Public Mutual Fund | Random Thoughts

Update 140312: Want free RM 500?

I opened a Public Mutual fund account last month through a part-time agent who works in the same company as me. The account was approved recently.

The main reason I was attracted by the fund initially was that I could invest using my EPF (Employee Provident Fund) saving (from account 1, if you are wondering). I thought to myself since I cannot touch the money in account 1 until I reach my retirement age, why not use the money to invest in something the might generate higher return?

There are certain requirements to meet:

EPF Basic Saving* (Account 1)

Age (Year)	Basic Savings (RM)	Age (Year)	Basic Savings (RM)
18	1,000	37	34,000
19	2,000	38	37,000
20	3,000	39	41,000
21	4,000	40	44,000
22	5,000	41	48,000
23	7,000	42	51,000
24	8,000	43	55,000
25	9,000	44	59,000
26	11,000	45	64,000
27	12,000	46	68,000
28	14,000	47	73,000
29	16,000	48	78,000
30	18,000	49	84,000
31	20,000	50	90,000
32	22,000	51	96,000
33	24,000	52	102,000
34	26,000	53	109,000
35	29,000	54	116,000
36	32,000	55	120,000

(* the above table is no longer up-to-date, source)

Update: New table effective 1 January 2014Â here. See blow:

EPF Basic Savings

You need to have at least a certain amount of saving in your EPF account 1 according to your current age. For example, I am 28 year-old and I will need to have RM ~~14000~~ 21000 plus at least RM 5000 in account 1 (which means a total of RM ~~19000~~ 26000) to be able to invest in the Public Mutual EPF Investment Scheme. The additional RM 5000 is the minimum requirement to be eligible for the program. You can only invest 20 % of the additional money of your account 1. In the example, the additional money available is equal to RM 5000 (~~19000 – 14000~~ 26000 – 21000) and 20 % of it equals to RM 1000. You can use the RM 1000 to invest in the funds.

The bad news is: I only start working for about 18-9 months and my saving in account 1 is still not meeting the minimum requirement of the program. To add insult to injury, I was informed by the public mutual agent (another agent) recently that the basic saving table was being revised and the minimum saving required was increased to RM 21000 for those who are 28 year-old. That means I will need to have at least RM 26000 (21000 + 5000) to be eligible to the program. There is still a long time to go before I can benefit from the EPF investment scheme. 🙁

However, there is an alternative to invest in Public Mutual funds: using cash. The fee is about 5.5 % (3% for EPF investment scheme). By cash, you can invest any amount you want. But you will be charged 5.5 % for each purchase.

There are many funds to choose from. You can get the catalog that reviews all the available funds here:

Catalog that reviews all available funds

You can track the real time price of the funds here:

One of the Public Mutual Funds

You can also look at the recent performance of the funds here:

Performance of one of the funds since commencement till now

The performance for this particular fund “Public Regular Savings Fund” seems too good to be true: 500 % for around 20 years which translates to about 8.38 % annualized return!

The good thing about cash investment is that you can do it online from here. You will need to apply for access first by referring to the website.