JohnL77,

<<40% of your portfolio means you are confident the US will recover? >>

1) USA is in a crash now. So, how does it feels?? 10+% unemployment and the country is still functioning..

2) You are confusing economy with stock market again. Corporate American is doing extremely well even though the economy is doing badly.

<<I'm really on the fence on whether Malaysia will crash.>>

3) What will prevent Malaysia from crashing?? Nothing..

4) BN / UMNO had won GE13. Nothing will improve over the next 5 years. It will get worse in exponential pace.

<<But not recover? That's very pessimistic.>>

Burma and Philippine were the richest countries in South East Asia during the 1960s. They NEVER recovered from their crash. It is NORMAL for the countries to NEVER recover from their crash.

Dreamer

Hmm.. I see your point. I hate how the tone of our conversation has shifted. This always happens when the topic has to do with politics. (I don't affiliate with any party)

When you say never recover from their crash, do you mean their economy or their stock market? I'm confused.

JohnL77,

Their economies.

Dreamer

I need to read more about market history.

Thanks for having the patience to answer all my stupid questions.

Was just browsing Vanguard's website. Wow, just wow, their expense ratio is just amazing.

Their Admiral Index Fund annual expense ratio is 0.05% p.a. and their fund size is USD 170 Billion. That means that their fee is USD85Million i.e., RM255Million p.a.

Let's take a big fund from Bolehland say PSF (Public Saving Fund). Its AUM is RM1.7 Billion and with a 1.5% annual expense ratio, the annual fee is a comparatively miniscule RM 25.5 Million.

No wonder Vanguard can charge so low AER, with an AER of only 0.05% is still beat the SH*T out of our Bolehland's largest mutual fund in terms of chargeable fee.

Being big is good.

Xuzen

It took a long time for Vanguard to get this big. If bolehland keep refusing to come up with a good index fund, the gap between M'sian investors and US investors will keep growing.

JohnL77,

There is no DIVERSIFICATION in KLSE. 50+% of KLSE is owned by GLC and GLIC. So, the government directly or indirectly owned 50+% of KLSE. Even if somebody come up a good ETF for Malaysia, I will not buy it.

There is NOTHING to prevent Malaysian investor to buy Vanguard ETF. So, why wait for Malaysia to do something when you can do it yourself.

Dreamer

xuzen,

Public Mutual is highly profitable. This is one of the reasons that I buy Public Bank stock. The only stock that I buy for Malaysia.

Dreamer

Reviving a slightly old thread here

I'm looking to do my monthly, regular investments via a selection of ETFs (in this case through TDAM)

Currently these are all comission/fee free so it's not an issue to add in small amounts ($200-300 worth) on a monthly basis, do these normally stay fee free for the long term? As it wouldn't be worth paying purchase charge each time if the amounts are small.

rjb123,

All ETFs have annual maintenance fee. You pay for those fee as long as you hold the ETF. So, check their annual maintenance fee before buying certain ETF.

Dreamer

I'm aware of the yearly maintenance fee, I meant the fee to purchase the ETF - currently there's quite a few Commission-free , others $9.99. The $9.99 would be too much if just topping up monthly with $100-300 each

rjb123,

Yes. $9.99 would be too much.. The commission should less than 1%. If the commission is $9.99, each purchase should be $1,000 or more..

Dreamer

Agreed, that's why I was asking if they're likely to remain fee-free for the long term - will have to wait and see I guess.

Topping up less frequently in larger amounts would have to be an option I guess if the purchases don't remain fee free

Mind sharing how you will be investing in ETFs? Will you be transferring your funds to TDAM? Any fees charged for that? By TDAM do you mean TD Ameritrade or TD Asset Management?

This post has been edited by JohnL77: Feb 23 2014, 01:02 AM

I transferred to TD Ameritrade via Maybank from a Maybank USD account.

Transfer charge is $4+$7.65 (USD) and amount that's received is $26 USD less (middle/clearing bank charges) , so a total of $35.65

Both times so far I've done a transfer the funds have arrived quickly - ie. do it in Maybank branch at 4PM, at night time when US opens the funds are in the account.

Wow.. that is a lot. No cheaper way to transfer?

Apparently you can send a cheque which costs less but can take some weeks to clear.

I haven't done / not planning on doing any transfers less than $10,000 so percentage wise the fee isn't too bad

Can break it down for me, what are the fees they charge?

As far as I know, Maybank charge $4 for any FCA (Foreign currency account) transaction , the $7.65 then will be the TT charge.

Any payments in foreign currencies always need to go through a middle/clearing bank, who again impose an additional charge (in this case, $26 USD on both occasions)

Not something that can be avoided easily that I know of, if transferring from Malaysia > US

That sucks. So, what does your portfolio look like? Mind sharing?