do u mean using epf money the investment has to be halal ?

Nope, it's just that it requires more forms and stringent rules regarding how to fill them and etc. Every time invest must attached photocopy IC and thumbprints. A lot of red tapes only, halal or non-halal is up to you.

Not necessary to invest in syariah compliance funds. Any funds that approved by EPF will do, u can go to EPF official website to find the approved fund list.

is it worth to invest using EPF?

the EPF itself already offers like 5%.

The mutual fund can only offer about 5-6%

Somemore got risk.

5% - 6% is the typical return of bond fund. Equity funds have around 8-10% return but with higher risk of course. worth or not is up to your risk appetite. If you would like to retire with a bigger nest egg and don't mind taking the risk, why not invest using EPF? after all, you can't touch the money for other purpose till your retirement anyway.

but i think epf has a limit of how much u can invest according to your age so if you wanna do it monthly prolly use cash

Yes, there's a limit according to age. If u would like to do regular investment, u can tell your agent to put some into the money market fund and switch every month. Should be enough to last you till your next withdrawal. If EPF dpn't have that much to take out then you can still invest it when it reaches the required amount.

I just signed up for Public bank small cap fund. Quite good dividends every year. Anybody has any opinion on this?

If I buy say RM500 every month, will I get charged 5.5% sales charge every month?

This post has been edited by kmarc: Jan 3 2010, 11:24 AM

Why now?

Smallcap fund has good dividends but let's not forget capital growth as well. It's heavily invested (99.9% of NAV) in the country. Hence, the fund performance will be greatly affected by the local economic conditions. Remember, pass performance is not an indication of future performance. hence, the dividends may be good some years and average in some.

yes, you'll be charged 5.5%/ month.

Interesting. You mean that if I have a million in the fund, I will have to pay them Rm55,000 a year? and people agree to that?

This post has been edited by wodenus: Jan 3 2010, 01:11 PM

Only 5.5% one time entry fee and 1.5% yearly management fee.

There are goods and bads investing yourself and through mutual fund.

For small capital companies, I think it is better for mutual company to build portfolio for us as we are not expert and have no time to review all their performances. And we don't know when to run as we don't have the first news.

Somemore, brokerage fee is not cheap, if you do 20 times in a year, it will sum up become 5% already.

If you choose a good mutual company and good manager, then you should save yourself from thinking a lot.

But if you are stock experts, you can play yourself.

So okay I pay them Rm55,000, and then I pay them Rm15,000 a year. And then on top of that, I might not get anything in return. Okay.

This post has been edited by wodenus: Jan 3 2010, 02:39 PM

you can go for the low cost funds/ low initial cost. u can search my previous post on that or pm me.

Errmmmm, I'm not an expert in stocks so I'm thinking of letting the experts do it. The 8-10% dividend per year is nett, if I'm not mistaken.

Even in stocks, I'm currently only accumulating REITs. Don't dare buy high risk stocks except for that occasional gorenging!!!

I see. From what the guy told me, the charges would be negligible if compared to the returns. That's what I understand.

The 5.5% one time entry fee is only if you buy once right? If you buy every month, then you'll have to pay 5.5% for each "buy" wor......

Yes, that's what I'm thinking. We ikan bilis stock players are usually the last to get any news. By the time we react, the stock price would have jumped or dropped. Fund managers would probably get the news faster and can react faster...... right?

hi,

i'm not entirely sure about the 99.9% ratio there regarding smallcap.. it's not entirely a local fund mixture (otherwise, the price update would be on the same closing day, but it's not). same goes with alot of other older funds that have taken up foreign parts in their portfolios although i can't ascertain correctly the ratio (only historical records are available via their periodical reports sent to investors)


oh yeah.. sales charges are not charged monthly!! it's charged per sales transaction.. one time.


This post has been edited by lwb: Jan 3 2010, 03:08 PM

correct if i am wrong.You are not charged every month, you are charged everytime u buy unit form the fund.

the 5.5% work like this:
everytime u buy unit from the mutual fund, 5.5% will be deducted from the money u put it. Let say first time , u put in 1K ,945 will be used to buy unit. 55 will be deducted as charges.second time , u put in 100, 94.5 will be used to buy unit at prevailing price. If u buy RM 500 every month , 472.5 will be used to buy unit. In a year time, you would have lost 330(66% of your RM500).After all the 5.5% , you still have 1.5% management fee per annum. (472.5X12X0.985=5584.95). To break even , the fund have to make at least 8% return to cover all the charges.

and most of the time, pm agents will keep mum(silent) when you ask them about bond funds.. you may wonder why..

it's because they don't get any commission on your purchasing of bond funds. they rather you would stock up on premium stuff.. well, it's their rice bowl (at the end of the day)

So for them to beat FD at current rates (I think 3.25% long term right?) they'd have to make more than 11.25% per year?

hi,
you're correct about the front loading sales charges.. and i agree with you about the minimum threshold return to cover all the charges/commission..

the interesting thing about management fee is that.. it's not so obvious, it gets blended into the fund's accounting before the nav is calculated.. so in essence, the price you get at the end of the day, already has the component of management fee taken into consideration (and thus a separation deduction is unnecessary)..

but yes, the initial 8% is required to cover one's cost in the initial stage/year of investing.. i doubt this is explained by lots of agents selling them.

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Added on January 3, 2010, 3:19 pmi doubt fd is currently at 3.25%.. it's way below that, unless you're comparing those multiyear contracts..

This post has been edited by lwb: Jan 3 2010, 03:19 PM