In Malaysia, we used to “NO CHOICE” and must go through the mutual fund agent to invest in unit trust or mutual funds. Moving forward is that still necessary? Let's look at the following reasons why I think mutual fund agents/consultants may no longer necessary(physically) in the future .
(1) You Can Now Purchase New Funds Online
We used to required an “agent” or “consultant” to do that for us or we need to go to the bank ourselves to fill-up the initial investment application form. All these steps are no longer needed with the Public Mutual Online. You can basically do everything EXCEPT “standing instruction” and “selling the unit trust units” in public mutual online.
How to Register in Public Mutual Online?
There are few methods but the easiest method is to go through PbeBank.Com. You basically just go to “Investment” → “Public Mutual Online Registration” to request the pin number. Once you have requested the pin number, they will mail you the pin number and you need to activate your pin number within the 30 days in Public Mutual Online website.
(2) You Can also Perform Standing Instruction Investment Online
Many people including many Public Mutual agents do not aware of this service actually can be done online. Yes, it is not done through Public Mutual Online but Public E-Banking instead. These are the steps you need to do when you're in pbebank.com:
- Go to “Investment->Public Mutual->Investment (Registered)” to register all your Public Mutual fund's accounts.
- Go to “E-Standing Instruction->E-SI Creation” to request the PAC.
- Select “Public Mutual Investment – Registered” as Transaction Type
- Follow the rest of the screen instructions (e.g. First Effective Date, Frequency and Occurrences) to set the standing instructions (e.g Invest RM100 monthly to Public Growth Fund)
Discussion: Do you think mutual fund agent is needed?
So now back to the question, do we still need the agent physically since we can go through all these online? You may disagree with me but these are the 2 KEY reasons I need the unit trust agent. Now all these can be done through online, I'm wondering what's the purpose of those agents anymore?
You may think their consultations, investment advice or recommendations are still valuable. This probably still valuable to some of the people but most of the agents that I've met do not provide really very useful information to me mainly due to the fact that those information I've already known or I can know it from somewhere else (e.g. the prices trend, new launch funds and etc.)
I think moving forward down the road, mutual fund agents are no longer necessary but they should continue to think of a new ways (e.g. expand their role?) to satisfy their customers. I may wrong. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?
83 Comments:
Your sentiment matches exactly with mine. I foresee that in a few more years, the business for these agents will decrease greatly as more people go online for cheaper rates. The market is getting saturated and maintaining to be an PB agent can be quite costly. Everything from paper forms, brochure needs to be paid to PB.
This is why PB is a good stock to buy. Really earning money whenever possible :P
Thus, there some smart full time agents out there that are equipping themselves to provide their clients with value added advices or venturing into various financial related services like financial planning, loans advice, etc.
Hey, i even once get scolded for doing online switching myself without consulting my agent :P He seems to be pissed off that i am doing things without any of his help/knowledge!!
You're right. I think they should expand their roles not only for mutual funds but other financial related services as you mentioned.
However, I'm actually surprised that I have seen a very successful public mutual agent who knows only public mutual funds but nothing else. Successful as earning at least RM15K per month and driving BMW...
According to that agent, she told me the reason is she is loyal to mutual fund from Public Bank. Not only that, she doesn't invest in any other stuff. She doesn't buy insurance as well because she said she is loyal to Public Mutual. Huh?
This may works in the past but I don't think it will work in future especially if you only loyal to public mutual. This agent is so successful is probably due to the fact that she is one of the pioneers when PB Mutual (previously called K.L. Mutual) was founded.
In this world, we tend to only see success stories but fail to neglect that there are also failures around us. Nevertheless, this is also means that with hard work success might come more easily compared to doing nothing.
One good book on this is from Nassim Taleb , author of "Fooled by Randomness". It is supposely a good read on stock market but for me it turn out to be a very refreshing philosophical book :)
Fooled by randomness? I like the title of this book. :) Okay, I may grab this book if I have a chance. Thanks!
He actually more famous for his 2nd book since it is related to stock market theory. The 2nd book is called " The Black Swan". I only have the 1st book. halfway going through it :P
Oh, this book. I wanted to read this sometime ago - recommended by one of my top management guys. :)
i thought is still required lo, coz i do not think got a lot ppl know where to get info and lazy to manage fund also lo. By the way, where to get the useful information?
Yes, there are sure people still need the services but what is the trend right now? Are we moving toward no longer need these kind of services? I’m just predicting their services may no longer necessary moving forward in the futures (perhaps 10 years later?).
I personally think that they should think of a way to expand their role (if they haven’t yet) not merely to be mutual fund’s sale agent. For instant, they can become independent personal finance adviser to not only sell UT but provide financial consultations as in overall.
Ar… what useful information that you’re talking about? :)
I fully agree with your blog post. The online world is quickly replacing the need for physical office space. Their numbers will decrease and the internet world will get even bigger. Even today, online investing is much bigger than ever before. Anyways, keep up the great work with your blog.
i personally think that having an agent is still relevant as they serve as information providers on top of managing our fund. having to get an agent to play multiple role such as other financial services are deemed positive both for the agent (they can maximise their sales and profit earnings)and expand their role in servicing client but when this applies, that would also show negative implications. For example, some agents would probably distract their product focus since a mutual fund agent would need to keep up on track on markey fluctuations and perfomance and they are the keys or first hand knowledge on what the market at current.The bad side would be...probably client would in the end being misinformed or lose out potentially chances in one way to another.
Thanks for the comment. It is great to hear a different opinion sometimes. I really appreciate that. :)
Imagine if one day I'm going to offer you these 2 options to choose:
1.Free services from the mutual fund's agent
2.Lower service's charge or lower fund's price.
Which option will you choose?
2.Lower service's charge or lower fund's price.
I don't like to deal with middleman, with online i prefer to do everything myself :)
As for option 1,
1.Free services from the mutual fund's agent
Nothing is free in this world :P
Yes, I totally agree with that...
Not needed. I do my own research. And I don't invest in mutual fund anymore after playing in stock market directly. Better and higher return but higher risk too. ^_^
Yes, it is true that especially you want to invest and do a lot of research by your own.
The good about mutual fund is you don't need to be *really active" to monitor your investments. Let's the mutual fund's manager to do their jobs - that's the purpose we hire them for. :)
I agree that the advantage of mutual fund is that you dont need to manage it actively :P
You can spend your energy on something else then monitoring your stocks day and nite especially for violatile stocks
Myself is Public Mutual Fund agent. And i am not agree with u that u guys mention that agent are NOT needed. We provide not onli the information of the fund but also provide some safety precaution to manage ur fund to keep the track to the right way. Don't just rush to the conclusion that we are not needed (can u 100% sure ur investment are not loss but i can gurantee the profit)......(my e-maill is skytuen@hotmail.com) U guys can e-mail to me anytime
"Don't just rush to the conclusion that we are not needed (can u 100% sure ur investment are not loss but i can gurantee the profit)"
Skytuen, may I ask how do you GUARANTEE the profit? How are you going to be so certain that you can bring profit to my investment? No agent or even Warren Buffet can guarantee profit for an investment as it is the market that determines it. I may have misunderstood your defination of profit (some ppl take profit without taking into consideration of inflation or NPV) but your statement can really mislead ppl.
Just giving you my two cents worth, do not over promise you clients as you are not GOD and there is always risk in investment.
I agree with Maxy. No one can guarantee the profit is 100%. If you can, you don't need to be mutual fund's agent anymore. :D
IMO, the best thing the mutual fund agent can do is to help their clients to do the asset allocation (once in a year perhaps) based on your investment or risk profile.
E.g. how much % you want to invest in high risk fund? When you should switch funds to lower down the risk? and etc...
Maxy & ChampDog,
I agree with you 100%!! Lol..that is why most successful and wise UT agents are now venturing out of their traditional buy/sell UT services. They also involved in wealth planning, loans, insurances, etc.
Receiving commissions are going be very competitive with the rise of computer literacy where we can easily use platforms like CIMBClicksEInvest to get lower entry fees such as 2-2.5%!!! Hehe
Kris
Champ,is public mutual fund a good place to start for a beginner in investment ? ( just planning to start my very 1st investment =) )
Ray,Yupe. I think public mutual fund is the right place to start with. Public Mutual Fund is the biggest unit trust company in Malaysia, so it is pretty safe (as they have a lot cash) and they have a lot of good track record funds too.
You will need to have a "Fund Agent" in order to invest in the fund. Do you have one? If no, you can just go to your nearby Public Bank, go to the customer service counter, and tell them that you would like to invest in Mutual Fund (but it is better you already have some ideas exactly which funds to buy - visit their web page).
They will then assign one fund agent for you. Usually they have a least one fund agent in each branch. Having said so, they may get confused themselves with the process because most probably you're the first customer to request this kind of thing. If that still doesn't work out, you will need to go the the "Public Mutual" office.
Once you have the agent, you can then do everything online. Good luck!
I believe what you shared in this blog is logical to a certain extent. I am also a Public Mutual investor and I used to check my investment status and input my additional investment online.
In my opinion, if the Public Mutual agents want to survive in this field, they need to upgrade themselves in term of knowledge despite the advancement of the online investment system. Nowadays, the online system can definitely replace the basic procedures that we used to go through with the agents last time. But what we need from the agents are the value-added services such as in-depth investment knowledge sharing. If the agents' knowledge is only limited, they are going to be eliminated from this field soon.
Thanks for the comment and yes, I agree with you too. Nowadays, almost every field is very competitive. We need to be innovative and think of a new way to satisfy the customer. What worked in th past, doesn't mean it works now or in future.
I just begin public mutual investment this year and last few dats, i've activate my publicmutual online.
Now, the question is, if i make additional investment to existing fund, would it still deduct agent service charge from me?
Secondly, if i plan to invest in new fund via online, is the service charge can be lower if i don't select his/her name as agent?
I feel quite wierd when the agent said that they don't know about publicmutual online because they never do that. Is that just a reason because they would not be paid if I invest via online?
Please guide me.
Good to hear that you use this new feature and it is really convenient. You can also setup standing instruction to invest periodically.
If you talk about cost, I think there is no difference whether you invest through online or through your agents. The system basically forces you to enter the agent's name. So you will still need to have the agent code in order to go through the investment.
First, they probably do not aware of this because majority of people are still using the conventional way. They will still earn the same if you put in their agent's code. Of course, you can also put in other agent's code too and they won't get any single cent out of it. I do that myself as I have known few number of PB mutual agents and I guess that is only reason (I can think of) if they intentionally do not want to tell you this feature.
Hope that helps! :) Let me know if you have more things to clarify.
Thanks a lot for your info just now.
For additional investment, yes their name appear automatically and you can't remove, but I think if you click initial investment (minimum RM1k to start), which you have to select from list of funds, you go till third step (out of six), see field "Agent".
There (3rd step) you have two options, whether you click the agent name or you click "NONE". I think, you can actually invest without any agent if you click NONE. Am I right? To confirm, you try on initial investment by yourself.
One more thing, on FIMM form, it states:
You can buy unit trusts either through a Unit Trust Consultant(UTC), Institutional Unit Trust Advisers(IUTA), Corporate Unit Trust Advisers(CUTA) or directly from Unit Trust Management Company(UTMC) or online, but each has different sales charge and level of service. Choose the one that best suits your needs.
Highlight on "...but each has different sales charge and level of service."
I want to know if there anyone can tell those charges rates.
Beginner,
I think the charges is 5% for equities related funds if you go through and agent. The agent will typically get 3%. The 2.5% will go to the fund management as entry fee.
I think for Public Mutual , there is no way you can do away with the charges unless you become an agent yourself to save the 3% from going to an agent.
However, IMHO unless you invests a huge amount or intend to be selling mutual funds, go ahead to be an agent. If not, it is cheaper in the long run not to be one. Being agent makes you subject to alot of costs such as membership fees, training fees and even paying for the form itself.
If you want to save the 3% and do things online, you can try out CIMBClicksEInvest services as highlighted in my blog :P Just want to share the opportunities out there.. hehe
I will guess they will auto assign the agent to you if you choose none.
The service charge of purchasing the fund from Public Mutual should be same as far as I concern.
I think the statement probably means for when you go through third party. E.g. you hire a financial consultant to help you to invest. Of course you need to pay for the service.
Or it simply means some agents purposely give you discount by paying the certain amount of your service charge. This can still happen, I believe.
If CIMBClicksEInvest is really cheaper, I think we should go for it. It is just that I don't have any CIMB account. :(
About being an agent, if you have relatives who are also an agent, you can consider to add them rather than you becoming an agent yourself. :)
It is indeed cheaper, because there is no agent. Thus, average fees are 2-2.5%.
And things get easier online as the mutual funds are integrated with your savings account, etc.
You should consider getting one, besides mutual fund, CIMBClicks can linked to the online stock trading arm of CIMB aka Itrade.
Yes, ChampDog. You are correct, you can always go to you relative if he/she is an agent. Unless, the agent is a beautiful lady, you might be swayed otherwise..See ChampDog latest post on this..haha :P
One thing to note also is that there is a annual sales quota to keep up to if you decide to be an agent.
Out track a bit, sometimes talking to a beautiful lady can be quite motivating. :) At least, I do... lol
Need to keep a straight and clear judgement , when dealing with beautiful sales lady, in case you get fleeced :P haha
A friend of mine purposely takes this kind of opportunity but eventually not buying any products from the girl.
not many know online trading and online banking, especially the older generation (loaded with cash).
Agent still needed as the market is not fully efficient (i.e. everybody knows everything).
However, the middle-man role will be diminishing over the next decades and they just need to diversify and more service-oriented.
I agree with you, Chong. :)
i think for the young investors..they can do online investments themselves..so no need agent.
but for the senior people..who even check email also only 3-4 times a year, they will still rely on agent..especially those rich one who busy with other things than to monitor their public mutual investment.
Public Mutual Funds Info
Yes, I agree. :)
Good info!
Just one question, can we sell our units through the online service? Or we need to go to our agent to do so?
Yes, I think you can't sell it online. You can go to the public mutual office directly and tell them what funds and how many units you would like to sell.
Hi everybody!!! Good topic we have here. I am an agent of Public Mutual. I believe there are always pro and cons on the above topic. You can do cash investment thru online, but EPF investment still need an agent service. I agree that the service scope should be wider... not only investment (wealth creation), but insurance (wealth protection) and will/wasiat writing (wealth distribution). All these goes as part of our value added services to our existing client. In early 2000 there was news that the remisier services no longer required coz investors can buy stocks online. The fact is, not everybody have the expertise and time to monitor their investment. Thats why remisier services still here today. Same goes with unit trust agent services, high net worth clients have no time to monitor their own investment...they were busy managing their main business (source of main income). But of course, they still want to invest (to make money works harder for them). Furthermore, thru this business relationship, we become more like a friend (depending on how good the agent's skills)...we are a good listeners. We give our ears to them...service. In addition, if...say if government decided to stop the unit trust agent services, there'll be more than 40,000 jobless in Public mutual solely... not including other unit trust company... u do the maths man. I strongly disagree that the agents will decrease greatly but i strongly advice to all agents out there to equip yourself with multi-services and not concentrating to the investment part only. So, whoever interested to become a unit trust agent, call/sms me, MAISARAH at 012-9110713 or email at sarah2705@gmail.com. Happy investing and all the best!!!..
Thanks for your comments here, and it is good to hear some feedback. One question that I have, are the remisier now getting less or getting more as compared to year 2000? I think it should be getting lesser unless you think otherwise?
However, you made a very good point too that it will not be totally gone which I totally agree with that too.Same goes to unit trust agent, it will not be totally gone but it will be getting lesser IMO.
In fact, theoretically speaking if you increase your services not only just selling unit trust (e.g. loan, writing will and etc), you're no longer a unit trust agent. “Personal finance consultant” could be a better name for instance.
I see one great benefit of being a unit trust agent, is you can buy or invest at your own at the cheaper price after minus out the commission.
Yupe, happy investing! :))
Hi, we are now IT era, pizza,McD, ..... all can order online even buying grocery but why we still q-up at stores or restaurants? Human touch is still much needed.
MAC
Yes, it definitely will still be needed. For Pizza and McD, one thing is you get is the "Environment" where you can't get it if you order it online.
Same thing goes to fund agents. What do I get differently if I meet them personally? Environment? Maybe if the agent is a pretty lady. :D Services? Yes, but the services must be able to differentiate...
And lastly, is the need for Mutual Fund agents moving downtrend or flat or uptrend in your opinion?
hye, I just want to correct something that was misunderstood,fees for invest in UT is act same no matter in any way. for example : if u invest by online is 5% front load fees,
If u investing by agent is also 5%. If u go staight to public bank u will also have to pay 5% fronlod fees..
There are no discount in any way.
So, it is better to get an agent rather than nothing but still have to pay for the fees.
Its true Amir... I did online investment too. Tak ada discount so far. Agent pun still kena that service charge of 5%. Luckily I manage my own account so part of that 5% become my commission.
Per my understanding, there isn't have any discount too.
How about CIMB Invest? One of the comments stated there is discount if you invest online through CIMB...
me and my spouse invested in Public Mutual, but my spouse also has CIMB (CWA).
CIMB may sounds attractive when they claimed to be lower service charge (entry fees), but please bear in mind, there would be another charges when you want to exit (sell the units) where Public does not charge us for exit fees.
Public's charges for switching is as low as rm25, but i don't know about its rival.
our objective in this investment is for mid to long term. but somehow rather, last year, we got jackpot where most of our equity funds paid 28-32% return, BUT please bear in mind again, the longer we keep the more units we collect. furthermore, we have competent agent to update us. happy investing! :)
Btw, Public Mutual no longer charges RM25 per transaction. It is now charging based on the number of units being switched. I can't remember the exact number, it should charged based on 0.65% per units. You can confirm that with your agent.
Thanks for tips on the selling/exit fees for CIMB. So I guess, the charges between CIMB and Public Mutual is about the same after all?
Yes, unit trust or mutual fund is always meant for mid to long term investment. For short term, go into stock investing directly. :) Happy investing to you too! :)
"Btw, Public Mutual no longer charges RM25 per transaction. It is now charging based on the number of units being switched. I can't remember the exact number, it should charged based on 0.65% per units. You can confirm that with your agent"
Wah!! My agent did NOT told me about this. This is extremely not beneficial to unit trust owners that have a lot of units. A flat rate of RM25 is better. Looks like it is squeezing the customer T.T
@Dyermaker,
CIMBClicks' Einvest has exit sale charges? I sold off mine through the website for some time, but i don't remember there is any charges. I hope i don't get the fact wrong, as it was a long time ago. I will look into it :P
Yupe, while I was visiting the Public Mutual office last week, I overheard one of the agents was very damn pissed off with this changes and complained badly to the officer in front of me.
Btw, you agent may not know this yet as this is a pretty recent news. You can check with him/her and see. :)
please correct me if i a wrong. to me understanding:
all bond funds and money market funds introduced a common service charge of 0.25% or low.
switching from equity/balanced funds to equity = at NAV + rm25
equity/bf to bond funds = at NAV + rm25
equity to money market funds = at NAV only.
and like for mutual gold members, we do enjoy free switching (max 18 times). this info obtained as of april 2011.
and for mutual gold we also have insurance coverage (for certain funds only) FREE.
i.e: account balance in mutual gold rm350k
nature of death: accidental death
GTL: rm100k
GPA: rm100k
mutual gold: rm350k
total benefit: rm550k.
happy investing! cheers.
It should be charged based on 0.75%. Anyway for details and perhaps the more accurate information, you can check it out this post by Kris:
http://www.knowthymoney.com/2011/05/public-mutual-switching-fee-new_30.html
It looks like for mutual gold, you can use the RM25 to offset the incur charges.
Anyway, read the link I shared above for more detail information. Hope that will be useful! :)
Thanks, ChampDog.
I guess more Public Mutual agents must be more active to disseminate information to their clients :P Hehe
I could not read all comments posted here maybe no right no wrong lah - i just invested some money on 29 April 2011. Had it not been an Agent to talk to! ; I may not/would never had invested. it is the confidence of talking first before parting off with our hard earned money loh.
Dennis
Yes especially when you're new, it is always good to have agent to explain that to you. You can try to talk to a few agents and you may find something difference.
I'm glad that you invest in mutual fund. Happy investing!
For your info, CIMB Wealth Advisors give free switching to any fund 4 times annually. Free Of Charge!Also, in Malaysia there are no exit fee is charges. So,Public Mutual, CIMB and others, no exit fee at all.
And the best,CWA give you more than Unit Trust Investment. They give you total financial planning. Create Wealth with Unit Trust. Protect you and your family with Insurance. And distribute your wealth to your family etc with Trust Nomination service. So, All in one. not just for Unit Trust. its Total Financial Planning.Complete Financial Service.For more info. Visit
http://cwainvestment.blogspot.com/
I agree with your article, but there is one thing to take note of:
Applying for Public Mutual through online nets the same 5.5% service charge, which is the same charge if you purchase through an agent. In my opinion, I'd rather purchase through unit trust agent as we have nothing to lose, and instead we can get an extra personalized service.
You have nothing to lose too if purchase online too. :)
I think the point you bring up here is personalized advice which I agree with you too only if the personalized advice is useful. Well, this subjects to one another.
One question that I do have, do you want to get personalized advice every time you purchase?
I agreed with the article. Invest in mutual fund is also considered less risky as it is managed by finance professionals.
if only i invested in ut in 2009, i was quick to conclusion that i bet in klci only to lost RM60k in one year..
if i buy ut, i would have gotten 50% profit easily 2009-2010.
So to late...dont buy direct from stock market if u have no idea or experience...klci for me is scam from big fund companies to rob people's money...(insider everywhere)...
Again to invest in stock market or even unit trust you must know what you are into, get more info, from agent, internet, remisier or stockwatch. Just to inform you that there are unit trust funds that is not performing well...no dividend, dont even touch its launching price. Agents will not advise you to invest into this fund, coz they want a long term business relationship with you. Buying at the lowest price unit trust fund doesnt guarantee that you will get double in return. Good agents know which fund is performing, which funds give higher distribution, which one suits you (aggressive/moderate fund). If you invest yourself, if you can get all the info yourself...go ahead to invest online, if not... call me 016-2513005, glad to give you some assistance. Happy investing!!!!
@Anonymous, No doubt that invest in stock directly has higher risk, thus highest or lowest return. The good thing about unit trust is you don’t need to monitor closely as like stock. Even for stock you may not need to do that too especially you’re the long term fundamental stock investor.
@Maisarah, I couldn’t agree anymore. There are unit trusts or mutual funds that do not make money. My suggestion is talk to the agent and get as much as information from them. After that, do your own research and decide.
Overall, if you play the unit trust game correctly, you should be winning. Stock in fact is the same, it is just the harder game to play. It involves your psychology as well. Happy investing to you too and everyone!
Hi, to some extend it's true that with pmo, investors can perform whatever transactions they want. However, thru' an agent investors can know more info and how to manage their acc. E.g how to maximise ur investment. I'm also an agent and i'm not worried whether the agent service is no longer needed. For i believe if ur a good and knowledgable agent and u service ur clients well, i'm sure ur still needed. The business is not just about making one party 'rich' but also to make the investor's income to grow. It's a win win situation. That's how a relationship starts. The more the merrier....come and get to know me and lets share the knowledge....have a nice day!
Yes, I agree with you.
Not true when you said that you cannot sell Public Mutual Unit Trusts online. I myself have bought and sold online and it is a breeze.
Steve
Thanks Steve for your comment. Not sure which comment you refer too. I think some readers meant here is although online transaction is available, there are still plenty of people do not go through that online. Thus, selling or buying through agents still relevant.
Where my point is looking forward in the future, is the needs will be getting less and less with the existing of all these online transaction facilities. :)
while in some part i may agree with you, but dont you think that having someone to serve you is better? Coming to that, you actually paid for it in the service fee. If you dont use the service of an agent, but still paid for the service fee, its like cooking KFC your own but still pay for the full amount.
You have a point. :) So technically, if we use online, the service fee should be less!
Hi ChampDog
Good that you have blog to share and learn. Infact i have read most of the comment. I agree with certain of your comment, most Unit Trust agent are only keen to sell funds to maintain their standard of living.Why is that so??? the respective unit trust company train them to sell rather then add value to their clients. WHY??? bottom line the company wants to make profit only. At the same time you can make Money plus add Value if they want to. By the way just to share based on my experience, different peole perceive value differently based on their personality, culture, belief system, values. As such coming back to the question why do you need an unit trust agent? It all depends what type of Investors you are and why you are investing???
Now something about myself, I am a Licensed Financial Planner - with Securities Commission and Bank Negara. Have 21 years of experience in Life Insurance business and 7 years as an Independant Financial Planner. My experience shows that most Investors in Malaysia need to be educated the PROCESS of Investing, RISK/REWARD of any investment and more importantly knowing who the Investors are in terms of their personality traits.
Based on proven science of human behavior in investing, most people become fearfull or greedy in the investing space. Therefore as a Financial Planner my strong believe and experience has proof that if Investors Emotions are not managed properly most of them are going to make are going to make wrong decisions.
You asked where is the value??? Here lies one of the most important thing for Investors to think??? Do i follow the crowd to be Emotional when there is correction in the market??? Does CNBC/Bloomberg influence me in the way i make decision???
For today i will say one thing, Managing INVESTOR Behavior is very crucial in the investing space.
Thank You for allowing to Share and Learn.
@GUNASEGARAN, thanks for your comments. I just realized this post has gone to 70 comments! :) and I appreciate that you read those comments. I don't think I still can remember what I have written. :D
Let me try to summarize, if I get you right, you're saying that unit trust agent is still needed. It is mainly for the investor behavior that the agent will need to manage.
Just out of my curiosity, based on your experience, how many % required help in managing their investing behavior? and how many % don't? And this % will remain, increase or decrease moving forward? Of course this is based on your best estimation.
My 2 cents, if you look how easy to survive as mutual fund agents 10 years ago as compared to now, you can clearly tell the answer. Is that a right assumption?
Hi Champ Dog
Appreciate your upload of my input, well to answer your question,
1) Do we need unit trust agent?
Investors must look for Independant Financial Planner/Advisor who posses great Client Centric Sense. Why??? Most Licensed Financial Planner do not represent single unit trust company, they have access to many unit trust fund houses, as such they could select a fund which suits the investors Risk Profile,Fund Manager's consistency performance and also the characteristc of the fund. Therefore unit trust agent have biases towards the fund they sell and not taking the Client's Interest first when the are recommending the product. Do you see where i am coming? In addition to this Licensed Financial Planner can provide solution which unit trust agent can do, what are they??? For example they can offer offshore unit trust fund/ETF and etc which means they are providing long term solutions based on the clients GOALS/FINANCIAL ONJECTIVES.
2)Based on research,90% of the people will be emotional throughout their Investing Cyle, 10% of the people who take concentrated effort to improve their financial decision making maintains a balance approach towards their EMOTIONS.
3)Will this ratio improve??? Yes provided they are many Financial Coach like myself around to help Investors to make right decision moving forward.
Hope this answers your questions, feel free to ask should you need further clarity. Just to Share, it would be good to post the new comments on top and older ones below to keep current with the topic.The part that proof we are not robot, the characteristics is so blur we cant see properly, this need change.
Thank You for READING,LISTENING AND UNDERSTANDING.
Sure, no problem. I agree with all your points. Hope the ratio will be improved especially we have people like you and don't not go the other way instead.
About the comment & human verification, I afraid I can't do much. This is the free blogger platform. I have tried disable the human verification, the number spams that I get is way too many, so I have no choice to enable it.
Hi, I think you are right. A lot of them (Agent) really don't know the fund performance well. After few of the agent serve me (more then 4 agent change in my case). Until I meet some one which I really admire. He talent in the mutual fund is good. It is awesome. Cause he has the background of stock market, 15% per year return, some time even more. Lucky I found him. !!!
I'm glad that you found that guy. Does he manage all for your or he just recommend you and you do your own investment?
Wow! Simple article but got comments for 5 years!
Now I look back, such a long discussion. :D lol
Yes, an agent is required because some individuals have language barriers and IT illiterate. They need help from an agent to sign up for them.
hi champdog, after reading all the comment,
can you advise either to invest in PM or CIMB or other fund?
also, in the current market of 2017, does become an unitrust agent is a good move?
I personally prefer Public Mutual over other funds as they're the pioneer in this field.
About whether becoming an unit trust agent is a good move, I'm afraid I can't really answer that. :) It is really a personal choice. I have seen a very successful unit trust agent and vice-versa.
I have been an investor for more than ten years. My funds are with the two top mutual fund houses. Although my background is in Economics & Accounting and I understand markets well (education and long career in banking), I never had the discipline or time to organise my own unit trust investment. Any time for investment I focused only in tracking my gold and silver investments. Hence, people like me need those unit trust agents.
Unfortunately, my first PM agent neglected me. My CWA agent gave good service (although when he started out, he needed to be taught a bit about the market) until he did something unprofessional last year. Now that I have opted for early retirement, I have more time and decided to take care of my own investment portfolio by becoming a PM agent.
I was surprised that I'm actually enjoying it because I'm putting into practice my knowledge of the market and the financial system.
The bonus is, friends and family have started coming to me to handle their unit trust investments. I started out with looking after my own investment but now, being a full fledged PM agent is something I really enjoy. I like sharing knowledge and my strategies and advising / helping people to build, grow and preserve wealth. It's so satisfying to help build awareness for the need to think ahead financially.
For those who are investment savvy, yes, they really should take full control of their own funds. This is the ideal situation. But many people are alarmingly still either too busy or lack knowledge / awareness / confidence in investing. This is where the agents / consultants come in. Just choose your agents wisely.
That's my two sen's worth :)
Good morning. Mr Gunsegaran, read your post and would like to have a discussion as I would also like to manage my own funds personally and thinking of becoming a UTC.
How can I contact you?
Hi Mr Gunasegaran, read your comments. I left my corporate role few years ago and am seriously considering managing my own investment by becoming a UTC.Read your background which I find interesting so would like to meet up for a discussion.
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