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

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.

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

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.

i doubt fd is currently at 3.25%.. it's way below that, unless you're comparing those multiyear contracts..

the current fd rate is 2.5% per annum.If economy pick up. the fd-rate may increase.the fund have to take further risk to break even.

woodenus,

as lwb said before, you are comparing apple and orange, mutual fund and FD are totally different thing. I would compare mutual fund to stock market . Mutual fund dont have lock in period like FD. u can invest any amount u want every month(minimum RM100), for FD, after the lock in, you cant put any money in.Some time u gain more unit, sometime u gain less unit, depend on the NAV.  If the FD rate increase during the lock in period, you would have incur opportunity cost. The advantage most UT agent will tell u about is DCA(dollar cost averaging), which FD don't have.

sorry the amortization is referring to something else..
talk to an agent and ask them about code 99.. if they're not telling you, i will (fair?) 

hint - agents are doing too!

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Added on January 3, 2010, 4:38 pmi think i see your point from your perspective.. you're correct by the very factors you include in, to substantiate those point.. i think what i use is, a different sets of factors.. and because of it, we have a differing outcome.

i see you view..  

wodenus,
thanks for highlighting that.. *lol*
our context is not medical, yes? keep it within context..

I split them equally into Public Australia Equity Fund, Public China Select Fund and Public Far East Select Fund. And I switched them in and out to/from Public Islamic Bond Fund.

Haha... but I flunked my Bursa stocks thanks largely to one "Msports". Actually, I didn't lose ...just didn't make much ...maybe about 10%. I should've just held on to my REITs instead of trying to be smart. But I made practically double on my US stocks by betting on energy options.

I split them equally into Public Australia Equity Fund, Public China Select Fund and Public Far East Select Fund. And I switched them in and out to/from Public Islamic Bond Fund.

3 funds contributed about ~40%(roundup) since late apr-2009..
PIX, PAIF and Smallcap.. i've not closed my book on PAIF yet.

So how then? Is buying unit trust good or not? 

wodenus,

i don't pay commission, remember? of course there're lots of factors involved.. and the best fund that contributed the most profit was the mouthful PFEPRF..

in just a short 3-month period, this fund contributed in excess of $40k(tax free) to my portfolio.. i picked up the scent about PFEPRF at late apr-2009.. and had some brief discussion with this guy, Medufsaid (i'm not sure if he's still monitoring while the profit was good)..

Yeah, last year was a year of opportunity. I only made 30% of my capital from stocks.... 

I see. I'm not familiar with any funds so I think I'll just stick to the one introduced to me..... the smallcap fund!!!! 

Yeah, last year was a year of opportunity. I only made 30% of my capital from stocks.... 
Is that because of the stock market crash that you gained so much by buying in cheap? What about now? Still a good time to buy in to PM? 

How come you don't have to pay commission? 

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Errrmmmm.... don't understand your question..... 

I only made 30% profit mainly because I didn't want to take the risk and it was the first time I "played" stocks. Next time I would be a bit wiser (by buying and holding on to bluechip counters)..... hopefully....

i'm not an agent of unit trust.. besides, i'm a protagonist of an agent *lol* because i distrust their intentions most of the time..

Yeah, I also think the stock market is too forward-looking at this moment. One day, everybody will suddenly realize that the economy is not good and there comes the bear and the double dip (my opinion only). That's the reason I'm taking my money out of stocks and putting it in a "safer" environment. FD, REITs and my newest investment tool - unit trust.........

it feels like gambling doesn't it?

remember code 99?

Errrmmmm.... not sure what technique that was but I was basically bottom-fishing. Entered the stock market in Nov 2008. Bought a few stocks and sold most by April-May 2009 when the bull was running. Made my 30% during that period. Sold most of my stocks because I thought the bear would return, which it never did!!!! 

Yes I do. However, I believe fund managers would get any news faster than us ikan bilis if we were to play stocks ourselves.
Unfortunately yes, I'm referring to local REITs.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that besides FD, I'm looking for investment options that don't have such high risk as stocks. Everybody knows that FD is useless as your money will still get smaller and smaller due to inflation. FD is low risk low returns. The next step would be unit trust, which is medium risk medium returns, would it not? (Of course, based on what type of unit trust). Besides unit trust, I can't think of any other investment options.

Note : I have tried a few times to buy ASM and ASW2020 but always goes back home upset and empty-handed.