Instead of parking the money in the fund, why don't you park in short term FD with rate of 3%-3.5% on monthly renewal basis? That way your money do work harder, with no risk and no need to pay fees to those bankers. Also on monthly renewal basis, if you cancel the FD on moment's notice you only lose the accrued interest of less than 1 month.

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 18 2012, 10:53 AM

I used to have FSM SG... but since they have the platform fee, I am migrating to POEM... same sales charge no platform fees...

Now planning to further migrate to NYSEACRA for ETF's... for even cheaper charges

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 21 2012, 12:59 PM

FSM SG no need SG account, can TT from MY Bank to FSM directly and recieve TT bank in directly to MY Bank from FSM. For POEM and DOllardex need local bank account.

For ETF, min purchase is 1 share, but then your trading cost is expensive, around USD 5-10 (depend on broker) per purchase. Even you buy 1 share or 1 million share the cost is the same. Please note dividend will have a 30% witholding tax, so choose ETF which does not have dividend payout (accumulated). Can bank TT and receive TT from MY bank to US bank as well same as above...

Most (US)ETF have management fee of 0.1%-0.3% p.a.

You send money from your MY bank to FSM's SG Bank account. You recieve vice versa.

Bank charges (CIMB) = RM 10 per TT
Bank Charges (FSM Standard Charted bank) = SGD 12 per TT

So as long as you send high amount the % of charges will be lower... or you can choose to bank into FSM SG Bank account but need to be in SG. or use Money changer...

If you interested to open SG UT account, I would suggest you to switch all your Asia ex Japan funds to Aberdeen Pacific Equity Fund. Beats the pants off ALL Malaysian based asia ex japan funds.

Held it since 2007 and no regrets...

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 21 2012, 02:40 PM

That's why I moved out in the first place. In 2007 you can't even find ANY global equity fund. Even now you have lots of global fund, their performance leaves a lot to be desired.... most of them perform below benchmark. This Aberdeen Pacific Equity fund beat the benchmark year after year even during the financial crisis.

Depend on your BRIC fund.. depend on the performance of the fund. Outperforming fund can top up regularly but underperforming ones, the more you top up the worse it get. Even if you decide to top up your EM funds, would you rather to top up into a good performance BRIC fund or a lousy one?

My Pacific ex Japan fund was down up to -40% in 2008, but I bought on dips and so far it has perform +50%.

So the question is, which BRIC fund are you talking about?

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 12:48 PM

Basically...

1. It is a feeder fund...marketed through HSBC malaysia
2. It invest in HSBC GIF BRIC equity...
3. It invest in equal amount is Brazil, Russia, China + India
4. HSBC GIF BRIC Equity fund has been performing below benchmark since launch in 2004
5. 5 year for HSBC GIF BRIC fund is +8.33% while bench mark is +24.70%
6. 1 year for HSBC GIF BRIC fund is - 20.78% while bench mark is -15.53%

So with the facts above, you can decide if you want to top up...

There is another similar fund called AmBRIC equity.. but the performance is more of less the same.

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 01:04 PM

Google is your friend...here are some links to start you off..

http://www.hsbc.com.my/1/PA_ES_Content_Mgm...e_bric_hsbc.pdf

http://www.assetmanagement.hsbc.com/uk/att...bric_equity.pdf

http://my.morningstar.com/ap/quicktake/ove...ceId=0P0000RRPS

Go whack your HSBC Premier RM for recommending this...

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Added on September 24, 2012, 1:27 pmGood strategy...

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 01:27 PM

And I prefer AP ex. Japan...

Now looking at Templeton Frontier Markets Fund.. looks good. The EM of EM...

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 01:31 PM

Biggest holding in Nigeria. Anyway monitoring, looks good, in 5-10 years these market is going to be new EM if war/famine/genocide/hyperinflation does not break out.

Africa got GDP growth of 8%-15% now...

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 01:35 PM

That's why we engage fund manager loh... especially this kind of country...

Nigeria GDP growth is very high now.. is it because of all the 'scam' money earnings?

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 01:42 PM

Wa... must charge 'con'-sultant fees already.. hehe anyway here it goes...

1. REIT fund...ho hum...
2. 70% in reit, 30% in FD
3. CUrrent running yield is 4.5%
3. 1 year 20.13% vs benchmark 16.39%
4. 1 month 0.34% vs benchmark 2.77%


Results..

1. Still a young fund, less than 1 year performance
2. Charges 1.5% for 70% in REIT and 30% in FD -
3. Running yield of 4.5% (before minus 1.5% fees) - Kinda low ball for REIT...
4. Ever thought of purchasing your own REIT?

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 05:53 PM

Well it depends on you, and your current asset allocation and only you can see the whole picture, so you must decide for yourself. Sorry can't help you there...

Remember to do homework the next time you purchase something other wise you might get stuck with in long term...

The low yield in the REIT fund is due to the 30% in FD... the benchmark and the fund is the same which is AP + Japan, my mistake...

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 24 2012, 05:53 PM

For greater china, I am currently vested in First State Regional China Fund..

Annualized performance...

5 year -0.9% vs -4.8% benchmark
3 year +3.1% vs -2.2% benchmark
1 year - 4.3% vs -9.6% benchmark

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Added on September 25, 2012, 10:04 amThe yield data is in the factsheet comments...by the 'fun'-manager

Even though the REIT has been chased too high, you can still find some decent 6%-7% in Malaysia and Singapore. For the fund to run 4.5% yield is due to dilution from the FD, and most probably the fund manager is chasing hot REIT's (like the recent IGB REIT, yield is at 4.5% also )

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 25 2012, 10:04 AM

But why pay the fund manager 1.5% to manage your REIT, that is like 30% of the REIT dividend already? REIT it self is a managed fund, so you are paying a manager to manage a bunch of managers managing your investment property?

If you can get RM3k, you can start to buy REIT directly already wor... and get higher yield than the fund. Why 3K? So that you do not kena your minimum charge from most brokers.

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 25 2012, 11:37 AM

So look at the layer of fees... you pay 2% to buy the Reit fund (distributor untung)...then pay the manager 1.5% to manage the fund (fund manager untung), and in the REIT holdings itself, the REIT is paying the managers 1.5%-2.0% to manage property (REIT manager untung) and also pay employees managing the REIT (holding company untung). so many fees....

if you buy yourself, then you only pay 0.1% (broker untung), 1.5%-2.0% for REIT manager (REIT manager untung)and then to the REIT employees (holding company untung)...

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 25 2012, 11:46 AM

Break more bubble...

iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Asia Property Yield Fund (IASP)

Management Fees : 0.59%
Net yield (after fees) = 3.89%

SG REIT yield used to be 15%-20% during the crisis, whoever very brave and locked at those rates is set for life. I know someone now getting 100K dividend per year due to aggressive SG REIT buying and compound the dividend during the crisis 2008-2010.

Here is his blog...

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Added on September 25, 2012, 12:57 pmThere are high yield REIT still available if you look hard enough.. and pay less fees..

AmAsia Pacific REIT has >50% in MY and SG REit and is totally different from the benchmark holdings... so it's hard to compare.

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 25 2012, 01:00 PM

Don't wait too long... you never know how long you need to wait while the world passes you by...

“Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves.” - Peter Lynch