4. We have access to EPF/SSPN as amazing pseudo-bond options. This is the most important thing to us Malaysian Boglehead.

I would love to get comments, thoughts and counter point to reasons #4.

I'm not sure if the performance listed at fund pages include both coupons and capital gains, but if it does give me around 3% or above overall there's an argument to be made to not put money into SSPN but bonds instead, given that MYR is circling the drain and threatening a dive 24/7 with such weak confidence in Malaysia market and it's government...

Haha was considering VAGU but a lot of people seem to think buying bonds before 40 is a mistake since you want to let equities do most of the heavy lifting when you're still able to take risks. Currently considering 100% VWRA on my IBKR as I slowly transition my other investments (FSMOne, SA, Bursa stocks etc...) over as they hopefully turn green. Unfortunately entered SA @ ATH so it'll be quite a long wait

Me included. I’m waiting for a real crash to test my resolve. I tested StashAway’s thematic portfolio and also a UT with Ark Innovation’s funds and decided they're not for me when ARKK dropped 40-50% from my highest entry price. I’m still waiting to see my risk appetite when it comes to purely index fund volatility, although common sense seems to be that the swing should be smaller because of the total world nature of VWRA, but like I mentioned, we’ll see

Yeah the emotions aspect is of course the age-old big question, of one’s risk tolerance. I don’t claim to fully know my limits either. One other way may be to increase bond exposure as I start to feel more uncertain? I’m honestly not sure if that’s counterproductive behavior or not yet.

How is that market timing? More like risk balancing based on appetite changes?

When growing older I suppose. That’s my main concern is after 40, how much to allocate in bonds. But seems like Malaysia has quite a few different options aside from bonds

Just curious, why AGGG instead of something like VAGU which is accumulating?

While ABF SG BOND ETF (A35) is safe the latest traded price is close to like 5 years ago in 2017. For such ETF/stock I generally won't buy becuz it don't move. Imagine you bought in 2017 and DCA 5 years later the share price at 2022 is back to 2017 ? Some could argue add more just to get the half yearly dividends of cuz but I think otherwise. To me long term is the investment must overall be on the rising trend not go back down.

Out of curiosity, thoughts on ABF Malaysia Bond Index Fund?

Also, which platform do you use to buy SGX stuff? Most platform I know do charge a rather hefty fee for SGX access.

Stay away from ABF Malaysia being dragged down thanks to 1MDB 

Thanks for sharing. Also the reason why I am not a big fan of bond. As you pointed out, equities drop 30%, bond up only 2% ? equities drop 50% bond up only 7% ? And that is your monies will be tied up for quite a lot of years which can be used to invest to get higher returns like equities etc in good times.

In another SG forum, I have asked can the definition of "bond" be stretched further like bank FD, insurance endowment plans, CPF (Msia EPF) etc with guaranteed capital protected investment? If yes then the so called "bond allocation" need not be strictly confined to bond or bond ETF or bond mutual fund.

Same at as we’ll as with you never liked bonds and I rather buy commodities stapled ETF or REITs instead of bonds as timing is important because it is difficult to get out bonds without incurring any minor losses 

In fact I bought REITs and Staples during the pandemic crash and it was major red all along until recently I sold them off recently early this year when it was hitting 52 week high

Just need to find the right time to buy again now with geo news running amok now 

You brought up a good point here. SA Simple / Versa or other MMF locally, their returns are kinda on par with international bond markets, right? I'm pulling this out of my ass probably, but last I checked US long-term treasury yield was 1.9x or 2.x%? If they're on par then perhaps Versa would work well

Versa's still great for emergency fund though, it's what I use them for. I'd rather not have to go through remittance in an emergency.

But yeah, if I wanted bonds I would get non-MYR denominated bonds just because the coupon payment might not even recoup inflation 

If I am being honest I trust MGS as much as I trust SC, that's to say I'd rather trust some other country's counterpart 

Just a quick one. Our EPF is mandated by law to deliver at least 2.5% return every year. Also, fund composition normally hovers around 50% equity, 45% bond, and 5% cash.

There's less discussion on incorporating EPF as part of our asset allocation. Our western counterpart have their 401k and IRA stuff alike. With penalty fee, they can withdraw their 401k earlier to meet extraordinary financial challenge like the pandemic. For us, there's no way to withdraw unless one decides to leave the country.

As our EPF fund is illiquid until age 55, I exclude them in my typical 70/30 asset allocation.

Some oldbirds told me many years ago when I started investment "only invest with monies you can afford to lose" else just stick to bank FD and other lower return but capital guaranteed investment instruments. There is hardly any high returns capital guaranteed instruments and via legal means of cuz.

Many years later that sentence still hold true based on my experience.

I wished investing is as simple as that.

Anyway, good luck for our fellow Bogleheads. I support Bogle's movement actually. Time to take back Wall Street's money and reinvest them. :thumbsup:

Waiting for fund to buy in again. Sea of red this few weeks

Liquidated my SA to go full DIY

🤤

so i guess the dot com crash made it underperform for many years.