Dividend Magic

Saving and Investing towards Financial Independence in Malaysia

Investment

Kenanga Digital Investing

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Filed Under: Investment, Robo-Advisor 5

Fully Automated Robo Advisor

Another new addition to the Robo-advisor stratosphere! This time from Kenanga and it is called Kenanga Digital Investing (KDI). The platform is fully A.I.-driven with little to no human involvement. Most of the Robo-advisors we have in Malaysia right now are a mix of A.I. plus fund manager’s decisions. The only other similar one is from MyTheo.

Is Kenanga Digital Investing Safe?

First off, they’re licensed by the Securities Commission (SC). In terms of governance and licensing, that is as safe as it can get.

As for its execution, the algorithm used by Kenanga Digital Investing is fully A.I.-driven with machine learning capabilities. In the online briefing I attended, Kenanga mentioned that they’ve backtested all the portfolios from 2004. The results shown and presented to us were positive.

Kenanga Digital Investing – KDI Save and KDI Invest

KDI Save – Cash Management Fund

KDI offers two main products to clients and investors. The first is their Cash Management Fund (CMF) – KDI Save. They’re offering fixed returns at 3.0% p.a. with zero fees and calculated on a daily basis. This is one of the highest I’ve seen. And, you don’t have to start off with a huge amount, the minimum is RM100. However, it is capped at RM200,000, anything above that, it’ll be a 2.25% return p.a. Still decent.

KDI Invest – A.I. Driven Investing

KDI Invest is further broken down into five different funds based on your risk profile.

  1. Very Conservative
  2. Conservative
  3. Balanced
  4. Growth
  5. Aggressive Growth

From the backtesting results (from 2004 to 2021) I sighted during KDI’s briefing, the annualized return for the five funds ranges from 6% to 14%. The maximum drawdown was in the range of 10% to 16% for all five funds. Which is pretty damn good.

Kenanga Digital Investing – How to Start?

The steps from registration to execution are simple and straightforward. Before that, there is a special promotion for Dividend Magic readers.

Click Here to Sign Up
Referral code: 100108

Using the above link, you’ll receive RM20 for free upon successful activation of your account with a minimum transacted amount of RM100 into KDI Save or RM250 into KDI Invest. This RM20 will be paid out within 30 days.

Do also note that this promotion is only applicable to the first 500 successful referrals and valid up to 31st May 2022.

The next step to registering is to key in your personal details and to take a clear picture of the front and back of your IC.

You then answer a few simple questions regarding your investment goals and horizon. You’ll be recommended with one of the five portfolios based on your answers. However, you’re still free to pick one on your own. As I’ve still got a long time-horizon ie. 20+ years, I went with the KDI Invest – Aggressive Growth portfolio.

Benefits Kenanga Digital Investing (KDI) – What sets it apart?

Their cash management fund – KDI Save is currently one of the best I’ve found. No fees, a 3% return, and one-day withdrawals. It is perfect for my emergency funds now instead of placing them in fixed deposits or a savings account. I plan to move my funds here. Keep in mind that funds over RM200K earn a lower rate of 2.25%. Which is still higher than FDs!

As for KDI Invest, I’m happy with the returns shown from their backtesting. Would love to see them go further back than 2004 though. I’ll be trying this out for a year and then compare it to my returns from my investments in StashAway.

The fully A.I.-driven approach sounds good to me, and the maximum drawdowns, even for their most aggressive portfolio was only 16%.

Lastly, FEES! I know how everyone, myself included is always concerned about fees. KDI Invest employs a tiered system.

The fees are in line with other Robo-advisors, even cheaper at some tiers. They’re also not charging anything for investments RM3,000 and below.

Also to note, the minimum investment amount is RM250.

End.

I’m definitely going for their cash management fund – KDI Save. And I’ll be testing the waters first with RM3,000 in KDI Invest for a few months. If all is good, I’ll be doing DCA via Kenanga Digital Invest for the long term.

Applying for an IPO in Malaysia

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Filed Under: Investment 2

An Initial Public Offering, more commonly known as an IPO is when a private company is listed on the stock exchange and sells its shares to the public for the first time. They are usually met with much fanfare and anticipation.

To put it simply, there are 3 ways for Malaysians to apply for an IPO:

1) Manual via application forms;
2) ATMs; and
3) eIPO via online banking

I have never done number 1 and I don’t think anyone is doing it this way anymore. Maybe the older generation of stock investors used to do this. Applying via the ATM was the easiest method up until a few years ago. Now, I think the go-to and most convenient way to apply for an IPO in Malaysia is through online banking.

Most local banks offer this service and I myself use Maybank. I’ll be giving you a step-by-step guide below using Maybank because it can get a little complicated.

eIPO Application via Maybank2U

Things to Note When Applying for an IPO in Malaysia.

  1. It goes without saying but you’ll first want to make sure that you have a sufficient amount of money in your account before applying. Take note that some banks require you to maintain a minimum balance.
  2. Fees. I was charged RM1 by the bank as a processing fee.
  3. Only apply once. Duplicate applications are not allowed.
  4. Take note of the closing date and apply before 5pm that day.
  5. Take care to input the correct CDS number when applying.
  6. Only Direct CDS accounts can apply for IPO, nominee accounts unfortunately cannot.

CTOS DIGITAL BERHAD IPO

If you squint hard enough at the image earlier, you can make out HAILY GROUP BHD and CTOS DIGITAL BHD. And as you might have guessed, I’m actually applying for CTOS this time around. I’ve tried applying for a few companies prior to this and never got any shares. So I’m not keeping my hopes up.

End.

Keeping this article short and simple for those of you who want to apply for IPOs in Malaysia. Hope this helped and thank you for reading!

Tudor Black Bay GMT – My Investment in a Luxury Watch

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Filed Under: Investment, Other Investments, Travel, food and the finer things in life 4

Brand: Tudor
Model: Black Bay GMT
Reference Number: 79830RB
Material: Stainless steel
Crystal: Scratch-resistant sapphire
Movement: Cal. MT5652
Case Diameter: 41mm

This will be more of an unconventional and personal article detailing my recent purchase and investment in a luxury watch.

Why a Luxury Watch?

I’ve always loved watches and had throughout the years taken to wearing my dad’s watches. As most of you know, I’m not a big spender but I think watches are my kryptonite. But, I do have the following justifications.

A Goal

Getting myself a quality watch has always been a goal of mine. I promised myself a long time ago that when I have the financial means to own one, I would get one.

Some go for cars, some yatches, mine was a watch.

Lasts a Lifetime

I wanted something that was of high quality and can last me my entire life.

At the same time, it appreciates in value over time. In fact, I’ve come to see quality timepieces as perhaps the best heirloom to pass on to the next generation.

Investment

I love the feel of a good solid watch on my wrist and in the case of a luxury watch, they retain their value over time. The latter appeals very much to the investor in me.

Instead of having my cash in stocks or placed in FDs, I wanted one on my wrist. In fact, my Tudor GMT, after wearing it for about 6 months, has appreciated by about 20% in value.

How I Purchased a Tudor

With the above reasons, it was about time I got myself one.

Tudor Black Bay GMT

To be totally honest, I looked at a Rolex initially but it was just too expensive for me. I couldn’t justify having RM50,000 on my wrist that I know that I wouldn’t wear often. So until my net worth goes up by about 5X, a Rolex would not suit me.

A Tudor isn’t a Rolex but as some of you may know, Tudor is the sister company of Rolex. You get the quality of Rolex at a more than 50% discount.

They’re a brand that I can get behind and they do increase in value over time. Also, with their lower price tag compared to a Rolex, I can comfortably wear a Tudor every day.

With Tudor in mind, I spent days diving through watch forums and reading articles on the company and I was torn between the Black Bay GMT and BB58. I finally settled on the GMT because I love the Pepsi bezel and the GMT feature is useful for me when I travel.

Tudor was actually introduced to me by a new friend I met through one of my readers. Sean, from ssong watches.
Ssong is a great place to look for and to learn about luxury watches. Sean answered ALL of my many many queries as I was doing my research on watches. He’s a veteran in the industry and has years of experience with luxury watches. I was fortunate to have been acquainted with him before making my first purchase.

Ssong did not have Tudors at the time I was looking to buy so I told Sean to reserve one for me if and when a unit becomes available. I then went ahead and booked one from Mid Valley’s Tudor boutique store as well, as per the advice from Sean himself.

As a side note, I actually had a very bad experience when I went to The Hour Glass at the Gardens. Didn’t get good service there. On the other hand, I had a wonderful experience at Tudor’s boutique store in Mid Valley though.

Purchased!

Finally, towards the end of 2020, I was finally able to get myself my first ”somewhat” luxury watch – a Tudor Black Bay GMT.

Lady luck was actually on my side and Sean gave me a call I think a few weeks after I met him to reserve a Tudor GMT. I didn’t purchase a brand new one but instead got one that was in mint condition and barely worn a few times at a slight discount.

Till today, I still feel a sense of joy putting on the watch every day. =)
It may be tough to explain my love and appreciation for a good watch to someone that doesn’t like one, so I won’t.

I’ve heard from so many around me saying they’d just wear an apple watch or a Casio as it was just to tell time. I’ve got nothing against Casio btw. An Apple Watch can even measure your heartbeat and health. They may be right in their own way, but god damn I still love my watch.

I’ve been wearing my Tudor GMT for half a year now, almost every single day. This is an investment for me but at the same time, it is an investment I can fall in love with. The price has already gone up in the 6 months that I’ve owned the watch.

End.

As mentioned earlier, I know this article is a little out of the norm from the usual stocks and dividends. But hey, I think it is a viable investment and I really do consider it one.

Hopefully, you’ll continue to see updates on watches from me periodically. And I promise to not spend above my means. If you’ve got views or comments or even advice on watches, please do leave your thoughts in the comment section of this article. I know many of you are enthusiasts and veterans.

Binance – Crypto Savings and Staking

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Filed Under: Cryptocurrencies, Investment 7

So I’ve recently sold about RM20,000 worth of bitcoins. It was just sitting in my Luno account for a month or so as MYR because I did not know what to do with it. I have since moved that amount to Binance. I converted to XRP and then transferred it to Binance.

At the same time, I was also doing my research on DeFi and staking. A really good place to start if you’re looking into this is CoinGecko’s book – How to DeFi. It took me a few days to get through the whole book the first time, and another few days for me to kinda-sorta understand it. And even now, I think I’ve barely scratched the surface. If you guys have other recommended readings, please do share them with me.

My Crypto Portfolio on Binance

Space reserved for updates.

Binance vs Coinbase

So my interest is actually in staking my coins. I don’t like my assets to just sit there and staking actually generates a lot of returns in the form of interest. So I had to look for platforms that supported staking and savings. In the end, it boiled down to Binance and Coinbase, I went with Binance mainly because they’re the biggest and the cheapest.

Is Binance Safe?

Some of you may remember the Binance hack back in 2019. The company actually absorbed the losses sustained then and no users were affected.

Another one of my concerns with Binance was with China. Binance was founded in China but they’ve since taken measures. Their servers were moved to Japan back in 2017 and they’re now headquartered in the Cayman Islands.

What I Did on Binance

As mentioned earlier, I had about RM20,000 of Bitcoin profits sitting in my Luno account. I decided to move this amount to Binance to try out its savings and staking. I wanted to move my funds with the lowest possible fees and decided to move it using XRP. Bought the maximum amount of XRP in Luno, moved the funds to Binance, and then converted my XRP to USDT.

The total transfer cost of XRP? 0.8313165. Which translates to about RM4?

As you can see, I’m holding 3,811 USDT right now and earning 5.80% p.a. using Binance’s savings feature

Earning Interests on my Crypto

Savings

So the safest of all the various forms of earning a return on your coins is Savings. Of which there are two types – Locked Savings and Flexible Savings.

An example would be Bitcoin’s savings. You stand to earn 1.2% p.a. Which isn’t too bad considering I’ve been earning zilch previously.

Another personal example of mine is my USDT Savings which is currently netting me 5.80% p.a.

Staking

I’ve yet to actually stake my coins but I’m really looking into it. Right now, there’s a sort of first come first serve situation with the more popular coins.

So, what is staking?

Staking is the process of actively participating in transaction validation (similar to mining) on a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. On these blockchains, anyone with a minimum-required balance of a specific cryptocurrency can validate transactions and earn Staking rewards. 

– Coinbase

For example, for USDT, the interest rate for staking is almost double its savings rate at 10.67%. But it is sold out.
I’ll definitely be selling my USDT at some point to invest in other coins and then staking them. Updates will be done on this same page so keep an eye out.

The Risks of Savings and Staking

As we are all too familiar with, the higher the risk, the higher your potential reward. Naturally, that means staking carries a higher risk when compared to savings.

One risk that both savings and staking share is the risk of the value of your coin falling. If that particular coin experiences a huge drop, all interests earned will be wiped out.

Savings and Staking are very new in the world of finance and cryptocurrencies. Essentially, you’re lending your coins out to a process.

Usually, in Savings, your coin is loaned out to a holding company that then lends it to its various clients. These clients may want to borrow cryptocurrency for financial trades or for arbitrage.

In Staking, your tokens are used in its respective verification process. By helping out the network, you earn a reward.

A key thing to remember – Do not risk your whole stack of coins. Not in savings and not in staking. Don’t risk what you can’t afford to lose.

Sign Up

If you’re looking to sign up with Binance and explore the world of DeFi, use the link or manually enter my code: GGRMJQWA

You get a small 5% kick back and discount on fees when you make transactions there.

End.

I’m moving a relatively small portion of my crypto portfolio from Luno to Binance. Luno is still where the bulk of my portfolio will be held as it is the safest for me as a Malaysian.

The main reason for testing out Binance is to try out their savings and staking. If you’re new to cryptocurrencies and looking for a place to start, my advice is to stick with Luno as a Malaysian. Safety will be the biggest priority. My review and my cryptocurrency portfolio on Luno can be found hERE.

Risks, risks, risks

There are huge. huge risks to investing in cryptocurrencies. Even more when you’re moving them out of Malaysia’s regulatory space and into unknown, literal international waters. You then further risk it by staking/savings said coins. So please, understand the risks you’re taking before taking the dive.

The above being said, I’m extremely excited right now and I feel like a kid all over again dabbling in a whole new world of finance. I’m still very new at this and would love to hear from experts or anyone with more experience with this.

Onwards and upwards!

The 1,000 Bucks Challenge

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Filed Under: Dividend Magic Show, Investment 0

The shirts are finally up on sale on Shopee hERE.

May 2021 Update – Appreciation Party

We’re having a small online party for everyone that has bought the shirts! We’ve sold half of our stash of T-shirts and we’d like to thank everyone. It isn’t much but seeing that we will be stuck at home for MCO 3.0 anyway, join us!

It’ll be a small group of people and we will be discussing all things personal finance and investing. And! As we consider everyone of you stakeholders in our 1,000 Bucks Challenge as well, we will be giving updates on our progress and try to keep everyone involved.

Send us a DM or email us with your details. We’ll need your proof of purchase and your email address!

The Challenge So Far

We set out with a goal of RM10,000 each, without touching our main income. So far, we’ve sold about half our shirts and RM10K is proving to be tough! The pandemic and various MCOs have really hindered my side of things BUT we will soldier on.

Moving forward, I’ll be thinking of other ways to come up with that RM10,000.

The 1000 Bucks Challenge

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.

The shirts are finally up on sale on Shopee hERE.

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.

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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