@David83
Didn't know this can be done... great information you have there!

anyone switching their equity to bond fund now? cny is coming and alot investors pull out from stock market..i plan to lock my profit but my agent keep saying let it stand the market's upside down for 3 years..500k if lose 1% a day mean Rm5k lost. 2008 crisis back then my agent did nothing on my funds.

So comment or advice?

This post has been edited by mois: Jan 18 2011, 10:54 PM

Yeah, I'm thinking about the same thing. I bought some PB smallcap fund when it was 78 cents, now already 93 cents (I think). Thinking of switching to something safer..... not really sure what to do.....

If want something safer can opt for public bond fund(safer) or public money market(safest i think). Then after CNY, can switch back to equity if the market is stable. We are on high tide anyways. Have you consult your agent?

Can u switch smallcap since its closed now?

Switching out no problem. Just cannot switching in.

I see. No, didn't consult my agent yet......

Hehe, didn't even know it is closed. Just left it in the freezer to grow.....

Thx for the info. Making me think twice whether I should switch or not.

I am not exactly sure about Pnb ASx performance, i think there are quite a few threads on it in some forums, discussing the return. the bonus if i am not mistaken depends on how long you invest and i thought i read somewhere the dividend is not exactly for a 12 month period? anyway i dont mean to open up a discussion pnb asb for example, just wanting to point out that it may not be exactly straightforward to compare.

As for PM funds, i would suggest downloading the monthly performance/review report from public mutual website. for each fund it shows a chart on how the price or NAV, net asset value fluctuates with time. Look at how much you can lose or gain in a single year.

Now at the bottom of the page, there is a table, each column for a year. The first row shows how price change from year to year in percentage. this value actually change from trading day to day but the row shows change from year to year. The fifth row shows dividend if any in percentage per year. The total value for the year simply said is approximately adding both the first row and the fifth row.

i have posted before in this or another thread a statement showing how the first row and fifth row adds up to the total value.
do note however, there are sales charge involved with pm funds, 5.5% for loaded funds, 3% for epf loaded funds and 0.25% for low load funds.

I used to invest in ASB and ASW but have moved to pm funds. I think thats enough for now, but Pm me if you want to discuss further. leave me your email if you would like me to send you the performance report.

This post has been edited by buylowsellhigh: Jan 19 2011, 03:30 AM

Hi.. is it advisable to invest in PM at this point of time? The stock market is now quie high.. so i am thinking it will not be a good time to go in.

Depends. U want long term investment? If long term investment, can invest by dollar-cost averaging.

Is 5yrs consider long term?

@Kaka23
5 years is considered short to midterm to me.

Some people or companies claim that 5 years is long term. Here is why, I think.
The stock market have trends that change every few years. Typically it moves down by a year or two, and then typically goes up longer.
Example, 2008 we were down. this lasted for 1 year only, although quite some damage. Then it has been up since then with some corrections here and there. It has been like that, up and down for a few years. There are always people who seem so comfidence on wthats going to happen next, but in reality, how much up and how much down, we dont know what will happen or when exactly.

But suppose you started investing at the beginning of the downtrend in 2008 (so unlucky) and stayed investing, you would have lost quite a bit, maybe 40%, maybe much more, depending on where you invested. But by end 2009, you would have recovered some of your losses and by end 2010, maybe you have recovered a major portion of your losses but not all of it quite yet. But end 2013? Maybe, maybe not, but likely quite some portion of it.

The idea is that 5 years is likely to be long enough to recover any losses or gain from your equity/equity fund investment. No guarantee, just likely. If you add any annual dividend, the chances are better.

Thats why the lower risk investment which is not as volatile, or quite steady are meant for shorter term investors, they can get their return faster albeit generally lower as the max loss at any point in time if any is typically minimal.

there are unit trust funds for what is usually mentioned in the UT prospectus as "long term strategy", for "investor with long term outlook", etc. and there are those for "short terms" as well.

Public mutual and many other UT companies even allows for switching between the different funds with different strategy. Switching is more suited for the very few learned and experienced investors (not gamblers) or those who have unit trust consultants capable enough to guide them.

Different people have different needs, risk tolerance. You can PM me to discuss further.

This post has been edited by buylowsellhigh: Jan 21 2011, 12:32 AM

hey guys.. any advice on which bond fund is still open and not close ? as i have some in equity wanna move to bond to secure some profits..

The two newly launched bond funds are definitely not closed.

two newly launch bond ?? whats the name of those bond ? 10q

PUBLIC ISLAMIC STRATEGIC BOND FUND
PUBLIC STRATEGIC BOND FUND

With reference to "unit trust consultants capable enough to guide them".

Unfortunately, such capable UT consultants don't exist, or there are very very few of them. The really capable ones don't really need to advertise. If they are really capable, they would have already been appointed Fund Managers. Particularly, being appointed Fund Managers of funds where the objectives allow the managers great flexibility to adjust the allocation of funds according to market conditions. The Fund Managers can do the switching for you - why need to follow the advise of consultants who think they know better than the Fund Managers?

One can listen to what UT consultants have to say, or what bloggers have to say, but those people are not responsible when one loses one's hard earned money. One ultimately has to understand what one is doing, before simply following any up or down-trend advise on the internet.

Sigh. Just wanna share something. Just a lesson i learned. Few days ago, i was discussing with my agent about to switch over bond fund because investors are pulling out from the market due to cny is coming. Volume trades of course drop alot.

So my agent told me, "dont too rush, if u can put 5 years consistent u will get return more than 50%". I was like . He told me if got big crisis only that consider me to switch. "IF not after u switch to bond u cant switch back to equity fund"-->why cant switch back? i thought switching is allowed anytime. I ask him why cant switch back, and he said "If market go up faster then how u switch back? If market down u can go back." So i just diam diam

Here is what i thought and observe. During the last few weeks rally in the stock market, im sure everybody here gain alot from it. So last week, i was planning to lock my profit which worth 30k since december until now. Lock profit for now, then if cny is over and trade volume is high(i assume investors are coming back) and no bad news over regional markets, i switch back to equity funds. Sadly im too young and i could not afford to do my decision myself, so i diam diam again and just follow the agent advice. So for yesterday, the NAV price for most of my equity funds drop 1%+. It costs me 5k-6k lost in a day.

I know unit trusts are meant for long term investment and is a risky asset( less risky than stock). But i got the times (since im a student) to do some researches. Im willing to follow the market condition daily too. If I follow my own decision, i could have avoid the big drop. Any comments, guys?

I think what you agent is trying to tell you if you switch from equity to bond, and if the market go up, you will miss the opportunity and pay HIGHER prices for your equity.

For example, lest say equity fund RM1, bond Fund RM 1, and no counting of switching charge to make things simple. If you switch 10,000 units of Equity Fund, you get 10,000 units Bond Fund. Also lets assume the equity market goes up instead of down, in 6 months Equity fund is RM 1.1, Bond Fund is RM 1.05. You switch from bond to equity, you will get 10,000 x 1.05/1.10 = 9,545.45 units so you actually lose on the potential earnings.

But of course if the market down go down instead of up, then you avoid more losses.

Instead of timing the market (which most people gets it wrong), maybe you would like to use asset allocation to automatically re balance your portfolio say every 6 months. This is a much simpler method, and avoid timing altogether.

P/S your agent will earn more trailer fees if you hold equity fund. Bond funds have very low fees for the agent.

This post has been edited by gark: Jan 22 2011, 02:25 PM