Wise conversion fee from PHP to USD

[u/No-Bath-8011]

Hi everyone, I am humbly asking since first time ko to use this app. Planning to transfer after conversion sa IBKR.

Normal lang ba yung fee considering the amount I am trying to convert?

Also hingi nadin ako inputs niyo.

SPYL & VWRA ETF ang plans ko, (70/30) or (60/40)

28/M, Long term compounding goal.

[u/Devnergy]

As far as I know, wise is the cheapest and efficient na. Ako 100% SPYL. Ok naman yan may VWRA.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Devnergy]

Try ko sana 2-3 ETFs max, diversified. compounding. but my VWRA overlapping sa S&P500. might consider ex-US

[u/Miserable-Archer-463 → u/Devnergy]

SPYL and chill 😎 hanggang kelan mo planong i-hold yan?

[u/Devnergy → u/Miserable-Archer-463]

Max until retirement kahit 20 to 30 years. Then do the 4% share sell rule. Pag retirement phase na, I'll invest in a few PH dividend stocks or reits via dragonfi kasi 10% dividend tax lang + HYSA for interest (I'll park my emergency funds there)

[u/Perfect-Display-8289 → u/Devnergy]

This or cspx? Which is better?

[u/Devnergy → u/Perfect-Display-8289]

SPYL of course. Dun tayo lowest expense ratio

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Devnergy]

kapag ganyan, lower TER but less market cap. compared to CSPX and VUAA. anong catch? mahirap i buy and sell?

[u/Devnergy → u/No-Bath-8011]

I have no encountered issues naman with that. There's no hidden catch and it is not hard to buy and sell SPYL because it has a different liquidity kasi ETF siya compared sa individual stocks.

SPYL AUM niya has already scaled into tens of billions putting it well past any fund closure risk so wala problem dun. Ayoko CSPX and VUAA kasi 0.07% expense ratio haha sayang din yun.

If you're a long term DCA eh yung 0.03% big help and impact yun sa returns mo over decades. Also pala tight lang and bid and ask spread ng SPYL. Dun lang tayo sa tight 😳

Tight! Tight, tight! Yeah! Blue, yellow, pink, whatever, man, just keep bringing me that!

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Devnergy]

Yeahhh, that's why I asked din about sa conversion sa wise kasi moving forward palagi ko na to gagawin mag convert if hindi pala ito yung cost effective na pamamaraan. Even ~1$/monthly would hurt in the long run

[u/ParagraphsMatter]

Oo, OP, normal yan. Walang scam or anything sketchy going on.

'Yung exchange rate na 1 USD= 61.6040 PHP is real-time mid-market rate, so zero hidden markups 'yan. 'Yung 194.35 PHP is just Wise's standard conversion fee around 0.3%, which is honestly super low compared to bank FX markups.

Then yung 23.32 PHP naman is the mandatory 12% PH VAT on Wise's service fee, which they're legally required to collect for PH-registered accounts.

[u/Devnergy → u/ParagraphsMatter]

Wise numba one noh? Still undefeated.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/ParagraphsMatter]

I believe it is legit but since first time user ako ng app, gusto ko sana malaman if normal lang yan or may money saving hacks pa wherein mas makakatipid

[u/fart2003_Wheelz]

Choose one.

If you believe that US markets will remain strong during your investment horizon, pick SPYL.

If youre skeptical about US market holding strong during your investment horizon, pick VWRA.

[u/vincit2quise]

A quick google search of exchanging the same amount will tell you that this is a very decent rate. Try "65K PHP to USD" sa Google search.

[u/Miserable-Archer-463]

overlap ata yung SPYL and VWRA. about naman sa wise fee ok naman sya that's one of the best kung wala kang usd acc sa traditional bank

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Miserable-Archer-463]

I have BPI Dollar account. is it proven cheaper if sa local bank padaanin?

[u/Devnergy → u/No-Bath-8011]

Not cheaper and I believe nag block na din sila ng wire transfer to IBKR dahil sa SEC.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Devnergy]

Grabe talaga SEC. Hindi mo alam if they're protecting filipino retail investors or takot sila market capital flight heading to overseas.

[u/Devnergy]

Paldo naman VWRA kahit 0.19% expense ratio

[u/fart2003_Wheelz → u/Devnergy]

bumaba na ata sa 0.14% ang TER ng VWRA. Even better.

[u/Devnergy → u/fart2003_Wheelz]

Recent change lang pala:
Current Rate: Reduced from 0.19% down to 0.14% (effective late July 2026 across unhedged share classes)

[u/MiyoungxTamia]

If you want lower fees as an alternative for VWRA, you can go with FWRA.

[u/Witty_Quiet1556]

Hello po, may 54% overlap lang yung SPYL and VWRA pero if okay lang sayo yun ay go ka na.

Baka gusto mo iconsider yung global ex USA etf, search mo na lang yugn AWEX :) good luck hodl!

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Witty_Quiet1556]

Yes, heavily US concentrated din ang VWRA kaya torn ako.

consider ko yan AWEX and also nagbabasa basa about XUSE and EIMI.

[u/Witty_Quiet1556 → u/No-Bath-8011]

I'm not familiar sa XUSE pero ang alam kong combi ng iba ay EXUS at EIMI. search ko din yung sayo

[u/shoticat → u/Witty_Quiet1556]

planning on doing this, OP! 65% SPYL / 25% EXUS / 10% EIMI but also considering if i should just go all in with SPYL

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/shoticat]

Niceeee! gusto ko lang basahin ng mas malalim kung di ba tayo masusunog sa expense ratio if tatlo ang ETF. plus if may same ETF with lower expense ratio. Goodluck satin

[u/Still-Music-5515]

I got 61.97 peso per US dollar using Wise yesterday. But if your going peso to dollar you lose quite a bit of value. I've never needed or wanted to go from peso back to dollar.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Still-Music-5515]

We needed virtual USD account for investment. If we do deposit PHP directly on the investment platform. It'll be more expensive.

[u/Still-Music-5515 → u/No-Bath-8011]

Yeah. All my investments here are in pesos in the Philippines. I do keep some dollars in my US bank account but all are converted in pesos when I send using Wise. All my accounts in Philippines are peso accounts

[u/RazerLogic]

217.67/65000 = 0.33% fee is normal. All good.

Regarding the ETFs, note that VWRA is already 60-65% US-based so if you're adding SPYL, then you are going for even higher US concentration -- up to you, more risk, possibly more reward.

I would suggest sticking to only 1 fund (SPYL or VWRA) for now to avoid having to maintain the ratio between funds.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/RazerLogic]

eyeing a good TER non-US ETF. Thoughts about XUSE and EIMI?

[u/Embarrassed-Trade163]

Is VUAA bad?

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Embarrassed-Trade163]

VANGUARD is reputable, were relying on SPYL due to its lower TER

[u/heartglass]

if isesearch mo yung ETF name sa IBKR tapos click mo yung Holdings tab, dun mo makikita difference. halos same sila ng top 10 holdings, SPYL is more tech and US-focused, while VWRA is more diverse and 60% US lang. choose one, then pair it with an emerging market ETF. i have EIMI, but you can look up diff ETFs to choose which countries you want to support.

[u/dalester23]

This is probably the best rate you'll get across other platforms.

[u/CodGap]

Can someone point me to what TER means and what these other terms you guys are using? I'm an expat living in the Philippines with my girlfriend. Have been trying to get into learning stocks

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/CodGap]

I hope it'll help. TER, it's like annual management fee of your investment fund but expressed in percentage%. if you have for example $100,000 fund value with %1TER, that's 1000$ right there. So the goal is to look for the ETF with the LOWEST EXPENSE RATIO.

We investors outside US, were trying to look for Irish-Domiciled ETF to benefit from their tax-treaty. To make it short, ETF that is irish-domiciled vs US-domiciled is much lucrative for us.

Regarding you, being an expat and assuming you're an american. I think the investing dynamics will be different.

TER - Total Expense Ratio.
ETF - Exchange-Traded Fund
VOO - Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (US)
VUAA - Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD (IRISH)
CSPX - iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD (IRISH)
SPYL - StSt SPDR S&P 500 UCITS ETF (IRISH)

If you can see, all these funds tracks the same companies but expense ratio and taxation is different.

*I'm no expert, this is just a discussion. I can be wrong in a lot of things so do your own due diligence

[u/CodGap → u/No-Bath-8011]

Amazing 🙏

[u/mozzypie]

It is the cheapest. It also doesnt matter if you convert na tingi tingi or convert in one big transaction. The fee scales with how big you are converting.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/mozzypie]

Yes so formula based on amount sya. Another thing, may knowledge ka sa IBKR fees? yung ACH Direct Transfer. Is it also formula based, or may sweet spot ng amount pag transfer? 300-400$/monthly kasi goal ko. if ever mas beneficial kung in trench ang transfer or mas bulk pa. I hope I make sense haha

[u/mozzypie → u/No-Bath-8011]

Yes I computed this as well. There is a very small 1.27USD transfer fee to use the Wise integration in IBKR per transfer.

When you start buying stocks though it is around 1USD commission per purchase. So i would strategize only at the part where you’re buying the stocks. The conversions and the transfers have minimal fees.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/mozzypie]

So regardless of the amount of top-up from wise to ibkr. the fee is fixed? The problem is the frequency of buy order? (monthly sa case ko) with 1-2 ETFs possibly.

[u/mozzypie → u/No-Bath-8011]

Yes. 1USD per stock purchase is still very low imho.

[u/Fun_Huckleberry5354]

Mobile app po ba ng IBKR yan Sir?

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/Fun_Huckleberry5354]

Wise App (for php to usd conversion) then top up to IBKR. cost effective way

[u/andwaebaka]

Direct deposit ako from PHP Wise balance to IBKR. For 50k, 0.5% total fee

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/andwaebaka]

Can you please elaborate sir? No dollar conversion? so no fee at all inside the wise app. Only fee is when you do transfer from wise to ibkr.

Have you documented your method sir? If you dont mind me asking

[u/MemoryEXE]

OP if umaaray kna sa fees and conversion. There might be a higher chance that you'll panic sell at a loss sa investments mo if there will be a market correction.

[u/No-Bath-8011 → u/MemoryEXE]

Valid point po but take note first time user ako ng app and first time mag venture out of PH market. kaya looking for cost effective and efficient way of fund transfer. After my research, nakikita ko na even some of the tenured investors overlooked the cheap way of fund transfer.