Err I usually stay far far away from structured funds, it is just not worth it in terms of the cost and fees. Wonder why it is so popular?

Aiyo.. just want to learn invest don;t play with warrant lah... , either you can gain a lot or lose everything if you are not knowledgable.

For Australia market, you need to look at commodities as the economy is very dependent on natural resources. So if you expect that natural resources is going to go up then you can take a bet. However it is too geographically concentrated for me, I rather spread my risk with Apac ex. Japan (with maybe 15% in Australia)

This post has been edited by gark: Dec 22 2009, 08:44 AM

AS1M = Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia = Fund run by GLC estimated returns ~ 4%-5% a year. Apply at any bank, depend on sales quota.
ASB = Amanah Saham Bumiputera (For Bumi only) = Fund run by GLC returns ~ 5%-6% a year. Apply at any bank.
REIT = Real Estate Investment Trust = A share market component on the total real estate portfolio of a company. Expect rental as dividends, returns ~ 5%-6% a year depends on buying price. Need to open share trading account with any investment bank.

This post has been edited by gark: Dec 27 2009, 11:00 AM

here no one use morningstar 1 meh? Have to do manual calculation...

This is a fund funded by the government, to buy non-core assets of GLC (Government again) and then sell those assets to Bumi companies.

This is just another one of those schemes to rape the GLC and pass the profits to 'connected' companies,

Anyone still hear anything about ValueCap, who took 5 billion of our EPF money?

All Malaysians is blind is it?

This post has been edited by gark: Feb 9 2010, 06:19 PM

Bond pricing and gains is determined by the bond period, ratings and coupon rate. If the interest rate is rising, it will cause the coupon rate of the bond to be less attractive, so the bond will fall in price. The bond period will results in the severity in the price falls. Generally longer term bonds are more affected by interest rate movements. Also the bond pricing is also determine by the ratings given, AAA, AA, A, BBB .. etc all determines the ability of the company in repayment of the bond. During periods of panic, the bond spreads especially for lower rated bonds will be higher, thus existing bond will lose value.

Not all bond funds are the same, some have higher risk than others, with potentially higher interest earnings and you can actually LOSE money in bond funds. If you are looking for a bond fund which is expected to be stable during interest rate rise, then look for bond funds with short duration and only holds Malaysian govt, AAA or AA bonds. These funds are least affected by interest rates, but earns the least amount. If you are looking for higher yields, (but beware of interest rate or spread rise) you can opt for longer term bond fund with a mix of AA, A and BBB bonds or international bonds ( exchange rate risk).

If you are savvy enough to own some high yield bonds (BBB, BB, B) with 40-50 cents to the dollar in late 2008, they actually returned HIGHER than the stock market in 2009 in the range of 50%-70%. On the contrary if you are holding AAA CDO's in 2008 you will lose about 60%-80% of your value. So BOND can be speculative and dangerous depending on the type of bonds.

This post has been edited by gark: Mar 8 2010, 10:58 PM

Yeah, that is mostly true, except that you can expect maybe slightly better returns than FD. Thats why it is important to choose a bond fund with the lowest costs. . 0% service charge and 0.5% management fees is the max i will pay for these short term bond funds.

The bank will never 'rugi' one, even if you lose money as they draw annual management fees (~1%-1.5%) from your investment. Capital protected funds is biggest sucker (scam? )out there for fees as the investment is easy to DIY. For capital protected funds, approximately 85%-95% of your invested money will be placed in a fix term NID (Negotiated instrument of Deposit), zero coupon Investment grade AAA bond or short term bond from the bank itself. The bond is expected to cover 100% (or very close to) of your capital upon maturity (as it gains guaranteed interest). The rest of your money (5% to 15%) will then be invested in equity funds (with fancy names ) and your bonus depends on the equity performance. Even if the equity losses all thier money, the interest from the bonds will 'protect' (cover) your capital. You can easy replicate this yourself at much cheaper rate if you buy 85% bond and 15% equity with much more freedom as you need not worry about maturity date.

As you say your funds now is rugi, because the fixed interest part have not completed payment before maturity and also the 'kicker' (equity) part have not generated enough returns while the bank sucks off their fees.

This post has been edited by gark: Mar 21 2010, 12:20 AM

Depends, if you switch back and forth too often you tend to lose a lot of money in fees. Switching is useful if you are trying to balance your risk between money market, bonds and equity. If you switch to rebalanced your portfolio, once every six months is enough. For me I will only switch for the following :

1. If I think equity is at peak, i will gradually switch to bonds. (ie. take less risk)
2. If I think equity is at bottom, i will gradually switch to equity (ie. take more risk)
3. Switch from equity to bond, if i want to capture the paper profit.

However, i only switch maybe 3-4 times a year only. The fees hurt.

This post has been edited by gark: Mar 22 2010, 08:28 PM

1. You need to start an account with the respective mutual fund or the FA will help you start one. Alternatively there are currently online DIY site for mutual funds which do not need any representative.
2. Usually about RM 1,000 to start investing, about RM 100-500 for topping up. You can pay by cash, check or online banking.
3. Read up on investing, read the fund rankings available on morningstar and lipper. Read personal money published by edge, for newbs.
4. Best you get a good knowledge in this field or have an advisor to help you. Remember no one is responsible for your investment other than yourself.
5. If you have medium to low risk, the other investment suitable will be fixed deposit.

Remember, even in mutual funds there are funds which carry very high risks. Anything more specific, please just ask.

This post has been edited by gark: Mar 22 2010, 11:03 PM

1. For the KLCI, you may not use the points to determine if the money is under or over value. In November 2008, if KLCI is 1,200 points, it is considered overvalued. Generally there is no hard and fast rule to determine the market price. However there are indicators you may want to observe such indicators as P/E Ratio, P/BV Ratio, Market sentiment, GDP, and the general state of the world economy.

2. Generally most funds track the index, with maybe some plus or minus depending on the share holdings. The points in the index is based on the underlying stocks. For example KLCI has 100 of the largest Malaysian stocks. The stock price will go up and down, and the KLSE will then be calculated as an average.

3. For this you may want a fund that can beat the index by a fair margin, year by year. Accumulated performance is quite misleading and remember to minus 5.5% initial charge out of your performance.

1. Usually they charge 5.5% to 6.5% of the investment cost for equity funds. For bond/money market funds usually the charge is about 0.5% to 2%. If you are confident enough to DIY then you do not need any FA. If you are not well verse, then a FA 'might' help you with explanation and guidance. If you want to DIY, you can opt for FSM, CIMB clicks, Maybank2u and the likes. Some FA is good, who really helps you construct a good portfolio, while some are very bad, who only help themselves on your fees on a very risky overpriced portfolio. It depends who you get, so it best to have a chat with them to see if they know what is best for a client. Remember you are the client so they should help to construct a cost effective portfolio that you want and advise you on updates to the market and portfolio strategy. I expect there are 1 or 2 good ones for every 10 FA you meet.

2. Read the rankings on personal money magazine (RM 9) or read the edge newspaper (RM 5). Other wise go to morningstar and lipper, you do not need to register, just read through the website. Look for fund rankings, it is all free!. Morningstar and lipper are the worlds two biggest fund ranking company otherwise you can look at normandy ranking from malaysia.

This post has been edited by gark: Mar 23 2010, 02:56 PM

Weirdest combination in a UT if I ever see one. . Australia is a producer of raw materials, while china is a consumer. If one goes up, the other falls.

You guys are just not buying the right China funds lah, look beyond our shores and you shall seek. I am currently holding DWS China Equity Fund and First State Regional China Fund, what a spectacular run from Nov 08.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 5 2010, 07:52 PM

So far I am switching my higher risk funds to First State Bridge, due to uncertainly in 2010 and also to lock in profits. Fixed income is not my type yet, maybe when i get older.... . Also FSM Singapore is proposing wrap fees soon, maybe will switch to dollardex soon.

Anyway Templeton have some great funds and bonds, well managed investment company.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 5 2010, 09:50 PM

The emerging market funds had a great run last year, this year they are bit more risky as a lot of emerging market are rising interest rate. Could see a downside if they do, and possibly lose quite some money. Emerging bonds are not exactly risk free like FD.

Templeton emerging market bond has 10.8% invested in Venezuelan, 8.1% in Brazilian, 4.1% in Argentina bond and 3.8% in Russian bond. These country are the ones most likely to default if there are any world financial distress. If you look at it's history, the fund manage to drop 30% during the 2008 financial crisis, then proceed to rise by 50%.

Also if you look into details, the average credit rating of the bonds are BBB (low grade bonds), with 7.8%( ) average yield to maturity with average duration of 6.95 years. These bonds are just as risky (and profitable) as equities.

This post has been edited by gark: Apr 6 2010, 08:50 AM

Actually the bond fund which I have been monitoring for some time is the Templeton Global Bond Fund, so far it's been very stable and have good returns, so it's more "bond" like.

It invest in a large amount of countries in govt bonds, thereby spreading the risks and have low deviation of 9%. Credit rating of A, 5.81% yield and average maturity of 5.57 years, with annualized returns of about 10% over last 5 years. A good risk-return results.

It is a product which invest in multiple asset class depending on objective.