After slightly more than 4 years, I finally decided to liquidate my unit trust portfolio completely. I entered sell orders for all remaining portfolio worth $217,000.00 last Monday. The full proceeds will be available by next Thursday and I plan to inject the fund into my low cost portfolio.
Through the unit trust experience, I learnt about diversification, portfolio allocation, sitting tight, and taking long term view when investing. It helped me in formulating the strategy for my low cost portfolio. I enjoyed the investment talk that Fundsupermart organized. Though there were marketing talks, but there was also precious nuggets that I picked up from the fund manager when they shared their thought process while making investment decision.
I also enjoyed the exclusive dinner invitation, which were held in 4-5 star hotels. You'd get to hear the fund manager sharing his/her view and thought process, while enjoying a decent 3 course meals, a nice cup of coffee with a small piece of chocolate. Unfortunately I didn't get the invitation this year, which made the decision to exit easier .... lol. Well, the platform fee which could amount to $800+ per annum was killing me. So it's time to say good bye.
iFAST IPO price was 95 cents. It went up to as high as $1.51. Recently it traded around 93 cents, which was below its IPO price. With many investors awake to the idea that they can build their own low cost portfolio with ETF or dividend stocks, I think iFAST will have challenges and headwinds to continue their business model of collecting ongoing fees. iFAST already felt the heat and has revised down their platform fee. It will be interesting to see if iFAST current business model will last.
HI Yaruzi,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you say good bye to unit trust ,,, I think is better to build your own low cost portfolio , even with ETF ,,which is more cost effective in the long run... Just my two cents,,,
Cheers !!
Thanks STE, I'm still learning and I hope to learn from each other.
DeleteI saw your "Rojak and Kiasu" portfolio and it looks like a solid dividend stock portfolio.
Yaruzi,
ReplyDeleteI bit sad to see the "live" experiment between unit trusts and ETFs ended quicker than I expected...
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
You are the few who base your major investing decision on actual personal track record; and not what other people say or what you have read ;)
It may appear its a contest between high fees and low costs. That's the distraction.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see whether active DIY investing will trimph your previous passive outsourced investing approach.
I'm happy again.
The saga continues!
Hi SMOL,
DeleteI tried not to be a "nail" looking for "hammer" ... Lol. Whether active or passive, I just want to have a peaceful sleep :-) and more time to enjoy than to worry about the portfolio. Busy time for me is when most index or markets went deep in red.
ReplyDeleteLet our own records verify it. DIY or Outsource. Where should we focus our limited time and energy?
CW,
DeleteTo live and enjoy life for sure. Isn't that the reason many people aim for "financial independent" in the first place? We shouldn't forget the end goal and become slave in the process.
Hi Yaruzi,
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you mentioned about iFAST. I took the opportunity in this correction to nibble on it......but then I stopped after that. With investors' increasing inclination towards ETF, I wonder how they would survive. Will its cash hoard save the day? Hmmm
Hi UI
ReplyDeleteNot everybody want to DIY, so I guess there will always be investor who prefer unit trusts. Having said that I think fees will get lower in the long run, when there are more and more lower cost options available to investors. iFast has lowered it's platform fee, but may need to lower it even more.