Management fee is charged by the Fund Manager to the fund, and its the same whether u buy thru FSM, bank or direct thru HwangIM. Trustee fee is charged by the fund's Trustee to the fund, and its the same whoever u buy your units from.

Why lower sales charge?

The following is my answer. Of course, if u want a definitive answer, why not ask FSM direct?

The bulk of the SC actually goes to the agent. With FSM, they have NO agents to maintain. And being an online distributor, they do not need to maintain physical offices throughout the country to serve clients' needs (they only have 2 offices, 1 at KL and 1 at Penang). So, the answer is - vast savings in manpower costs and overhead costs as compared to the "traditional" UT distributors like Public Mutual and CIMB Wealth Advisors.

Annual Expense Ratio is calculated by = Total expenses / Average fund size

U can see how it is calculated in the prospectus and annual/interim financial statements

It's all accounting.

Let me use a simple example to illustrate.

ABC Berhad
Fixed asset = RM1 mil office building
Current asset = Share investments (let's assume RM1 mil at 01-Feb-2013, RM900K at 10-Feb-2013)
Staff = 2 managing directors with monthly salary of RM10K each
Share capital = 1 mil ordinary shares of RM2 each

NAV of ABC Berhad at 10-Feb-2013
= RM1 mil + RM900K - (RM10K x 2) / 28 x 10
= RM1,892,857

NAV per unit i.e. share
= RM1,892,857 / 1 mil shares
= RM1.89

Even though salary i.e. management expenses is paid once a month, it is accrued on daily basis for accounting of NAV

Correct

To illustrate further, let's say u have

Fund ABC 3-years average returns: 5% p.a.
Average MER: 1.6%

Fund XYZ 3-years average returns: 5% p.a.
Average MER: 2.2%

It means that XYZ's gross investment returns are actually higher than ABC, but the net returns are dragged down by higher expenses relative to ABC.

My suggestion is, if you're new to UT investing, better start with a relatively small portfolio, don't start with too many different funds.

I presume that you are starting from zero. As such, why not pick a global equity fund? Leave the region allocation (which region got better growth potential? how much % to allocate to each region?) to the Fund Manager.

One global sukuk/bond fund (I suggest around 30%) -
AmDynamic Sukuk (a new fund, hence not much historical data to do comparison and evaluation)

One pure MYR sukuk/bond fund (I suggest around 40%) -
AmBon Islam (nothing exciting, but it gets the job done. Well, as someone said, let your equity funds deliver the adrenaline rush )

One Malaysian equity fund (I suggest around 10%) -
Kenanga Syariah Growth (keep minimal allocation to this until the General Election risk is resolved)

One global equity fund (I suggest around 20%)

A 70/30 portfolio should be good enough for a newbie.

And with that, Pacific Dana Dividen comes to mind.
http://www.fundsupermart.com.my/main/fundi...number=MYPMFDDF

The attached chart shows how Pacific DD fared for the past 3 years against EI APSE and MSCI World index:

Inter switching? Then u need to look for funds within the same fund house.

A bit difficult...cos the "star" funds are all from different fund houses

Take your pick, do your own mix and match

Global bond
Hwang Select Bond
OSK-UOB Emerging Markets Bond
RHB Asian Total Return

Pure MYR bond
OSK-UOB Income Fund (up to 30% in Asian bonds)
AmBond
Kenanga Bond

Global equity
Pacific Global Stars
Pacific Dana Dividend (Shariah-compliant, heavy Malaysian focus)
Alliance Global Equities
OSK-UOB Global Equity Yield
RHB Global Fortune

Malaysian equity
Kenanga Growth
Eastspring Investments Equity Income
Hwang Select Opportunity (up to 30% globally, Asian focus)
Hwang Select Dividend (up to 30% globally, Asian focus)
Yea, most funds got no exit fee. Like in this case, u will kena charge at the "buy" side, Kenanga.

Yea, HwangIM is a good fund house.

Don't go too heavy on AQ, cos it's technically an Asia Ex-Japan small-mid cap equity fund. U can have it as a smaller % of your portfolio, though.

Start with a basic portfolio of 1 MYR bond fund, 1 global/Asian bond fund, 1 Malaysian equity fund and 1 global equity fund. U can also include an Emerging Markets equity fund or Asia Ex-Japan equity fund like Hwang AQ if u like.

Start simple, then as u gain more experience and more comfortable juggling your portfolio, u can have more region-specific funds. FSM Recommended Portfolios are a good references to start with.

1-2K a month is A LOT. Start with the minimum initial investment, then slowly build up your portfolio value to even out the entry cost. U don't wanna dump at one go only to find out u entered at a high point.

DUMP ALL YOUR EXCESS MONEY IN CASH MANAGEMENT FUND 1ST

u obviously haven't fully explore FSM website

http://www.fundsupermart.com.my/main/fundi...number=MYOSKCMF
http://www.fundsupermart.com.my/main/faq/faq.svdo?id=9718

This is what I do:
- every month after budgeting for cash needs for the month, I dump ALL excess cash in Cash Management Fund
- all purchases of funds be it bond or equity are paid by Cash Management Fund

Now go study what is CMF from the links provided...I won't entertain further "basic" questions on it.

I'd say leave the market timing to the Fund Manager, they'll kaotim the entry/exit timing for u. HwangIM is managing the downside risks of this fund fairly well.

guys I have read and re-read the discussion but i still am not sure what to make of it so I'm just gona ask.

In the View Holdings page, lets say I have Kenanga Growth, the cost is 2500, current value 2469.96. Which means a loss of -30.04 right?
With the new member 1% charge, 2500/1.01 = 2475.25,
so have i made a 30.04 loss or a (2475.25-2469.96) 21.71 loss?

So my question is, does the 2469.96 already reflect the 1% sales charge? and does that mean that everytime you buy a fund you the View Holdings page will show a 1% loss?

based on what master accountant says,
it would be the 1% sales charge + a little loss on the fund ba