Another long story to share... (what is said here, should be left here... as a yank would say, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Some of the writings are nonsense; some I hope is good enough for a future book "How Not to Lose Money in Public Mutual... advises from an financial idiot to financial dummies". So please don't "steal" the material!  )

I started on a 2nd portfolio last year. This time the strategy is "Always Pot Black". Meaning that as far as possible, be very conservative and the "investment" must always be in the black at all times.

The options available:
1) Cash or EPF investment.
EPF. Profited 2.5% before I even got started!

2) Public or PB series.
PB. Public series has many approved EPF funds; too much options = too much headache to choose.
PB series has only 4 approved funds (a 5th one just closed on 1/April.) 

PB Islamic Bond fund, PB Islamic Cash Management fund, PB Islamic Equity fund, and PB Growth fund.

The other reason for selecting PB series, too lazy to look up a Public Mutual agent and make appointment. For EPF investment, you need to fill in a form and do thumb prints on the form. So much easier to just walk into the nearest Public Bank...

Always Pot Black Strategy.
1. Place the whole bet on islamic bond. Pay only 0.25% service charge.

2. PB Islamic bond was among the better bond funds. Good annualised returns when bought in early July; 2nd withdrawal in Nov. not so good - got steep declines in November. So 1st withdrawal has above 4% annualised returns, 2nd one is less than 2%. Inclusive of the 0.25% charge, so they are in the black.

3. Starting in Jan. have made several switches to Islamic Equity. The minimal allowable units to switch is 1000 units. So about rm1200 each time. No switching fee... since we are paying the service charge of 3% (for converting low charged units to high charged units. Public Mutual called it "low loads" and "loaded" units.)

4. Always in the black... because the 3% service charge is paid from the gains made by the bond fund.

5. So far, the equity fund is paying off the service charge on its own. It went up 2.56% in March, and another 0.94% yesterday.

6. So far so good... if the stock market dips, will top-up from the bond fund.

7. If the switch into islamic equity fund is more than 90 days, depending on the outlook, will switch it out to islamic cash management fund - which is a money market fund; and there is zero switching fee if after 90 days.

8. So the plan is to switch out to the money market fund when each top-up hits 90 days. Let them accumulate there. Always in the black. 

9. If the situation warranted, then switched all at one go (or maybe 2) back into the equity fund, and paying RM25 for switching fee.

10. In the meantime, regularly top-up from the bond fund to equity fund. The aim is to pay the 3% service charge, and even out the charge over the investment period; and ending up with "loaded" units already paid up on the service charge.

There is one thing which I have to check and confirm with Public Mutual. If we hit age 55, will the EPF investment loose its "EPF" status - which will then open up all the other funds (non-EPF approved) to switch into.

Otherwise, it will be boring with just 2 equity funds to play...

Cheers.