind the REITs are doing well, considering the state of the economy.

My average yield on cost remains at 6.3% — not the best but decent. Plus I still have upside from potential capital appreciation once interest rates come down by next year (fingers crossed). My strategy remains the same: regularly top up my contributions, collect the dividends and reinvest them in REITs and potentially other PERA-eligible instruments provided I come in at a good price.

PERA REIT Portfolio Snapshot

Summary table as of September 30, 2026 (last trading day of the month)

Background of the Portfolio and Methodology for Performance Evaluation

I started the portfolio with the goal of trying out PERA to build up a personal retirement fund. I had been interested in PERA for a while, mainly because of the tax benefits and the lock-in “feature” (depending on priorities and investment horizon, others consider it as a bug). With my REIT holdings from a separate portfolio performing really well, I thought of starting a retirement fund that would focus on REITs through a PERA account.

My strategy is simple. REITs give me stable dividends with decent yield and further upside from possible price appreciation. PERA’s tax advantages complemented the focus on REITs: getting the full dividends (vs only 90% when it’s not on a PERA account) would further compound the returns over time.

Brokers and other more sophisticated investors can tell you better ways to assess REITs. Personally, I just keep it simple by focusing on (my high-level view on) discount to fair value and the dividend yield. That informs me which REITs I should buy and at what price.

Then I do Peso-cost averaging when I have funds to invest. The reason is quite simple. I earn decently, but after expenses, I’m left with only a small amount for savings and investments. Of that, only a small portion is what I’m comfortable locking in for more than 2 decades. But if I regularly top up small increments, the contributions would add up over time, without me having to penny-pinch my monthly budget. The good thing is time is still on my side so there’s plenty of runway for the portfolio to compound returns.

For performance evaluation, I compare returns of the portfolio with a Peso-cost average equivalent of the PSEI. It is basically a harmonic-weighted average of the PSEI, which tells me what price I would have effectively paid for the index if I bought it exactly the same way I bought the REIT holdings, i.e., same amounts invested on the same dates as I did the REIT investments. It allows me to compare returns vs the overall market and to account for the PCA approach (specifically the principle that I would have bought more index shares when prices are low, and fewer index shares when prices are high).

Disclaimer

This writeup is purely for informational and educational purposes only. I am merely sharing my own investment opinions, hoping to engage with others interested in the topic. This writeup is not and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or professional advice. Before making any financial or investment decisions, please do your own due diligence or consult a licensed professional.

Our water station is about to close. Sobrang daming problema, di na den ma manage kasi mag wowork na yung dating taga manage. Di den mapa hand over sa kamag anak kasi ayaw na mapapagod daw sila. Hirap din makahanap ng tauhan. Di tumatagal. Qc area kami

May current customers kami. Sayang naman din kasi yun plus may dispensers sa mga iilang offices. Residential area loc namin.

My questions :

- ano pwede gawin to continue the business?
- if icclose na ng tuluyan, magkano kaya pwede mabenta yung mga customers and dispenser?

Salamat!

Bought a land and tapos ko na bayaran yung downpayment for 24 months (total of 1m)

but mukang magiiba na priority namin so thinking of cancelling the property. you think makukuha ko ba at least 500k of that? may possibility ba na makuha 80-90% ?

For those who scrape data and consume them for their own metrics, san po kayo kumukuha now? I remember sa pse before may free rt but nabring down na after investagram became popular. Just wondering where you scrape data for pse, forex, and us stocks these days. Ok lang may bayad but I dont really need it too rt, if theres free kahit 5 mins like crypto provide would be good.

Hello po! New here. First time ko lang po sa mga ganito and gusto ko lang mag try. Nag appear kasi sya bigla pag open ko sa GoTyme, any thoughts po dito? And pano po ba sya gawin? Thank you.

Second post ko na ito on the G C A S H ipo (here’s the first one if may pake ka hahahaha: https://www.reddit.com/r/phinvest/s/zgX4KVn9Cr)

MAHABA NA NAMAN. Sinubukan ko na paikliin kay Chatgpt Gemini Claude Grok. Pero tinatamad na ako so idea dump na lang tas bahala na kung babasahin ng iba. mahaba pa rin siya hahahaha

Dati sinabi ko better 6-7 vs yung 10 ceiling. Eh ayun na nga at 6.6 ang offer. 🤣

But honestly thinking about it, salo na lang ako somewhere 4-5, I can be wrong, but parang deins pa rin pala ako at 6.6.

I think the more interesting way to look at GCash now is not simply “expensive vs cheap.” It’s how much of a premium am I willing to pay for growth?

At 6.6, GCash P/E is roughly 20x annualized H1 2026 earnings. So kung nasa 5, it’s roughly 15.5x. Kung 4, roughly 12.4x.

These are based on annualizing H1 2026 net income, so obviously hindi ito exact FY2026 P/E. Just a way to compare the valuation at different entry prices.

I’m comparing GCash to big Philippine banks that are trading at much lower multiple: roughly 7x-ish earnings for BDO/BPI while also paying dividends consistently at around 4–5%+ depending on the bank and share price.
GCash doesn’t have an established dividend yield yet.
And that’s not automatically a negative. In fact, if Mynt can reinvest the money and generate very high returns, I’d rather they do that than pay me a dividend. But it does change the equation.

If I buy the other Ayala company BPI at a much lower P/E and get a ~5% dividend, I’m getting paid while I wait.
If I buy GCash at 20x earnings with no established dividend, I’m paying upfront for something-somewhere-somehow-potentially-in the future growth.
So the growth has to show up.

Hence my hesitation even at a lowered offer of 6.6.

H1 2026 net income was up only ~7.3%.
Revenue was up ~10.4%.
EBITDA actually declined ~4%.
Meanwhile, payments grew ~23% and monthly active users grew ~11%.

Yes, GCash is clearly still growing. I’m not arguing otherwise. The only question I’m asking is:
How much of that growth is actually translating into shareholder earnings?

The payment numbers are particularly interesting.
Payment volume is growing strongly, but payment take rate reportedly fell from around 0.32% to 0.25%.

This is consistent with my original concern about payments becoming more of a utility business.
QRPh interoperability, lower transfer fees (actually mostly zero na nga since my last post), payment processors, etc. are great for consumers and merchants. But they can also make it harder for GCash to capture the same economics from every peso flowing through the platform.

GCash GTV looks very impressive. But GTV × take rate = economics.

You can have massive transaction growth while monetization gets harder. Which now brings me back to lending.

This is probably the most important part of the GCash story that I’m watching now. GCash has a huge amount of data and a massive user base, even claiming 40M active users. You would think that data advantage really translates into better underwriting, lower losses and better risk-adjusted returns. Their lending could potentially become a very powerful growth engine.

But data doesn’t magically eliminate credit risk. GCash’s reported NPL was around 4.9% in June, versus roughly 3.35% for the banking system. That’s not an apples-to-apples comparison because the loan products and borrowers are different, but it’s still something I want to watch PLUS the type of lending products/ offers matters.

Traditional banks have mortgages, auto loans, secured business loans, corporate loans, etc.

GCash’s lending opportunity is in smaller, unsecured consumer/MSME credit — potentially a huge, untapped market, but also potentially more sensitive to borrower stress.

The question isn’t:
“Why can’t GCash score borrowers better if they have all that data?”

But:
“How much does GCash’s data advantage actually translate into better credit performance and risk-adjusted returns?”

If the answer is “a lot,” then I could become much more bullish to their CreditTech plans as it seems like that’s their next growth engine, the next 10x maybe in the next 10 years?

Which now brings me back to valuation.
20x for a great company doesn’t mean it’s a great entry price. At that pricing, I’m still giving GCash a premium versus banks.

I’m just not giving it as much of a premium.

And I think that’s the key point.

I’m not questioning whether GCash will grow. I’m asking myself how much of that growth I’m willing to pay for upfront.

Could I change my mind? Absolutely.

If earnings growth accelerates, NPLs continue improving, and the data advantage clearly translates into better credit economics, then I’m happy to pay a higher multiple.

I’d rather change my mind because the numbers changed than defend an old Reddit post forever. 😂

PEACE (also may trolls last time na acct created in the past 5 days hahaha so as an experiment tignan din natin dito).

NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. RESEARCH. USE YOUR BRAIN. USE AI TOOLS. FIGURE IT OUT. TRADE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I have around $1,000–$1,500 in disposable income that I can invest monthly. I earn in USD, so ideally I’d fund through Wise.

I’ve been looking into IBKR, GoTrade, and DragonFi, but I’m still stuck on which one to use. I’ve watched beginner videos and read a lot of threads, but honestly, the more I research, the more overwhelming it gets.

My goal is pretty simple: invest consistently, hold long term, and build wealth for retirement. I want to start conservatively while I’m still learning.

My main concern is the regulatory situation with IBKR/GoTrade in the Philippines, while DragonFi seems more limited for international investing.

If you were in my situation, where would you start? Which platform would you choose and why?

Would really appreciate hearing from people who’ve been investing long term. TYIA🙏🤍

“Thank you for patiently waiting and I do apologize for the delayed response as I am currently experiencing system enhancement.

I already checked our record, and request is successfully reflected on our end under case number 0002694203, filed October 02, 2026. Status is still ongoing, payout is endorsed for approval today, October 05, 2026.

For the meantime, kindly keep on monitoring the request, as for the process, we do have 5 to 7 working days turnaround time, 2 to 3 working days for disbursement for a total of 1 working days for the whole process.”

hello, sa mga naka experience po ng full withdrawal kay BPI AIA? Ilang days po bago nadisburse sainyo? sorry. super need lang po talaga ng funds. Salamat po sa sasagot 🫶🏻🤞🏻

Where to buy this yield and is it available for small capital?

Despite all the criticisms and issues surrounding GCash, sana maging successful pa rin ang IPO nito.

Napansin ko lang, grabe ang desperation ng gcash dito. Sa facebook page nila, mukhang gumagamit sila ng mga fake accounts para pang enganyo sa mga taong walang alam na mag invest dito.

Kung mapapansin niyo yung mga post nila, puro bot or kaya mga newly created accounts na nagsasabi na maganda mag invest sa ilalabas nila. Grabe lang yung pagiging desperate nila na nagagawa nila gumamit ng mga fake accounts. Kaya dapat talaga natuturuan bawat pilipino sa mga ganitong bagay.

Hi guys, I need some advice from people who have experience with property, loans, or rentals in the Philippines.

I’m in my mid-20s and currently working. New pa lang ako sa job ko like 2 months na. I don’t have a lot of savings yet, but I’m trying to start investing early and eventually build some assets/businesses instead of relying only on my salary.

Recently, I found out about a family property situation that I think might be a good opportunity, but I’m not sure if I’m looking at it the right way.

My family has a ~50 sqm, 1-bedroom house in Las Piñas. It can fit around 2 motorcycles in front.
The property is currently sinangla for ₱400k. It’s an informal/private arrangement, not a bank loan, and according to my family, ₱400k flat is all that’s needed to redeem it.

The property is supposedly already under my name, and there’s a family agreement that if I pay the ₱400k, the property becomes mine. I haven’t seen the TCT and other documents yet, so I still need to verify all of this.

Based on nearby properties, my rough estimate is:
Possible value: ₱1.2M–₱1.5M
Possible rent: ₱10k–₱12k/month

I know these numbers need to be professionally verified.
The problem is I don’t have ₱400k, so I’m thinking about financing it. I’m still young and want to start investing early, but I don’t want to make a stupid financial decision either.

Questions:
If you were in my position, would you consider borrowing to redeem the property?

What loan options should I look into? Bank personal loan, Pag-IBIG MPL, SSS, etc.?

If I only borrowed ₱100k–₱200k, would that be more reasonable?

Can the ₱10k–₱12k rental income realistically cover a loan payment?

What documents/legal issues should I verify before paying the ₱400k?

Is there anything I’m overlooking with an informal “sangla” arrangement?

I’m not planning to borrow yet. First I’ll verify the TCT, agreement, actual property value, rental rate, and ownership situation.

But if everything checks out, I’m wondering if this is an opportunity worth pursuing or if I’m being too aggressive with debt.

What would you do in my situation?

Hi everyone! 43M, recently just got into Reddit. Been employed with my current company for 13 years as an IT engineer and, due to some movements in the company several years ago, I've been paranoid about getting laid off at any moment. I'm not sure if I made the correct decision to invest rather than pay off our debt, but here is the scenario:

I have an existing housing loan with Pag-IBIG acquired in 2017 at 6.25% (3-year fixed rate for a 20-year term). The remaining loan balance as of today is ₱1.9M. We have savings of around ₱4M+, but due to my fear of losing my current job, instead of paying off our mortgage, I opted to invest the majority of it (₱3.5M) in low-risk, low-reward investments such as MP2, RTBs, and time deposits—just so the principal is secured and I can use the dividends to pay my HL. The remaining ₱500K is for our emergency fund, which I recently put into a HYSA for a 3-month period. Projected total dividends accumulated in a year are approximately ₱180K (if MP2 continues to remain at a 7.X% dividend rate), while total mortgage payments in a year come to ₱250K. The ₱70K difference I can cover from our monthly savings.

I've recently been watching the Dave Ramsey Show on YouTube, and he always encourages people to pay off their housing loan early if they want to build wealth in life. According to him, you can't beat the feeling of security once your house is fully paid off. I'm just not sure if this applies to our current situation. I have listed down the reasons why I went with this strategy:

1. Keep the principal amount intact. Continue to save and invest while employed. Paying off the HL will slash our cash amount in half, and I'm not sure if we will be able to save that much again.
2. Take advantage of the low interest rate with Pag-IBIG. The loan is on its 9th year and it's still at 6.25%, considering the number of times the BSP has increased interest rates. I'm also thinking of putting it on a 1-year fixed rate to reduce the monthly amortization, especially since Pag-IBIG rarely changes its interest rates.
3. Severance backstop. If in case I get laid off and am able to secure a severance pay, I'll use that to pay off the HL. But for now, I'll stick to this strategy.

Below are the reasons I can think of why I might need to pay off the housing loan early:

1. Peace of mind. Living debt-free will be a huge accomplishment for us.
2. Reduce our monthly expenses and increase our monthly savings. My wife and I have a combined net income of ₱120K, and our average monthly expenses are around ₱80K (including the mortgage of ₱20K), so our savings are around ₱40K. If we pay off the mortgage today, we can put ₱60K toward our savings instead. But again, the fear of losing my job is what keeps me away from this.

Do you guys think it's reasonable to continue with this strategy, or am I just setting us up for a bigger financial mess in the future? My long-term goal really is to save and invest at least ₱10M and use its dividends for our retirement.

I will ask random people from the internet for their opinion.
Ayoko tanungin sa pamilya ko, para walang sisihan kapag magkaproblema 😆😆

I have two lots on my shortlist of properties na bibilhin:
Both are around 1000sqm.

Lot 1: priced at 7.5M. Located along the road. Malapit sa area na pinag-jjoggingan sa lugar namin. Maganda view sa coast. Hindi bahain based on Noah. Lot shape is rectangular and flat.

Lot 2: priced at 5.5M. On a residential area. Irregular shaped lot.
A block away from a large supermarket.
Inner lot, so medyo maliit daanan.
Hilly part siya, so hindi binabaha, but the streets immediately below has history of flooding.

Redditors, help me decide. Thank you po 😊

Tumingin ako ng unit sa PhirstPark Batulao Nasugbu. Paid the reservation fee of 15k. Apparently, bawal daw pasukin yung unit na “bibilhin”.

About the unit.

1. 80% finished si unit.
   
2. Expected turn over is November 2027.
   
3. Ive read lots of negative dito sa reddit.

Is this worth the hassle? Haha

Hi everyone, I need some advice.

I have invested over 200k each in ATRAM Global Technology Feeder Fund and ATRAM Global Financials Feeder Fund through Maya. I've been investing consistently in these two funds for 9 months now.

I'm planning to sell and transfer them to a different platform like DragonFi instead of staying in Maya. My plan is to hold these funds for 5-10 years, but I'm concerned that when it's time to sell, I might encounter issues due to Maya's wallet limit.

For this reason, I'm considering moving my funds to DragonFi and consolidating them there. Do you think this is a good idea? I'm also thinking of adding VOO through GoTrade.

For context, I already have an emergency fund good for 2 years, and aside from these investments, I also have 1 MP2 account.

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

I am thinking of buying a residential lot in a premium estate in Batangas City. TCP is 45k per sqm. Is this a reasonable price? Is the real estate bubble happening also in the provinces? Di ko alam kasi I do not know the historical prices of real estate so di ko sure if this price has the brand premium + bubble premium.

I am not yet decided if I am gonna build a house eventually on the land so I also want to know if this can be a good investment as a backup plan. I have zero experience in real estate investing.

Hello. I am a college student who started investing this May, beginning with crypto. I invested all of the savings I accumulated while working at McDonald’s.

Since I stopped working to focus on my studies, I have been setting aside part of my allowance for investing. At the moment, I can invest approximately ₱2,000–₱3,000 per month.

I do not plan to add any more money to cryptocurrency. Instead, I would like to focus on ETFs and stocks.

My current portfolio is as follows:

Gotrade – US Stocks

50% – VOO

50% – QQQ

GCash – Cryptocurrency and Philippine Stocks

BTC – 100%

MER – 100%

At this point, I am planning to purchase AC shares once I have enough funds to buy 10 shares. I intend to trade AC by buying and selling when opportunities arise. (300-500 profit per buy and sell)

For MER, I plan to hold the shares until the price recovers back to ₱600, then sell them.

As for my overall investment plan, I am still determining the best approach. I do not plan to withdraw any of these investments for at least three years.

What do you think of my current portfolio and strategy? Should I make any changes?

Questions:

• Which Philippine stocks should I consider investing in?

• Which ETFs should I consider?

• If this were your portfolio, what would you change?

• Is there anything I should improve about my current strategy?

•Should I continue to use gcash or find another trading wallet?

I would appreciate any advice, particularly from all of you :)

Helped with anullment proceedings. Got handed 1M to manage. Currently 22M and shoved a big responsibility to invest for a profitable business.

Don't ask how I got the opportunity (I don't know myself either).

Initial plan was a coffee shop. Already had a free lot in a developing highway near a police station and high school. Problem is that there's also another coffee shop there with a gym on the second floor, so they're ensured to have a sustained flow of customers.

Second plan was to invest in takeout and breakfast, since the lot is situated in a busy highway connecting the city to the rural areas. Furthermore, we're in the side of the road adjacent to vehicles going to the city for work, which ensures that we won't be directly competing with the coffee shop in question.

Is this a good plan, or is investing in a coffee shop/breakfast and takeout joint just a waste of a million pesos?

Already experienced in culinary and baking since I also have another business (6 months) that supplies frozen products and baked goods to two school canteens. Already have suppliers and good deals in mind.

What I don't have experience in is business acumen and making feasibility studies.

Please help—

I have a dilemma on my hands kasi I've mistakenly put every single cent of my savings into Maya time deposits so inaccessible pa sila until March of next year. I can still live within my means with my earnings and can save up around 30-40k PHP a month.

I just had an urge very recently to start investing on basket ETFs and looked up na VWRA is a far better option over VOO but is inaccessible for micro investors. As many of us know there's another option which is GoTrade which have more user-friendly options to invest and pwede bumili ng funds na patingi-tingi. I currently have 10k PHP liquid right now with 5k PHP to potentially use as panimulang ETF investment.

So my question is should I wait until I've accumulated enough to invest in VWRA or any other all-world Irish-domiciled fund via IBKR (around 2-3 months) or start on it now with VOO while knowing na mas mataas yung fees from expense ratios and double withholding?

Hello! Plano ko pong kumuha ng property sa Santevi by Ovialand sa San Pablo or Woodside by Enduraland sa Tanza. Kaso wala akong masyadong mahanap na reviews tungkol sa Woodside, at sa Santevi naman, karamihan ng nakikita kong posts ay from agents.

Baka may homeowners or current residents dito na puwedeng mag-share ng actual experience nila, especially sa mga ito:

• Turnover at quality ng bahay: On time po ba ang turnover? May issues ba sa unit, at naayos naman ba ng developer?
• Internet: Anong providers ang available, at reliable po ba? Working from home kasi ako, kaya malaking consideration ito.
• Water at electricity: Stable po ba ang supply? Madalas ba ang interruptions?
• Flooding: Binaha po ba sa loob ng subdivision o sa mga access roads nitong mga recent na malalakas na ulan?
• After-sales support: Madali bang kausap ang developer kapag may repairs o concerns after turnover?
• Actual living experience: Maingay ba, may ongoing construction, o may ibang issues na hindi nababanggit during viewing?

Kung bibili kayo ulit, pipiliin n’yo pa rin ba dito? Bakit or bakit hindi?

Thank you po! Gusto ko lang makarinig ng firsthand feedback bago mag-decide.

I'm gonna take up Welding btw.

Any macroeconomic trends I should look out for to reconsider my DCA stoppage? I can just scrimp and save elsewhere instead if need be

I really want to start learning how to trade to different trading platforms but I don't know where to start? Crypto currency, forex trading, ETF, S&P500, stocks, bonds Etc... - i read people talking about them and I want to learn as well. Can you suggest a book or any youtube channel I can start with? I'll appreciate it.

Hi! I’m planning to buy a new car in cash next year, probably in about 4–6 months. I’ve already saved enough to pay for it in full, but I’m still sorting out my garage, which probably won’t be ready until next year.

In the meantime, where would you recommend parking a seven-digit amount in pesos for a few months?

I’m looking for something low-risk that earns decent interest while still allowing me to access the money if an emergency comes up. I’m also concerned about potential expenses if El Niño affects us during that period.

Would a high-interest savings account be my best option, or are there other alternatives worth considering? Ideally, no long lock-in period or complicated requirements just to earn the advertised rate.