Greetings fellow LowYat.Net friends,
I am Alan, a consultant attached with Public Mutual Berhad, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Bank Berhad. I deal with unit trust consultation and the marketing of unit trust funds under the name of Public Mutual. Currently, Public Mutual has a stable of 45 funds, while Public Bank has a stable of 18 funds, all under the management of Public Mutual. We have 4 main different categories of funds with different risk/return level, and they are Equity, Balanced, Bond and Money Market.

The stock markets all around the world including Malaysia, have been experiencing a huge rally between the period of 2002-2007. We have seen a lot of new millionaires being made from investment in stock market during that period. Huge profits were brought in and market has been booming everywhere from India to China, Vietnam to Brazil. Late last year, everything has changed because of the long awaited subprime crisis in US. Markets around the world started to tumble, coupled with the huge increase in price of crude oil, and rising inflation to multiple peaks, have all added more pressure to the stock markets, as well as our lives.

Fortunately, now we have rode through the reccession pressure of US, which is a relieve to us. A reccession in the US could mean negative growth to developing countries, as US is their major trading partner. But with inflation ever so high all around the globe, growth is slowing and therefore we might see the possibility of stagflation, where the economic growth is stagnant but inflation is rising. All these are problems that could pressure the markets to even lower lows from the recent peak. Could this be what we know as the 10-year crisis cycle?

We have seen markets tumbling over and over again on average once every 10 years, but we will see markets shooting up again to hit greater highs after each cycle is complete. How many times can we go through such a cycle in our lives? We might be fortunate enough to live through only a few (3-4) cycles from the time we started working, to the time we retire. So, are we prepared to make the best out of these cycles? Don't forget that our main aim is to grow our retirement fund as much as possible to live a comfortable retirement life.

Experts always say, "Crisis equals to Opportunity". I believe in this, as it has been proven over the past few decades. When a crisis hits, we bound to see a huge recovery in the making. What goes up, must come down and what comes down, must go up. This is the economic rule for decades, and it makes sense to us. So, now the markets are coming down, and we are all eagerly waiting for it to hit bottom and go back up to complete the cycle. Where do you stand in this? How do you see this crisis?

I am here not just to sell the unit trust funds to you, but more importantly I hope I am able to help more people understand about unit trust and investment. There are many types of investment vehicles all around, but why unit trust? Most of us have difficulty to track all of our investments, so I am introducing unit trust as a vehicle to DIVERSIFY your investments. If you really think about it, how many types of investment vehicles can you invest in with RM1,000, or maybe RM5,000? I will not say none, but I will say that it is LIMITED. With limited funds, you have limited ability to diversify your investment. So, here is where unit trust is useful for all of us, either for our long term investment diversification, children's education fund, or even our retirement fund.

A lof of us do not wish to worry about what to do if we have insufficient money for retirement, so unit trust could be your answer. Start your investment young, and you will have more time to COMPOUND your money (note the keyword is compound). The only way to grow our money exponentially is by compounding. There is no way you can grow your money exponentially if you receive only stable interest on your money, and if you do not compound it, especially during such high inflation times. You can contact me either by PMing me your questions, or posting your questions here. I will try to find suitable ways to suit your needs. Interested parties that are looking to invest can PM me directly too.

Thank you for all your time and I wish you all the best

Regards

This post has been edited by Jordy: Aug 26 2008, 02:03 PM

As reported in The Star (22 July) by Bank Negara, our inflation for June has almost doubled to 7.7% from 3.8% for the month of May. That figure is the highest in 27 years. The "real" inflation affecting our neccessities is actually higher than what was reported. We saw fuel increased by 41%, electricity increased by 18% and food increased by 10%. How long can we live on normal fixed deposit rate of 3.7%, when our savings and purchasing power are eroded by such high inflation?

At times like these, we should think of ways to increase our savings, and we should look for something that could give us return of AT LEAST 10% to stay ahead of inflation. Prices will continue to rise, but our fixed deposit or salary DO NOT increase as much as inflation. So that is a threat and a danger that we should consider.

I am not saying unit trust would guarantee your returns, but at least you have a better chance than just saving into fixed deposits. Imagine that if you have RM10,000 now, and in 20 years time that value would drop to RM3,000 if you are not doing anything with it. So why not consider to channel part of it into unit trust and grow your money for retirement? If you need further information, please do not hesitate to PM me. I will answer all of your doubts.

Thank you in advance for your time

Regards

New 3-years Capital Protected fund in the Gold and Oil & Gas industries



Kindly PM me or post here for your information. This is a good opportunity for those that worry about losing their capital, but are thinking of investing in something that has "potentially" higher return than FD. With commoditites, your money would grow with inflation. Availability of commoditites will be lesser, not more. So as supply is getting less, price would usually appreciate. So if you are interested, please PM me or post here and I will get back to you as soon as I see it Remember, it is ONLY open for sale in 45 days, or could close earlier if fully sold before 11 September 2008.

Regards

as from the prospectus only 15% will be invested in gold and oil related

---

Added on July 30, 2008, 11:12 amInvestment Policy
At least 85% of its NAV will be invested in Ringgit-denominated zero-coupon negotiable instrument of
deposits (ZNIDs) and liquid investments comprising high quality debentures and money market instruments.
The balance of the Fund’s NAV will be invested in ETFs, equities and equity-related securities of gold and
oil and gas related sectors.

This post has been edited by untouchable: Jul 30 2008, 11:12 AM

That is quite true. ALL capital protected funds have the same exposure.
We cannot invest 100% in gold and O&G related securities and expect it to be capital protected, right?
That is why we would be able to protect your capital, but with the potential of getting a little extra from that 15%.

Can I know the range of interest rate the possibly obtain from the investment? Early of this month there was a saving plan offered Maybank Etiqa, the Mesra plan states that investors can get the interest rate in the range between 8%-12%. I want to make choice in between these products so really hope I can get the answer from you.

Thanks.

Hi chrisling, thank you for your kind enquiry.
In unit trust, there is no interest rate, but there are returns. Investments in general cannot give you any guarantee on what returns you would be getting (except for FD). The Etiqa plan you mentioned, the 8% - 12% stated were NOT guaranteed returns. They are known as "potential" returns, so the actual amount could be less or more.

Since our fund is invested in commodities related investments, we are unable to give you the range of returns. It could be positive or even negative, but the most important thing is, we protect your capital if the return is negative. Commodities are changing very rapidly because of speculation plays, that is why we can't give an answer to the potential returns unfortunately.

Hope you could understand and hope I have answered your question

I am interested on this. But I only can invest using EPF fund. I am a new employee with only few months work out...Can you please pm me the details? Thanks

Hi, thank you for your keen interest, but unfortunately this fund is not open for EPF investments.
We have a few other funds available for EPF investments though if you are interested.
I could PM you the details, but I don't think you are able to invest with EPF money because you have just started working.
There are terms and conditions to it, so we could discuss more on it if you still feel interested.
Once again, thank you for your enquiry

Regards

nice thread here TS
anyway im new to PM (really NEW!), heard about PM giving returns more than 10%
but then there are so many funds out there
how to choose? and one of my friends said that Public Ittikal is the best
is that true?

thanks

Yeah it is true :-) check the record via the website or pamphlet

Hi overruled23, thank you for the compliment
Through the historical data, yes PM has been achieving returns of between 8% - 12% for its funds.
The best way to choose the fund you would like to invest is by choosing one that suits your objectives and timeframe.
For longer timeframes, you could go for more aggressive funds, and vice versa.
Public Ittikal was the best Islamic fund, and its returns for the past 10 years has outperformed all other PM funds.
But, please be reminded that past performance is not an indication of future performances, as times are constantly changing.
Would you like to know more?



MX510, please read above. Past performance is not an indication of future performances.

yes please.
thanks

Overruled23, since the topic is quite wide, I would appreciate it if you could PM me with the questions you have.
I will help you understand what you don't, as that would be more efficient, isn't it?
Again, thank you for your reply.

Regards

I have these questions by a member here, so I think it is good that I share with everyone here



Well, as I said, this is NOT a guaranteed returns thing (NO investment could guarantee you profits except for FD). When the stock markets drop, then so are the funds. Nothing can escape the loss, even insurance companies will still get losses. During this time, if you "chicken out" and pull your money out, then you would be suffering the losses. If you can hold for the long term, well markets generally would go back up, as there is no such cases of market becoming obsolute. So, if you have a long term view, I am quite sure you would see your money growing as most of the times, the strong companies would keep growing. The stock market value is just what investors price them at, but if their real value keeps increasing, then the stock prices would eventually follow.

As investors, you do not really need to do anything. We call this passive investing, where you just place your money for few years and let it have the chance to grow. The consultant would do the monitoring for you, as we would do for others as well. That is what we are paid for

Yes, we do have a lot of clients to look after, but we really just have to look at all 50 of our funds only. So, there is nothing much as everything is prepared for us. All we need is the price for the day and we can get your portfolio analysis done in minutes.

If you are talking about selling/buying prices, there are no such thing anymore because now that the SC has made the singli-pricing ruling, our selling and buying price would be based on only one price, which would be the NAV for the fund. To determine your cost for purchasing the fund, simply take the NAV and add a service charge of 5.5%. To sell a fund, simply multiply the number of units you have by the NAV. Isn't it simple?

I hope I have answered the questions clearly. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me.
I am here to serve and help everyone understand more about unit trust, and hopefully more people would accept this as their investment.
Thank you and have a nice day

what is FD just like u mentioned above?
so how are paid? thru the service charge? that means for every ringgit that we invested in, we will charge 5.5%

is this calculation correct?

Units credited to your account:
= Amount invested /NAV per unit
= RM1,000/RM0.8583
= 1165.09 units

Service charge per unit:
= NAV per unit x Service Charge (%)
= RM0.8583 x 5.50%*
= RM0.0472065
* assuming service charge is @5.50%

Total service charge incurred:
= Service charge per unit x Units credited to investor
= RM0.0472065 x 1165.09 units
= RM55

Finally in progression of the above, the total amount you should pay will be:
= Amount invested + Service charge incurred
= RM1000 + RM55
= RM1055

thanks

FD = Fixed Deposits. Yes, it is every ringgit you invest, 5.50% will be deducted from that amount for Equity funds, and 0.25% for Bond/Money Market funds. Your calculation is ok but not that accurate. Don't really have to make it that hard though

Units credited to your account:
= Amount invested /NAV per unit
= RM947.87/RM0.8583
= 1104.36 units

Amount invested = RM1,000/1.055 = RM947.87

Simple and direct, isn't it?

owh thanks for the more direct calclation
so what do u think if i start of with an initial investment of 1k and then add 100/month
is it too low?
im still unemployed btw
just graduated
and the fund at anytime can withdraw is it?

This O&G capital protected fund has investment tenure of 3 years. If you withdraw within 3 years, your capital wont be protected. BUT if this fund is making money then you can opt to withdraw it anytime you want. IF it is loss making then you will be locked in 3 years just to get back your principal.

Please note that the O&G is heading south after a prolonged speculation. WTI has dropped to $113/bbl, and my fair value (speculation speculation) for WTI is at $80/bbl, which means it still has some room to go down. Note that the fund closes its initial offer in early September (please correct me) and IF WTI is $80/bbl that time, it might be a good investment because PM will start making its purchases at lower prices.

Thanks.