Hi sifus,

Recentlya few of my FDs worth around 150k have run their term and I've been talking to Maybank Rs Manager.
I usually toss most things into FD, howver with interest rates falling, I do not want to tie my money up in FDs for now.

She recommends me Malaysia Maybank Sukuk Fund, which is comprised of purely malaysian bond market.

Some of the holdings include UEM, YTL PLUS, SEB, EDRA ENERGY, TENAGA, MMC and etc etc. projected annualised returns at 5% and portfolio return at 2.5%

Another one she proposed was TA Asia absolute alpha fund which is pure equity with focus on China and Taiwan, however most of the sector exposure is in IT followed by healthcare. Being that there is an ongoing trade dispute between china and US, is this really a good option considering this is pure equity?

Thanks experts.

Do try to find out what the fund charges are, and you do know that buying into the fund is somewhat different from holding the bonds themselves. Bond charges are usually minimal to zero - at most, the bank will charge you an account keeping fee, for which if you make some noise (or if your RM is really on the ball), you'll get it waived off. Fund charges may be upfront, or market/performance dependent.

On the whole, I'd probably choose the fund with exposure to the local companies - my philosophy is quite simple: (Since I'm in Singapore), most of my bonds are tied to the health of Singapore as a whole - UOB, OCBC, DBS, SCI, MTT etc - if these bonds go under, then Singapore's very survival in itself is at stake. Most of the bonds I have in my portfolio are heavily "linked" to the government - either directly (GLC) or indirectly (heavy Temasek/GIC involvement as share holder). And if Singapore goes down and I lose my money on those bonds, I honestly have bigger worries to worry about. So, I'm prepared to go down with the ship.

With that mindset, I find it safer if I concentrated on local companies with good track record.

Of course, I do have foreign companies bonds, but that's a smaller part of my overall portfolio.

Hope that's given you some perspective.

For fund charges, it says here up to 2% of the NAV per unit of the fund.

Tbh, I don't have much confidence in the growth and stability of Malaysia comapnies. I see a lot of emphasis on construction and powerplants for the bonds. However construction is very dependent on political stability and economic health of the country and Malaysia is not ideal on both front and nowhere near Singapore. What do you think about the Malaysian bond market?

Diversify some into “junk bonds”. Give 1%-1.5% a months or 12%-18% a year.

No confidence? You dont know strength of our economy?

Personally, I'm not brave enough to invest into junk bonds. Anything rated BBB- below is off limits for me, and I often nitpick and try for at least Aa3/AA- and above. Hard earned money leh... I rather earn less than to lose it all.

Bonds also dropping. Side effect is feds printing money.
Never buy from agents or RM. Use FSM.

2% NAV for bond funds is damn high wey. This is the annual management fee, right? Are there any sales charges as well?

Similar bond funds in FSM are much cheaper. They have just 1% management fee with no sales charges. There might be platform fees, but I don't think they are high enough to bother with.

One thing I know about Maybank is that they earn commissions from TA Asia funds, so they have an incentive to push these funds for customers. So do be a bit cautious with these funds if they are pitched by Maybank. I was also offered to invest in a tech fund from TA Asia, but the fund couldn't even beat its own benchmark and have hefty fees as well.

In terms of equities, its a mixed bag. Some will say now is a good time coz the market slump is creating bargains for blue chip stocks, while others are saying the recent rebounds are dead cat bounces and the possible weakening of the US dollar means you should avoid buying US equities for now. For me, I'd rather focus on the fees than the returns since the former is concrete when buying funds. Do check on the fees imposed. Equity funds tend to charge high fees coz of the possibility of high returns

Personally, when I'm used to getting my securities account fees and account keeping fees waived, and when I'm used to pushing the banker for a 0.5¢ to 1¢ bargain off the bond's listed offer price (it all adds up!!), I find it very hard to swallow 2% in fund fees.

I understand where your concerns may lie, but that's a risk that's inherent to any bond purchase. There's no such thing as a no risk, sure win scenario - and even squeaky clean Singapore has seen its fair share of bond defaults - the most recent and most visible being Hyflux, the ex-darling of high yield bonds (IIMN, they were paying up to 6% for one of their tranches! - but it wasn't rated, so I didn't touch them). But, if you live in Malaysia, surely you would know the market/economy/situation better than me (I've been based in Singapore for nearly 30 years) - so I think I'm pretty ill-positioned to give you any advice on the state of the country's economy or outlook.

Good luck with your choice!

This post has been edited by hksgmy: Jun 19 2020, 11:54 AM

how to trade bonds in malaysia?

and can we trade mortage bond? i just finish movie 'the big short' and excited to trade bonds.

can we make bank loan to trade bond?

and short bond?

My view personally I have no confidence in Malaysia market. Foreign investors have been liquidating holdings for local Bursa, primarily due to GLCs crowding out private investments. Comparing the GLCs, which one really perform well? No need to see far just by comparing banks, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank share prices are much higher than the likes of Maybank, RHB, CIMB and etc. Unless structurally we made a drastic change otherwise it will be going downhill.

For local bond funds the one that is performing is Amanahraya Syariah Trust Fund, of which auditor general highlighted that there is deficit of funds from 2008 - 2019, which gives us more trust deficit then.

If you ask me personally, do more research and invest overseas, i forsee MYR going to depreciate next 10 years. I will not be surprise that one day 1SGD= RM4.

Look at Thai Baht, politically the country is not stable too but MYR has depreciated at least 30% against the currency. Mind you after Fitch downgrade, Malaysia credit rating is the same as Thailand. Thailand had more reserves than Malaysia and hence the strong currency.

Diversify into overseas assets, dont keep all assets in MYR. FYI Turkish lira depreciated more than 400% within a span of 10 years, this could happen to Malaysia too.

This post has been edited by ky33li: Dec 13 2020, 09:45 PM

Sorry for the hugeee bump but TA Asia absolute alpha fund down 32% on my statement.... I was foolish to buy in to recommended funds by Cimb relationship manager.. Overall OK with holding for years to come but should I be worried at this moment? Average buy in price 0.6... Appreciate if can get some inputs on current situation pls tq 🙏

There is a saying something like everything I touch turns to shyt... It is has been so true since like 15 plus past years of investing based on recommendations.. Lol. Lesson learnt

This post has been edited by KenYoung: Oct 12 2023, 01:06 AM

Your lesson is never ever buy when this so called relationship manager 🤦‍♀️ as they are just pure salesperson not even knowing the underlying fund strategies in the 1st place

Unless the RM is pretty girl your loss will be less 😂

bro, you bought bond funds aka Unit Trusts, must know price can move up and down...
often times down more than ups...biasa lah staring at some loses at certain point in time.

Buy Amanah Saham you wont stare at any losses. cukup masa dapat dividend, 4.5% enough?
Not enough go for Bonds 7% mahu? but dont look at the price movements again
just collect the 6 monthly dividends..


betul kah bro??
you can lose even more...
lose your pants also!

I agree
Never buy from RM or banks
I buy from HSBC and lost a huge chunk of money
They are pure salesperson and want commission and no strategy

Unless like you 🤦‍♀️ who can’t keep it in your pants 🤦‍♀️ which is why when a strange pretty RM approaches me I will be super wary and just a have drink and chat only

Too bad you just realised now as long as the banks involved particularly the issuers banks is selling through RM be very wary

You takda logic lah..

first said loss will be less if RM is pretty girl (aka lose money takpa)
you can accept losses for pretty face..what super wary you tokking?

You don’t know to read is it 🤦‍♀️ not my loss but his loss 🤦‍♀️

I didn’t say I will accept loss in the 1st place 🤦‍♀️

I bought into the same fund too, will it ever recover… 😣

How much negative?