From what I heard last week, PCSF is not EPF approved. Noticed the fund size is smaller compared to other funds too. The reason behind ? I do not know, I dont work in SC... my guess is could be partially cuz our government doesnt want too much of our funds go out of the country.

Actually there's 1 fund made over 200% return this year.

But no fund could do that CONSISTENTLY every year.

From morningstar website,
PJB Amanah Saham Johor - 280% (12m return)

Your answer can be found here.

http://www.publicmutual.com.my/article.aspx?id=97

Yep you are right. It is generally advisable for the agent to go through the prospectus with the clients, as all the info can be found there. But in reality, how many people actually would like to read that thick book ?
Anyhow, an educated investor should be able to find out if the agent truly care about the person's interest or just the commission after just a meeting.

The problem is most UT agents in Msia are not qualified financial planners. What can you expect ?

In USA, financial planners charge hundreds of USD for consultation fee and they are able to recommend any fund from any company.

Whereas in Msia, these agents get their wages solely from their commission only. And most UT companies here do not allow their employees to promote/sell other company funds (even others appear to be far more superior). The same goes with banking and many other industry actually.

So the bottom line is the investors should do some homework themselves, online research will do, my recommendation is not only the research from the particular UT company website, but also from independent rating agency like the lippers and S&P.

Not neccesarily means must sell n repurchase. Investors can also just submit an agent transfer form or write a letter to UT for that matter.

It's the unitholder right to employ whoever to be his/her agent. Generally, the changing agent process requires 3 party consent - unitholder, ex-agent, new agent. The form can be obtained from the UT company office.
The ex-agent will lose career benefits for the sum, and the agent will gain it. There's no service charge occur on unitholder expense, perhaps some UT companies will charge admin expense on it. While the UT company doesnt gain anything, it explains why they dont recommend unitholders to switch agents without proper reasons.

This post has been edited by ejleemy: Jun 29 2007, 12:05 PM

There are high-risk, low-risk, government backed and many fancy fancy bonds. Yes, it's possible to lose money with bonds when going after high risk bonds. Generally if your conservative bond fund strategy is going after shorter term bonds, the yield is almost guaranteed higher than FD and the variance would be much smaller as the risk exposed is less as well. If you have checked the record of the local islamic bonds, they are very safe (but not 100% safe) and provide a consistent return of higher than FD rate.

Agreed with dreamer. Nothing is guaranteed, an investment company never guarantee returns on their products.

Please take note that, there are risks associating with investing in FD as well. If you have placed your money in a 12-month 3.7% FD rate, and the bank revise the rate upward (say to 4%) a few months later, you will still be stuck with your 3.7% rate till maturity.

And the inflation risk is always there for investing in FD. Is the rate really enough to hedge the inflation rate ? For the year 2007 = Yes likely, but the coming years is not guaranteed as the fuel price is hiking !!!

I haven't seen the new system. Having some IT background, I believe it's not a very hard thing to accmondate the IT system with this latest changes. To avoid confusion, just put 2 different tags for KWSP contribution pre and post July 2007 in the database. If it happens that you switch your old KWSP foreign fund to an existing new KWSP local fund, you will be given a new account code instead (as if you open a new account, therefore minimum 1k is required for such switch). Thus, they wouldnt mix.

If I remember correctly, public mutual has tagged the new KWSP system with "EP2". So you would be able to tell from your statement.

Actually many local equity funds made over 50% in the recent 1 year. His one made over 50% in 8 months could be possible, likely to be one of those more aggressive funds.

---

Added on July 20, 2007, 2:55 pmboon, switching doesnt incur any initial service charge. Only rm 25 transaction fee deducted from your NAV for normal members. The fee is waived for Mutual Gold members.

A good agent will never advise selling unless the investor plans to withdraw from UT altogether.

This post has been edited by ejleemy: Jul 20 2007, 02:55 PM

Actually, there are many agents who are highly qualified accountants, bankers, finance managers, CFPs etc... many of us haven't got chance to meet these people as they target corporate sales mainly. Many SMEs that cant afford a 60k++ p.a. finance manager will hire these agents for their service.

Grengo01, you got some valid points there. Actually such ethics problem exist in every sector invovled with agency sales force. Currently, there are only about 3k fully certified CFPs in Msia. Yet only a portion of the 3k are UT agents. It takes ~3 years of study + 3 years of working experience in related sector to get the CFP designation. It's impossible for our industry to have a full knowledgable salesforce consists of fully qualified professionals only. No choice, some of the investors have to deal with less professinoal agents. But... they always have the right to pick their own agents, if they think the agent X is not qualified enough, just ring the UT company office and ask for a good one. I'm sure many out there are happy and willing to serve them.

utellme, you did the right thing. You took the bigger risk with stock market/funds when you were young and could afford to do so. Now that you aren't that young anymore, you would seek a more stable lower-risk investment like property, ASW etc. Btw, you can consider REITs too if you do not intend to manage your property directly which is a hassle to some people.

A good FP always match the investors to the right investment vehicle according to their risk profile.

Actually the REITs are doing quite well in Msia. You cant compare it directly to REITs from other country like Aus. as we are still very new in this field. There are pros and cons for Msian REITs of course. For you, I assume you stay in KL and you choose to own property in KL area so you have no prob with managing your property. For those who are from other states, REITs do offer them this opportunity.

FYI, a few REITs managed 10+% return (1 managed 20+%) in the recent 12-month term. Some of them are expecting a higher yield as the rental rate is going to raise for the tenants next renewal contract.

I aint an expert in REITs. And I don't sell REITs either. I just think that REITs has the potential and offer a significant lower risk compare to stocks. Something worth considering for those who do not wish to participate in the stock market. It's something I would consider investing myself when I reach my retirement age.

There's one islamic fund with 0 upfront charges but profit sharing basis.

15:85 means if the fund made 100% return in 5 years period, the manager would take 15% and 85% belong to you.

Performance based.....

---

Added on July 28, 2007, 9:03 amHmm. can't compare a stock with a property like that... for people who doesnt wish to participate in stock market, it is not an option already..

I realized the tax around with REITS... a stock or mutual fund declared dividend will be taxed too, could be lower of course depends on the person tax bracket. I think even with the REITs 15% tax, its still profitable. Huge redemption occurs in every UT, not just REITs. There are some precautions taken by the management companies for example for public mtuual, one needs direct approval from the fund manager if he plans to invest over x mil. (2 mil if the figure if my memory doesnt fail me) amount into 1 fund.

10% return minus the 1.5% to tax = 8.5% return

not bad at all for people who do not take stock market risk.

This post has been edited by ejleemy: Jul 28 2007, 09:03 AM

Its true that REITs trade on exchange, but it's not a stock. It's a real estate investment trust. It invests in property. The real property like KLCC, starhill, UOA etc. A good stock or a good stock portfolio certainly give higher yield than a property investment in long run. But a stock and a real estate are 2 different things you see ?