What makes me excited these days?

Last year, I talked to a Financial Planner to iron out our finances because I wanted to know how we can maximize our household income. We had a few sessions online and she discussed her recommendations on where to put our extra money.

Since it is not recommended to put more than Php500, 000 in the bank because each depositor is only insured Php500, 000. If something bad happens, for example, your Php1M got stolen (there were a lot of posts on Facebook about clients of a particular bank whose funds got stolen even without OTP), the bank can only give you back Php500, 000 at most. So I asked her, what should I do when we need this money in a little over a year? I can only think of putting it in the bank to keep it safe and so we can use it for our project next year.

Digital Bank Time Deposit

She suggested opening up a digital bank that offers a 6% interest per annum for your Time Deposit. So I started looking for other PH local banks that could offer more than that but I couldn't find one. At most, it was probably just 3.5%, so the digital bank was the best choice. But I didn't stop there, I still kept looking for a better alternative.

Stable Coin - FlexUSD

Image not mine https://images.app.goo.gl/FUvgJqnPJzdw3rQx6

Then I saw the FlexUSD ad in the Bitcoin.com Wallet app that could possibly give me 10% - 20% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) and there's no lock-in period. I got very interested! So I tried swapping some of my BCH (worth $200) to FlexUSD just to see how I can get the returns. I was a tiny bit upset on the first few weeks because I couldn't see the interest that I was expecting, but it still came approximately a month since then. When I got my salary, I invested another $150 to FlexUSD.

You can learn more about what a stable coin is, and how FlexUSD earns interest and other FAQs on their website. If you're new to cryptocurrency, you can also download the Bitcoin.com Wallet app and check out the Getting Started section. You will see a lot of newbie-friendly articles in there.

Why did I choose this? Why not put it on mutual funds, or buy other cryptocurrency?

As I mentioned earlier, we're going to use the money probably in a year, so it's not for long-term investment. And we don't want anything very volatile if we're going to use the money soon. I just want something that will earn slowly, and steadily. With FlexUSD, in my perspective, everything seemed too good to be true. So I really wanted to see how well this will perform. Will I really be able to earn 10 - 20% after a year? And if I do, then I plan to add more in the future.

And what keeps me really excited is when I get a notifications from the Bitcoin.com app that I received some FlexUSD. Just look at my transaction history! This is a long list of my wallet receiving FlexUSD interest.

What? Php8 only?

That may look really small, but who will give me Php8 few times a day without me working for it? While I'm sleeping, or doing something else, I am still earning money. Compound Interest is one of the most wonderful things in the world!

Fees

Of course we have to pay fees when we buy FlexUSD. When I swapped my BCH to FlexUSD, I have to pay to the provider. And when I transferred and converted PHP (fiat) to BCH, I also have to pay.

So while there is no lock-in period, it's best to wait for the time that you have earned back what you have paid for the fees, and much better when you've earned so much more that it can cover the fees for converting it back to fiat. I couldn't remember how much I paid when I first bought FlexUSD because I simply swapped my salary (which is in BCH) to FlexUSD. You can swap using the Bitcoin.com Wallet app. But on my last investment, I used fiat to buy BCH and converted it to FlexUSD.

How can I buy FlexUSD?

If you're from the Philippines, I used a local crypto wallet here called PDAX. I transferred money from my Unionbank account to my PDAX account, and converted my cash (fiat) to BCH, because PDAX don't have FlexUSD yet. After I bought BCH, I sent my BCH from my PDAX Wallet to my Bitcoin.com Wallet, and swapped it to FlexUSD. All in all, I only paid almost Php3, 500 from converting fiat to FlexUSD.

Just a side note, even if PDAX have FlexUSD, I might still put it in my Bitcoin.com Wallet app which is a non-custodial wallet. Because nothing makes me feel more secured knowing that only I have access to my keys and I can definitely track how much interest I'm earning.

This fee is not only when I swapped BCH to FlexUSD. A large part of this fee is the fee I had to pay when I bought BCH from PDAX. And as far as I know, they have the lowest fee compared to other local wallets/exchanges. This amount will be my reference on when I can withdraw it to cash.

Not a financial advise

If you got excited and are willing to try it, please remember not to invest your life-savings! And remember that you could lose what you have invested, so you should only allow yourself to invest the amount that you are willing to lose. I am not an expert, I am simply sharing what I have discovered.

If you are also interested in the Digital Bank I mentioned above, it's called Tonik Bank. They don't have any physical store, and you can create or sign up for an account by downloading their app and undergo KYC process. Aside from their Time Deposit, you can also earn 4% per annum just by depositing your money to their bank and put it in a Stash. They offer much better interest rates than our local banks.

As for the Financial Planner, you can also contact her on Facebook.

Update about my FlexUSD Investment here!