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December 16, 2011

Idea of the Week: Pick the Right Funds for Your Regular Savings Plan [16 Dec 2011]
For a disciplined investor, a Regular Savings Plan (RSP) helps you to build a winning portfolio over time. This articles may give you some inspirations to kick start your RSP with our recommended funds.

by Fundsupermart.com

Untitled Document

Under the current tumultuous market conditions, some investors may hold back their investment plan, reduce their monthly investment amount in their Regular Savings Plan (RSP) or even liquidate and redeem their holdings. The impulse for these actions are understandable as investors' sentiments are affected by the troubling noises coming from the Eurozone.

From a psychological perspective, most of the above-mentioned investors are unlikely to re-look at their investment plan until the market rebounds significantly. However, if you hold back your investment plan when the market is low and invest only when the market is heated, this means that you will only buy high, instead of low. This also means that you are not making your money work as hard as it can, and the cost of delaying your investments could be much more than what you expect.

While it may seem difficult to keep investing when everyone is panicking, a smart investor needs to be prepared to withstand market volatility. In fact, for those who are patient, RSP helps you to get more units at a low price in a disciplinary manner. It helps to fully invest your investable income without much delay, gets you a better average price over the longer term and ensures that you are not affected by any panic selling or buying frenzy. Add to this the power of compounding, it always pays to start your investment earlier and build your wealth without much delay.

You can find out more about RSP by reading Regular Savings Plan Helps You Walk Far and TESTED: Lump Sum Investing vs Dollar Cost Averaging. If you have not started your RSP, the tips below will give you some inspiration to kick start your RSP. The tips are catered to different type of investors. If you would like to find out what type of investor you are, you can answer the risk profiling questionnaire by clicking here.

For aggressive investors

If you are able to handle high levels of risk, have a long-term horizon, understand the fluctuations that come with being invested in stock markets and can bear temporary market setbacks, you may consider yourself an aggressive investor.

As an aggressive investor, you can consider to invest in Emerging Markets equities for your portfolio. According to Fundsupermart.com Research Team in the Key Investment Themes And 2012 Outlook article, Emerging Markets equities are likely to find renewed favour with global investors after a disappointing 2011.

Our recommmended fund for Emerging Markets equity is AmGlobal Emerging Market Opportunities. Apart from Emerging Markets, an aggressive investor can consider to invest in a single-country fund such as the Kenanga Growth Fund, a Malaysia equity fund which is a favourite among our investors.

for balanced investors

Balanced investors would expect reasonably good returns and are able to bear some risks with an investment horizon of five years or more. For the balanced investor, we recommend investing in a mix equities and bonds.

One recommended Malaysia balanced fund that investors can consider is the OSK-UOB KidSave Trust which aims to maximise total returns through a combination of long term growth of capital and current income consistent with the preservation of capital. This fund has a relatively strong performance, high resilience during downturns and a low expense ratio. The fund's asset allocation comprises of 42.53% in equities, 39.92% in unquoted bonds, 8.01% in cash and 9.54% in collective investment schemes (as per December 2011 factsheet).

for conservative investors

If you want a stable and low risk unit trust which requires minimal action and monitoring, or if you cannot sleep well due to the volatility and uncertainty in the stock market, you can consider investing in fixed income securities, a.k.a. bonds.

Investors can consider investing in the AmDynamic Bond, which is our Recommended Fund in the Malaysia Bond category. The bond fund is a medium- to long-term bond fund with potentially higher level of income and risk. Malaysian bonds play an important role in capital preservation and risk factors such as currency risk and credit risk are expected to be low as the fund is invested wholly in Malaysian bonds with investment-grade ratings.

While above are funds that we recommend, investors can take a look at our Recommended Funds List 2011/12 for more information on other recommended funds. The above examples are not exhaustive and you can mix and match your investments to suit your investment needs.

As an added benefit, Fundsupermart.com is offering a promotional sales charge on Recommended Funds at only 1% when you sign up for Regular Savings Plan, until December 2011. To find out more, click here.


RELATED ARTICLES:

Dollar Cost Averaging With A Regular Savings Plan
Start Your RSP Without An Initial Investment Amount With RSP Special List Now!
TESTED: Lump Sum Investing vs Dollar Cost Averaging
Regular Savings Plan Helps You Walk Far
Recommended Funds List 2011/12
Regular Savings Plan at 1% Sales Charge


This article is not to be construed as an offer or solicitation for the subscription, purchase or sale of any fund. No investment decision should be taken without first viewing a fund's prospectus and if necessary, consulting with financial or other professional advisers. Any advice herein is made on a general basis and does not take into account the specific investment objectives of the specific person or group of persons. Past performance and any forecast is not necessarily indicative of the future or likely performance of the fund. The value of units and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Please read our disclaimer in the website.

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