hello everyone! kinda new to this forum

i'm invested in United ASEAN Discovery Fund and recently they sent an interim report and saw that they set aside 25% into cash in Feb 2020. this is compared to Feb 2019 when they only set aside 10% into cash. i guess they are doing this coz of the current climate (virus + oil price).

i was wondering those of you in FSM who are holding other equivalent funds (AmASEAN, RHB ASEAN, Manulife ASEAN, Principal ASEAN, Affin Hwang ASEAN). are your fund managers doing the same? i.e. hold more % in cash during this rough times.

i actually prefer that they keep most of the funds invested instead of trying to time the market but oh well, they are the experts

ah thanks! glad to know it's not just my fund.

haha, i just transferred everything out from Public Mutual into FSM.

if the sales charge rates are better in e-wallets, time to jump ship again.

Nope, FSM let me transfer my funds from my Public Mutual funds Free of Charge.

So say i redeem RM100k worth of funds from Public Mutual, i just need to show the redemption slip to FSM. Then FSM will allocate RM100k worth of 'zero sales charge' credit for me to use within a month to purchase any funds i want on FSM. They quite sporting la. I think I withdraw a bit less from Public Mutual (~ RM99.9k) but they just round up and give me RM100k anyway worth of credit to use. Haha.

Awesome deal ler. If not for the zero sales charge transfer offer, I would still have half my funds sitting in Public Mutual and half my funds sitting in FSM.

cool thanks! i read the reviews for e-unittrust and you're right. most of them complain about the user interface & technical problems. still usable. i wonder why e-unittrust isn't as popular as FSM tho? quite a good offer i must say.

My overall PM fund performance kinda sucks but i'd blame myself because I just simply chose funds at that time. See below PM performance summary, all funds ended Jan-20 when I transferred to FSM:

Public Singapore Equity / Started Jun-11 / IRR 4.7% p.a.
Public Lifestyle & Technology / Started Aug-18 / IRR 16.7% p.a.
Public e-Flexi Allocation / Started Jul-17 / IRR -1.5% p.a.
Public Strategic Small Cap / Started Feb-17 / IRR -3.1% p.a.

My new FSM funds are as below. Again, all started in Jan-20:

TA Global Tech / IRR 18.6% p.a.
United Global Equity / IRR -22.4% p.a.
Manulife Investment APAC REIT / IRR -38.0% p.a.
United ASEAN Discovery / IRR -45.4% p.a.
Principal Greater China Equity / IRR -9.4%

It's mostly negative because I transferred my funds into FSM a few months before the market all came crashing down, haha. Hard to compare now, need to wait a few years later. But i reckon it'll do better than Public Mutual because it doesn't need to work as hard to make up for the crazy 5.5% sales charge in PM.

i called them up and sent email. their latest contact details on their FSM website. so the sequence of events are:
- Redeem (i.e. cash out) all or some of your Public Mutual funds.
- Provide copy of redemption receipt to FSM (via email is fine). For example, I cashed out all 4x funds which totals up to about RM100,000.
- Redemption of my FSM funds takes a while so I actually got my redemption receipt in just two days of cashing out BUT the funds only came into my bank account 10 days later.
- When you send the redemption receipt to FSM and you want to maximize the 1 month buffer period, inform them about the above. They will have no problems starting your 1 month buffer period from the time your funds masuk your bank account. If you just send them the redemption receipt, i scared they just follow the cash out date on the receipt then you lost 10 days buffer period for nothing.
- FSM will acknowledge receipt and do some backend adjustments to your account. They will notify you via email once adjustment is done. Don't straight away start purchasing fund yet, you won't get the 0% charge ASAP.
- So for the next RM100,000 worth of funds you purchase, you will enjoy 0% sales charge. Offer valid up to 1 month only.
- You can see the 0% sales charge clearly before you submit for fund purchase. So if it still shows 1.75%, don't proceed. Call them up.

By right this isn't really an 'offer' but more like their regular service. They memang offer zero transfer charge for any funds into FSM. Problem is unlike their in-house funds (Kenanga, Am, Manulife, etc), Public Mutual and FSM totally not friends. That's why we have to go through such a manual process.

It was a bit simpler when I wanted to transfer my funds from Kenanga Investment to FSM. Just fill in form and submit. Instructions are on their website.

Unfortunately I didn't ask about minimal amount so better you check with them ler.

With all said and done, I think best you yourself call/email FSM to get 100% clarification before taking any action. later who knows got policy change or whatever pula. best of luck!

yes sir, all funds subscribed to a fixed monthly Regular Savings Plan (RSP).

quite a big believer in dollar cost averaging

if can save extra that month, i just tembak one existing fund to top up.

So the monthly RSP has to be a fixed amount every month for every fund. Mine is as follows:

United Global Equity / RM400 per month
TA Global Tech / RM300 per month
Manulife Investment APAC REIT / RM300 per month
Principal Greater China Equity / RM300 per month
United ASEAN Discovery / RM200 per month

As for how I decide on how much to allocate, I guess I just set a monthly allocation target to FSM based on my finances. In this case, it is RM1,500. Then I just distribute among all the funds based on 'feel'.

United Global Equity gets a bit more coz it historically seems to perform well and not too volatile.

United ASEAN gets the least coz it is pretty volatile and hasn't been doing very well recently. That said, DCA works a lot better in volatile markets.

Good eye! So I think best i elaborate on how i selected my funds.

I'm quite clear on the mantra, "past performance is not indicative of future results". however, i selected all my funds based on how they did in the past. just shortlist the group I want (say REITS) then one by one check the historical performance of all the REITS fund and pick the 'best'.

I did go see their "FSM Recommended Funds" but i sked they got some kind of commission for recommending them so I decided to select my own funds. Anyway here they are:

International Fund: The largest portion of my investment would be in here. I am looking for a fund that invests in large cap companies on a global scale. Highly diversified (coz global) and safe-ish (coz large cap). Result: United Global Equity.

China Fund: Want a fund that invests China (including Hong Kong, Taiwan & Macau) since United Global Equity underweights China. I think China still has a bit of wiggle room to grow. Result: Principal Greater China Equity.

Sector-Specific Fund (REITS): I don't intend to invest in real estate property for rental returns but don't want to miss out on any gain in the real estate sector. So I thought REITS would be a good option. I also see the above funds carry very little REITS in their portfolio anyway. Result: Manulife Investment APAC REIT.

Sector-Specific Fund (Tech): Based on my good results in Public Lifestyle & Technology, I thought of continuing my bet in the tech sector. Result: TA Global Tech.

ASEAN Fund: I was actually content with just the 4x funds above but I realised I'd be a horrible patriot if I don't allocate some funds into the Malaysian market. See, I didn't have good experience with Public Strategic Small Cap & Kenanga Growth Fund in the past partly because I invested between 2017 - 2019 which is when the KLCI was badly lagging compared to the international markets. But then, I remember I did quite well with Public Singapore Equity. After thinking through, I decided to pick a fund that had a broader regional coverage than just Malaysia. So an ASEAN fund it is. Result: United ASEAN Discovery.

P/S: I made my picks in Jan-20 and for the next 3 months, it was quite cool to see that Principal Greater China (Feb-20), Manulife APAC REIT (Mar-20), TA Global Tech (Apr-20) got selected as "FSMONE Fund Choice of the Month", haha.

good question. i actually already have my emergency allocated in the RHB Cash Management Fund (also in FSM). Didn't bother to report it because it's as boring as reporting on Fixed Deposit. i guess you could say my emergency fund is the Fixed Income portion of my investments.

everything else, i dump into equity.

yea to each their own and i do agree with @brokenbomb about not bothering adding REITS in your portfolio. it shouldn't add much value. there is a reason why most highly diversified funds have only ~1% allocation into real estate. in the end, property (REITS) is just the 'house' for the businesses and is highly dependent on the overall market movement. if the businesses (tech, healthcare, consumer goods, industrial, etc) don't do well, branches will close down and that will rattle the REITS (and vice versa).

the only reason I invest in REITS is to scratch my itch for property investing though it's more focused on commercial, industrial and industrial properties. a bit of FOMO.

If it helps, I chose United Global Quality Equity Fund - MYR Hedged. i did a research on this and it makes no difference whether you hedge USD or MYR. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. that's hedging for you.

As for the funds invested by Kenanga Growth Opportunities, download their annual report here and go to page 41 to 43. all the stock holdings listed there. It's a bit outdated (Aug-19) but i guess need to wait till Aug-20 for next report, unless they come up with an interim report.

For me, if I wanna find all the stocks invested by a fund in FSM just:
- Go to FSM
- Search for the Fund
- Click on "Documents"
- Click "Semi-Annual / Annual Report"

I have funds in StashAway and some shares in my ex-company.

I also put quite a bit in P2P Lending (FZ, FS, B2B & QK) but that has been a huge let down so I'm slowly emptying the accounts. Gradually transferring the repayments to FSM and StashAway.

I have thought of opening up a IBKR account then dive head first into NYSE. However:
- I prefer having a hugely diversified portfolio and not limiting to just about 5 - 10 stocks which is what we usually do when we pick stocks.
- I much prefer DCA method and investing directly into the stock market doesn't encourage that.
- The entire process opening up account in Singapore then investing into USA seems.. cumbersome. I can't imagine myself doing this every month.

So what I do instead is just pick unit trusts that invests outside of Malaysia (particularly USA). If i did a rough calculation of my overall portfolio (excluding the emergency cash), really only 15% of my funds are invested in Malaysia anyways (P2P & 40% of United ASEAN).

I do realise fees (MER) from unit trusts will eat away at my profits. So I'm just waiting until I've gained a bit more confidence with StashAway, then I'll start transferring them over. StashAway has very low fees but is a relatively young company so I am a bit afraid of putting all my investments in there, although logically it is the right thing to do (again, because of the low fees).

For now, a bulk of my investments will be in FSM. That said though, feel free to share if you think I'm strolling on the wrong path.

Yea, I actually was thinking about that for a bit. Don't have to bother reviewing my fund selections from time to time. Leave it to the pros. But the fees is a huge deal breaker for me. FSM charges 1.25% to manage an aggressive portfolio.

The (Management Expense Ratio) MER for aggressive funds is 1 - 2% p.a. If I add the FSM Managed Portfolio, theoretically that's about 2.25% - 3.25% p.a. which the fund has to earn every year just to break even. The enemy of compound growth is compound expenses!

Also, their most aggressive managed portfolio only hold 90% equities. I'd much prefer 100% equities. That said, this is not a big deal. It's the fees that did it for me.

well colour me silly.

i gave wrong info and i think i should correct myself. The MER is 1 - 2% p.a. for aggressive equity funds. And the FSM Managed Portfolio Fee is only 0.5% p.a. So overall the fund just needs to make additional 1.5% - 2.5% p.a. to break even.

And on top of the 1.75% basic sales charge, I still need to fork out additional 1.25% FSM managed portfolio subscription fee every time i deposit cash.

Regular fees already hurt quite a bit so taking up more fees with FSM Managed Portfolio just isn't something I'd like to do.

omg i think you're right! i was wrong twice in a row, haha.

looks like i may look into this FSM Managed Portfolio thingy.

Level: Lazy
Have FSM manage your portfolio. Go to Managed Portfolio and sign up. They will charge you fees for their services.


Level: Medium
Go to Funds > Fund Research > Recommended Funds. from there, choose your Core Portfolio (say Core Equity) and choose the region you wanna invest in. FSM narrow them down for you alrdy. Drill each fund and study the fees, min deposits, etc. Make your choice. I find their recommendations a bit too 'safe' for my liking.


Level: Hardworking
Go to: Funds > Fund Info > Funds Ranking.

under "I am looking for", select "Best Performing Funds" in "All".

then select a good period to average out the performance. personally i chose 3 yrs & 5 yrs.

then they will display the top 10 funds. from there, take your time and drill each fund. check the sectors, countries, fees, min deposits, etc. chart and plot every info on an excel sheet like a nerd. after 2 weeks of researching, pick your fund.

Hope the link i attach works! I read this eye-opening book titled "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham.

In there, he actually has an 'Investment Owner's Contract' (attached below) which is basically a document you sign with yourself so you hold your investments for the long run and dun simply buy/sell funds like a day trader. He even lists the acceptable reasons when you can sell your funds, haha. I personally think that his recommended holding period of 10 yrs is a bit overkill so i modified it to 5 yrs on mine

specific to your case though, if you are ONLY holding TA Global Tech and no other unit trusts, then maybe you should pick a more diversified fund to hold for the long term instead of such a sector-specific fund. but if TA Tech is part of your many many UT, then no harm holding onto it longer.

This post has been edited by encikbuta: Jun 2 2020, 11:54 AM


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haha same! did you also start on FSM some time early this year? i joined sometime early Jan 2020 and i oso just went into overall green a few days ago.

during the 2 month negative period, i thought it was quite funny to sometimes say to myself, "oh -1% drop only today, very good!"

i saw their requirement for Gold status is to have "Current Holdings/Investment Cost/Lump Sum Investment" above MYR 250,000 and i always get confused by that statement.

maybe some of you guys could help me understand this?

say on Year 0, i lump sum invested RM 220,000 into FSM and don't intend to DCA at all. So at this point, fine, I am not eligible for Gold status.

then assuming on Year 3, my net asset value grew to RM 260,000 purely from growth of investment. in this case, am i eligible for the Gold status?

This post has been edited by encikbuta: Jun 5 2020, 09:41 PM

hey guys, need your two cents here so i'm not blindly running into the woods.

i think i found a way to get a live update of the rough performance of our mutual funds via our investing apps (i'm using investing.com). i just add the corresponding indices into my watchlist and i get to view the price change live, almost like looking at a share price.

my indices as below:

- Manulife Investment Asia-Pacific REIT: FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Asia Index
- Principal Greater China Equity Fund: FTSE Greater China Index
- TA Global Technology: Dow Jones Global Technology Index
- United ASEAN Discovery: FTSE ASEAN All Share
- United Global Quality Equity: FTSE World

Morningstar did provide the exact index which they use to compare each of the funds to. However, some of them will either update only once a day or update very late (coz they follow LSE or NYSE). These ones i find update during our timezone. i find that FTSE seems to be the better index.

Am i approaching this correctly?

I do understand that the index is not 100% representative of our mutual fund performance, i.e. index could go up 1% but our mutual fund only goes up 0.8% but at least i know whether it's "up a lot" or "up a bit". and it's live

This post has been edited by encikbuta: Jun 6 2020, 07:32 AM

hi thanks mum! so the actual NAV only updates the day after, around 4pm or later.

i was thinking with my method, i'm able to feed my impatience by getting the price immediately, haha.