VIJAYA DEVAN'S BLOG

Tax Planning for Individual.

2013-12-29T21:33:00.000+08:00

It's the time of the year again where most employed workers will be eligible for the year end bonus payment.

To those who received the payout will know that their bonus payment is subjected to income tax deduction by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) of Malaysia. Many will grumble of this deduction but we all have no alternative of NOT to pay the taxes. However, there is one solution (legal) to avoid paying taxes on the bonuses.

The Malaysian Tax Act allows certain income to be deducted from gross salary and they are travelling allowances, meal allowances and maternity allowances.

If you want to avoid paying taxes on your bonuses, you could instruct your employer to convert the bonus money that you would receive into one of the 3 allowances eligible for deduction mentioned above.This amount of bonuses would then be divided by 12 months period and you would receive the divided proportion on monthly basis until the total of allowance become same as the bonus payment.

Happy Investing!!

Corrupted Financial Adviser

2013-12-28T21:22:00.000+08:00

There are only 3 days more before we welcome new year 2014. I am very optimistic that year 2014 will bring me better wealth and health. How about you?

Year 2013 was not so bad! My investment in unit trust funds has shown some encouraging result and i have managed to contain my financial liabilities to almost zero. However, i have one disappointment and that is my investment in share market (securities) did not perform well! I have long treated it as bad investment and that too was due to my mistake in picking up the good stock. I was too foolish to buy that particular stock without doing research first. I have written it off already!

Being a Certified Financial Planner has helped me to see and manage money truly in a different way. I think it takes a great discipline and integrity to plan well. I have also found happiness in assisting investors to create wealth, protect it, accumulate it and finally disseminate wealth in a more proper and systematic way.

With all this, my feeling was bruised today when i heard an unwanted news.

It's about my fellow financial adviser. He is in the insurance industry providing monetary coverage to those claimants of policy holders. Today, while we were having conversation over a cup of tea, he confessed to me that he (illegally) received some upfront money from his client for a task that he promised to assist the client. My friend had requested the upfront money of which without it he would not assist to help the client in reference. I knew that my friend had breached the code of ethics and professional conduct by accepting the illegal proceed. My friend had accepted the money due to some ballooning expenditure that he need to settle and he has no buffer cash to supplement.

I can't understand how he could do that to his poor client. I have never touched a single sen of my client's money to be used to satisfy my personal goals. Well, i guess that is what differentiate between me, a good financial planner and him, a bad adviser.

In year 2014, i have pledged to assist more and more people to invest their disposal money in Unit Trust schemes and Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) in order to obtain their anticipated future goals.

Happy Investing!!

Managing Client's Anticipation

2013-12-25T21:19:00.000+08:00

Hi! We meet again.

I would like to start this article by touching on an issue that disturbs many Unit Trust Consultants. I believe that if this issue is not tackled properly, the relationship between the clients and the consultants will get sour and subsequently depleting the consultants reservoir of customers.
The issue in reference here is confronting the client's anticipation against their return on investment on funds entrusted under the consultants care.
In my course of work, i have met many clients with various background. From the perspective of Investment knowledge, i am able to sum all them up into 2 types of investor category.

1. First category is the type of people classified as investors who assumed that they know how the profits are captured.

2. Second category are investors who understands exactly how the profits are captured.

The distinction between this two is closely related to investment education!

In the first category, investors assumed that they know. Their assumption is purely based on their loose understanding of what is expected from them. These investors have one anchored perception buried deep in their mind and it is obviously continuous sustainable ANTICIPATED RETURN irrespective of how markets move. This understanding is very dangerous if investment time frame is not mentioned. Clients anticipation for aspired return can be managed if the investment holding period is mentioned.
To cite a case in reality, one client of mine withdrew her investment after 7 years. The redemption was done against my advice. During the time, the market was declining. And because of her fear that the market would collapse, she decided to sell off all units. I have advised her to hold because the decline in price was just temporary and it will not prolong. However, she didn't buy my words.
If only the investor reiterated that her holding period is 7 years (instead of disclosing time frame, which normally all investors practice), i would have redeemed her position before the 7th year.
Many investors would like to keep their positions even if the target return have been met. That is fine, but i prefer to lock in the profit thereafter. Because of no disclosure is made on their time frame, consultants usually will let the fund move on market's direction.

The second category of investors mentioned above are the true investors. These investors understand the concept and the affect of 'duration/holding period' to the overall performance of the unit trust investment. They anticipate that they would achieve the aspired return at the end of stated period and, what happens during the tenure of the investment period is less of a concern. Volatility in market is a common thing to them. There is a popular saying that goes like this, "Being an investor requires us to think and act like an investor".

Consultants have a greater responsibility to educate their clients, especially in the area of investment behavior. Parting knowledge to clients are no longer seen as a burden but a service rendered with honesty and integrity.

RULE OF 72

2013-12-23T23:54:00.001+08:00

This simple rule is used to answer the below 2 questions.

1. If i invest now, in how many years do i get to see the value doubled, if the return is 7% per annum?
2. If i want to invest and my holding period is 8 years, what return on investment would i be looking for?

Question No. 1 can be answered by applying the simple Rule of 72.

72 / 7 , and that will give us 10.28 (nearest to 2 decimal points) years.

It means that if you invest in a fund that generates 7% return per annum, your capital ( any amount) injected would grow double in 10.28 years (note: the number could move either way too,i.e. either grow of decline)

Question No.2 also can be solved using Rule of 72.

72/ 8 years ,and that will give us 9% per annum rate of return.

It means that if you want to see your capital to double (or reduce to halve) in 8 years, you should put all your money in a product that generates 9.00% return per annum.

Avoid This Mistake in Investment

2013-12-15T08:18:00.000+08:00

Let me share with you the greatest mistake average investors make.

In general, average investors will jump onto the bandwagon hoping to sweep off highest return possible from their investment portfolio. In most cases a big quantum of them fail and from that point of failure comes the feeling of displeasure. Subsequently, their investment skill changes to defensive mode and if possible, they will withdraw all their funds at a below average return. Thereafter, if they were asked to invest again, they will stay away from investing.

This bias in investment will then create a negative scenario that will cause a dent in the growth of capital investment environment. Investors of this kind, will picture a thorny issue and their words of mouth will thread through every segment of investment society and eventually will puncture a mutating hole in the health of Malaysian capital market.

Okay, enough of the consequences and now let me tell you how to avoid being in a situation mentioned above.

Identify your risk profile.

Not all funds are for everyone. If you are a conservative type of investor, do not dream for higher returns. Likewise, if you are an aggressive type, you got to accept the high volatility generated in the net asset value of the fund, in pursuit to higher future return.

Mark your investment period.

Irrespective of your risk profile, it is a MUST to identify how long you wish to hold on your investment. Redeem your position when portfolio achieve its objective. Alternatively, you may exercise switching into a low loaded funds to lock in your profit. Real life cases have taught me that prices may go down as well as move up.

Managed Fund

Unit trust funds are basically a managed funds. There will be times where NAV of funds will go south and times where it may head north. It is advisable to make regular top ups during declining market scenario in order to collect greater units. The concept applies here is "BUY LOW and SELL HIGH".Greatest mistake investors make is "BUY LOW and SELL LOW".

Premature redemption of positions are actually resulted from the misaligned risk-reward profile of investors.

So, avoid making premature redemption of funds, avoid ignoring your risk profile and do mark your investment holding period.

Happy investing!

Vijaya Devan

When You Invest, Think Like An Investor and Be An Investor.

2013-12-14T21:46:00.000+08:00

Here, i would like to share a real time experience i had with my Unit Trust clients.

6 years ago, i helped my client to invest RM 100000 to purchase an Unit Trust fund. This fund is categorized as Equity and focused primarily on capital growth. Dividend payout is incidental! The fund's NAV (Net asset value) has an asset exposure in South East Asia markets. Client required an above average return on his investment.

The client has conveyed that his investment holding period is at long term period and he was told that there would be volatility in the NAV along the investment period before achieving above average return. He also been told about the strategy of optimizing return via "Buy Low, Sell High" concept.

Okay, here comes the miserable part!

6 years down the road, his return had reached about 6% to 7% annual return. However, due to the pullout of investors funds from domestic capital market, this fund's NAV dropped and the return was now about 4%.

Client has indicated to me that he needed to withdraw all units due to this sluggish return, but i told him that the drop is only temporarily and he should leave the units untouched. I suggested to him that he should wait for the NAV price to surge back before withdrawing. The volatility is normal but my advice was unheeded.

The client had withdrawn all at a small annual return of 4 %. (The client could have exercised to redeem all while the return was at 6% to 7% earlier, but he decided to wait).

This case is a classical example of avoiding to adhere to the basic optimizing strategy as mentioned above, i.e. Buy Low , Sell High!

I LEARNED ONE IMPORTANT LESSON AND IT IS , WHEN A CLIENT CONFESSED THAT HE UNDERSTOOD ON THE APPLICATION OF VARIOUS UNIT TRUST INVESTMENT STRATEGIES, HE ACTUALLY NOT!!

When you invest, think like one and act like one!

Vijaya Devan

How to calculate your current unit trust return?

2013-05-30T15:46:00.001+08:00

Mr. Smith have invested RM 100000 in unit trust investment scheme 5 years ago. His consultant had purchased several funds with various asset classes for him.

Now, in the year 2013 Mr. Smith would like to know how his funds has performed. Below is the method shown to ascertain the annual percentage of return or otherwise is called as Rate of Return %. The method is quite simple.

Step 1:

Total up all the current value of all funds at present.

Assume the total value of all funds at present is RM 149000.

Step 2:

Use the time value of money method (TMV) formula, FV = PV(1 + I)power of N.

FV = CURRENT VALUE, which is RM 149999.00

PV = PRESENT VALUE, which is RM 100000.00

N = INVESTMETN PERIOD, which is 5 years.

I = INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN, or Annual Rate%

By replacing the figures in the TMV formula as shown above,

149000 = 100000(1 + I )power of 5

I = 8.30%

Now, most investors will measure the return rather differently. I say this way is so rudimental.

Most of us will calculate like this,

(149000/100000 ) x 100 = 49% return in 5 years.

They will divide this by 5, to get 9.80%.

This method is incorrect because the I or rate of return is a compounded interest and not a simple interest rate.

Regards,

Vijaya Devan

Do you know?

2013-04-29T16:09:00.002+08:00

Do you know that,

the total amount that you are going to invest in purchasing unit trust funds are divided into two?

A portion of your money is taken out as sales charge and the remaining are used to purchase units. Example:

If you pay RM 10000 to purchase unit trust funds, sales charge of 5.50% (example only) will be separated and the balance 94.50% of RM 10000 will be invested to purchase units in the fund you are going to buy.

That means, RM 9450 only will be used to purchase the units, and not the RM10000.

Have you submitted your tax forms?

2013-04-29T09:20:00.004+08:00

It's the time and date again that all resident individuals in Malaysia have to submit their tax return forms. For residents with employment (Form BE) the due date is on April 30, 2013. For those who opted for e-filing, the dateline is May 15, 2013.
For those with business source (Form B), the dateline is June 30, 2013.

Failing to submit before due date, the penalty is 10% of the payable tax.

So, do submit on time and make sure you have uttilized all personal relief accorded as per income tax act 1967.

A note of reminder: if you have purchased an I-PAD or a TABLET PC, you are entitled for a RM 3000 relief for basis year 2012, YA 2013. However, these I-PAD and TABLET must NOT have phone features in it, otherwise you are not allowed to claim for the relief.

You can claim RM 6000 for the SSPN scheme, but this is applicable up to year 2017 only.

Thank you and best regards,

My Aspiration - Where is my CPOI?

2013-03-28T13:29:00.001+08:00

Do you know what i aspire?
I aspire to see each and every household to equip themselves with a consolidated portfolio of investment (CPOI).

Why? Because a CPOI will provide a direction to achieve financial goals ultimately!

Besides the Net Worth Statement (NWS) and Cash Flow Statement (CFS), a CPOI is a MUST in every household.

I have penned down method in how to structure a NWS and CFS in my previous blogs. As for creating a CPOI, i am very supportive to guide those who are interested, so please call me or email me to find out for the details!

Thank you.
.

PUBLIC MUTUAL launches 6 PRIVATE RETIREMENT SCHEME (PRS) FUNDS

2012-11-27T14:03:00.001+08:00

Keep yourself updated!

Public Mutual just launched PRS funds. Please read on.

Public Mutual PRS Growth Fund
Public Mutual PRS Moderate Fund
Public Mutual PRS Conservative Fund
Public Mutual PRS Islamic Growth Fund
Public Mutual PRS Islamic Moderate Fund
Public Mutual PRS Islamic Conservative Fund

Kindly note that PRS funds are specially designed to meet your retirement funds.

If you value this information, please forward this message to your relatives and friends.

Thank you and best regards.

Vijaya Devan

Spectrum of Life

2012-11-10T15:37:00.003+08:00

Hello again,

Facebook has created an enormous network link throughout this globe, there is no question about it!
People of various religion, race and belief have converged into forming a social network never seen in past years!
But what is Facebook!?
The article following this sentences leads to a 'light-tone' reading material of which carries no resemblance to the original context of Facebook. Please go to HERE for the article.
As adversity is becoming a common commodity in our sophisticated contemporary life, giggles and laughter has, on the contrary, diminishing further away from us.
So, sit back and enjoy reading!

Spectrum of Life

2012-11-10T15:26:00.003+08:00

Greetings to all you readers out there!

Despite my tight schedule of chores, i managed to find a little space in time to write an article about LIFE!
I would be much obliged if my article is received with feedback. Please do contribute your thoughts and criticism to my EMAIL ID !

And now, please go HERE to read my article!

Best regards,

Vijaya Devan
019-3146621

Financial Stability - An Overview

2012-10-23T21:29:00.000+08:00

The above diagram illustrates the breakdown of our life through the lens of finance/monetary.

If the lens used is of inferior quality, one cannot see the whole picture with clarity. For the purpose of achieving a financial stability comfort zone, it is paramount to use a microscopic lens that captures all the essential features that each responsible and accountable individual ought to practice in order to strike a safe comfort zone of financial stability.

Based on the equation INCOME = EXPENSES, below are some expanded explanation of the diagram above.

The left hand side of the equation, i.e. INCOME.

The active and passive income produced are used to support the expenses as well as other financial commitments. For as long as one is economically productive, aggregate income generation is an important part of our life. Ceasing to generate income (either active or passive) will cause haywire in the financial stability framework. Low living condition, mental torment, high possibility for bankruptcy declaration, health condition deterioration are some repercussion that will hit an individual if income is disrupted. Therefore, in the diagram above the most important element to a financial stability pillar is income generation. There is no point of talking about the framework if there is no existence of ability to produce income.

On the right hand side of the equation you see EXPENSES and this has to be balanced with total aggregate income. To some, EXPENSES are limited to just living cost, and to other some it means beyond that. As the diagram shows, EXPENSES are actually components of:

Living Cost
Contingency Cost
Emergency Fund
Retirement Fund
Risk Mitigation Cost

I have named 5 components of EXPENSES but this is not limited. However, 5 components are sufficient enough, if practiced well, to catapult an individual to a Financial Stability position.

Licensed to consult and retail.

2012-09-23T15:44:00.000+08:00

Hi there people!

I just want to announce that i am now a registered Private Retirement Scheme Consultant. With this acolade, i can now position myself as a professional consultant to provide advisory services to the mass population in relation to retirement plan. Along with this, i am also allowed to market retirement funds across all level of ages.

What's in it for you, you may ask. Well, looking from the perspective of financial freedom, each and every one of you working adults out there ought to start providing personal financial security now in order to leave without debt or without money during your retirement life in future! Hoping for your current EPF funding or pension scheme would take care this needs is mythological, as research has found retirees used up all their savings within 3 years of their retirement life. What alternatives do you have?

Consider starting up an additional retirement scheme to facilitate your retirement plan. Consider this by learning the know-how.

Call me at 019-3146621 or email me at vjdevan@streamyx.com to find out more.

Best regards.

Vijaya Devan
PRS consultant
CFP, IFP

Private Retirement Scheme (PRS)

2012-09-09T21:24:00.000+08:00

Finally, Malaysia is introducing private pension scheme for people who do not have steady savings allocated for retirement income. This scheme is called Private Retirement Scheme (PRS). Among all the segment of people who earns income, the most targeted segment of this scheme is the small business workers. Fishermen, peasants, petty traders and hawkers who do not have any retirement savings plan will benefit from such scheme. Those who are currently contributing to the KWSP too can choose to participate as contributor of this PRS as this is a voluntary based retirement scheme, unlike KWSP which is mandatory.

8 PRS providers have been chosen and collectively 24 new funds will be injected into Malaysian capital market. Basically all the funds are Unit Trust funds. Below are some of the facts about PRS funds.

Divided into 3 category i.e. Growth, Moderate and Conservative risk profile types. The growth category are for contributors below 30 years of age (Minimum age is 18 years). About 20% of funds can be invested in foreign equities. Most funds are aggressive types (about 70%) and the balance remaining (30%) will be invested in fixed or money market that is shariah compliant.

The Moderate category is for contributors from 31 to 49 years of age and about 10% of funds are allowed to be invested in foreign assets. About 50% to 60% of funds are invested in aggressive type while the balance is in fixed or money market shariah compliant funds.

The conservative category is for people who are above 50 years of age and there is no foreign equities exposure in this category. All invested funds are in local equity and money market shariah compliant type.

Contributors can choose their own funds and need not follow the above, however in the absence of asset class selection, PRS providers will follow to choose one among the 3 categories as per your age.

Contributors cannot withdraw money as and when they like, however withdrawal can be done limited to once in a year and this withdrawal is subjected to 8% tax penalty.

Once registered, contributors will be given 2 sub-accounts, namely Account 1(70%) and Account 2(30%).

Amount in account 1 can only withdrawn in full upon reaching statutory retirement age, while in account 2, amount can be withdrawn for any purpose once a year.

Contributors will be charged (different PRS providers have different charges) up to 3% upfront charges, 1.50% management fees and 0.04% administration charges per year.

From taxation perspective, the IRB is providing a maximum tax relief up to RM 3000 a year which translates to RM 780 tax savings (highest tax margin of 26%).

Ignorance or Short Thinking?

2012-09-04T10:37:00.003+08:00

There are 2 types of people moving around us. One, categorized as type of people who lead a designed life and the other falls in the category of people who live by default. Before i go on, allow me to define the meaning of this 2 type of lifes according to my perception.

A designed life means one's future life that is shaped by significant events that will occur as a result of pre-planned exercise. For instance,

If your current home is space-wise constraint and shifting to a larger space home will accommodate your bigger family, you construct a financial plan focused in raising up enough money for that purpose. When the time comes, and when you have the monetary resources at your palm, you make the shift to the new larger home. This shift is made reality due to your planned establishment of the kind of resources you wanted; to meet the kind of objective you had wished for! If that new life of living in a larger home is not obtained by designed , i don't know what is! Let me relate an opposite scenario to prove otherwise. In the absence of this pre-emptive home ownership plan, most of people will look for financial support from parents, relatives, friends and acquaintances, or even tend to seek for part-time additional employment. As a reason of lack or absence of plan, these people usually voluntarily surrenders this tasks to their fate or GOD. Due to this, much of their future life are left for the fate to construct their life's journey towards retirement and believe me, in most cases this method is a flop! Is this not ignorance or short thinking?
A male friend of mine who is 62 years old and retired, once told me that despite receiving his monthly pension of RM 1900.00, he still need to work.His pension money is just enough to cater for the living cost of him and his wife. He regrettably told me, he has no extra fund which can help him to fulfill their dream to travel to foreign countries. A few days later, i saw him again and we chatted for few minutes. I asked," Hi sir, if you were given one lifetime opportunity by GOD, what would you ask from him? He said, nothing! I knew he has interest of going for global tour with his wife. I also knew that he likes to play golf with his friends and dine costly cuisines with his family members. Excuse me, aren't all this require additional cash apart from his tight pension payout he is receiving? When i asked him the question, shouldn't he be answering me that he would save extra money when he could at younger age so that now he can reap the fruit he planted? Looks like my friend is ignoring the fact or simply is not thinking far enough! When my friend was young and economically vibrant, he had left his future life to be dictated by the fate instead of designing for future. Alas, there are too many people out there living the life similar to my 62 year old friend!

The 2 cases above attempts to uncover the essence of planning in your life in order to be financially freed from any kind of monetary 'tsunami'which may alter your future lifestyle. Design your future life now and don't leave it to fate!!

Email me: here

Dividend Declaration 30/08/12

2012-09-02T19:25:00.000+08:00

For those who have missed the Public Mutual Bhd news on its funds dividend declaration lately, please read below:

Public Mutual Bhd had declared gross dividend for 4 of its funds that its financial year ends on August 31,2012. The funds are,

PUBLIC SMALLCAP FUND - 6 sen a unit.
PUBLIC INDONESIA SELECT FUND - 1.50 sen a unit
PUBLIC ISLAMIC TREASURE GROWTH FUND - 1.50 sen a unit
PUBLIC SUKUK FUND - 2.25 sen a unit

Best regards,

Vijaya Devan

019 3146621

ASW Dividend distribution

2012-08-29T17:37:00.004+08:00

Amanah Saham Wawasan had just declared 6.6 sen a unit dividend distribution for all its unit holders.
How can we tell that this dividend income is good, bad or average?
There are 2 methods which we can use in making sound investment judgement and they are:

By comparison with historical data
By converting it into same/common denominator.

Historical Data: We need not have rocket science knowledge to understand what historical data means. It simply means that we look back at the dividend distribution declared in all those years before this year. From here, we find the mean data and then find the variance of each year's data. Finally, we find its standard deviation (SD). If current year's distribution swayed way high off the SD, then we say that the current distribution is GOOD. On the contrary, if the dividend is swayed way lower than the SD, we say the current dividend declaration is BAD!

Please see the table below (for illustration purpose):-
Year 1 dividend is 5.00%
Year 2 dividend is 6.00%
Year 3 dividend is 6.50%
Year 4 dividend is 6.60%
Year 5 dividend is 6.80%
Year 6 dividend is 6.60%

From the table, the mean is calculated to be 6.25% which after further calculation, will give us a SD of 1.4950 or 1.50 to the nearest 2 decimal point. Therefore, if a declaration of distribution falls between 4.75% and 7.75% we can deduce it as an AVERAGE return. Anything lower than 4.75% is considered BAD and above 7.75% is GOOD.

Common Denominator: Personally, i think this method of comparison is easier to use than the historical type mentioned above. All we need to do is to transform the distribution units to a fraction of a 100 units. For instance, if a 6.6 sen a unit is declared as dividend, we convert all the holding units in hand into the same denominator that is to sen.

Example: If in hand you hold 10000 units that are entitled for the 6.60 sen a unit dividend, you need to multiply 6.60 sen with 10000 units, which is equals to RM 660.00. From here we find what is 6.60 sen's fraction out of the whole RM 660 or 660000 sen.

What is the fraction of 660000 sen from your invested capital, assuming you have invested RM1000.

The fraction is 66%. Remember , this is just an example!!

With this 66%, you are now in better position to make comparison with Fixed deposit rate, Property yield, Gold Investment etc etc, because all returns carry the same denominator.

What Is Retirement Income?

2012-08-22T17:28:00.003+08:00

We are all very acquainted with the term 'Employment Income' but what is 'Retirement Income'?

Allow me to refresh your memory by defining the word Employment Income first.

As simple as it could mean , the term is expressed as any sort of income a person derived whether monetary or non-monetary, in exchange of some consideration of work or chores being rendered out while the person is in the age of economically active. If you are not retired from employment, you are said to be economically active, by virtue of good health. However, once your body is physically unhealthy to execute jobs, you are said to be economically inactive or commonly known as retired person.

How does a retired person gets his income during his retirement period? No employer would want to employ an economically inactive person if that same employment can be accomplished by more stronger and capable young person. If retired person has no employment, they have no income and if they have no income how are they supposed to continue lead their life?

Most majority of retirees have their social security money to assist them to lead the kind of life they once envisaged during their economically active life period. The return that this social security fund generated is an income to the retirees. The retirees chart the course of their golden life based on this returns that the social security provide. This return is called Retirement Income!

Some other forms of retirement incomes are legacy money, private investment returns from shares, stocks and properties, and saving deposits.

Now that you know the difference, go and start building your retirement income while you are still economically active!

Some Investment Points

2012-07-28T14:42:00.000+08:00

About 90% of unit trust account holders whose assets are under my management have one thing in common. While they are all from different walks of life, different occupation and education background with different perspective on money management, they all share one common 'leaf' with regards to formulating a financial goal in their life!

The 'leaf' i describe is about formulating financial objectives, whether short term or long term. I strongly believe that being a person with possession of investable money alone doesn't promise a rewarding investment experience. Identifying the investment products and its prevalent risk that clicks to the person's risk-reward temperament, equally shoulders the same gravitational effect with that of having investable money.

In tandem with that, potential investors ought to equip themselves with the thought of identifying their personal or family financial goals. Without this, forget about investment and forget about searching the appropriate products the market can offer.

To summarize the above, i adamantly prescribe all new investors and as well as the existing ones to start identifying your very own financial goals in life and with shortfalls in sight, start your investment and work towards achieving them.

Note: UNIT TRUST INVESTMENT IS ONE OF THE INSTRUMENTS YOU CAN USE TO ACHIEVE YOUR SHORTFALLS GENERATED FROM FUTURE GOALS BUT WITHOUT KNOWING THE TARGETED AMOUNT, THIS SCHEME WILL NOT REACH ITS INTENDED FUNCTION.

Below are three (3) ways an investor can assure their investment is the right choice selected to meet identified financial goal. They are:

Create a portfolio of optimal funds.
Invest regularly to ride out market fluctuation.
Do balancing to stay on course.

5 funds on waiting list for dividend declaration

2012-04-23T14:28:00.000+08:00

On end of this month, there are 5 Public Mutual's Unit trust funds will reach its financial
year end. As in the past, historically all 5 funds had declared distribution
(please observe the table below).

Read more »

Mistakes new Unit Trust investors should avoid.

2012-04-21T18:20:00.004+08:00

Allow me to give some tips to those potential new investors who have decided
to come in to invest in Unit Trust Investment scheme.

Mistakes to avoid are:

1. No specific time horizon!

Congratulation for making the first step to invest! Despite having the resource i.e. the

money, you should also know how long you wish to put your money in this investment.

Example: 5 years?, 8 years? or 10 years?, et cetra. If you plan to invest for just 2 years and

below, i advise you better not! You can better park that money as an emegency fund

elsewhere or use the amount to pay all your credit card balances.

2. No real targeted amount!

When you have decided your investment horizon, the next step is to determine how much

money you would like to collect at the end of your investment period. Eg. RM 50000 or

RM 100000, et cetra, et cetra. Examples of target amount can be such as 'I need

RM 80000 for my child's living and tuition fees expenses' or 'I need to create a retirement

nest of RM 500000 when i retire'. About 99.99% of unit trust investors do not have such

real targeted amount to save. Believe it or not, but it's true!

3. Not knowing your investment risk-profile.

Unit trust investors comes from diverse education, segment of community and social culture.

Each and single human reacts and compute decision differently based on their life experience.

Various funds also do have complexity inherent in it and it is ought to be captured and analysed

carefully. What i am trying to convey here is that some funds behave actively and some so

passively. Prior to putting money in any funds, investors should know what type of funds are

suitable with their own inner-self that life experience had taught them to be what they are now.

In simplicity, investors should know their own investment risk profile. If an investor is an

aggressive type who can accept current short term volatility for the benefit of hoping to reap high

return in the long term, we consultants always avoid choosing income/bond type funds.

The first two (2) items above are enshrined as the OBJECTIVE OF INVESTMENT. You

simply cannot tell your consultants that the reason of your investment is 'I am investing

because i want more money'. The combination of (1) and (2) above will reflect something

like this. 'I want to invest in unit trust because i plan to send my daughter to further studies

and to my knowledge, it will cost RM 80000 in today's money. I plan to have that money in

10 years time.

Can you see the difference? Objectives should clearly indicate how much you want and by when

you need it. Discovering your investment risk profile comes later. If you know all 3 above,

you can now see your consultant/agent to begin the process of investment.

But wait!! Do you know how to determine (1) and (2) and (3) above??

I am sure most of you all know already but to other few who are in the dark, you may ask

around or else send in your request to vjdevan@streamyx.com and i will guide you. No obligation and

no fees are charged for this, at all!

Top 10 Investment Mistakes!

2012-04-19T09:52:00.004+08:00

Hi friends!

While i was searching for the best investment tips on the YouTube video, i

stumbled upon this particular video clip that interest me most. It got my

attention because of the profound tips it shared. I would like to share this

clip with you too. There is something that we can all learn from this video.

View it and enjoy it!

To view the video, please go here !

For assistance please e-mail !

Follow Me

2012-04-18T16:53:00.003+08:00

Dear friends of mine,

As so far i have written a handful of articles and shared all of them publicly.
It is my sincere hope that i will continue to write and share and make as
many friends as possible in here.With that in my mind, i wish to invite all of
you to be my follower by signing in with your google or yahoo account.
Please go to the right side-bar and scroll down. You will see a box that
prompts you to sign-up as my friend. IT'S FREE too!!!

By signing, you will receive automatically, all my posted articles directly into
your email inbox. This will save your time a lot!

So, jump in and be among my friends.

Thank you and best regards.

Sincerely,

Vijaya Devan

vjdevan@streamyx.com