Travelling to Kuala Lumpur and Bahrain

I shall be in Kuala Lumpur for the next three days. Early next week, I shall be in Bahrain for 4 days. During these periods, my blog may have fewer postings.

Near target of 1,000 visitors

I had 974 visitors yesterday. This is just a few short of my target of 1,000 visitors. I have most visitors on Mondays, as it is after the weekend, and there is a small column in MyPaper taken from my blog.

I hope to have an average of 1,000 visitors a day. Currently, the average is still less than 800 visitors.

Do pass the word around, to get more people to visit my blog.

Timing the market

It is difficult to time the market. Will the market drop further? It is possible. But no one knows. If it does drop further, when is a good time to invest?

Some people advice that it is better to wait for the market to drop to the bottom and wait for the rebound. But it is still difficult to catch the right time, as the market may drop again after the rebound.

Other people advice that it is better to wait for 6 to 12 months to see wait until the credit crisis is over.

My personal view is:

1. It is difficult to time the market.
2. The stockmarket has corrected to an attractive value
3. It is all right for a long term investor to start investing
4. Due to the uncertainty, the investment can be made in tranches over the next six months

I am adopting the above approach for my personal investment (of which about 50% is still in cash).

Warren Buffet is making strategic purchases at this time, as they represent good value.

All the best for your investments.

Expense ratio of investment funds

From MAS website:

Expense Ratio (%) = (Total operating expenses * 100)/Average Net Asset Value

Operating expenses refers to all costs charged to the fund during the reporting period.
These would ordinarily include, but are not limited to:
• Management fee;
• Trustee fee;
• Administration fee;
• Accounting and Valuation fees;
• Custodian, sub-custodian and depository fees;
• Registrar fees;
• Legal and professional fees;
• Printing and distribution fees;
• Audit fee;
• Amortised expenses;
• Performance fee
• GST on expenses.

The following expenses may be excluded from the computation of the expense ratio:
• Interest expense;
• Brokerage and other transaction costs associated with the purchase and sales of investments (such as registrar charges and remittance fees);
• Foreign exchange gains and losses of the fund, whether realised orunrealised;
• Tax deducted at source or arising on income received, including withholding tax;
• Front end loads, back end loads and other costs arising on the purchase or sale of a foreign unit trust or mutual fund, including any costs arising where a Singapore feeder fund invests into an off-shore parent-fund. Such expenseswould generally be capitalised into the cost of the investment and will subsequently be reflected as a diminution in net asset value when the investment is first marked to market after purchase;
• Dividends and other distributions paid to unit-holders.