All Mutual Funds Processed

I bought four funds in total and was waiting for all of them to be processed before I name the funds I bought. Well… here’s a disclaimer: I didn’t spend much time to research each of the Mutual Funds, so it would probably be wise not to follow my lead. Please note that each of us is responsible for our own investments and only take on risks that you can afford. For me, the sum I invested on each fund isn’t a huge amount, which explains why I didn’t do much research. Sad to say so, this small insignificant sum is almost all the money I have.

Of course, I didn’t just buy all blindly either. I did read up reports and look at the performance of different markets and regions in the past few years. For example, I have decided that India has risen very fast and it’s quite unclear whether the trend will carry on, since the Price/Earning ratio is very high. On one hand, I think that funds will still continue to flow to India and performance should still be steadily high, but on the other, I feel uncomfortable with the valuations. Therefore, I decided that if it makes me uncomfortable, I’m not going to touch it. Now, let’s go on to the different funds I bought and my rationale for purchasing each fund.

UOB - United Asian Growth Opportunities
I’m joining the crowd, believing that Asia has growth opportunities. As for the reason I picked this relatively new Asian Equity fund instead of other funds that have been around longer, I can’t really explain it. Fund performance so far: -0.5%

HSBC - Chinese Growth
Well… although the previous fund already has over 30% of their holdings in China, I still find it quite tempting to buy into this China Equity fund. The reason behind this purchase is damn stupid and you’ll probably call me idiot and laugh at me for the rest of the week. It’s in the name, HSBC stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Since Shanghai is a city in China, it makes sense to infer that HSBC should be competent with how China works. Haha… actually, it does not make much sense, but I still decided on it anyway. Fund performance so far: -1.1%

Henderson - European Property Securities
I bought this fund because I noticed quite a lot of advertisements of buying land on buses. When I went to those websites, they were advertising the purchase of European properties. Therefore, it led me to think that if they are so aggressive in their marketing campaigns, they should be experiencing good growth in the years to come. However, after buying the fund, I did further research that shows that perhaps this could be my worst fund purchase. The reason being European properties are currently at very high costs and could potentially face a correction. Regardless, I made my choice and I will stay with it. Even if it faced a correction, I believe it will go back up over time. I’m investing for the long-term anyway. Fund performance so far: -3.9%

Fidelity Latin America A-USD
I was a bit apprehensive to buy a USD-denominated fund, since I read on the newspaper some months ago that says MAS intends for Singapore dollar(SGD) to remain strong for 2 years. Even though USD to SGD exchange rate is very low now, I trust the capability of the people running Singapore and believe that SGD will remain strong if they intended it. Regardless, I still bought it, because I believe in the potential of Emerging Markets as well. Fund performance so far: -2.8%

Overall Performance: -2.1%

Well… my method of picking Mutual Funds will likely be criticized by highly financially literate people as rash and irrational. However, I think I’m comfortable with the level of risk and potential returns, since Mutual Funds almost always perform around the level of the markets. The steps I took to pick my funds was first narrowing down the regions, then going into each region and choosing the fund I’m most comfortable with. At the moment, I’m highly positive on all the funds I picked, with the exception of Henderson European Property Securities, which I’m maintaining a semi-positive view. Let’s see how long it will take for my portfolio to breakeven.