Calculating ASB Dividends & Bonus
Oh my goodness, the dividend rate and bonus rate for your ASB investment is so-and-so percent! That’s great! So… What does it mean actually? How much are you actually getting? How do you calculate that?
Alright, two of the main components of returns from Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) are the DIVIDENDS and the so called BONUS. Always, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), will release announcements of the dividend and bonus rates in the media towards the end of the year. Remember that the rates are annual rates. Now, let’s learn on how to ACTUALLY make sense of these rates.
Calculating Dividend
The formula is:
Annual Dividend Rate/12 Months X Average monthly balance for the year
Example:
Say, Dividend rate = 10%, Average monthly balance for the year= RM10,000
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (15)
So, (10% / 12) X RM10,000 = RM83.33
ASB Rates for Previous Years
As requested by Shirley, here are the ASB Dividend rates and the bonus rates for previous years.
Year Dividend(%) Bonus(%)
1990 8.0 6.0
1991 8.5 4.0
1992 7.5 5.0
1993 9.0 4.5
1994 9.5 4.5
1995 10.0 3.0
1996 10.25 3.0
1997 10.25 1.25
1998 8.0 2.5
1999 10.50 1.5
2000 9.75 2.0
2001 7.0 3.0
2002 7.0 2.0
2003 7.25 2.0
2004 7.25 2.0
2005 7.25 2.0
2006 7.20 1.5
2007 7.30 1.25
(Source: From all over the World Wide Web)
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (12)Latest ASB Dividend Rate
Just heard in the radio. The latest dividend rate for ASB for the end of financial year 31 December 2007 is 8 sen per unit plus 1 sen per unit bonus. That’s a total of 9% return. Watch out for the news.
ASB holders, get your account books ready. Account-book-update-period coming up!
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (5)Fund’s Strong Performance
Most of us would agree that in determining which investment products are suitable for us, we look at their track records. In this example, let’s use mutual funds as an illustration.
First, we should remember that what happened in the past is no indicator of what’s going to happen in the future.
I’ve read about this a few times and I’ve experienced this phenomenon myself as well. Usually, what’s at the top of the ladder this year might not perform so well next year. Though this could be wrong, it is actually what generally happens.
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (13)Borrow to Invest : ASB Loan Part 1
In Malaysia, undoubtedly Amanah Saham Bumiputera or ASB is the hottest product amongst the Bumiputeras. Refer to my previous ASB post. There are a number of strategies out there in investing in ASB. One of it is taking up ASB loan. So, is it worth it? In this post, I’ll be analysing ASB loan method. The analysis is a bit mathematical, so, bear with me. Please take note that this analysis is based on a number of assumptions. Also, please remember that as I am not an expert, this analysis is of my own and is subject to error. Consult your licensed financial adviser. Alright, that being out of the way, let’s get on with the analysis.
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (47)Public Mutual: Public Asia Ittikal Fund & Public Islamic Dividend Fund
Right after exiting my Amanah Saham Didik (ASD) investment position, I split the money and bought into Public Asia Ittikal Fund (PAIF) and Public Islamic Dividend Fund (PIDF). PAIF and PIDF are a couple of unit trust products available from Public Mutual. Public Mutual, as you all know is a division of Public Bank.
The funds I entered are Syariah-compliant, which simply means, it has been approved by the supervising bodies that their investment methods to be in accordance with the Islamic law.
Before investing in these funds, you are assigned a Unit Trust Consultant where he/she will guide you through the whole process. As for me, I got hold of my consultant’s business card from her sister-in-law’s bakery by chance. I called her up and she came to my house.
At the beginning of the process, they’re supposed to explain to you what unit trust is all about, what does Public Mutual offers, why are they better, which funds you should invest in, yada yada yada. I didn’t think she did a good job in explaining, but well… I did invest through her.
One thing to note though. Both these funds charge you a hefty sales charge fee upon entering. How much? A huge 6.5%!!! Yup, 6.5%. If you wanted to invest RM10,000, then they will deduct RM650, leaving you with RM9350 as the starting capital. Effectively, you funds need to at least make 6.96% return to get back to where you started at RM10,000.
[ RM650 / RM9350 X 100% = 6.95187% ]
Take note that the 6.5% sales fee is only charged once. However, there are also annual management fees. For PAIF, the management fee is 1.55% and for the PIDF, the management fee is 1.5%.
When you keep track of the funds’ performance in the newspaper, you’ll note that the price is quoted in its Net Asset Value (NAV). This is the price that you get when you decide to redeem your money (i.e. exit your position).
ASD : Amanah Saham Didik
Amanah Saham Didik (ASD) is another product available from Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB).
Around mid last year (2006), I invested some of my money in Amanah Saham Didik (ASD). Around mid this year (2007), when I went back to Malaysia for my Winter Hols (Yup, we have winter in the middle of the year here in Australia), I took all my money out and invested in Public Mutual instead. Well, I did left a small sum in my ASD account. Anyway, I’ll talk about Public Mutual another time. This post is about ASD.
So, why did I get my money out from ASD? One simple reason really. The returns that I received did not fit my risk profile. I regard myself as a high-risk investor, so, a return of 6.5% (If I’m not mistaken, this was ASD’s rate of return for 2007), really frustrates me. However, since I did in fact invested in ASD, I’m going to share with you the features of ASD.
While being briefed by PNB’s unit trust consultant, she told me that if a person’s Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) account is full, then your next best option would be to invest in ASD. So, I’m assuming, this is the second best after ASB.
ASD is regarded as a growth fund which invests in a diversified portfolio of equities, fixed income, money market and some other securities (though their main focus is equities).
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (13)ASB : Amanah Saham Bumiputera
In Malaysia, ASB (short of Amanah Saham Bumiputera) is one of the hottest unit trust products in Malaysia. People like ASB because of the product’s ease of understanding and ease of getting your money in and getting your money out. The returns on average are fairly alright. Way over any fixed deposit rates in Malaysia. ASB is one of the products offered by PNB (short for Permodalan Nasional Berhad), a Malaysian Asset Management company.
Here are some features of ASB: Click to Continue Reading
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (207)
