I actually have some sympathy for Msian invest with FSM Msia becuz the fund selection really small for you all to choose. If you are daring commodities and maybe global financial funds is worth a look? Go for riskier and sector specific to hunt for higher returns. But if you are safety guy ignore my suggestion.

What I usually do is below say I got X dollars
1. 75% of X dollars into less risky maybe even money market funds
2. 25% of X dollars into super risky to hunt for high returns at most lose all (but in reality hard to lose all)

Think of it like soccer defender,defensive midfielder behind and pure out and out strikers in front.

Btw I am referring to investor buy their own fund to form their own portfolio not those pay one sum monies ask FSM buy and construct for you kind portfolio. Those are called managed portfolio?

This post has been edited by sgh: Mar 20 2022, 12:00 PM

What I am trying to say is the higher expense ratio we pay in mutual fund need to translate into actual work and in market correction it shows which fund managers are working and which of them take monies do nothing.

ETF since is passive and track an index has to buy stocks that is in the index so they cannot run away. This explain their low expense ratio as it is passive.

As for ETF without tracking any index is the same as some mutual fund no longer benchmark against any index category. For such category yes they are nimble and fast to react but this won't be called passive ETF anymore? This also explain why some ETF expense ratio hitting near to 1%?

So if it is active ETF not tracking any index it will then be an open comparison with mutual fund not benchmark against any index. We have to rely on their past history performance as guide.

I am always trying to understand why ETF is better and lower expense ratio is the selling point. But now if it track index it will perform bad if all stocks in that index perform poorly. So low expense ratio passive investing work against it

I do understand mutual funds has higher expense ratio which is why I am trying to say since my first post I want to see them working for the monies we pay. Market correction is when we evaluate their performance

Can I know you buy mutual fund from FSM Msia or FSM Spore before? Most funds don't have redemption fee. Those are buy from banks, financial institutions which is why FSM was formed to lower that since year 2000. ETF sell need pay broker fees etc too.

Now Endowus another fintech up the game trailer fee that the fund asset companies give to provider who help them to sell are all rebate back to investors

I am not trying to say ETF is bad or good I am just trying to understand but for index tracking ETF it lost its advantages if almost all stocks in index fare poorly

Noted and this is true. ETF is like individual stock trading in exchange realtime so you buy,sell you know the transacted price upfront. That is why during year 2000 some mutual fund investor try to use the same stock playing strategy but fail miserably as mutual fund price is forward pricing it is hard to catch. Therefore mutual fund investors need to know this big difference. I.e the mutual fund NAV price you see today when you execute a sell is not the final executed sell price unlike ETF and individual stock.

I group them this way. Basket of stocks, ETF and mutual fund share same idea. Buy,sell style ETF and individual stock share same.

Mutual funds top holdings are all ETF I already share in the other thread and I have invested already. Pay $100 buy so many ETF good except for expense ratio. But those I find are from FSM Spore, dollarDex, poems. I find FSM Msia choices limited hope they increase their fund offering to benefit Msian investors

Yes it is like pay $100 buy into many stocks. But index tracking ETF got flaws. If all stocks in the index fare badly, then the ETF share price will drop (KWEB ETF saga in SA thread is classic example). Such passive index tracking ETF die die must buy stocks that is in the index. But mutual funds got fund managers they can siam like buy stocks not in the index etc but they ask for more monies hence expense ratio higher in mutual fund.

Active non-index tracking ETF starting to gain traction but since active expense ratio slowly creeping up. I will not be surprised soon they hit 1%

This post has been edited by sgh: Mar 22 2022, 07:07 PM

There are two more AFAIK. Lion-Phillip S-REIT and NikkoAM-STC Asia REIT. Whether good or not you need to do research on the REIT stocks inside the ETF. Some is quite focused on SG REITS some span across HK, Australia so is more diversified etc. If you got monies buy ALL haha

https://secure.fundsupermart.com/fsm/articl...-fed-rate-hikes

FSM Spore article mention below
"
We predict that the Fed would have 12 rate hikes of 0.25% each by 2023, which would bring the federal funds rate to 3.25%

We think that there could be a total of 12 rate hikes of 0.25% each — 7 hikes in 2022 and 5 hikes in 2023, under an aggressive tightening scenario. This would bring the federal fund rate (FFR) to 3.25%.
"

Anyone think they over-react? They are predicting up to 12 rate hikes that is A LOT !

Going by more rate hikes to come think financials theme investment maybe wise e.g banks, financial institutions etc. Financials was mentioned by FSM Spore earlier besides commodities metals resources. Global theme mutual fund that I own latest fund factsheet fund manager asset allocation has move financials,industrials etc to first place and IT is pushed down to third fourth place. It is really sector theme nowadays instead of country and region for e.g

I think it lack access to China A shares. Also via Interactive Broker their fees for Asian markets say HKEX, SGX are comparable to Tiger Broker, Moomoo. So a lot of ppl use IBKR for US stocks/ETF mainly which explain the long process of MYR -> Sg bank account (MYR->SGD) -> IBKR (SGD->USD). For us Spore we have IBKR SG so only one step IBKR (SGD->USD). But since in USD means later withdraw profits need to USD->SGD? And for Msian, it will be USD->SGD then SGD->MYR. For all such conversion must factor into the cheap comm fees also. Only way to "save" is perform large transaction once a while instead of frequently. If all such hassle later still overall cheaper than local broker platform by all means proceed.

As you read more readers feedback from Msia, Spore forums all platforms come with pro and con. Sometimes some reader like to highlight the pros a lot especially for IBKR investors simply becuz of the low comm fees for US equities/trading etc. Only when press further on some other issues,flows etc some finally reveal the cons. To me we have to be fair in our evaluation of a platform. All pros and cons should be provided so newbie investors can make an informed decision to choose which platform and/or brokers. Once a while you do read a balanced view from some kind readers but they are less to be found.

IBKR is not cheap (competitive yes but not cheap) for Asian markets like SGX,Bursa,HKEX and it don't have China A share access afaik. It is good for US related equities/trading and alot of ppl use that especially on US stocks,ETF and US-listed China stocks.

Some investors willing to pay a bit more to get hassle free issues some don't care just go for lowest fee and when hit issues look for work-around or loop-holes as long as the end justify the means. Investors got many kind and how think and behave differently.

For me I don't like US market equities prefer Asian market which is why I don't got for IBKR as it's fees is not 35 cents kind for Asian markets such a pity. I belong to old generation who got thinking angmo tuakee tualiap so sibeh hoh meh? So I do not support them with my monies for individual US stock,ETF. I access them via mutual fund and they occupy only a low percentage of my total portfolio

It is not new as it happen to FSM Spore too. CPF (Msia EPF) also suspend mutual fund too. Reasons can be expense ratio too high, need fulfill more stringent reporting criteria etc. Mutual fund that comply will soon resume trading. Those that cannot will just be banned from taking CPF monies for invest in the fund. It can still proceed but just disallow to take investors CPF monies can only take all cash. Suspensions should not be too long like 3 months that is just not logical.

For my own experience it is about two weeks to one month after which the fund did proceed trading but no more can take CPF monies. Existing investor using CPF monies to invest prior is still invested but no longer can use CPF to add more to the fund.

Aha now I get it. That is why Msia so exciting like Taiwan except never fight each other. Spore so boring every X years same party no bookie dare accept bets will change party or not.

It seems Msian harder to use EPF for unit trust investment. Why it has to be this way? Politics? In FSM Spore we have a good set of funds available for CPF though

If it keep going on like this, FSM Msia will lose "revenue" and can only depend on cash investment in competition with others like SA etc. This does not bode well for FSM Msia. Who knows once it is unprofitable, FSM Msia will be closed and iFast (company for FSM) look to other countries to setup. Classic case of chasing away foreign investment since I think FSM Msia employ Msians as part of their staff payroll isn't it ?

Despite FSM Spore latest article to raise Msia rating to 3.5 stars it still does not convince me to buy Msia funds. Even Principal ASEAN Dynamic Fund Class SGD (fund size USD 15.97 mil) which is in FSM Spore I was so tempted and then saw it is domiciled in Msia I have doubts again.

Good promotion pity FSM Spore don't have. But wondering UT investor have you all think of also diversify into ETF? SA, Syfe and Bogleheads a lot of ETF supporters for low fees basically. It doesn't hurt to diversify your investment instrument to include ETF. I understand some investors have reservation of using overseas broker like IBKR so prefer to keep to local brokers for own personal reason.

FSM Spore has a unique ETF RSP program which I am not sure why FSM Msia don't have. In this ETF RSP, you pay very low fees less than $1 for my case to DCA the ETF you want based on a list of ETF in their approved program. The reason ETF investors using IBKR is the low 35 cents fee else I doubt they go for IBKR and DCA every month more which include forex exchange incurred etc.

ETF need not be just US centric it can be SGX,HKEX centric for those more comfortable with Asian market ETF for which I am. So UT investors time to consider ETF too. For Asian market ETF IBKR is not really that cheap which is why when ETF investor mention they use IBKR highly likely they only go for US listed ETF. For Asian ETF there are more other alternative.

And let me repeat again, despite the ETF supporters for low fees and better performance, let me confidently say there are UT annualized return which is comparable to ETF. If ETF is so good, they would have made UT disappear in the investing arena but it is not. Hence to reap the best of both worlds is to invest in both instruments.

If you intend to go for US ETF I think don't wait for FSM as it is more expensive based on FSM Spore pricing. Go for IBKR instead unless you prefer a local broker?

My FSM Spore ETF RSP all is for SGX,HKEX no US exchange since it is more expensive than IBKR

I have since late last year. But strictly SGX,HKEX ETF no US ETF as those are expensive in FSM ETF RSP. You have to know if you go for the ETF RSP aka regular savings plan there are limitations as you are not DIY buy,sell from the stock exchange. I believe they consolidate everyone monies and buy,sell bulk order else how to explain I only need to pay less than 1 dollar fee for each buy fee?

Limitations
1. Can only buy once a month cutoff at 8th of each month
2. Can only sell once a month cutoff at 15th of each month. If you want to DIY sell (timing the market for e.g) those that are bought via RSP you go by their comm fee of XXX dollars very expensive
3. Only a list of approved ETF are offered in their RSP program so if you fancy some ETF and not in the list you cannot use this RSP. You need to DIY buy from market again at XXX dollars very expensive

This ETF RSP only good for really buy and hold investors (those looking to time in and out market no good due to limitations above). Minimum 50 for DCA amount but for some like Gold ETF it is 300.

E.g of HKEX fees
Exchange Settlement Fee(0.00400%) SGD 0.87
Exchange Stamp Duty(0.13000%) SGD 0.00
Exchange Trading Fee(0.00500%) SGD 0.01
Exchange Transaction Levy (FRC)(0.00015%) SGD 0.00
Exchange Transaction Levy (SFC)(0.00270%) SGD 0.00
Processing Fee (0.0%) SGD 0.00 (aka FSM processing fee)
Total Fees SGD 0.88

E.g of SGX fees
Exchange Clearing Fee(0.03250%) SGD 0.03
Exchange Settlement Instruction Fee SGD 0.37
Exchange Trading Fee(0.00750%) SGD 0.01
Processing Fee (0.0%) SGD 0.00 (aka FSM processing fee)
Total Fees SGD 0.41

Looking at so many fees levied by the respective SGX,HKEX stock exchanges for each buy,sell transaction I can roughly understand why even IBKR unable to offer 35 cents yet. Even Tiger, moo also cannot so we wait for one good broker can offer 35 cents for SGX,HKEX.