Hai guys! This thread got awakened suddenly I see..
Firstly, I am one and the same. The blog is mine. =D

The minimum fee for Hong Leong is RM8.48 per transaction now (https://www.hlb.com.my/main/e-broking). I'm pretty sure the other brokerages are charging similar competitive rates already

Now on to the interesting part.. In terms of cost efficiency if you're using RM200 as a base.. of course 2% beats RM8. That's math. Do note that when you reach the RM800 figure, it kinda evens out right. Assuming you take into account  both the purchasing and selling fees. Another way to look at this is, I save up and invest once every 6 months. That's RM1,200 at a RM16 (RM8 x 2) transaction fee. But that's RM24 in fees for you. And that's only the service charges.

I also understand UTs do charge you management fees, switching fees, trustee fees etc. Taking the long term view into account, I do sincerely think managing your own portfolio of shares is much better.

You're also right that the mantra "FM cannot beat the index" is mainly for the US market. But do you really think our Malaysian fund managers are better than their US counterparts? It is unfair to just pick one fund that's performing to represent all funds. If I recall, the statement was something like 99% of all funds can't beat the index in the long term. Anyway, this argument/debate has been going on for decades with no real conclusion. Think it's pointless for us to continue here 

Hope I covered everything! Really interesting to read everyone's opinions here. Looking forward to more constructive discussions!

The problem is with Malaysia we don't have an actual index benchmark. In the US they use S&P TR as the benchmark, in Malaysia they just use FBM KLCI as the benchmark, which is totally wrong. The benchmark to be representative must include the Total Returns (I.e. Dividends reinvested). FBM KLCI is only based on capital growth, not inclusive of dividends.

You think Warren Buffet had no insider contacts? Every successful large scale value investor needs insider contacts to get a better sector or industry wide feel.

Mind you, don't confuse insider contacts with insider information. The latter is illegal obviously.

Hai guys! This thread got awakened suddenly I see..
Firstly, I am one and the same. The blog is mine. =D

The minimum fee for Hong Leong is RM8.48 per transaction now (https://www.hlb.com.my/main/e-broking). I'm pretty sure the other brokerages are charging similar competitive rates already

Now on to the interesting part.. In terms of cost efficiency if you're using RM200 as a base.. of course 2% beats RM8. That's math. Do note that when you reach the RM800 figure, it kinda evens out right. Assuming you take into account  both the purchasing and selling fees. Another way to look at this is, I save up and invest once every 6 months. That's RM1,200 at a RM16 (RM8 x 2) transaction fee. But that's RM24 in fees for you. And that's only the service charges.

I also understand UTs do charge you management fees, switching fees, trustee fees etc. Taking the long term view into account, I do sincerely think managing your own portfolio of shares is much better.

You're also right that the mantra "FM cannot beat the index" is mainly for the US market. But do you really think our Malaysian fund managers are better than their US counterparts? It is unfair to just pick one fund that's performing to represent all funds. If I recall, the statement was something like 99% of all funds can't beat the index in the long term. Anyway, this argument/debate has been going on for decades with no real conclusion. Think it's pointless for us to continue here 

Hope I covered everything! Really interesting to read everyone's opinions here. Looking forward to more constructive discussions!

That depends on how qualified and experienced the RM is. But yea, that's why we are into UT and not stocks. I have better things to do than sit at a desk reading stuff all day. I'm just one person anyway, how would I be able to beat a whole company full of people doing the same

wah u manyak fierce leh, u want to chase top perfomer away.

then left only the mediocre who wont challenge any shifu view no good also.

How old is he? in the very long term, a mutual fund will still outperform him.

Thank you friend Dividend Magic for your reply. Yeah, I was using calculation based on my old data that is MYR 40.00 per trade. You can now roughly gauge how long ago my last trade was. I recall during my time as an active participant in the retail stock market, online trading was not in vogue and MYR 8.00 per trade is unheard of! I had to pay MYR 40.00 per trade, seriously and no kidding! I really pity those stock-broker who are still in business nowadays. How do they survive these days?

Dividend Magic and I perhaps represent the above average investors in our respective area of expertise. Hence most likely both of us possess the knowledge, tools, system or "luck" to sniff out winners more frequently than losers. 

In this sense, from a personal point of view, I do not have to worry about the 99% as I have a system to identify the one percent. Anyway, friend Dividend Magic, nice to have a verbal sparring with you. It is like a sifu meeting another sifu and have a friendly sparring with each other like the days of old. Appreciate it.  

Speaking of benchmark or index, for KGF, instead of KLCI, a better benchmark should be the EMAS index no?
I remembered during my days when I was an active direct stock market participant, I did read a lot of report and reports. One of the reason why I moved to unit trust participation is to simplify my life and let those professionals do it on my behalf.

Xuzen

Hi Avangelice, may share your girlfriend portfolio ? My wife also wish to invest in UTs.

Dividend Magic just wanna send you a shout out by saying how much I appreciate the hard work you put into your blog. Because of you and your blog I took the initiative to venture into stocks and stand on my principles not to chase returns but to invest long term. We are the same age and I must admit I wasted my youth chasing love and wasting money where I should have started off investing. This saddens me but at the same time I am now having a goal in my life.

MYR 1000 at a time to hit my myr 100k mark by the time I hit 30 years old. then from there 200k then 300k. If you find the days like nobody appreciates your work just know that you have helped many silent readers like me.

I owe you and Xuzen  a debt of gratitude

Hi Avangelice, may share your girlfriend portfolio ? My wife also wish to invest in UTs.

Really appreciate your kind words my friend. Makes me happy to have been able to make a positive impact like this.

We all gota start somewhere.  Just gota stick to our goals and work hard towards it. To financial independence!

Don't be too silent also la, comment sikit, start some discussions here and there =D

Hi Avangelice, may share your girlfriend portfolio ? My wife also wish to invest in UTs.

Eh how come suddenly gf portfolio one. I must've missed something

Long story short, my girlfriend was duped by bank officer to invest in "unit trust" a year back. When I asked a copy of her documents I found out her portfolio was actually an endowment plant linked with a insurance company. She had to place 3k per year for the next 8 years and get a measly return of 3% Irr. (did the calculation)

So I went to the bank and had a little "chat" with the guy and pulled out all her funds and now I'm actively managing her fundsupermart portfolio.

I'm 28 this year bro. Or did u mean how old is my fund.

Haha I seriously doubt that a mutual fund would out perform me in the very long term.

What is your annual return in percentage ?

Dividend Magic I do see you preach for dividend income investing as the principle of long term investment to generate income

But, to my understanding, when a company declare dividend, its' share price fell, and if we did not reinvest the dividend, our capital in investment actually shrink.

But if we reinvest the dividend back into it, then it makes minimal difference to those stocks which do not declare dividend, instead they spend their earning into capital growth (provided both non-dividend paying and dividend paying stock have the same capital gain percentage)

Then what is the fundamental difference in focusing in dividend stocks vs growth stocks when we reinvest the dividend, it will be the same as growth stock which didn't declare dividend?

p/s: asking this is because, whenever people understand about mutual funds, some companies focus on the distribution numbers and pay big dividend even though the fund is negatively performing (is it similar to companies who declare dividend even though they have negative earning for the year, but use previous years earning to pay). I believe that the distribution=performing misconception comes from their understanding from stocks investing when they think, it applies to stock, it applies to mutual funds as well, since, from what I understand, mutual funds distribution is meaningless and a marketing tactic to push down unit price