different types of investments
Investing

Roasting Different Types of Investments in Malaysia (Everything That Sucks About Them)

BySuraya
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For non-Millennials out there, I don’t mean ‘roasting’ like cook chicken like that. I mean ‘roasting’ as in giving snarky comments.

Hold my earrings, my inner bitch persona is coming out. Enjoy this post roasting the different types of investments you can get in Malaysia. 

Investment: Mutual funds / Unit trust

1) ASB and other mutual funds by Amanah Saham Berhad that’s only available for Bumi folks promote the continuation of racism in Malaysia. I said what I said.

Related: [PERSONAL] Malay and Money: A Reflection

2) There are too goddamn many unit trusts products out there and who the hell has the time to check each prospectus to decide which one ‘is suitable for them’?

I got so frustrated that I pretty much eenie-meenie-minie-mo’d the unit trust I picked for my PRS account. Damn you for making this a borderline gambling activity.

3) Fund management companies slapping you with up to 6% sales fee for every transaction PLUS high management fees – you’re committing daylight robbery and you know it.

4) Funds worth billions of ringgit from EPF were channelled to 1MDB. They say that things should be fine, but nervous siot that’s a lot of our retirement money on the line!

5) Tabung Haji, primarily used by Muslims to save up for their hajj, contributes to the development and wealth of Saudi Arabia, essentially a glorified family business. They ain’t so good with protecting human rights, too.

Note: I invest in ASB and PRS

Investment: Fixed Deposits

1) Last time (before May 2018), banks will at least give you 1/2 of the interest rates if you withdraw prematurely, provided you’ve let the money sit there for at least 3 months.

Now they changed the policies – no interest will be paid at all if you withdraw prematurely.

Suck. Not enough profit is it? Must give penalty to those who have no choice but to withdraw early because they need the money is it? (Thanks to reader Mr Lim Chin Kah for telling me about this!)

Investment: Gold

1) Gold-holders kinda get happy when there is economic uncertainty and the stocks market not doing well, because then the gold price tends to go up. What a sucky thing to be happy about.

Note: I invest in gold

Investment: Property

(Strictly referring to property as investment. Not buying property for own stay)

1) So many people buy it to rent it out as homestay or AirBnB for the higher ROI (as opposed to renting it to long-term renters). There are even groups who pool their money together to buy properties in ‘wholesale’ from developers, thus getting it cheaper.

You know that pushes property prices higher and affecting everyone else who simply want to buy property for their own stay right? Ugh, no wonder we’re in a property bubble.

Investment: Cryptocurrencies

1) Cryptocurrency mining uses at least twice the energy of mining gold and copper. What a waste of energy. Can’t imagine it being good for the environment! (Edit: A reader sent evidence to contradict this – see comments section)

2) Crypto bros showing off their wealth from crypto gainz – Lambo here Lambo there ugh feel like vomiting.

Note: I invest in cryptocurrencies

Investment: Stocks

1) ‘Good’ stocks from blue-chip companies tend to be companies that promote consumerism as a lifestyle. Keep telling you to buy shit you don’t need.

Investment: Equity Crowdfunding (ECF)

Don’t know enough about this. Those who do it, what do you not like about it? Give me your roasts in the comments section.

Investment: P2P Lending

1) Investors are pretty much glorified loan sharks. We take advantage and profit a high 12-18+% from companies that are not able to borrow money from banks.

Note: I invest in P2P lending

Investment: ETF (exchange-traded funds)

1) ETFs are generally good but apparently the ones available in Malaysia right now not so liquid. Meaning if you buy it, very hard to sell in case you need the money.

Give me YOUR roasts for different types of investments in Malaysia!

Well that’s a lot of things off my chest! Kinda nice to rant about these different types of investments, usually you only hear good things about them. Yes yes I know no system is perfect. There are so many things still that we can improve about our financial ecosystem.

This is not an article to deter you from investing btw. You should totally do it, right after you clear off your high-interest debts and save up emergency money (3-6 months of living expenses).

We just have to make sure we’re okay with the cons of the investment type and that it doesn’t clash too much with our personal values, because if it does, that’s on our conscience.

How about you? Which investments do you have and what don’t you particularly like about it?


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17 Comments

  1. HI Suraya,

    Thanks for the information! 🙂

    I do invest in Gold (HelloGold), unit trust (via Fundsupermat), PRS, stocks and P2P.

    Planning to start invest in Amanah Saham too! But too bad, as I want to invest in the fixed price amanah saham fund, which is quite hard to grab!

    Among all, i don’t like to invest in unit trust. Though i bought the fund via a cheaper sales charges as what offered by Fundsupermart, one will still get charges every year regardless you earn or loss in the investment. Would recommend ETF or index fund as an alternative to unit trust.

    Thanks! 🙂

    Reply

  2. On mining cryptocurrency is harmful to the environment. There’s tons of misleading articles by MainStreamMedias. Here’s some to rebut them.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-07/bitcoin-is-greener-than-its-critics-think

    https://blog.bitcoin.org.hk/bitcoin-mining-and-energy-consumption-4526d4b56186

    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/bitcoin-miner-revamps-alcoas-aluminum-factory.html

    https://phys.org/news/2018-08-energy-bitcoin.html#jCp

    Reply

  3. Hi Suraya! Thanks for the information! Just sharing, I invest in gold, ASB & TH and recently I just invest in unit trust. Been delaying for a long time because like you, I also have the same sentiment towards unit trust like why la have so many products -___- but i’m lucky because my mom is a banker so she helped me to choose which unit trust product suited for me. Actually, she has been nagging at me to invest to help her contribute to her bank’s KPI target -_-“” i invested in gold at the bank where she works too because of the KPI thingy too. Oh the things a daughter would do for her parents kan. Nasib legit lolol

    Anyway, have you heard about Green SRI Sukuk? I read it somewhere but because i am knowledge in finance is almost zero, I don’t understand not a micro bit of it. Also, I’m interested to know about ETF! Hope somebody can chip in about that!

    Reply

      1. Ahh okay. Bonds huh, brb googling! #financenoobie

        Oh before that, thank you for linking your article! Wonder why I didn’t read that article before… Must have overlooked. Hmm.

        Reply

      2. I think you can subscribe to sub-sale bonds/sukuk via investment banks. Try to talk to an investment banker & let me know the outcome of it.

        Reply

  4. Hey Suraya!

    Thanks for the article. May I ask which fund did you pick for your PRS (even if you closed your eyes and picked it) and how has the fund performed so far?

    I have a pretty low risk appetite but I’m only 21, do you think it wise to go for Ambank’s Conservative fund Class D?

    Hope you could give some advice on this.

    Thanks!!

    Reply

    1. Hey Elizabeth,

      Like many others, the PRS fund I picked didn’t perform well too. I’m not comfortable sharing which exactly I picked because really, there’s no deep meaning behind it. I just picked from one of the syariah ones.

      You can pick whichever fund you want. However I can say that conservative funds is more for wealth preservation for older folks. You have time on your side. I’d suggest growth or moderate funds, but again pick whichever you want. Not starting investing is worst than picking the ‘wrong’ fund.

      All the best!

      Reply

  5. “Rental Property for Passive Income”. An often repeated mantra by sales agents, property investment “gurus”. They paint rosy images that one will be sipping pina colada on the beach/or cappucino in hipster cafes whilst money is rolling in from rentals.

    Any of the “experts” spewing this advise should be taken out and shot.

    There’s nothing “passive” about propery rentals.

    As landlord, you have to screen your tenants. You have to take time out to bring prospective tenants to view property. You have to answer tenants when there’s leakage or cracks appearing. You also have to take time off when supervising repairs. And there’s the heartache/horror when your tenant trashes the place/used your place to sell drugs/as a brothel etc. And since your name is listed as the owner, the police call you in. Imagine the akward questions family members will be asking

    Reply

  6. I agree with your roast about crypto bros. The bitcoin subreddit is full of them and sometimes feels like a waste of time scrolling through looking for good insights.
    Have you heard of Celsius Network by the way? It might be something worth looking into since you’re invested in crypto.
    Full disclaimer: I’m an absolute fan of the service and hold some of their CEL tokens too.

    Reply

  7. Dear Suraya,

    You are a brave person. You have said what no other person dares to mention, especially the first paragraph under investment, although you maybenefit from it. You have my utmost respect. I salute you. Peace.

    Reply

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