UNIT TRUST

NOTE: This is an e-mail (unedited) I received from a colleague Napi. Nama & hphone dia kat bawah tu, kalau sesapa nak contact dia lah... I find the content very good & relevant utk di kongsi bersama...

Bagi saya.. pelaburan dalam UT adalah satu bentuk pelaburan yg baik, sama ada melalui EPF atau CASH. Cuma sedikit panduan utk mengelakkan rasa keciwa sekiranya berlaku keadaan yg tidak dijangkakan..


1. Asas keuntungan UT, buy low sell high.

Perkara pertama yg kita kena tau.. keuntungan UT diperoleh daripada konsep di atas… Ada masa ia mengambil masa yg lama, mungkin 1 - 3-5 thn baru untung… ada masa ia mengambil masa yg pendek… kurang daripada setahun.. Walaupun 1 portfolio pulangan tahunannya adalah 100%, tp sekiranya kita membeli pada harga yg tinggi, pulangan akan jadi kurang, atau boleh jadi negative.

Beli pada harga murah skrg ni mmg amat baik. Kita akan untung sekiranya jangkaan ekonomi semakin baik pada thn 2009. Tp sekiranya bertambah buruk. usahlaa rasa kecewa dan marah, exp pada UTC - kengkadang kalau terlalu emo, sesetengah pelabur akan kata UTC tu tipu. Biasanya akan jadi kes macam nie kalau UTC tu jenis senyap, no updated news.

Utk elakkan rasa keciwa pada UT dan UTC sekiranya pasaran semakin merundum, antara langkah yg boleh kita buat adalah bahagikan duit pada beberapa bhg, dan buat pelaburan bergantung pada keadaan. Cth, 20% pada Jan 2009, lepas tu tengok keadaan ekonomi, kalau turun, bln akan dtg top up lagi maybe 30%.. dan seterusnya.. Cara macam nie boleh mengurangkan peratus kerugian kalau harga UT semakin turun. Tp kalau semakin naik, ia akan menjadikan peratusan keuntungan pula berkurang.

Switching juga perlu kalau UT kita rugi. Kalau nak buat switching, dapatkan nasihat daripada UTC. Ada masa kena top up dulu, sama ada dlm portfolio baru atau portfolio sedia ada. Timing yg baik perlu semasa buat switching nie… Biasanya dalam keadaan macam nie… sesiapa yg melabur dlm dana equity, akan diminta buat switching ke dana jenis bon.

p/s : tujuan bukan nak memburuk2kan UTC, tp supaya nak menjadikan pelabur lebih bijak, supaya akan datang.. kita boleh ambik action yg sepatutnya sekiranya berlaku keadaan yg tidak dijangkakan..

Sekian utk hari ini… kalau ada komen daripada mana2 pihak.. amatlaaa dialu-alukan. Sebelum tamat, UT adalah pelaburan yg menguntungkan dengan risiko yg kurang… dari muda nie eloklaaa menyimpan…

Note-
UT / portfolio = unit trust
UTC = unit trust consultant
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Md Hanafizah bin Ya'acob
Computer Science Lecturer
Kolej Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur
0162252580

EPF CONTRIBUTIONS - To cut or not to cut ?

In light of the current economic slowdown, our government has come up with various strategies to increase rakyat’s extra disposable income and hoping that they will in turn spend that extra money to boost up our economic activity.

This is done by allowing employees to opt for a reduction of their contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for two years from 1st January 2009 from 11% of salary to 8%.

No doubt that 3% may have good effects from the standpoint of the country, but a negative one on the long-term retirement savings of those affected, which for most of us EPF contributors is already too low.

Some of us would argue that it is just a small amount and therefore would not affect much of their retirement needs, but that is not the right way to look at it. It seems that many have failed to realize its implications in the long run.

From my personal standpoint, there is great need to put aside enough money for our retirement years. What more with the retirement age set so low at 55 and today’s longer life expectancy of at least 20 years beyond.

Every little bit helps. In fact, we should actually be looking at how to increase (rather than decrease) both the employers and employee contributions to the EPF so that our retirement savings becomes bigger.

We should therefore make every effort to resist (or rather reject ?) any change that would make our retirement benefit smaller.

I am also disappointed that the government has decided to use this strategy whereby the employees have to fill up a form to let the EPF know that we’re keeping our contribution at 11%. That means if we don’t do anything, may be due to forgetfulness or just couldn’t find the right time to do so, then EPF will assume that we have agreed to opt for the lower contribution of 8%.

To me, the better way to do this is the other way around. That is, to require those who want to change from the current 11% to 8% to fill up the form instead !

This clearly shows that the strategy used by the government is specially designed to ensure that most people will unwittingly agree to opt for the lower contribution by not doing anything !

In this aspect, I feel the government has neglected its duty to help ensure we have enough savings for our retirement.

No matter how much or how little we earn, it’s very crucial that we save some of it – at least 10% of our salary. For most of us, EPF is an enforced savings. Therefore, it must be left untouched or used only for the most important purpose in our life.

In this particular situation, I personally feel that we must be proactive and take matters into our own hands. So when EPF sends its forms out to our respective employers, make sure we immediately fill it up and state VERY CLEARLY that we want to keep our contribution at 11%.

The difference will mean thousands of ringgit many years down the line, money that will help us live better in our old age. InsyaAllah.