Dividend Magic

Saving and Investing towards Financial Independence in Malaysia

Leigh

Dividend Magic’s Yearly Review

By
Filed Under: FI/RE, Financial Independence, Investment Portfolio 0

The Year 2020

I’ll be using this anchor page to keep track of my overall investment portfolio. Updated yearly so I’ll be able to track and show a yearly gain/loss.

Moving forward, I’ll aim to keep my recording simple and clear cut. So I’ll be able to track my yearly gain more easily. No more IRR, just simple yearly gain, including fresh capital and dividends reinvested.

What a year it has been. My portfolio tanked in March when Covid hit. It even went into the red, a first for me. I missed the glove boat.

Bet on the recovery and my portfolio managed to sail through 2020 with an almost 10% gain y-o-y. As the portfolio increases in value and diversification, long gone are the days of 15-20% capital gains. I’ll be aiming to rebalance and refocus my portfolio next year. Cutting underperforming stocks and adding more winners.

I’ll also be focusing on my US portfolio moving forward. I’ve also made a decision to keep my US portfolio hidden to maintain some form of privacy. Don’t worry you’ll still be able to view it in percentage (%) form.

My Investments

The Freedom Fund

Market value: RM545,778.21
Cash: RM46,350.83
Dividends: RM15,415.64
Dividend yield: 3.33%

The Freedom Fund (US)

Crypto Portfolio

Gross Investment: RM13,808
Market Value: RM34,424
Capital Gain/Loss: +149.30%

StashAway

Dividend Magic – Risk (36% Risk Index)
Gross Investment – RM14,001.00
Current Value – RM15,378.03
Time-weighted return – 8.01%

Dividend Magic US – Risk (30% Risk Index)
Gross Investment – RM10,000.00
Current Value – RM10,603.19
Time-weighted return – 6.03%

StashAway Simple
Gross Investment – RM12,500.00
Current Value – RM12,559.17

TOTAL
Gross Investment – RM36,501.00
Current Value – RM38,540.39
Gain/Loss: +5.6%

My Overall Investment Portfolio

Freedom Fund: RM607,544.68
Crypto: RM34,424.00
StashAway: RM38,540.39
Total: RM679,125.07

Goals for 2021

The Freedom Fund and StashAway performed solidly for me in 2020. Obviously, I’ll want to see my dividends go up in 2021. It dropped a little this year with a few companies in my portfolio electing to withhold dividends.

I hope to see dividends surpass RM20K per annum barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Also, I want to eventually have my total investments (excluding my US portfolio) reach RM750K in 2021 and RM1 million by 2025. Setting the bar a little low there I know but I’ve learnt that the key to happiness is low expectations. And with RM1 million in investments, I should be able to hit my dividend target of RM36,000 per annum.

On the other hand, I will also be pumping money into my US portfolio (which as mentioned above will be tracked only in %).

Now, to the best performing asset for me in 2020 – Bitcoin and Ethereum. Almost at a 150% return for me at the time of writing and it is increasing. I set out to keep crypto to a maximum of 10% of my portfolio. I’ll continue to hold onto them coins for now.

dividendmagic.com.my

I consider every one of you reading as a stakeholder of Dividend Magic. So an update of the website at the end of 2020 would be apt.

As mentioned on my About page, at the rate the blog is growing, we will definitely be hitting a million (and more) views next year. A big thank you to everyone that has been frequenting the blog and interacting with me on social media. I appreciate every follow, like, comment, and share you’ve been so generous with. I love the community we’ve built and the friends I’ve made along the way. We’re a small but tight-knit bunch in Malaysia.

If you haven’t already, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and now YouTube to keep up to date.

To those that have been wondering if I’m making money via ads on the blog, the answer is finally a yes. But it isn’t much, unfortunately.

I’ve opted for the minimum amount of ads as well as the best-optimized placement for readers.

Right now, ad revenue itself is able to cover the running costs of the blog which I’m super grateful for. I don’t see this growing significantly, maybe I’m doing something wrong with the ads. With running expenses covered, Dividend Magic will be here to stay.

End.

Dividend Magic - We can do it!

That is all there is to update. 2020 was scary, thankfully, my investments are doing all right now. As always, it is important to stay invested and to attack when the opportunity presents itself. There will of course be some missed opportunities and lessons to be learned along the way. All my mistakes, all my wins, you’ll be able to see them here on the blog.

I’ll be updating my portfolios on a monthly basis as usual come 2021. Have a happy new year and I’ll see everyone in 2021.

Dividend Income Update 2018

By
Filed Under: Dividends 0

A list of my past dividend income and updates can be found below:

December

The last month produced RM1,111.65 in dividends for me. A 14.78% dip compared to last year’s RM1,304.48. TENAGA paid out its dividends in October this year.

Also, I received AirAsia’s special dividend of RM5,320 just in time for the New Year.

I’ll refrain from adding that into my dividend yield for 2018 as that may skew and mislead you. 

Sunway REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM310.35

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,179.94

Total 2017 Dividends – RM1,204.55

Dividend Yield – 5.95%

A small drop in dividends from Sunway REIT this year. Still a solid 6% yield.

Axis REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM437.30

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,359.45

Total 2017 Dividends – RM1,619.51

Dividend Yield – 3.96%

Bad, bad performance from Axis. The price has slightly rebounded but I’ll continue to monitor their dividend payments for the first half of 2019.

Nestle Malaysia Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM140

Total 2018 Dividends – RM550

Total 2017 Dividends – RM540

Dividend Yield – 4.11%

A slight increase in dividends from Nestle. We should see stronger yields next year as the share price has shot up to RM147 per unit right now.

Scicom (MSC) Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM224

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,008

Total 2017 Dividends – RM756

Dividend Yield – 4.52%

A surprise coming from Scicom this year. Their share price has tanked.

I believe that it is trading at a huge bargain right now.

End.

2018-  RM18,072.25 (4.92%)
2017 – RM15,705.71 (4.69%)

Gross Investment – RM367,168.13
Market Value – RM443,435.79

A good year in terms of dividends. But with the current situation of the market, the Freedom Fund is actually making a slight paper loss this year.

PS. I decided against adding AirAsia’s special dividend into the fray. But just so you know, the yield would have come up to 6.37% if I had.

Here’s to reaching that 5% mark in 2019. 

Happy New Year everyone! Don’t drink and drive.

The Freedom Fund has been updated as of December 2018. The full list of dividend yields from my shareholdings can be viewed there.

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with my dividend income updates.

November

What with the news of the bonus RM0.40 dividend per share announced by AirAsia last night, I am in an upbeat mood as I write this today.

The dividend income for November 2018 came up to RM1,806.62, compared to RM1,438.87 the same month last year. A 25.56% jump in dividends!

And of course, an equal 25% jump in satisfaction on my part.

Contributing partners to the dividend income: Malayan Banking Berhad (better known as Maybank), Aeon Credit Service Berhad and IGB REIT.

Maybank

This Month’s Dividends – RM813

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,853.64

Total 2017 Dividends – RM1,761.72

Dividend Yield – 6.99%

A 7% dividend yield from Malaysia’s largest bank is no easy feat. This amount materializes firstly from my low buy-in price and also from the bank’s financial performance.

The dividend yield has also increased, with the additional shares from Maybank’s dividend reinvestment plan taken into account.

If and when the share price dips to low levels again, I’d suggest investing here. Instead of the constant, tedious chase for 4% promo rates.

Aeon Credit

This Month’s Dividends – RM378.25

Total 2018 Dividends – RM718.25

Total 2017 Dividends – RM359.21 (comparison with RM378.25 as I bought end of 2017)

Dividend Yield – 3.18%

Give Aeon some time, the growth of their loan portfolio is strong for 2018 and I only see them moving forwards. That said, 3.18% ain’t too shabby.

IGB REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM615.37

Total 2018 Dividends – RM2,865.43

Dividend Yield – 7.09%

My all-time favorite REIT right now. (Sunreit is a close second)

I’ve always believed that IGB REIT is a no-brainer and investors new to dividend investing should drop some dough into this counter.

Bought at the right price, you’ll get a nice starting yield of maybe 5%? Hold it for a few more and a 7-8% yield is right around the corner.

A tip: Mall REITs like IGB REIT derive their income mainly from 2 sources – Rentals and parking. IGB has a huge waiting list of tenants and their parking bays are always full.

October

October was a relatively volatile month. And I’ve noticed most of you who started investing recently weren’t able to handle the dip in the market. Emotionally.

Reminder: You’re investing for the LONG term. Don’t let temporary dips or so-called financial crises shake you.

Remember to always do your research and have target prices for your stocks. And based off that TP, decide to buy or sell. I know most of you are just looking for re-assurances. And I’m more than happy to remind and reassure everyone again and again.

So, moving on. The tenth month brought in only RM599.64 in dividend income compared to RM1,454.52 last year. A 58.77% dip. The difference? AirAsia declared October last year but not this year. We did have TNB’s contribution this year though.

Sunway Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM296.94

Total 2018 Dividends – RM551.46

Dividend Yield – 4.84%

I’ve held Sunway’s shares for years now which is why I get good yields like these from them. Total yield is up from 4.59% last year. I always love it when yields increase y-o-y.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM302.70

Total 2018 Dividends – RM516.80

Dividend Yield – 3.66%

TNB has been a new addition to the portfolio. Up from 3.12% last year. Increasing yields? Check.

End.

Dividends from both companies are above the 3% mark and have been increasing every year. Keeping both companies for many years to come.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at October 2018
Dividend Income (October): RM599.64
Dividend Income (2018): RM15,153.98
Dividend Yield: 4.13%

We’ve almost crossed the 4.28% dividend yield mark for last year and we’ve got 2 more months to go. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it’s a solid year for the Freedom Fund.

Onwards and upwards! And remember, don’t panic during recessions. Save and always stay invested.

September

The 3rd quarter of the year comes to a close this time around with a total of RM1,799.63 in dividends for the month of September.

Compared to last year in September of RM1,136.30, we’ve got a 58.38% increase in dividends.

Freedom Fund has been updated to reflect 3Q numbers.

The handful of companies providing me with this rezeki are as follows:

Axis REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM373.35

Total 2018 Dividends – RM922.15

Dividend Yield – 2.69%

Sunway REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM274.18

Total 2018 Dividends – RM869.59

Dividend Yield – 4.38%

Public Bank

This Month’s Dividends – RM192

Total 2018 Dividends – RM396

Dividend Yield – 3.57%

Nestle Malaysia Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM140

Total 2018 Dividends – RM410

Dividend Yield – 3.07%

Homeritz Corporation

This Month’s Dividends – RM244.50

Total 2018 Dividends – RM782.40

Dividend Yield – 5.54%

IGB Berhad (formerly Goldis Bhd)

This Month’s Dividends – RM227

Total 2018 Dividends – RM227

Dividend Yield – 2.15%

Scicom Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM336

Total 2018 Dividends – RM784

Dividend Yield – 4.68%

End.

Solid performance from the businesses for September. The only exception being Axis REIT which has really been underperforming all year round.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at September 2018
Dividend Income (September): RM1,799.63
Dividend Income (2018): RM14,554.34
Dividend Yield: 3.96%

We’re only at the 3rd quarter for 2018 and already recording impressive numbers.

It’s safe to say we will be breaking last year’s record. Not enough to hit the 5% in yields mark. But a 4.5% would be sufficient.

Onwards and upwards! Thank you for reading.

August

The 8th month of 2018 brought me only RM574.55 in dividends compared to RM1,880.64 the same time last year. As mentioned in the previous post, this is due to most companies paying in July instead of June and August.

IGB REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM574.55

Total 2018 Dividends – RM2,250.06

Dividend Yield – 5.57%

These should be all the dividend income from IGB REIT this year.

Total Dividend (2018) – RM2,250.06

Total Dividend (2017) – RM1,785.70

Dividend Yield (2018) – 5.57%

Dividend Yield (2017) – 5.96%

I purchased additional shares in March 2018, giving me a higher total dividend but a lower yield.

I trust in the assets the management has invested in and foresee growth for IGB REIT in the distant future. As with properties, the growth would be a slow one.

End.

As a comparison to last year’s performance:

August (2018): RM574.55

August (2017): RM1,880.64

A 69.45% dip in dividend income. We should see dividend income normalize come September.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at August 2018
Dividend Income (August): RM574.55
Dividend Income (2018): RM12,754.71
Dividend Yield: 3.47%

July and June

This will be a combined Dividend Income Update for the months of June and July.

I decided to combine both because dividends this year have been pretty erratic in terms of ‘when’ they were distributed. You’ll see in a moment.

It’ll still be separated into individual months for easy reading.

June 2018 – RM1,613.94
June 2017 – RM3,750.74

A -56.97% decrease y-o-y.

Worry not, most of the dividends were distributed later in July.

Companies that paid out in June were – Nestle, Axis REIT, Sunway REIT, Cypark and Scicom.

Nestle Malaysia Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM270

Total 2018 Dividends – RM270

Dividend Yield – 2.02%

Nestle shares have been on a high this year. I’m up by a 120% in capital gains from my measly 200 units of Nestle shares.

Dividends from Nestle increased by 4% y-o-y. Received RM260 the same time last year.

Axis REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM362.63

Total 2018 Dividends – RM548.80

Dividend Yield – 2.27%

Axis REIT has been on a disappointing run. Both in share price as well as its dividend payouts.

Sunway REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM298.11

Total 2018 Dividends – RM595.41

Dividend Yield – 3.00%

A marginal increase in dividends this time around for SunREIT. No complaints there as the dividend yield has been increasing every year.

Cypark Resources Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM459.20

Total 2018 Dividends – RM459.20

Dividend Yield – 2.60%

An increase in dividends from Cypark this time around. It’s yield increased from 2.41% in 2017 to 2.60% this year.

Scicom (MSC) Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM224

Total 2018 Dividends – RM448

Dividend Yield – 2.01%

Big increase in dividends from Scicom compared to the same months last year. The share price has taken a beating though.

July 2018 – RM4,176.64
July 2017 – RM552.00

A 656.64% increase y-o-y.

So… That’s a 650% increase in dividends for July. However, combining both June and July, we will have a 34.58% increase in dividends. I’ll show you the numbers at the end of this post.

Companies that paid out in July were – Maybank, Scientex, AirAsia, AEON Credit and CBIP.

Malayan Banking Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM1,064.64

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,040.64

Dividend Yield – 3.92%

Huge, huge dividend payout from Maybank. A marginal increase from last year.

The final dividend should be paid out some time in October. We are set to see Maybank’s dividend yield go past the 7% mark this year.

Scientex Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM920

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,840

Dividend Yield – 5.19%

This should be all the dividends from Scientex this year. The increase in dividends compared to 2017? 40%.

Nuf’ said.

AirAsia Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM1,596

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,596

Dividend Yield – 3.85%

AirAsia more than doubled its dividends this year. I received RM780 this time last year.

Although a growth company, AirAsia’s dividends are one of the best in my portfolio.

Aeon Credit Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM340

Total 2018 Dividends – RM340

Dividend Yield – 1.51%

CBIP Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM280

Total 2018 Dividends – RM700

Dividend Yield – 3.14%

End.

As a comparison to last year’s performance for both June and July:

June & July (2017): RM4,302.74

June & July (2018): RM5,790.58

That’s a big 34.58% increase.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at July 2018
Dividend Income (June & July): RM5,790.58
Dividend Income (2018): RM12,180.16
Dividend Yield: 3.31%

The Freedom Fund’s dividend yield has already surpassed the 3% mark. And it is only July. Again, for the people that continuously ask me ‘Why not FD?’ I hope this answers your question. Again.

To recap, last year’s dividends were almost RM16K.

I know I’m aiming high right now, but we are in line to achieve RM18K in dividends this year. In fact, RM20K is entirely possible.

As always, thank you for reading! I’ll be updating the Freedom Fund page within the week or so. 

May

May 2018 – RM667.52
May 2017 – RM393.79

A 69.51% increase y-o-y. The increase is thanks to IGB REIT declaring its dividends in May.

Last year’s sole contribution came from Axis REIT, whose dividends came in June this year.

IGB REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM667.52

Total 2018 Dividends – RM1,675.51

Dividend Yield – 4.15%

IGB REIT is one of my portfolio’s largest contributor of dividends, consistently providing me with yields of 5% and above.

This year, we ought to see it break the 6% dividend yield threshold.

As I’ve often said, REITs are necessary defensive stocks to have in your portfolio. They act as an anchor during bad market conditions that still provide you with high yields.

End.

April and May has traditionally been slow months for the Freedom Fund. We should hopefully see June give us bigger returns this month in June. Really looking forward to it.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at May 2018
Dividend Income (May): RM667.52
Dividend Income (2018): RM6,389.58
Dividend Yield: 1.70%

As always, thank you for reading! Those of you who are heading to AirAsia’s AGM on 20 June, drop me a PM. 

April

April 2018 – RM483.02
April 2017 – RM277.20

A 74.25% increase y-o-y. The increase comes mainly from the addition of Tenaga Nasional Berhad in July last year.

And yes, congratulations to Pakatan Harapan on the GE14 win.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad

Dividend Income April 2018

This Month’s Dividends – RM214.10

Total 2018 Dividends – RM214.10

Dividend Yield – 1.52%

TNB has been performing really well since I’ve added it to the Freedom Fund last year. The risks moving forward will be the review of government contracts TNB has signed while under BN’s rule.

Sunway Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM254.52

Total 2018 Dividends – RM254.52

Dividend Yield – 2.23%

Sunway Construction Berhad

Dividend Income April 2018

This Month’s Dividends – RM14.40

Total 2018 Dividends – RM14.40

Dividend Yield – 2.50%

Recent Buys

I’ve made a purchase 3,000 units of AirAsia shares at RM3.52 each. My average price is RM3.1189 currently.

End.

I apologize for the late dividend income update this time around. May’s post will be up soon.

April and May has traditionally been slow months for the Freedom Fund.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at April 2018
Dividend Income (April): RM483.02
Dividend Income (2018): RM5,722.06
Dividend Yield: 1.60%

Still waiting on AirAsia’s AGM notice. Anyone know anything about it? Will be interesting to see Tony after his recent debacle.

As always, thank you for reading!

March

March 2018 – RM2,166.98
March 2017 – RM455.37

That big jump in dividends is no April Fool’s joke. As mentioned in the previous post, Public Bank’s dividends came in March this year at RM204 instead of February.

However, the main reason for the increase in dividends is the one-off payment from my Goldis Preference Shares from the takeover offer a couple of months back. I received RM1,441.68.

So, did my dividend income actually increase?

YES! Even without taking into account Public Bank’s and the one-off payment from Goldis, my dividends increased by 14.48% y-o-y. Both SunREIT and Scicom paid out higher dividend amounts.

Sunway REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM297.30

Total 2018 Dividends – RM297.30

Dividend Yield – 1.50%

Scicom Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM224

Total 2018 Dividends – RM224

Dividend Yield – 1.34%

Public Bank Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM204

Total 2018 Dividends – RM204

Dividend Yield – 1.84%

Goldis Berhad / IGB Corp

As mentioned earlier, this is a one-off payment from Goldis’ takeover of IGB Corp. I opted to receive Goldis preference shares instead of a full cash payout. You can read more about it hERE.

Recent Buys

I’ve made a purchase of 7,000 units of IGB REIT shares for RM1.49 each last month in light of the cheap prices of REITs.

End.

I’m happy with March’s dividend income. As the 1st Quarter of 2018 comes to a close, I’ve updated the Freedom Fund to reflect my gains accordingly.

How has everyone’s 1st quarter been?

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at March 2018
Dividend Income (March): RM2,166.98
Dividend Income (2018): RM5,239.04
Dividend Yield: 1.51%

On a side note, I’ve received notices from Maybank and Public Bank on their upcoming AGMs. Anyone attending? Drop me a comment here or on Facebook and maybe we can arrange a small gathering.

As always, thank you for reading!

February

February 2018 – RM1,732.06
February 2017 – RM2,081.80

That’s a 16.8% decrease in dividends for me y-o-y.  This is mainly due to Public Bank declaring its second interim dividend late this year. I’ll be receiving it in March or April.

The RM1,732.06 this February came from IGB REIT, Axis REIT, and Homeritz.

IGB REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM1,007.99

Total 2017 Dividends – RM1,007.99

Dividend Yield – 3.36%

IGB REIT’s dividends increased from RM733.50 to RM1,007.99 y-o-y.

We should see IGB REIT’s dividend yield pass the 6% yield this year.

Axis REIT

This Month’s Dividends – RM186.17

Total 2017 Dividends – RM186.17

Dividend Yield – 0.54%

Axis REIT’s dividends decreased from RM271.20 to RM186.17 y-o-y.

I’ve had many many queries from concerned readers regarding Axis REIT’s performance.

Axis had been aggressively acquiring new properties lately, as many as 2 in 2017 alone. Coupled with new unit placements in November, this has seen a drop in share price for the REIT.

As a shareholder, I’m of course always happy to see the management acquire solid new properties. However, with new share placements, I expected a share price drop but not a drop in my dividends. Food for thought.

Also, Axis’ AGM is coming up in April. Anyone attending?

Homeritz Bhd

This Month’s Dividends – RM537.90

Total 2017 Dividends – RM537.90

Dividend Yield – 3.81%

Homeritz’s dividends decreased from RM733.50 to RM537.90 y-o-y.

Homeritz was buoyed by the decrease in value of the Ringgit last year and translated to huge gains for its exports.

Still, a 3.81% yield from its first dividends this year is good.

End.

February in 2018 has been disappointing compared to last year’s. Mainly due to underperformance by Axis REIT’s dividend distribution.

March should see some improvement. How has everyone’s February been?

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at February 2018
Dividend Income (February): RM1,732.06
Dividend Income (2018): RM3,072.06
Dividend Yield: 1.07%

I’d like to apologize for not replying some of your comments and messages on time as I’ve been away on holiday up till today – the 21st of March. Will be replying everyone real soon!! 

As always, thank you for reading!

January

Dividends, dividends, dividends!

January 2018 – RM1,340
January 2017 – RM1,180

An increase of 13.56%.

Same companies – Scientex Berhad and CBIP Berhad.  The increase was contributed by Scientex alone, giving out RM920 compared to the RM760 last year. CBIP’s dividends remained constant at RM420.

Scientex Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM920

Total 2017 Dividends – RM760

Dividend Yield – 3.14%

CBIP Berhad

This Month’s Dividends – RM420

Total 2017 Dividends – RM420

Dividend Yield – 1.88%

End.

Pretty straightforward stuff for the first month of 2018. Same two companies, one increasing its dividends while the other’s remained the same.

Scientex is expected to continue to contribute heavily to my portfolio’s dividend income this year.

Last year, with RM1,312 in dividends, Scientex’s dividends made up almost 10% of the Freedom Fund’s total dividend income. The 21% increase in dividends by Scientex came as a surprise as I only expected a small hike in dividends this time around.

To summarize,

Freedom Fund as at January 2018
Dividend Income (January): RM1,340
Dividend Income (2018): RM1,340
Dividend Yield: 0.4%

Last but not least, a Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! Onwards and upwards!

Best Premier/Priority Banking in Malaysia

By
Filed Under: Fixed Deposits, Savings Accounts etc, Other Investments 0

Premier Banking vs Priority Banking

The article is a work in progress and I’ll be updating it as and when new information becomes available. Thank you everyone that messaged and emailed me with your experiences.

First, let me clarify that premier banking and priority banking aren’t the same. They are miles apart. You need to have RM250K and above to be eligible for premier banking. For priority banking, it is at least RM3 million.

In this article, we will be talking about premier banking primarily because I am only eligible for that and have experience with it. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we can talk about priority banking. I’ve also spoken to some of my friends as well as readers to collate their experiences here for you to make a decision.

If you’re thinking of upgrading from being a mere standard customer to joining the higher ranks in premier banking, let me start by telling you that premier banking isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Premier Banking in Malaysia Ranked – The Good and the Bad

The reason I’m writing this article is because I myself am looking to switch away from my current bank – Maybank to one that offers better services. And since I’ll be doing my research on premier banking in Malaysia anyway, I might as well jot everything down here and share this with everyone.

The list below is based on my 1-year long experience with Maybank’s Premier Banking as well as the experiences of my friends and colleagues with other banks as well. The general good and bad are listed here and we will go into each bank’s good and bad later in the article.

1. No long queues

Let’s start off with the good first. In the day to day running of my businesses, I require weekly (sometimes daily) cash deposits over the counter or through ATMs.

I get to skip ahead of the queue to conduct my usual banking. Oh, and you also get to park in a designated spot for premier banking customers. But this isn’t great because, at my branch, the parking is always occupied.

2. Better and faster service

With a premier banking card, and at branches where they have premier banking, I’m allowed to head to a specially designated floor to do my banking, deposits, and whatnot there. At some branches, you get coffee and canned drinks while you wait. You get WiFi if you’re lucky.

I’ve also seen some branches where they provide newspaper, a tv that reports on financial news. Some even have PCs for you to do your online banking or stock trading if you choose to.

3. Better mortgage and loan rates

You’re able to procure slightly better rates when applying for mortgages and hire purchases. As a premier banking customer, you’ll also be afforded a less stringent loan approval process.

4. A personal relationship manager

I’ve been a premier banking customer with Maybank for about a year now. As a premier banking customer, you’re assigned a personal banker, also known as a relationship manager (RM) that acts as a liaison and caters to your banking needs. Instead of having to head over to the branch directly, you’re able to make certain transactions over the phone.

Your experience as a premier banking customer is highly dependent on the RM that’s assigned to you. Unfortunately for me, I’ve been assigned one that is very pushy and sales oriented and sees fit to constantly bombard me with product offers every other week. And being the nice person that I am, I have to come up with excuses to politely reject his proposals.

The products offered to me have always been unit trusts, packaged products that consist of unit trusts and more unit trusts.

5. Idle Cash

Now this is the worst part for me. All banks in Malaysia will require you to either have cash/investments or loans with them to be eligible for premier-ship.

Personally, I place my cash in fixed deposits and treat this as my emergency fund. I practice FD Laddering. Yes, you often are able to get slightly better FD rates but still, I don’t like the idea of RM200K or more sitting in the bank generating measly returns.

Maybank Premier Banking Review

  1. Service: Good (Sitting area)
  2. Parking: Designated spot, no sticker was provided to me, had to show my debit card to prove I’m a customer.
  3. Requirement: RM200K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: Didn’t opt for it.
  5. RM: Pushy
  6. Products and services :
    1. CASA
    2. FD (Mediocre rates)

I’m fortunate enough to be able to be eligible for premier banking. I park the minimum amount in fixed deposits as emergency funds and invest the rest.

The best thing about Maybank’s premier banking for me is actually being able to conduct my banking transactions quickly. What usually takes me 30 mins to an hour can be done in probably 10-15 mins.

Perhaps I got a pretty pushy RM and also it is because I’m well versed in finance and investing that the products offered were of very little interest to me. The only time I put money with my RM is when he offered the bundled ASM product to me where I managed to get some of the coveted fixed priced units. I write about it hERE.

All in all, premier ain’t nothing much to shout about so the next time you see someone walking up the stairs or to the premier banking section, you know that it really isn’t that big of a deal.

Alliance Privilege Banking Review

  1. Service: Good
  2. Parking: Designated spot, able to park no questions asked.
  3. Requirement: RM300K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: Lifetime fee waiver
  5. Products and services:
    1. CASA (2.25% for deposits more than 350k)
    2. FD Slightly higher compared to standard board rates.
    3. Dual Currency Investment
    4. Foreign currency retail bonds

This one was provided by one of Alliance’s own RM.

AmBank Signature Priority Banking Review

  1. Service: Posh waiting area.
  2. Parking: Designated spot, able to park with car sticker, no questions asked. Usable in all AmBank branches.
  3. Requirement: RM200K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: No particularly attractive benefits
  5. RM: Standard
  6. Products and services :
    1. CASA
    2. FD (Slightly higher rates)

Special products: Yet to be discovered.

This one was provided by Mr. T, a fellow reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

OCBC Premier Banking Review

  1. Service: Excellent
  2. Parking: Designated spot
  3. Requirement: RM300K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: Platinum credit cards
  5. RM: Pushy, salesman
  6. Products and services :
    1. CASA
    2. FD (Mediocre rates)
    3. Bundled UT with FD (FD slightly higher rates but high UT fees)
    4. 24hr loan approval status!

This one was provided by my good friend and fellow financial blogger Siva at sivasathish.com.

HSBC Premier Review

  1. Service: Good (Free WIFI, sitting area, financial channel, coffee, tea. Self-service coke, sprite, packet drink.)
  2. Parking: Designated spot, able to park with car sticker, no questions asked. Usable in all HSBC branches, 2-hour limit.
  3. Requirement: RM200K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: HSBC Premier Master Card (Free access to airport lounge)
  5. RM: Professional
  6. Products and services :
    1. CASA
    2. FD (mediocre rates)
    3. Dual Currency Investment
    4. Unit Trust (Birthday month 1% sales charges)
  • Special products: When you are an HSBC Premier customer, you are automatically a premier customer overseas as well. USA, UK, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, China without having to meet their overseas’ minimum requirements. When you transfer your funds between countries, it is a real-time transaction and does not include service charges. You can get a credit card in that country as well.
  • Oversea banking benefit: If you get an HSBC HK bank account. You can trade shares in the HK market (high fees). However, you can apply for HK IPO using margin. E.g. Ant Financial. You can apply for a 90% margin and pay only a 10% investment fund. This will increase your chances to get the IPO share as HK IPO is base on the size of the application to allocate the IPO. For E.g. If the allocation rate is 10% and 1 lot is 100 shares. If you apply for 100 shares, your chance is 10% to get 100 shares. If you apply for 1000 shares, your chances are 100% to get 100 shares. However, to use margin to apply, your address must be HK address.
  • You can get a credit card in other areas like HK. You get the credit line of HKD 200K. The bank requires no collateral.

This one was also provided by Mr. T, a fellow reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

Standard Chartered Priority Review

  1. Service: Good (Free WIFI, sitting area, financial channel, coffee, tea, hot chocolate
  2. Parking: Designated spot, able to park with car sticker, no questions asked. Usable in all SC branches, 2-hour limit.
  3. Requirement: RM250K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: Standard Chartered PB Priority VISA Infinite (Free access to airport lounges. Free airport taxi. Hotel dining 50% cashback until 30 Dec 2020. Must maintain AUM of RM250K)
  5. RM: Professional
  6. Products and services
    1. CASA (Privilege account gives the best current account interest rate – 2.6% T&Cs Apply.)
    2. FD (Mediocre rates)
    3. Dual Currency Investment
    4. Discount on safe deposit boxes
  • Special products: When you are an SC Priority customer, you are automatically an SC Priority customer in other countries such as the UK, HK, and Singapore without having to meet their minimum requirements. When you transfer your funds between countries, it is a real-time transaction and with no service charges. You can get a credit card in that country as well.
  • Oversea banking benefit: Same as HSBC HK for IPO. Need to go over to HK to open an account. For SC Singapore, no need to go to Singapore to open an account. Can trade world stock (USA, Germany, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia). For priority banking customers, 0.2% with no minimum. No custodian charges and no charges to receive dividends.

This one was also provided by Mr. T, a fellow reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

UOB Privilege Banking Review

  1. Service: Never been to the branch.
  2. Parking: Designated spot, able to park with car sticker, no questions asked. Usable in all UOB branches. Limousine service available to pick up from home to the branch and from the branch to any other place in KL. (Contact RM to apply.)
  3. Requirement: RM500K AUM
  4. Special Credit Card: No particularly attractive benefits
  5. RM: Professional
  6. Products and services :
    1. CASA (InvestPro account which gives 1.7% interest p.a. for deposits over RM50K)
    2. FD (Slightly higher rates)
    3. Dual Currency Investment

Special products: Yet to be discovered

This one was also provided by Mr. T, a fellow reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

The Best Premier Banking Service in Malaysia

These are all personal experiences, from different customers, at different branches, with different RMs. Your own experience will very likely be different.

So I won’t do you the injustice of naming the best in Malaysia. BUT, based on everyone’s experiences, I’ll want to go for UOB if I had RM500K. Right now though, I’ll probably give HSBC a try. Will be updating this page with my experiences with them in the near future.

Final Thoughts.

As a final conclusion, premier banking is a nice thing to have. But treat it as a bonus and an extra. Don’t go pooling all your money into your saving accounts and FDs just to meet the required AUM to be eligible. Build up your assets first, and if your emergency funds come up to RM200K and above, opt for premier banking. At the end of the day, you’re parking a huge amount of money with them, earning very little returns when you can for example invest in stocks or bitcoin. Opportunity costs.

Another thing to note is that the banks themselves won’t always offer you premier banking even if you reach their requirements. So take the initiative and ask your bank for it if you’re eligible.

These are all the banks I’m able to write about from first-hand experience as well as from my friend’s and readers’ experiences. I’ll be looking to finish the list and have all the banks in Malaysia listed. Do drop me a comment or email if you’ve got experiences you’d like to share.

Oh, and if you’re thinking of signing up for premier banking, look out for referral and reward programs with said bank. If they have one, drop me an email or comment and I can hook you up with readers who are already clients and you can both enjoy the rewards.

Lastly, a big thank you to everyone who messaged me and shared your experiences. If you have experience with other banks not mentioned here, do drop me an email!

The 1,000 Bucks Challenge

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Filed Under: Dividend Magic Show, Investment 0

Suyin’s 1,000 bucks challenge has genuinely got me excited to invest again. It feels really good to start a whole new portfolio from scratch.

To catch you up on our challenge:

Terms of the Challenge

  1. The first goal – RM10,000
    We are in fact not just going for RM1,000 but 10 x RM1,000 for a grand total of RM10K each. Suyin’s challenge was to raise this money, not from our day/main income but instead, to think of other ways.
  2. The second goal – giving back
    We plan to invest this RM10K each into separate stock portfolios. The giving back part will come from the dividends of the said portfolio. A portion will be reinvested and a portion will be donated. I know that it won’t be much at first but we both agreed that in the long run, this wins hands down.

Raising the Money

So Suyin has actually thought of her way – selling off her second-hand clothes for the first RM1,000. She’s doing it via her Instagram stories and she’s doing really well.

I myself don’t have that any clothes that are in the condition to let go off.

So…

Suyin X DM T-SHIRTS!

We’ve both actually decided to collaborate and come up with some T-shirts!! It has actually always been a plan (and a sort of dream) of mine to have shirts that speak ”investing” and this is going to be it! Instead of coming up with merchandise to sell for profit, we will instead be putting all the profits into the 10k charity portfolio.

As we will both be putting up our own money to get the T-shirts printed, packaged, and shipped, we’d like to first estimate and gauge interest as well as the sizes for this. We will be ordering the first batch soon and the next batch will probably take some time. So please do register your interest.

We’ve tried on the sizes and I fit into an M, Suyin fits into an XS.
We’ve also decided to go for better, more premium shirts. So be assured that you’ll be getting what you pay for – RM50 per tee.

Think of this as you donating a little and we consider all of you stakeholders in the 10k charity portfolio. Although we have yet to decide on the charity to donate to, we are looking for ideas and will of course do our due diligence before deciding.

Below is a form for the T-shirts. Please do support us and let us know if you’re interested in them. All proceeds will be going to the Giving Back Portfolio. And lastly, thank you everyone, and do join us for the next 20 years!

End.

I’ll be updating this page as we proceed.

Meanwhile, as we accumulate the RM10K, we will be placing the money in a short term interest generating account. Most likely going to use StashAway Simple for this.

I am sincerely hoping for this to work out and be able to do this for a very long time. Thank you again for coming on this journey with us.

Common Stock Investing Mistakes (#002)

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Filed Under: Dividend Magic Show 0

This is an article I’ve been wanting to write for a long time. As more new investors are starting to take interest in stocks this year, I see this as timely. This will be a sort of companion article to Episode 2 of The Dividend Magic Show.

A list of all the videos and episodes of the Dividend Magic Show can be found hERE.

I’ve been investing for a few years and made a few mistakes along the way. Thankfully, although painful, these were mistakes that I was able to recover and learn from.

Which brings us to the main objective of this piece – I sincerely hope all of you reading will be able to avoid all (or some) of these pitfalls

Mistake 1: Timing the Market

To make this easier to relate to, I’ll be basing these mistakes off my good friend Alan.

Let’s start off with Alan first venturing into stock investing. He has had his eyes on a stock for the longest time. With cash on hand and ready to buy. He feels that the price right now is a tad high and wants to wait it out.

So he continues checking in with the stock every day, but to his dismay, the stock just keeps going higher. And at the end of the day, Alan is still holding on to his money and he has yet to make an investment.

So this right here is when one metaphorically misses the boat. It is one of the consequences of trying to time the market and hoping to buy at a stock’s lowest point or sell at its highest.

You’ll more than likely not be able to time it right, instead an investor should have his/her own target price after their own research is done. And based on this price, an investor will be able to decide if it is the time to buy or sell a stock.

Another strategy to manage this type of situation is allocation. Let’s say a particular stock is within my target price. And I have allocated RM5,000 for this stock. I will first put in and purchase 30-50%. And then if the stock price drops further, I will purchase the remaining amount to average down. But if the price goes higher, I will be content with the profit I’ve already earned.

Mistake 2: Chasing High

Back to Alan. So now that Alan sees the prices going up, he experiences a fear of missing out (FOMO). Thinking ”What could go wrong? Prices are going up, I don’t want to miss this boat”, he buys into the stock hoping for prices to go up even further.

What usually happens at this point is that in the next few days, prices will retrace and Alan is caught at a high.

And here comes the next mistake which is what we term “chasing high”. I do notice that a lot of investors like to buy in when the stock is hot and trading up. Reasons for hot stocks can be many, but most commonly, we see Malaysian investors buying on news and rumors.

Most of the time when the price goes up, it attracts investors’ attention and hence a lot of people will buy, hoping that the price will continue to increase. However, it is very common that they will find themselves trapped at these prices when the stock price retraces.

We need to understand that if the stock goes up at a rapid pace, there is bound to be some price retrace, or the price will stabilize within a trading range.

Mistake 3: No Due Diligence 

Now Alan who was afraid of missing the boat and bought at a high price, faces a retrace. He is probably looking at a paper loss of 5-10%. In Alan’s mind, he will want to buy more units of the same stock to average down. 

And as the stock price keeps going down, naturally Alan will start to panic. He scrambles around to look for the company’s annual and quarterly reports. He starts calling up friends and acquaintances looking for advice as they initially recommended this stock to him.

Multiple real-life occurrences here. First, this one is very real where a person is investing based on someone else’s recommendations. On top of that, Alan appears to have zero understanding of the stock he is investing in in the first place. I’ve always emphasized and urged readers to always, always do their own due diligence. No matter how convincing a person is when recommending a stock to invest in, you should always do your own homework first. 

Say, for example, one is looking to make a big purchase. A house or a car. Naturally, you’d make sure to shop around, do your research, check every detail before making said purchase. So why should our stock purchases be any different? So, always, always do your own due diligence.

Mistake 4: Benchmarking on Past Performance 

So back to Alan again. A few weeks have gone by, he has now accumulated a bigger, let’s say 20% loss as the stock continues its retrace. Alan has finally taken the time and had a good look at the company’s reports. The company has been doing great for the last few years, paying consistent dividends. So Alan thinks to himself, if they can do it then, they could do it now right?

So right here, Alan is potentially stepping onto a minefield. As the saying goes, past performance does not always indicate future growth. While a company’s past and history can provide us a certain benchmark and understanding of the company, we should also incorporate critical thinking into our analysis.

First, we should always make sure that the company is still functioning and doing business as it always has been. We then need to make sure that there is still room for the business to grow and that they have not peaked and plateaued. Competition is also a huge factor unless there are high barriers to entry. So these are the few things to look at, we will go deeper into this in our coming videos as we talk about individual stocks.

This is also true for dividend investing. Past dividend yields will never guarantee you future yields. You might be looking at a company that’s paying very high yields based on its past payouts. But in fact, the price has actually gone down, pushing up the yield %. Many are attracted by the yields when prices drop. But the said companies are actually unable to payout the same dividends as last year. So make sure that you as an investor do not only look at a company’s past.

Mistake 5: Emotional trading

Now that Alan’s holding is constantly bleeding, we can imagine him being both sad and possibly angry and confused at the same time. His next step is to then recklessly average down, hoping to push his average buying price down so the moment the stock rebounds, he can sell it off for a profit. As days go by, the stock hardly moves and stays stagnant. Until one day Alan realizes that he is in fact looking at a huge potential loss.

Now, we say potential loss because Alan hasn’t actually closed off his position. I see this as a loss already because of opportunity cost. This money and capital could’ve been invested elsewhere, earning returns. So the loss is actually two-fold. The loss itself, and the opportunity cost of not investing that money into something else.

So, never ever involve emotions when it comes to investing. Stick to your research and trust the numbers. If a company’s stock prices continue to plummet, you either realize that a mistake has been made, and cut your losses or, if the company’s fundamentals are still intact, hold it out. Or, continue adding to your position. 

The Solutions

The reason why we are sharing this is that in the past few months, the stock market (especially KLSE) has seen a lot of speculative trading. An influx of new investors who buy base on recommendations, news and rumours. Some of you may have been lucky and made a profit. Some of you may have not been so lucky and are in the red. If you’re looking to invest in the long term, please do consider the mistakes above and try to avoid them.

Remember to always:

  • Make sure to do your due diligence, understand the business thoroughly before you invest.
  • If you are unsure of the price trend, you can always allocate 30-50% of your funds first. 
  • Always have a plan in mind. If you are holding a stock for the short to mid-term, remember to set a target price for yourself to sell the stock. If it hits the target price, stay disciplined, and sell it off. Never try to time the market and hope to buy at the lowest, sell at the highest.
  • Don’t let your emotions affect you. This usually happens if someone has a huge % of their portfolio in one single stock. So when the price goes down, it will lead to bad decisions or worse it will affect your daily life. Always remember to diversify. 

End.

This article is written as an accompanying piece to Episode 2 of The Dividend Magic Show.

I’m sure there are lots of other mistakes not mentioned here, leave a comment on some on the worst mistakes financially you’ve done while investing in stocks.

ETFs vs Unit Trusts / Mutual Funds in Malaysia

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Filed Under: Investment, Other Investments 4

This is an an article for Malaysians who are looking for:

  1. A better alternative to Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds
  2. Exposure to equities
  3. An easy way to invest without having to do too much research
  4. Long term, low fee investing

If you do not have the know-how and/or time to do the research and valuations on individual stocks and equities. Fret not, there are a few options out there for us Malaysians. Some better than others.

The Choices

1. Trade Yourself

First off, I’ll have to have this option here. This is what I do, I invest and trade stocks myself. I pay no annual fees or management fees. I only pay brokerage which comes to about RM8 or 0.1% whichever is higher.

This option is available to everyone. If you have the time to do some research and think logically, anyone can do it. To start investing in stocks, you can head hERE for a guide.

2. ETFs

Exchange-Traded Funds would be my choice and recommendation if you don’t want to trade and invest in stocks on your own. Depending on the ETFs you invest in, you can be exposed to all sorts of asset classes in different sectors and regions. There are tons of ETFs around the world, so take your pick.

Specifically, I’d recommend passive index funds if you’re looking to invest long term. Most noteworthy ones can be found in the US ie. the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund. You can learn how to invest in US stocks hERE.

Unbeknownst to many, we have a few ETFs here in Malaysia. The closest we can get to an S&P 500 fund is the MyETF Dow Jones US, which provides you the exposure to the US equity market. Somewhat similar to the S&P 500 ETF that mainly indicates the performance of the US market, there is FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ETF (FBMKLCI-EA). Where the S&P 500 fund tracks 500 shares, ours tracks only the top 30 largest companies in Malaysia.

3. Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds

Last but not least, mutual funds & unit trusts. I don’t like unit trusts because of one huge factor – FEES.

If you take the time to dig in and do some research, you’ll find that most of them don’t even beat the market/index’s returns over the long term. So why pay more fees?

Malaysians are still stuck in the unit trust era with the older generation and I think younger more financially literate investors are starting to realize that there are other options out there.

I’ll have some facts and figures below to demonstrate.

The Actual and Long-term Cost of Fees

Unit Trusts vs ETFs

Mutual Fund Fees

Firstly, I’ll be using unit trusts and mutual funds interchangeably. For the purpose of this article, they are one and the same.

Secondly, we’ll be mainly comparing ETFs vs Unit Trusts here. I do this because I want to draw more attention to our local ETFs in Malaysia which are the closest and better options compared to unit trusts. I want to get Malaysians off high fees and unit trusts.

For those that don’t know what unit trusts / mutual funds are, let me explain it simply. Mutual funds are managed by a fund manager(s) who claim to be able to procure superior returns for investors. You put your money in a mutual fund and they invest it for you, for a fee. That’s it.

The only and most logical question an intelligent investor would ask is:

  1. Can they beat the market’s rate of return?

The short answer? No.

Unit trust holders would argue that there are funds out there that beat the market. Yes, there are but there aren’t many. The fact is that the global majority of actively managed funds just don’t beat the market. And the small number that does, they may be taking higher risks. Sometimes, it’s even down to pure luck.

The next factor would be the fund managers themselves. Funds are only as good as the fund managers that run them. Which is a problem itself because fund managers come and go. A good fund manager does not stay long at a particular fund. This means – a fund does not stay good for long.

The KLSE isn’t a very efficient market when compared to other countries which is why UT funds are still able to outperform our benchmark. This is the only reason they’re still in business. Because some still generate decent returns. However, if you think about it, when there are so many other cheaper alternatives out there that can do the same thing and beat the local KLCI index, is it necessary for you to pay the high fees for a fund manager to do the same thing?

Which is why we find ourselves comparing ETFs to UT funds.

Fees

I’ve written a previous article on the impact of fees which is a tad bit outdated. I realise that front-load charges (or sales charge) have gone down since that article.

To compare the cost of Unit Trusts vs ETFs, we assume the following:

  1. An initial investment of RM100K with no further reinvestment.
  2. A 30 year long term investment period.
  3. 10% return per annum.
  4. A conservative industrial average total expense ratio (TER) to be used. 2% for UTs and 1% for ETFs. Calculated below.
 Unit Trust FundExchange Traded Fund
Sales charge2.50%0.00%
Brokerage fee0.00%0.30%
Clearing fee0.00%0.03%
Initial cost 2.50%0.33%
Yearly TER2.00%1.00%
Initial investment cost
in the 1st year		4.50%1.33%
Subsequent year cost2.00%1.00%

Conclusion

Over a period of 30 years, just from the impact of fees alone, you will lose approximately RM340K or 35% of your returns. The difference in fees is only 1%.

Bear in mind that we are working with very conservative figures here. I know of many unit trust funds that charge much higher fees. And if we take a low-cost fund like Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF instead, we will be looking at a much, much bigger difference.

The above example is only taking into account the fees you’re paying. I hope the simple comparison above makes the case for seeking lower fees.

If, after looking at the data and reading this, you still find yourself wanting to invest in unit trusts and mutual funds (you’re crazy), I’d ask you to look at online platforms like Fundsupermart. They are the cheapest as an online platform. Please do not get yours with agents who charge high sales charges.

ETFs Available in Malaysia

Back to ETFs, your choices for ETFs in Malaysia are actually many. These are all local ETFs available on Malaysia’s KLSE exchange and can be traded just like individual stocks.

Account opening can be done easily online with brokerages like Rakuten Trade. I list a comparison of all our local brokerage firms hERE.

ETF Malaysia Returns

Above is a list of ETFs found in Malaysia with their returns calculated based on NAV.

In terms of fees (which directly correlates to your returns), ETFs are superior to UT funds.

You may have other concerns with local ETFs. One of which would be their liquidity. You’d be happy to know that as a requirement by regulators, Malaysia’s ETFs are backed by market makers. So, liquidity issues? Check.

While researching local ETFs for this article, I was actually pleasantly surprised to find so many ETFs listed on the bourse. Looking forward to see more innovations and choices from ETFs in the future.

If you are looking for something to track our KLCI index, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ETF tracks the top 30 companies in Malaysia by market cap. Another interesting one is TradePlus DWA Malaysia Momentum which uses smart beta (technical analysis) to select the top 20 Malaysian stocks with the highest momentum.

Looking for local ETFs in Malaysia that have foreign exposure, for example, China? TradePlus’ S&P New China economy, and Principal FTSE China 50 ETF both provide you with exposure.

To get exposure to the gold industry which is well known as a safe haven and good for hedging, we have the TradePlus Shariah Gold Tracker.

Choices of ETFs listed on Bursa Malaysia may not be as broad as those found in other countries, we do however still have a relatively good range of selection.

End.

Another similar investment product that I didn’t mention above is actually Robo-advisors. They’re similar in some ways to UTs and ETFs but not so similar that I can compare them all in this article. If you’re interested in Robo-advisors, you can read about my Stashaway portfolio hERE.

As with all investments, be it UTs, ETFs, or Robo-advisors, I’d caution everyone to do their own due diligence and research before making an investment.

It is my sincere hope that Malaysians are more educated and just a little more financially literate after reading this article. May you make better financial decisions in the future.

As always, Facebook, Instagram, and now YouTube! Follow, keep up to date.

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