Maybank acquires Amanah Mutual Berhad (AMB) for RM16million

Maybank recently announced that they have purchased Amanah Mutual Berhad (AMB) for RM16.12 million from Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB).

With the acquisition, all of AMB's unit trust fund will now be under the offerings of Maybank.

Currently AMB has 30 funds under their management and a strong record under the Bond category. This was recognized when AMB's AMB Income Trust Fund won the Best Bond Malaysia Ringgit (3 & 5 Years Category) at The Edge-Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards Malaysia for the 3rd year in a row.

As an investor, I have also personally witnessed the glory days of AMB's equity fund in 2013 whereby funds like AMB Dividend Trust Fund and AMB Value Trust Fund were the top performers under the equity category.

Moving forward, will we see a resurgence in the performance of their equity funds when it goes under Maybank? Will there be changes to the current fund managers? What will the significant changes made to investment strategy of the funds?

At Invest Made Easy, we will continue to track and monitor the latest changes to these funds. Do stay tune to our blog and don't forget to follow our Facebook page too!

Cheers and Happy Investing!

IME Unit Trust Investment Portfolio 2017 - Performance Review for 2017

We are at the tail end of 2017 and it is time to take a look at our IME Unit Trust Investment Portfolio 2017. Let's take a look at how both portfolios (Conventional and Shariah) performed as of of 21 Dec 2017 as well as the lesson learnt over the past 8 months.

IME Unit Trust Portfolio as of 1st April 2017

Conventional Portfolio - 1 April 2017

Shariah Portfolio - 1 April 2017

IME Unit Trust Portfolio as of 25th April 2017

• Added AM Australia fund and Manulife India Equity fund to the Conventional Portfolio
• Added 5% to TA BRIC & Emerging Market fund and Aberdeen Islamic Asia Pacific ex Japan Equity fund to the Shariah Portfolio

Conventional Portfolio - 25 April 2017

Shariah Portfolio - 25 April 2017

IME Unit Trust Portfolio as of 28th June 2017

• Sold RHB Big Cap China Enterprise fund for profit of  +5.53%
• Sold Eastspring Investments Dinasti Equity fund for profit of +7.00%

IME Unit Trust Portfolio as of 27th July 2017

• Sold Manulife India Equity fund for profit of +5.93%

IME Unit Trust Portfolio performance as of 21st Dec 2017
Here's the summary of the portfolio based on RM100,000 invested into each one. The Conventional portfolio's performance was mediocre while the Shariah portfolio performance was below par. Shown below is the total returns of the portfolios from 1st April 2017 right up till 21st Dec 2017. Also shown are the funds currently in each portfolio as well as the gain or loss of each fund:

Conventional Portfolio Gain/(Loss) : +5.24%

IME Conventional Unit Trust Portfolio 2017 - 21 Dec 2017

Shariah Portfolio Gain/(Loss) : +0.86%

IME Shariah Unit Trust Portfolio 2017 - 21 Dec 2017

Summary
Here are some of the findings and lessons learnt from our first attempt at building a Unit Trust Investment Portfolio based on our Market Prediction for 2017 as well as the Country Attractiveness Indicator provided by The Guided Investor:

Positive

1. Referring to the Market Prediction for 2017, we decided to have Japan, Europe and Emerging Market equity fund as part of a fixed item of the portfolio. For the Conventional portfolio, we recommended Affin Hwang World Series Japan Growth fund (+24.81%), TA European Equity fund (+1.45%) and TA BRIC & Emerging Markets fund (+4.12%). All three funds generated positive return. Similarly for the Shariah portfolio, we recommended Aberdeen Islamic World Equity Fund (+3.90%) and TA BRIC & Emerging Markets fund (+4.12% and +4.70%). Both funds also generated positive return.
2. Using the Country Attractiveness Indicator provided by The Guided Investor, we managed to capture positive returns from the sales of China funds on the 28th of June 2017 -  RHB Big Cap China Enterprise fund (+5.53%) and Eastspring Investments Dinasti Equity fund (+7.00%)
3. The Country Attractiveness Indicator also helped us to capture gain from the sale of India fund on the 27th of July 2017 - Manulife India Equity fund (+5.93%)

Negative

1. The Country Attractiveness Indicator indicated for us to invest into Australia. For this we recommended to invest AM Australia fund (-3.50%) in the conventional portfolio and Aberdeen Islamic Asia Pacific ex Japan Equity fund (-2.00%) under the shariah portfolio. As of date, the indicator is still showing that it is attractive to invest into Australia, therefore we will be holding on to the funds.
2. We allocated 20% for Gold funds as a mitigation action in the event the market crashes. Both funds are in the red of which RHB Gold and Precious Fund is at -2.45% while Precious Metal Securities is at -8.99%. 

Moving Forward

1. The strategy on having fixed investment into funds based on a well researched Market Prediction seems to work. For better accuracy and focus area, we hope to produce a more comprehensive Market Prediction for 2018. Do stay tune and look out for our Invest Made Easy 2018 Market Prediction blog post.
2. We will continue to maintain a 20% allocation into Gold fund as a mitigation for 2018. Despite being in the red for the 2017 portfolio, we will hold on to those funds for 2018 portfolio.
3. We will still continue to follow the recommendation of The Guided Investor for 2018. At the same time, we look forward to introduce new parameters in order to enhance the accuracy and timing. 
4. The lack of funds that are country specific, especially in the Shariah category is affecting the performance of the portfolio. For example having a niche fund which invest into Japan help the conventional portfolio to make better gain. For the shariah portfolio, we had to select a fund which only has partial exposure to Japan thereby reducing the potential gains from our investment.
5. To save on Sales Charge, invest into funds when the 0% Sales Charge promotion is available at eUnittrust. For more information about eUnittrust, check out this LINK

What's coming soon in January 2018?

1. Invest Made Easy 2018 Market Prediction
2. Top Performing Unit Trust Funds for 2017 and Analysis
3. IME Unit Trust Investment Portfolio 2018