Sodeska... thought which fund house that crazy trying to confuse its customers

Yup, calculate by per transaction (simple in Excel - copy & paste)
OR
if U have Microsoft Excel, try using the XIRR function for "group / fund" returns calculation.

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Jan 26 2012, 08:39 PM

how's the sales charge and the website service? okay so far?

i think u just go ahead and subscribe with FSM....no issues so far

Through I am agent for PMB, I still invest in FSM without any issue. No issue on Service Charge at all in FSM.

that's great because pbmutual sales charge is 5.5% but this FSM only 1%.

ya, PM no exit fee, while FSM got exit fee.

only on certain funds, and exit fees is usually only applicable for funds with zero service charge

It depends...
IMHO:
IF you're looking at holistic and total costs for the long term (10 yrs and more), say EPF a/c1 funded investments, there is no 1 fund house in FSM that has both "slightly above average" equity funds AND bond funds. FSM has good equity funds & bond funds but IMHO, not within 1 fund house, thus cant do INTRA switching.
Thus, SWITCHING between INTER fund houses in FSM costs about 1% to 2%? Please correct me if i'm mistaken (i actually hope i am, thus i've got another avenue for investments)

VS

Public Mutual's funds which have "slightly above average" equity funds AND bond funds, which one can switch to/fro for Asset Re-allocation (Tactical or Strategical) / Profit taking / etc.
Mind U, moving $50K, $100K, $200K, etc. several times within 10+ to 20+ years at $0 VS 1% to 2% makes a difference.

Thus, FSM just MAY not be "cheapest" in the long run in this perspective.

BTW, i'm assUme-ing investments via EPF lar, where most working stiff has the $ and doesnt affect "real" cash flow until retirement.
Thus, PM's cost is 3% (if one's one best customer-agent, cost is approximately 1.7%) for equity funds, not 5.5%

Just a thought and hope to be corrected, especially the cost of INTER switching costs for FSM

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Jan 27 2012, 09:49 AM

yes, INTER switching is a combo of 2 transactions - 1 sell & 1 buy
so, sales charge and/or exit fees applies depending on the fund houses

from my 2-3 years with FSM...

their best MYR Bond funds - AmBond, AmDynamic
MYR Equity - Kenanga Growth
MYR Balanced - OSK-UOB KidSave Trust, RHB Goldenlife 2020 & 2030
MRY Money Market - AmIncome Plus, OSK-UOB Cash Management
Asia Ex-Japan Equity - Prudential Asia Pacific Equity
Global - Alliance Global Equity

but OSK-UOB range of funds are also quite good, not outright winners but most are above average

OSK-UOB Cash Mangement is available EXCLUSIVELY thru FSM, the fund invests solely in FDs and money market instruments, with T+1 redemption period

---

Added on January 27, 2012, 10:05 amso far the only fund with exit fees that I encountered is AmDynamic Bond, which has 0% sales charge and 1% exit fee

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Jan 27 2012, 10:05 AM

KLCI Tracker from OSK-UOB also has 1% sales charge and 1% exit fee. this fund is available from FSM

Yes, FSM has some good funds, mainly as mentioned by Pink Spider

For equity, Kenanga Growth fund/ Syariah Growth fund is one of the best performing in its class. No dividend, only capital gain. N imagine service charge of 1% (promo period like now) vs 5.25% of PM

dividends are utter nonsense in the context of mutual funds
when u receive it u kena tax
I'd rather have it all in the form of capital gain

Kenanga Growth Fund's returns are crazy I tell u

but I'd stay away from MYR Equity funds for now, at least until after the upcoming General Election. MYR Balanced like OSK-UOB KidSave Trust can do DCA lar...but I'm reserving my ammo for now

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Added on January 27, 2012, 1:10 pmwell, not many ppl buy this

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Jan 27 2012, 01:11 PM

myself all my unit trust is from epf at the moment. but got some cash now. i think if the performance for FSM is about the same the pbmutual, then i can consider FSM because of lower sales charge. else, i think i might put into saving plan or FD.

what do you mean by "if one's one best customer-agent, cost is approximately 1.7%"? it is he is a pbmutual agent and if he buy unit trust, he only need to pay 1.7% sales charge?

Effectively and approximately, yes.

Technically, for EPF investments, still paying 3%.
Out of that 3%, 1.75% (or was it 1.7%, i forget the small numbers) goes to Agent.
Thus: 3% -1.75% +income tax(commission 1.75% *26% my personal tax rate)

For agents' cash investments there are 2 options:
via cold hard Cash: 5.5% - 2.75% +(2.75% *26%)
via Commissions Direct Debit Instruction: at NAV cost! but commissions MUST be able to fund those DDIs

i see. aiya, i am not any unit trust agent le.

IF U are personally investing RM10K of yr EPF per annum or MORE
+ U can get another $20K+ of "sales" from your family members' EPF/cash
THEN it makes sense to be your own agent + sustainable in meeting PM's quota per annum

I've done the calc (havent U noticed i'm nuts with calculations? literally cost/benefit analysis + calculated risks) and it makes sense, ESPECIALLY when one gets detailed data for further analysis to enhance one's + family's investments.

Er.. your mileage may vary greatly - especially if you're not the active/hungry investor/knowledge type yar

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Jan 27 2012, 06:08 PM

now, u make want to become a unit trust agent already. i will talk to my agent, see how to study and pass the exam

If yr agent dont want to share share calculations, ideas, etc., U can always pm me

BTW, dont get me wrong yar - i'm not into recruiting or sales, i'm saying if your agent isnt an investor at heart (risk mgt + stats & probabilities), we can still bounce ideas off each other here or teh tarik sessions.

okay, i will look for him first because he is one my church friend. but if he cannot help me, i will sure look for you!

No matter how much money they make, nobody likes to pay taxes. But the worst thing in the world is paying taxes when you never actually earned the income you're getting taxed on.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens every year around this time. With many mutual funds paying large taxable distributions at the end of the year, you have to be extremely careful if you decide to make big investments in December. Otherwise, you could end up with a big tax bill that you don't really deserve.

This Tax Is Out of Your Control

When you own stocks, the way you get taxed is pretty simple to understand. In most cases, if a stock pays a dividend, then you'll include that income on your tax return for the year and pay tax on it. But no matter how much the stock price goes up, you'll never pay taxes on the gains until you decide to sell the stock. That puts you in full control of when you'll pay capital gains taxes and is an incredibly valuable way to take advantage of tax deferral even without a tax-favored retirement account like an IRA or 401(k).

For reasons only the IRS fully understands, however, mutual fund shares follow different rules. With mutual funds, tax rules look inside the fund to determine whether you owe taxes on income. So if the fund receives dividend or interest income, then the fund is required to pay it out to you, and you'll pay tax on it. But even worse, if the fund buys or sells investments inside its portfolio, then you'll end up paying any capital gains that result -- even if you never sold your shares. In fact, even if you do what millions of investors do and reinvest your mutual fund distributions to buy more fund shares, you still have to pay tax on that money.

The Loophole Congress Left Open

The sad thing is that all this could have been a thing of the past by now.

Last year, Congress came close to enacting tax law changes that would have eliminated the unfair treatment of long-term mutual fund shareholders. But lawmakers got bogged down in what many considered more pressing tax issues, and so tax reform for mutual funds got pushed aside once more.

Without that relief, you're largely on your own to protect yourself from big fund distributions.

Three Ways to Avoid an Unfair Tax

It's important to remember that all of these issues only affect mutual funds in regular taxable accounts. If you own a mutual fund in an IRA or 401(k), you don't have to worry about any of this. However, if your funds are outside of these accounts, here are some ways you can potentially save yourself a tax mess:
If you're considering making an investment in a mutual fund this month, see if it's planning to make a large year-end distribution. If it is, hold off on buying new fund shares until after the fund makes that distribution. Because the tax consequences depend entirely on who was a shareholder at the time the fund pays out its income, you'll avoid any taxes by waiting.
Similarly, if you're thinking about selling shares that you've owned for a long time, think about selling them before a big distribution. By doing so, you may be able to avoid what would have been interest or short-term capital gains income -- taxable at a potentially much higher rate -- and instead get favorable long-term capital gains treatment.
However, if you sell shares you've owned for less than a year, you may actually want to take the distribution. That's because by selling, all of your gain will count as short term and incur a high tax rate. But if you take the distribution, some of that gain may effectively get transformed into dividend or long-term capital gains, which enjoy a better rate.

For good or ill, you have to stay aware of esoteric tax laws like this if you want to avoid paying the IRS more than you need to. By making the right moves with your mutual fund investing, you can save yourself from unnecessary higher taxes.