Investment-linked is different from unit trust, as investment-linked is some sort like insurance combined with unit trust. For me, it's better we invest in unit trust and buy the traditional insurance to get protection. Traditional insurance has higher coverage with lower premium compared to investment-linked. I believe unit trust companies like Public Mutual, OSKUOB, etc is more professional and better in investment compared to insurance companies.

This is all up to you. If you know nothing about unit trust, maybe investment-linked is a good product for you.

Anyone know about PM China attikal fund???
Seems very attractive...
What if the economy crises ?? Will we get the same return too??

for a starter its good to save up ur money in investment-linked
products . . . . . you dont have to worry much bout it

But when you have more cash, there are so many types of investment tools out there.
Just pick 1 that you feel you are good in it & ur money there.

you need to do some research & timing is very important

This post has been edited by Colaboy: Dec 5 2007, 04:41 PM

What is inv. link?? What is it about???

Investment linked is a strategy mainly adopted in insurance policy.

it's a 2 in 1 account
it combines insurans & investment ( something like unit thrust )

depending on individual risk tolerance
different types of fund will have different risk & returns
example:
equityfund = high return & high risk
bondfund = low return & low risk

it's better you seek ur agent for advice for actual fund performance



This post has been edited by Colaboy: Dec 5 2007, 05:10 PM

OSK-UOB to grow total funds

KUALA LUMPUR: OSK-UOB Unit Trust Management Bhd is targeting to grow its total funds under management to about RM5bil by the end of next year from RM3.6bil currently through the launching of various funds.

Chief executive officer Ho Seng Yee said to this end, the company would be launching various funds - local, regional and global, to enlarge its fund size.

"We will be launching five funds by the first half of next year and subsequently another few throughout the year.

"Apart from launching new funds, we will also re-launch some of our existing funds which we feel there is potential for such funds in the market,'' he said after the launching of the company's latest fund, OSK-UOB Big Cap China Enterprise, on Wednesday.

With the new fund, it now has 33 funds under its stable. According to Ho, he expects the fund to potentially bring in annualised returns of between 15% and 18%.

He added the new fund was the first of its kind in the country that focuses on pure China plays and aims to provide investors with long term capital appreciation through investments in securities of companies with high growth potential.

It invests in equities and equity linked securities issued by companies whose businesses are in China and those with a market capitalisation of at least US$1bil, he added.

UOB Asset Management Ltd (UOBAM) of Singapore is the external investment manager for Big Cap China Enterprise

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...03&sec=business

oh.. Inestment link is handle by inssurance company right??
See how much portion for ur insurance and investment and most probably investment portion is less than the insurance isit???
If yes then compare to those ittikal fund it yield lower return.. Correct me if im wrong...

Pardon me, I am from SG, are there any online UT trading that you can buy from. Everything is done online, buy & sell... nothing much... an what about charts that you can refer too espcially the performance so far.. this would help you to track and monitor the best funds...

In fact, I think there are also list of top performing funds too...

As for investment link product like AIA.... I used to own them too.... however, I sold them after making 20% lost within 1 yr during the down turn.. I would suggest, unless you are not the risk taker or you are not keen and just want someone to do it for you.. Things which I found out about their funds, even my SG agent could not answer me at all although he did provide me with good services, but I just ask too much about their product so much so that he find me too much to handle. Another thing is, you see, whatever fund you buy into, do read the brochue carefully, and I suspect, they may not give you those in details which I got from my agent, which in fact, I discovered, he wasn't even aware of, the details of the fund that I bought.. they possibly tell you what they invest into which segement, but no break down of what they are.

AIA actually buy into into feeder fund, especially from AIG, the parent company. You pay sales charges to AIA, AIA in term pay to buy from AIG. Double paying sales commision. The bit and ask price is lower than that of AIG even for the same fund, likewise, when the price rises, it is much slower .. You can easily check this with your fund website.. or you account from whoever you buy from.

Do a little read up and find out more from the internet, there are materials available for your reference... That's how I learn to invest after selling off my AIA investment link product... I am better off doing my own investment than buying from AIA.. I recovered my lost way before compared to holding on to it till now.. and even make more profits from it..

by the way, may I know what is the sale charges like in MY?

This post has been edited by bbmars: Dec 5 2007, 11:21 PM

Lower unit trust sales charges

PETALING JAYA: Effective next month, sales charges for investment in unit trusts by Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors are expected to be slashed to not more than 3% from 5% to 6% now.

A source told StarBiz that the move was expected as the current charges were relatively high compared with other countries, and for the industry to be globally competitive, the upfront sales charges should come down.

This would also reduce the cost of investment and improve returns as the current sales charges were eating into unit trust returns, he said, adding that the move, over time, would lower the overall sales charges in the industry.

Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd chief executive officer and chief investment officer Michael Auyeung said the move was a positive development for the industry.

Lowering sales charges would provide investors a quicker path to garnering returns on their investment, and might encourage many to make regular withdrawals.

"Distributors who earnestly assess what the EPF is trying to do for its contributors will eventually see that this move will benefit everyone," Auyeung said.

From the perspective of unit trust management companies, most players would welcome the lowering of any hurdle that helped change investors' mindsets and allowed them to realise that unit trusts were an extremely viable investment and pension planning instrument, he said.

Furthermore, he said, the excuse that high upfront fees were keeping pensioned investors away had been partly overcome.

Auyeung said when news emerged that EPF investors were losing money in unit trusts, Pacific Mutual conducted an in-depth study of its own investor base. "Total gains made by our investors between 2003 and 2005 were RM41.32mil while losses amounted to RM65,000. Most of the losses were incurred by recent investors who had yet to recover the fees they paid upfront," he noted.

An industry player said: "Those unit trust management companies that rely heavily on agents would in the short term see a negative impact on their businesses.

"This is because the agents' customers mainly comprise EPF contributors. The lowering of sales charges would affect the agents' commissions which, in turn, would affect the companies' businesses in the short term.''

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...15&sec=business

LOL. Strings attached. Why can't there be genuine good news for once? Other than so and so new funds launching etc.

Something to share on how reinvestment of distribution helps on cost of unit (NAV)

PFEDF
BEfore Distribution (30 Nov 07)

Unit Price = 0.3055 sen/unit
Total Capital = RM 1, 500
Total Units = 6,000 units (Bought at offer period, 0.25sen/unit - service charge added)

Average Cost per Unit = 0.2500 sen/unit

After Distribution
Distribtion = 2 sen/unit
Total Distribution in RM = 6000 X 0.02 = RM 120

Unit Price after Distribution = 0.3055 - 0.02 = 0.2855

Unit obtained from reinvestment = RM120/0.2885 = 415.94 units
(no service charge for reinvestment of distribution)

Total Units = 6000 + 415.94 = 6415.94 units
Total Capital = RM 1,500 (same)

Average cost per unit = RM 1,500 / 6415.94 units = RM 0.2338 sen/unit


The calculation i did not take into account of tax of the distribution, just a simple calculation.

This post has been edited by kingkong81: Dec 6 2007, 11:28 AM

Yes, distribution reinvestment definitely will lower the cost per unit, but it didn't contribute any added value to your portfolio. Do you get my idea? What investors want is not lower cost, but is the return. Lower cost just a term to make people feel like we can get more profit, but in fact, if you really understand about unit trust, there is no such thing.

Taking your example, before distribution, your value of fund is 6000x0.3055=RM1833. After distribution, your value is 6415.94x0.2855=RM1831.75. So, the value is same here, and don't forget there is tax for distribution which we didnt take into consideration here.

Let's said, the fund get 10% return after sometime,
Without distribution, RM0.3055x110%=RM0.33605. Your total value is RM0.33605x6000=RM2016.30
With distribution, RM0.2855x110%=RM0.31405. Your total value is RM0.31405x6415.94=RM2014.93

From this, we can know, distribution is not really giving added profit to investors.

---

Added on December 6, 2007, 11:11 amSo far, Malaysia do not have such facility that we can buy/sell/do everything with unit trust online. (If Im not mistaken). We can wait for Tune Money, which they will offer online unit trust facility in future.

For equity fund, Malaysia imposes 5-7% of service charge.

Yes, it's good that investors can know how the fund is invested and where the fund has been invested into.

This post has been edited by leekk8: Dec 6 2007, 11:11 AM

Yup, the ultimate and simple for most important factor to watch is the incremental of NAV over the time, the rest of the like distribution and unit split carry no meaning on it. Don't need to take care of those.

I understand. I'm not making the calculation here to tell people that distribution can add to the total value to their fund. In fact, I have agreed wif yours & cherroy points on that previously.

I juz wanted to share on how the calculation of NAV after distribution. Thats all. Coz i do get question on how the reinvestment of distribution did to lower the cost of NAV...

1) yea 100% manage by the fund manager
2) you can choose to set ur insurans coverage like 30% and the rest 70% to go into investment fund - to maximize returns
3) i will not said it yield lower returns, as if you compare to the invesment-link equity fund
-you need to compare an apple with apple

---

Added on December 6, 2007, 11:11 am

So far, Malaysia do not have such facility that we can buy/sell/do everything with unit trust online. (If Im not mistaken). We can wait for Tune Money, which they will offer online unit trust facility in future.

For equity fund, Malaysia imposes 5-7% of service charge.

Yes, it's good that investors can know how the fund is invested and where the fund has been invested into.

[/quote]

WOW, that 's is very high, much higher than SG.. we already complain for sometime and the rate has came down not long ago from 5% to 3%, and some still at 5%. However, there are those who offers online trading at 1.5% discount and even 1% if you can invest 50K above... Actually, its more expensive than investing in stock even for SG UT... market regulator is asking for more reduction in sales charges and commision..and we the investors... still complaining the sales charge is too high...

Thank u fyi.... I am not sure what kind of funds MY has.. could they be the same as some of those in SG? I mam not aware of.. also never really bother to check.. just that, I was just comparing and see what I can do with my CPF.. .that's why I am curious to find out...

Not all Funds charge that much.

Some funds, depending on agent/distributor will give a discount on the Service charge up to as much as 60%. So for a service charge of 5%, a 60% discount on that means you pay only 2%.

Pays to shop around.

Even Public Mutual will start to trim the service charge from 6.5% to 5.5%. Not much, but it is an improvement.

Definitely SG unit trust sales charge is lower than MY. MY unit trust companies now also trying to reduce the sales charge. Anyway, I don't think the sales charge can be gone to as low as 1%, if it's not internet transaction.