Many sides of stories...

Ada yang positive....

Lip,

Let's just say that those who invested in unit trusts stand to gain more if
they are able to invest prudently. I've been investing in unit trust....been
practising what is called dollar cost averaging (putting equal amt of money
each month), ...and plus I added a bit more margin whenever the market goes
down.  To date, my investment easily beat the EPF dividend rate. I am
seriously thinking of taking my account 1 to invest in unit trust. The key
thing is to go in at the 'right time' and not to follow the crowd.  :) 

But I couldn't agree more with you, the risk is rather high if you're geared
towards equities (the higher the risk...the higher the gain). But then
again, the unit trusts has several risk....low (as good as FD), medium
(balanced fund) and high (> 80% in equities). If u go for the high risk...it
is as good as going into the stock market..but without the worries of having
to manage the portfolios on your own. You pay a bit portion to the fund
manager to enjoy this benefit.

EPF monies are geared mostly in malaysian government bonds which are used to
fund various new/improved infrastructure projects. Not much goes into the
equities (if in equities, most are parked in GLCs or MBSB). So do expect
it's performance to mirror the balanced fund ...and perhaps slightly above
the low risk funds of the unit trust. This concurs with Zack's point # 4.

I kinda agree with Zack's point # 5 and 6. You do have to choose the unit
trust fund company wisely. Look into the Star's Bizweek every Sat...it'll
tell u which fund is the best. Edge-Lipper and Standard&Poor do rank these
units trusts both by the segment and syariah/non-syariah categories. If we
are to follow the trend elsewhere in the world capital market, unit trust
fund or some people called mutual fund are playing a big role in stimulating
and helping the domestic economy to grow. To me, it's better than these unit
trust companies own majority stake in malaysian based companies than leaving
to foreign-owned companies like Temasek...don't u think so? Besides, with
big stake , these fund managers would be able to ensure better corporate
governance by bringing the voice of the minority stake holders...in addition
to the voice of the Minority Shareholders watchdog fraternity.

regards,
Redza

dan tak ketinggalan juga yang berhati-hati...

Zack,

I agree with Thuan Lip on what he has written. I'm a Financial Planner too and I have stop selling unit trust for about 18 months now. The current economy situation is much too risky for investors to risk their life savings (EPF) to earn a little bit more from the market. Although the company I represent beats the EPF returns, I still would believe the risk faced by investors in the current market is much greater than the returns itself.

From the statement that you gave, it is easy to see that you are still very fresh and naive in the financial planning sector especially when it comes to investment. Please do more homework on the market outlook before putting your clients head at risk.

Do put yourself in your clients shoes to get a better prespective of what they are facing rather than focusing on your commission and your incentive trips.

&n! bsp;

Anyone who wants the real picture of the current investment circle, please email me.

Regards,

Shah