Please do not switch too often, as you are trying to time the market. There are risk to switching which might make you lose potential profits. Ut is not meant to be traded like shares. Try asset allocation instead.

Daily, but you will see the total charged in the annual report. The amount charged is usually quite substantial most of times equivalent to the dividend and interest received. Usually 1.5% management and other charges like offices expense, trustees, printing, audit etc will bring the fees to about 1.8% - 2.0% of asset. There are other hidden charges such as transaction fees, soft commission, brokerage etc which can bring the fees up another 0.5% -1% depending on their turnover.

This post has been edited by gark: Mar 25 2011, 09:13 AM

Bad for investor. Distribution of funds merely hands your money from the right pocket to the left with some of it taken by government as tax. It will be better if UT do not have distribution, if you want dividend, just sell some of the excess units yourself. Distribution of dividends in UT have no meaningful contribution to the holders other than looking 'good' to the public accustomed to fixed priced distribution like ASB funds and also those less well versed in investment.

So in conclusion dividends in UT is useless, designed to deceive the public and cost you money in taxes.

You are very wrong, capital gains in Malaysia is tax free, but dividend are taxed. If you sell the unit trust you do not need to pay tax, but if it is declared as dividend then it is taxed. Except for ASNB dividends which is also tax free.

In Singapore capital gains and dividend is also tax free.

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Added on April 2, 2011, 2:42 pmThere are many investment out there which are deceiving, but they they do it in a legal way of wording it, complaining to SC will not yield results. For example FD campaigns promoting 2.88%, 3.88% and 4.88% interest rate, but it is actually for one month only. The advert don't tell you, until you go to the details and sign the agreement, when you re-calcuate you find there is a minor difference only. Or certain savings insurance which advertise 12% cash back, then if you actually calculate it over the years, you get less than FD. It is the same with the UT industry, only it is hidden in the financial report. If you can't/won't/don't read the financial details and do your due dilligence you will be 'decieved'. These products do prey on those who have low financial knowledge.

FYI i am not trying to diss PM, I am holding quite a large sum in PM funds as well (six figures worth), but investors need to be educated lest they fall to marketing gimmicks and tricks. All these applies to most of the UT sold in Malaysia

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Added on April 2, 2011, 2:48 pmYes, the distribution need to be accounted and not only the NAV. Basically I have all of the info in excel, so each time after distribution and reinvestment I have to go and update the holdings. Waste of time....

Be careful when using the PM charts as I have found out, they are based on NAV to NAV charts and not on Bid to NAV charts. So the initial 5.5% you pay is not reflected in the charts and over time the 5.5% fees will be compounded and show a big difference. Anyway i do occasionally use them for quick info but the results in my excel sheet shows the actual value.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 2 2011, 02:53 PM

Ah.. you cannot divide the 5.5% charges like that, remember the 5.5% is able to compound as well..... basically they can make a Bid-NAV chart like many other (foreign) UT if they want to, but they will show lower gains. Let put in simple terms... and assume no dividend for simple computation.

1. Lets assume you do not have charges, you put in RM 1000, and assume you compound at 7% per year, after 20 years your holdings will be RM 3,869.38 which will give you 387% gains.

2. Now you assume you have 5.5% charges, you put in RM 1,000, and the fund takes RM 55. You are left with RM 945, assume you compound the same as above at 7% per year and 20 years. After 20 years your holdings will be RM 3,656.85, which will give you 365% gains.

So as you can see above you initial 5.5% differences in fees is now ballooned to almost 20%. So the longer you keep, the more you difference is and not less. Remember compounding can work both ways. This applies to the NAV-NAV chart you are seeing.

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Added on April 2, 2011, 3:52 pmYes lower fees matters over the long term, that's why I have switched to buying lower fees funds now.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 2 2011, 03:52 PM

Hmm how to convince you ah? The are Bid-Nav and Nav-Nav data/graphs in most foreign UT, only Malaysia don't require the UT to publish them.. I have attached a factsheet one of my UT holdings here for you to see, so you can make your own conclusions.

If you can see the difference... cumulative difference between Nav-Nav and Bid-Nav of 20% since inception (1997-2011)...

 factsheet370091.pdf ( 134.55k ) Number of downloads: 59


This post has been edited by gark: Apr 2 2011, 04:25 PM

Well it's your choice on what you believe, and I am fine with it. Just trying to tell you that the two graphs is not the same no matter when you started buying. No point arguing.

ECB hiked interest rate yesterday, it is also widely believe Malaysia will increase interest rate. When interest rate goes up, bond comes down. The drop is an anticipation of the interest rate increase.

Below is a quoted from CIMB Investment bank...

Meanwhile, we foresee a possibility of an interest rate hike in 2Q-3Q2011. This comes after hearing Bank Negara Malaysia policymakers’ statements after the recent 11 March MPC meeting and at the release of its 2010 Annual Report in late March. Bank Negara policymakers hinted of higher interest rates going forward. They will have to assess their policy stance as growth becomes more sustainable and inflationary pressures mount, but at the same time external headwinds temper growth prospects. Even though, policymakers said the level of interest rates will remain supportive to safeguard economic growth, they hinted they will also review of the degree of monetary accommodation as growth, inflation, and external factors develop further. We maintain our OPR target of 3.25% by end-2011 and think that the rate hike could come as early as the next MPC meeting scheduled for May 2011.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 8 2011, 10:52 AM

Risk level / Reward (according to me)

0 - FD
3 - Bond Funds
6 - Balanced Fund
9 - Equity funds
10 - Stock Market
20 - Derivatives

Most equity funds out there is not any safer than stock market, in fact a large majority of them underperform the index which makes them more risky than stock market.
But stock market can have lower risk than equity funds, it depends on your stock selection and holdings.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 14 2011, 09:16 AM

They are under derivatives - warrants, futures, CDS, interest rate swap, forex - u name it .

Go to MPH/Popular, find the book 'Random Walk down Wall Street', read, and then understand. You will find the answer.

A fund which invest in Malaysian Medium Term A-AAA Corporate bonds.

Depends on your risk factor. On long term average the yearly profits is about 6%-7%. But there are times which the fund dropped to 5%-10% loss. Your choice.

I would say lower risk than equity funds, but there is still risk unlike FD which have zero risk. One of the cheapest bond funds out there (in term of management fees).

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 18 2011, 06:05 PM

If you want to invest in China funds, you will need to go offshore, and find fund managers with years of experience in the HK/China market. Local funds are still beginning to learn.....

Aiyah, my agent haven't even spoken to me for up teen years already. Only once a while send e-mail telling me got new fund. also maybe because he always ask me buy this and that, I don;t bite unless I did my due diligence.

That's why now buying all my funds from online discount funds distributor, cheaper and get same service.

The UT fund consultants days are pretty much numbered, look at US or Europe with the amount of no-load funds, unless can give 1st class service. Those ex-consultants have to move up the value chain to distribute hedge funds...

This post has been edited by gark: Jun 11 2011, 12:26 PM

Choose re-investment option, then your dividend will buy more units, and give it chance to compound. Take the payout only if you need the money.

This post has been edited by gark: Jun 11 2011, 01:12 PM

All funds got it's seasonal luck, sometimes it under perform and sometimes it over perform. If you go chasing after the best performer, usually you will be disappointed with the performance due to simple reasons.

a. Since it is a 'hot' fund there will be many people dump money into the fund
b. Once the manager receive a lot of money, his hand is forced to invest, otherwise those money sit in deposit earn peanuts
c. The manager see nothing much of value, so have to buy something, anything.....
d. end up buying overpriced equity.. end up under perform or low performance
e. Other people see the fund not doing well, withdraw and goes to another 'hot' fund
f. And the cycle continues again... and again...

Never chase 'hot' funds, they will tend to underperform if a lot of people chase em. Best if good performance funds shut their doors and don't open them again.

The fund re-opened recently, lots of money flow in due to funds 'historical performance'. For me I don't look at fund performance over short term, usually need to gauge >5 years, ideally 10 years. Earning stability is much more important than one time performance. Also look at the fund turnover, if it is more than 100%, that means the manager is actively trading and not investing. I hold smallcap fund since 2001, so I am not the least worried. Lipper and Morningstar are good guides but your own due diligence is more important. Also look at the overall stock market PE ratio before you buy, to avoid getting caught during bull run. Now KLSE's PE ratio is about 17x, 2011 forward PE is 15x is it cheap or expensive? You decide.

If not mistaken, it is already closed back, too much 'heat' . Anyone can confirm?

Think long term, there will always be up and down, this is just a small dip. If you can't sleep at night, sell down until you can sleep.