Mutual Fund Company Roundup 4

Here's the fourth installment in the mutual fund company series. Today's featured company is ATR KimEng.

ATR KimEng.

Fund types offered:

Bond Fund

 

Equity Fund

 

Balanced Fund

 

Money Market Fund

 

Asian Equity Fund (dollar denominated)

 

 

Minimum initial investment:

P5000 for Equity, Balanced and Money Market fund (exclusive of sales charge)

 

$2,000 for Asia Equity fund (exclusive of sales charge)

 

 

Minimum subsequent investment:

P1000 for Equity, Balanced and Money Market fund (exclusive of sales charge)

 

$500 for Asian Equity fund (exclusive of sales charge)

 

 

Front-end Sales load:

Up to 2% for Balanced and Equity fund

 

0% for Money Market fund

 

Back-end Sales load:

Up to 2% for Balanced and Equity fund

 

Annual Fee

2%

 

 

Website:

ATR KimEng

E-mail:

ird@atram.com.ph

Phone Number:

8481381

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 1: Sunlife and FAMI
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 2: Philam
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 3: Philequity

Some notes about the MF Company Roundups

I got a PM on another forum asking me to comment on the mutual fund companies I've covered in the roundup series. These are (in order of appearance in my posts) Sunlife, FAMI, Philam, and Philequity. Here are my thoughts on each company:

Sunlife
The Good: Sunlife has a long company history that might make it more attractive to risk-averse investors. It also has low minimum investment amounts. If investing for the long-term, sales load charges can go as low as zero.
The Bad: Of the companies listed here, it has the highest annual fee at 2%.
Conclusion: Good for long-term investors looking for moderate returns and zero sales loads.

FAMI
The Good: FAMI was the best performing Philippine MF company of 2011. Minimum investment amounts are low.
The Bad: To some, the phenomenal performance could signal that FAMI is less conservative in its investments than others. There is no "zero sales load" option.
Conclusion: Good for investors who believe that high returns are repeatable.

Philam
The Good: Philam has the lowest annual fee at 1.5% (tied with Philequity). In the long term this could have a significant effect on returns. Good performance in 2010.
The Bad: No "zero sales load" option.
Conclusion: The low annual fee could be attractive to long-term investors, especially those who believe that returns are largely a matter of luck (such as myself)*.

Philequity
The Good: Philequity has an index fund available. In my opinion this is the best type of fund. It also tied with Philam for lowest annual fee.
The Bad: There is no "zero sales load" option. Also, the minimum investment amounts for the index fund are very high: P250,000 for the initial investment and P50,000 for subsequent investments. The index fund also carries a hefty front-end sales load at 5%.
Conclusion: If there were a "zero sales load" option and the minimum investment amounts were lower, this would be the best MF company in the roundup. As of now, however, their offerings are not very attractive.

Stay tuned for more! Check out these links:

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 1: Sunlife and FAMI
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 2: Philam
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 3: Philequity
* An interesting read: Luck vs. Skill

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 3

The stock market has been taking a beating lately. If you started investing or made investments during last year's run-up to the all-time high, now is the time to average down. Your P1000 investment will buy more shares at today's prices. Again, cost averaging. If you haven't started investing then you need to do some research on the different mutual fund companies out there. This is the third in our company roundup series. Let's take a look at Philequity Management, Inc.

Philequity Management Inc.

Fund types offered:

Bond Fund

 

Equity Fund

 

Equity Index Fund

 

Dollar Fund

 

 

Minimum initial investment:

P10000 for Bond fund

 

P5000 for Equity fund

 

P200,000 for Equity index fund

 

$2000 for Dollar fund

 

 

Minimum subsequent investment:

P5000 for Bond fund

 

P1000 for Equity fund

 

P50,000 for Equity index fund

 

$1000 for Dollar fund

 

 

Front-end Sales load:

1% for Bond fund

 

3.5% for Equity fund

 

5% for Equity index fund

 

1% for Dollar fund

 

Back-end Sales load:

1% for Bond fund

Shares redeemed within

2% for Equity fund

one year of investment date

2% for Equity index fund

 

1% for Dollar fund

 

 

Back-end Sales load:

0.5% for Bond fund

Shares redeemed in the

1.5% for Equity fund

second year from investment date

1.5% for Equity index fund

 

0.5% for Dollar fund

 

Annual Fee

1.5%

 

 

Website:

Philequity Management Inc.

E-mail:

sales@philequity.net

Phone Number:

6898080

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 1: Sunlife and FAMI
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 2: Philam
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 4: ATR KimEng

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 2

The next company in our roundup is Philam Asset Management Inc. They have a lot of mutual funds on offer so I'll just post details on a few of them. Please verify all information with an authorized representative before investing.

Philam Asset Management Inc.

Fund types offered:

Bond Fund

 

Balanced Fund

 

Equity Fund

 

GSIS Balanced Fund

 

Dollar Bond Fund

 

 

Minimum initial investment:

P5000 for Bond and GSIS funds

 

P10000 for Balanced and Equity funds

 

$2000 for Dollar Bond Fund

 

 

Minimum subsequent investment:

P1000 for Peso funds

 

$500 for Dollar Bond Fund

 

 

Sales load:

 

 

Investment Amount:

 

P5000 to P99,000

2% front-end load (plus VAT)

P100,000-P499,000

1.5% front-end load (plus VAT)

P500,000-P1,999,000

1% front-end load (plus VAT)

P2,000,000 and higher

0.5% front-end load (plus VAT)

 

Shares redeemed within six months of investment date

1% back-end load (plus VAT)

Shares redeemed later than six months after investment date

Zero back-end load

 

 

Annual Fee

1.5%

 

 

Website:

Philam Asset Management Inc.

E-mail:

pami.marketing@aia.com

Phone Number:

8177264

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 1: Sunlife and FAMI
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 3: Philequity
Mutual Fund Company Roundup 4: ATR KimEng

Mutual Fund Company Roundup 1

I'm going to do a comparison of the different Philippine mutual fund companies. The information on each company will include the types of fund available, minimum investment amounts, sales load, annual fees, and contact information as well as my sources. I will do my best to ensure the information is complete and accurate, but please verify all information before investing.

Let's start with Sunlife and First Metro.

Sunlife Financial Philippines

Fund types offered:

Bond Fund

 

Balanced Fund

 

Equity Fund

 

Money Market Fund

 

Government Securities Fund

 

Dollar Bond Fund

 

Dollar Balanced Fund

 

 

Minimum initial investment:

P5000 for peso funds

 

$2000 for dollar funds

 

 

Minimum subsequent investment:

P1000 for peso funds

 

$500 for dollar funds

 

 

Sales load:

 

Option A:

2% front-end load (plus VAT)

 

0% back-end load

 

 

Option B:

0% front-end load

 

5% back-end load plus VAT if the investment is redeemed within the first year

 

4% back-end load plus VAT if the investment is redeemed within the second year

 

3% back-end load plus VAT if the investment is redeemed within the third year

 

2% back-end load plus VAT if the investment is redeemed within the fourth year

 

1% back-end load plus VAT if the investment is redeemed within the fifth year

 

0% back-end load plus VAT if the investment is redeemed beyond the fifth year

 

 

Annual Fee

2%

 

 

Website:

Sunlife Financial Philippines

E-mail:

phil_prosperity@sunlife.com

Phone Number:

8499888

First Metro Asset Management, Inc.

Fund types offered:

Fixed-income Fund

 

Balanced Fund

 

Equity Fund

 

Money market Fund

 

 

Minimum initial investment

P5000

Minimum subsequent investment:

P1000

 

 

Sales load:

 

 

 

For equity, balanced, and fixed-income funds:

 

Front-end load

 

Php5,000.00 > Php100,000.00

2.00%

Php100,000.00 > Php500,000.00

1.50%

Php500,000.00 > Php2,000,000.00

1.00%

Php2,000,000.00 and above

0.50%

 

 

Back-end load

 

Redemption or exit fee is applicable if redemption or withdrawal is made within the first six months or 180-days of investment. Redemption or withdrawal made beyond six months or 180-days, redemption or exit fee is waived.

 

 

For money-market fund:

 

Php5,000.00 > Php100,000.00

1.00%

Php100,000.00 > Php300,000.00

0.50%

Php300,000.00 and above: Waived = 0.00%

 

 

Back-end load

 

Redemption or exit fee is applicable if redemption or withdrawal is made within the first month or 30-days of investment. Redemption or withdrawal made beyond one month or 30-days, redemption or exit fee is waived.

 

 

Annual Fee

1.75% for equity, balanced, and fixed-income funds

 

1% for money-market fund

 

 

Website:

FAMI

E-mail:

FAMI@firstmetro.com.ph

Phone Number:

8912860 to 65

Roundup Part 2: Philam Asset Management Inc.
Roundup Part 3: Philequity
Roundup Part 4: ATR KimEng

The Best Philippine Mutual Fund Company

One of the most common questions potential investors have is "Which is the best mutual fund company?" In today's post I'm going to write about equity mutual funds, funds that invest in the stock market.

The first thing most people look at is the return of the mutual fund. Companies or individuals may tout high returns. Of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns but many investors still base their choice of mutual fund company on published returns.

Potential investors should do a little more research before getting excited about high returns. What stocks (if it is an equity fund) did the mutual fund company invest in? Did it invest in any speculative stock? How well did the mutual fund do in the last 5 years? 10 years? How well did the fund do during this period compared to other funds? If it is an equity fund, how well did it do compared to the stock market index?

I personally believe that stock-picking and trying to beat the stock market index is largely a matter of luck. By extension equity mutual funds that outperform the stock market index do so mostly by being lucky. This is not a new idea and it is not the purpose of this post to explain it, but let's assume that it's true. What then are the criteria for choosing the best mutual fund?

If choosing the "right" stocks and beating the index is a matter of luck, then the best fund would be one that invests in stocks that are included in the index. The fund company doesn't have to guess which stocks to invest in, they're listed right there on the index. This means that the fund's performance will mirror that of the stock market's.

Wait, anyone can do that! Since the list of stocks on the index is public information, any investor can buy stock for him or herself. Why pay fees for something that's essentially a "no-brainer"? The number one reason (personally) is convenience. I hear it's not that hard to invest in the stock market directly, but I'm too busy right now to learn it. My second reason is that if I invest directly, I'd be tempted to speculate and try to beat the market. But I'm getting off-track... All other things being equal, the best mutual fund would be the one with the lowest fees. Given that the different funds are equally likely to get lucky, or all of them follow the index, the best fund would be the one that charges their investors the least.

To summarize:
1. If investing in an equity mutual fund, go for an index fund.
2. Find the fund with the lowest fees.

Agree? Disagree? Post a comment!