Maybe those who are into spreadsheets and ratios can provide a definition of "longkang"?

For me long kang is more than 15%...

It is more than 25%...

jasmine, u only did 1 lump sum investment? did u top up along the way? for BRIC/EM equity funds, if u do lump sum, sure kaput wan I tell u. u need to do regular top-ups along the way, and look long-term.

I also got a fund down 30%+ at one point, but now recovered with 2%++ annualised return.

Yes,since 1 year ago.
No, I never top up.
What do you think about long term?3 years or ten years?
I also got another fund down 30% on 2008,and now recovered but still down 9%+.Is it worths to wait for it to recover?I means the Bric fund.And do you think Bric will recover more than 25% in the near future?

This post has been edited by jasmine2001: Sep 23 2012, 02:27 PM

Hi all, happy to find a platform on fund investment sharing.

M looking at monthly saving of RM 500 into fund investment as I do not have time to do share investment, and did some reading online that mutual fund do give > EPF returns of 6% given with time of 5 years or more.

1. Can you share with me what criterias to look at to help me better decide how to start invest in mutual funds?
2. Is monthly saving a good way?
3. How to choose from so many fund house?

Just as I guessed

For unit trusts (esp equity funds), unless u got the entry timing right (bought in at/near the bottom of the market cycle), its highly probable that u could be making a loss.

My suggestion? Average out the purchase cost by topping up every now and then. No guarantees, though.

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Added on September 23, 2012, 2:45 pmAnd look the the other fund u mentioned...

2008: -30%
2012: -9%

Means that the fund delivered annualised returns of roughly 7% p.a. from 2008-2012.

If u had switched out, how sure are you that the next fund would be better? U could end up like my favourite casino analogy...

U bet Small 10 times, open Big 10 times
Then u gave up and switch side to Big, and the 11th round it turns out to be Small...

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Added on September 23, 2012, 2:51 pm1. This question too open-ended, pls be more specific
2. Yes for equity funds, maybe no for bond funds. From my personal experience, monthly savings beat lump sum investment. Read my reply to jasmine above
3. Google "Lipper Leaders"

I highly recommend fundsupermart.com for
- low Sales Charge
- user-friendly website
- online UT distributor with the highest number of funds from different fund houses
- helpful customer service

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Sep 23 2012, 02:51 PM

Do you think is it possible that the fund manager give-up and force us redemp or switch to another fund?

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Added on September 23, 2012, 2:51 pm

1. This question too open-ended, pls be more specific
2. Yes for equity funds, maybe no for bond funds. From my personal experience, monthly savings beat lump sum investment. Read my reply to jasmine above
3. Google "Lipper Leaders"

I highly recommend fundsupermart.com for
- low Sales Charge
- user-friendly website
- online UT distributor with the highest number of funds from different fund houses
- helpful customer service

[/quote]


Thanks Pink for recommending of fundsupermart and Lipper Leaders, really very useful guide here! Never know about Lipper Leaders! A good place to start indeed. Took a look at them just now.

1. Do I just look at Total Return as per the Lipper Leaders's analysis?
How to decide when to start buying? & which Fund House?
Is their Total Asset Value of those funds (like in the Lipper Leaders) important to be a criteria to decide? like the bigger the Value the better the fund it is? (I assume more people putting their fund into a particular fund if the Total Asset Value is bigger.


2. Equity funds = stock market fund?

3. I'm skeptical of online investment. If I don't buy online, which fund house is a better option? I heard from my friends MAAKL is good, PM also.

Based on Lipper Leaders, it seems really good profit from mutual funds if I am dicipline enough to keep put my monthly savings here!

Thank you!

Why should they give up? The fund manager's earnings come from the FIXED % Management Fee they charge investors, an underperforming fund do them no direct harm at all. The only harm it can possibly do to them would be investors giving up and cashing out.

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Added on September 23, 2012, 6:01 pmLipper compares funds based on
(1) Total Return
(2) Consistent Return
(3) Preservation

Public Mutual is the BIGGEST in Malaysia in terms of asset under management, but does it necessarily make them "good"? My thought, they're big only because they're accessible (lots of Public Bank branches around, lots of PM agents around). Pacific Mutual Berhad won some awards last year for equity funds, but some of their equity funds stand at a puny RM10m+ only...

Total Asset Value affects investors in a few aspects:

1. Cost
The expenses incurred by a fund are Management Fee, Trustee Fee, Auditor's Remuneration, Tax Agent's Fees and some general administrative expenses. Management Fee and Trustee Fee are calculated as a fixed % of the fund's total asset value, e.g. 1.50% p.a. MF and 0.07% TF. But other expenses typically do not change proportionate to the change in asset value.

E.g. audit fee is RM10,000 per year
ABC Fund asset value = RM100m, RM10K would be 0.01%
XYZ Fund asset value = RM10m, RM10K would be 0.1%

Get the idea?

However, if the fund manager is very good at managing the investments and consistently beat the benchmark and peer funds, who cares about this tiny bits of expenses?

2. Bigger is better? Not always...
Fund with more $$$ may gain access to investment that smaller funds find restrictive. But, as a fund grows bigger, it might find it harder to manoeuvre. Just think EPF, the biggest institutional investor in Malaysia. Each and every move it makes, will move the market. And when it needs to dump some stocks, they have to dump at lower prices, otherwise, not enough takers to swallow them. That's why fund managers usually will have size limit for their funds, which they deem is optimal for manageability.

Equity = stocks

Online UT distributors offer lower Sales Charge. Nowadays, even stock traders/investors do it online...
If u are really uncomfortable with online platforms, u have options like CIMB Wealth Advisors, Public Mutual, or you can just go to any banks. But the SC gonna be charged in full, ranging from 2% for bond funds to 6.5% for equity funds.

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Sep 23 2012, 06:07 PM

[quote=Brida,Sep 23 2012, 03:40 PM]

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Added on September 23, 2012, 2:51 pm

1. This question too open-ended, pls be more specific
2. Yes for equity funds, maybe no for bond funds. From my personal experience, monthly savings beat lump sum investment. Read my reply to jasmine above
3. Google "Lipper Leaders"

I highly recommend fundsupermart.com for
- low Sales Charge
- user-friendly website
- online UT distributor with the highest number of funds from different fund houses
- helpful customer service

[/quote]
Thanks Pink for recommending of fundsupermart and Lipper Leaders, really very useful guide here! Never know about Lipper Leaders! A good place to start indeed. Took a look at them just now.

1. Do I just look at Total Return as per the Lipper Leaders's analysis?
How to decide when to start buying? & which Fund House?
Is their Total Asset Value of those funds (like in the Lipper Leaders) important to be a criteria to decide? like the bigger the Value the better the fund it is? (I assume more people putting their fund into a particular fund if the Total Asset Value is bigger.
2. Equity funds = stock market fund?

3. I'm skeptical of online investment. If I don't buy online, which fund house is a better option? I heard from my friends MAAKL is good, PM also.

Based on Lipper Leaders, it seems really good profit from mutual funds if I am dicipline enough to keep put my monthly savings here!

Thank you!

[/quote]

if u hv zero knowledge of unit trust. get a agents brief to u face to face for better understanding. u already hv MAAKL PM to u. go and c them. all ur Q's write in the paper and ask them until u understand.

generally, UT can give returns compunded 5-10%, over the time, meaning more than 5 yrs for me. 8% is good enuf already.it can outperform epf returns over the time too. and it depends on the fund performance.

what is ur plan to invest in UT?
retirement plan?
how long u want to invest?
capital gain or income(dividedns)?
ur risk profile?conservtive?moderate?aggressif?

there is no good or bad funds house. all investing objective similar type. its depends on how the fund perform, that is more important.

check the past performance at least 3 yrs record. how the fund recoverd from any crash. look at the fund asset alocation, local or foreign.

u hv to choose the fund which has similar to ur investment objective and risk tolerance. if u a mederate risk taker, dont buy conservative or aggressif funds.

Average out the purchase cost by topping up.....Do you means top up the fund again by DDI without looking into its performance,and also the near future of Bric?

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

AmAdvantage Bric

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

Thank for your reply...Can you tell me where can I find the data as above-mentioned ?

+100

1st, compare the performance of your fund compared to
(1) its benchmark
(2) its peers

If the fund is an underperformer, time to dump.

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Added on September 24, 2012, 1:21 pmWhat I do is, buy on dips.

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Sep 24 2012, 01:21 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

I prefer Global Emerging Markets fund to BRIC fund.

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