EPF’s not perfect and not immune. I know.

I personally think returns from the EPF is good enough for me. Yes, I am speaking only for myself yeah. Surely some have better experience than me and some worse. Yes, I have been investing in unit trust for the last 15 years or more probably. It’s continuous on a monthly basis and I treat this more like a long term savings instead of taking an active approach for it. The average returns from all these funds are identical to what EPF has been giving to me.

So, I think it’s okay not to touch the EPF but to use our savings to invest in more wealth generation investments instead. Yes, I have also withdrawn some funds from the EPF and put it into approved unit trusts but the return has been lacklustre thus far. Bad decision on my part for this and perhaps bad timing. Anyway, it’s not so positive for EPF’s results currently. It has lost over RM8 billion in the stocks which it invested in recently.

Article in themalaysianreserve.com As at end June 2019, Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) investment in 191 stocks has dropped by RM7.9 billion because the local equity market was affected by poor corporate performances and global uncertainties. EPF is Malaysia’s largest institutional fund with over RM730 billion in investment assets and the fifth-biggest national pension fund in Asia. It is the th largest pension fund in the world and has a total equity assets of US$35.9 billion (RM149.7 billion) under management through 249 securities.

A compilation by The Malaysian Reserve on Wednesday showed that the total equity value of EPF’s stocks declined to RM149.94 billion compared to RM157.87 billion at the end of the second quarter this year (2Q19), erasing RM7.93 billion in total value. EPF has also warned that the market conditions for the rest of the year would be extremely challenging and volatile.

The fund’s largest exposure is in the financials (38.1%) and consumer staples (15.2%). The remaining include Industrial stocks with 9%, utilities with 8.7%, energy industry with 4.6%, and healthcare (3.4%). EPF’s smallest exposure is in the technology sector with about 0.6%. The article has much more details about EPF’s investments and its return from individual stocks. Please refer to the Article in themalaysianreserve.com

With a volatile stock market, its going to be tough to stay positive where equity is concerned. However, what EPF has which many may not will be holding power. This is the same as property. Two persons buying the same property may not have the same returns because when the market suddenly dips, the one who could hold will hold while the one who could not hold will sell. Thus, one will lose money while the other may sell when the market becomes positive again. Remember yeah, even the Fixed Deposit rate is now less than 4 percent. Lets have right expectations when EPF declares their 2019 results. Happy deciding and feel free to withdraw and invest in some funds which you believe will do better than EPF this year.

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