How Are Your Investments Doing?

[ExpatJ]

So stock markets have fallen around 10% or more in the last few weeks/months because of the Euro debacle. I would be interested in hearing:

1) how people are managing.

2) What do you think will happen about the Euro? Will they find a solution? If yes, then that will obviously be a huge buying opportunity for equities everywhere.

As for me- after losing 6k $ in 24 hours during the market turmoil last year , I was monitoring markets much more closely this year and was lucky to sell at the peak or there abouts a few weeks ago- i am zero equities now and have cash sitting in the bank waiting to buy equities once the Eurozone have announced their latest fudge/temporary /permanent solution- at that point money will flood into all stock markets and there should be big profits to be made.

As for Eurozone, i just cant see Germany agreeing to underwrite the weak Euro economies so my prediction is Greece, Spain, Portugal leaves the Euro and then Germany steps up to the plate and guarantees the Euro once the weaker economies have left.

I also have 10% of my portfolio in gold still (bars and ETF) and i expect that to rally as more QE is on the cards in Euro zone and US.

[yoshiwara]

1) how people are managing.

I have had to substitute Vegamite for Marmite in order to comply with IMF imposed austerity measures.

[Darrel]

80% cash on deposit earning an average of just under 5% tax-free, fully-covered by government deposit protection. 20% in shares that pay dividends in excess of 5% and are unlikely to drop far.

I have hardly any Euros these days, mostly because I will probably not visit a Eurozone country for many years if ever. I have no USD for the same reason.

No gold. No silver. No magic beans.

No overpriced Thai condos. Some reasonably-priced property in a country in which I have permanent right of abode, the right to work, access to health-care funded by social security and where such property is easy to rent out all year round at a decent return to local residents.

[Naam]

I have hardly any Euros these days, mostly because I will probably not visit a Eurozone country for many years if ever. I have no USD for the same reason.

i hold neither Angolan Kwanza nor Malawian Kwacha because i will probably neither visit Angola nor Malawi for many years... if ever.

[Naam]

1) how people are managing.

I have had to substitute Vegamite for Marmite in order to comply with IMF imposed austerity measures.

i always substitute Vegemite and Marmite with Bavarian Weisswurst and French Brie in order to comply with the demand of my taste buds.

[BookMan]

1) how people are managing.

I have had to substitute Vegamite for Marmite in order to comply with IMF imposed austerity measures.

Do you have any bad news though?

[Darrel]

i hold neither Angolan Kwanza nor Malawian Kwacha because i will probably neither visit Angola nor Malawi for many years... if ever.

That's something else we have in common then.

[ripstanley]

I have had to substitute Vegamite for Marmite in order to comply with IMF imposed austerity measures.

Glad to see you doing very well to realise that Vegemite is far better then Marmite

[yoshiwara]

I have had to substitute Vegamite for Marmite in order to comply with IMF imposed austerity measures.

Glad to see you doing very well to realise that Vegemite is far better then Marmite

Its cheaper, not better.

[falang07]

I bought gold for EUR a few years ago, the price is now almost double. Gold will be gold, even if the banks go bankrupt, or if the governments buy them back by printing more paper called money. Until they can print gold, I trust it more than I trust the politicians and banks.

[soi41]

Just like all the other superinvestors here on TV, I'm doing extremely well. Always selling at the marketpeaks, always a 100% cash, when the markets are falling Gold and silver I bought 50 years ago, when it was almost free. Ofcourse I managed to sell it at 1900 and bought back at 1500. And yes ofcourse I saw the 4% spike last week coming .

Smarter than any experts, knowing the markets better than anyone else = your average TV investor

[gk10002000]

I really have the largest percentage of my portfolio in bonds (> 500K USD). Tax free municipal bonds in my brokerage account. DIvidend paying stocks elsewhere. Stocks are: T, BHP, AZN, FMY. I like dividends and I bought at good prices. Funds owned: TGMNX, PRTAX, PZA, PRHYX. Then I have about 10 individual Municipal tax free, AMT free.

[fletchsmile]

For investments: I have a large weighting towards Thai equities via mutual funds. These have been doing quite well this year. The SET is one of the best performing markets YTD = up around 7%. The funds I have continue to outperform the index:

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9% (recently went XD so this excludes an additional approx 5% div)

Reminds me a little of 2001/2 where Thai funds pulled me thru a difficult patch quite nicely.

Worst performers are gold (miners) and resources sectors, although my weighting is only about a quarter of that in Thai equities. Even then I have one stock Africa Oil (Ticker AOI:CN) up over 500% (6x value now) which has significantly pulled them up despite being down on Chariot Oil and Gas (CHA) by about 50%. I see gold miners and resource stocks as longer term holds, with significant future upside.

I've a relatively low exposure to European equities, and US equities.

I also switched more out of European and western equities generally into high yield/ corporate bonds/ strategic bond funds a couple of years back, so happy with the yields, even if not that exciting.

So all in all a reasonable year considering. Don't see me making any major changes to the above... The investments are held for longer term. Now trading, that's a different matter...

Edited June 5, 2012 by fletchsmile

[craigt3365]

For investments: I have a large weighting towards Thai equities via mutual funds. These have been doing quite well this year. The SET is one of the best performing markets YTD = up around 7%. The funds I have continue to outperform the index:

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9% (recently went XD so this excludes an additional approx 5% div)

I need to hire you as my advisor! I'm down about 10%...maybe a bit less...over a year ago!!!! Redoing my portfolio as we speak...no fun...

[g00dgirl]

I'm starting to check my Euro notes for the "Y" code and make sure to spend any of those first. All greek notes are marked with "Y" as the first letter of their serial number. Each country that issues Euro has a code and all Euro notes are marked, I just wonder what for ... just in case.

[ExpatJ]

For investments: I have a large weighting towards Thai equities via mutual funds. These have been doing quite well this year. The SET is one of the best performing markets YTD = up around 7%. The funds I have continue to outperform the index:

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9% (recently went XD so this excludes an additional approx 5% div)

Reminds me a little of 2001/2 where Thai funds pulled me thru a difficult patch quite nicely.

Worst performers are gold (miners) and resources sectors, although my weighting is only about a quarter of that in Thai equities. Even then I have one stock Africa Oil (Ticker AOI:CN) up over 500% (6x value now) which has significantly pulled them up despite being down on Chariot Oil and Gas (CHA) by about 50%. I see gold miners and resource stocks as longer term holds, with significant future upside.

I've a relatively low exposure to European equities, and US equities.

I also switched more out of European and western equities generally into high yield/ corporate bonds/ strategic bond funds a couple of years back, so happy with the yields, even if not that exciting.

So all in all a reasonable year considering. Don't see me making any major changes to the above... The investments are held for longer term. Now trading, that's a different matter...

Interesting- but your mutual funds must be down a sizeable amount over the last 1-2 months? I gave up on mutual funds because of the high fees (at least for those managed by HSBC)>

[ExpatJ]

One benefit from having US $ (im paid in US$ here in Thailand), when i changed a 100 $ bill last year i was getting less than 3000 baht, this year im getting 100-200 baht over- a 4-7% return on my cash for doing nothing.

[fletchsmile]

For investments: I have a large weighting towards Thai equities via mutual funds. These have been doing quite well this year. The SET is one of the best performing markets YTD = up around 7%. The funds I have continue to outperform the index:

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9% (recently went XD so this excludes an additional approx 5% div)

Reminds me a little of 2001/2 where Thai funds pulled me thru a difficult patch quite nicely.

Worst performers are gold (miners) and resources sectors, although my weighting is only about a quarter of that in Thai equities. Even then I have one stock Africa Oil (Ticker AOI:CN) up over 500% (6x value now) which has significantly pulled them up despite being down on Chariot Oil and Gas (CHA) by about 50%. I see gold miners and resource stocks as longer term holds, with significant future upside.

I've a relatively low exposure to European equities, and US equities.

I also switched more out of European and western equities generally into high yield/ corporate bonds/ strategic bond funds a couple of years back, so happy with the yields, even if not that exciting.

So all in all a reasonable year considering. Don't see me making any major changes to the above... The investments are held for longer term. Now trading, that's a different matter...

Interesting- but your mutual funds must be down a sizeable amount over the last 1-2 months? I gave up on mutual funds because of the high fees (at least for those managed by HSBC)>

Yes, previously they were up by around 20% ball park, but they've pulled back by between 7% - 11% in the last 1-2 months as you say. Previously some very nice returns but even with the pull back I'm OK. Against the recent pull back I've some small gains on writing options on SET50 index to offset expected pull backs, but minor.

I've always thought the mutual fund/unit trust industry in Thailand is reasonably priced. Somewhat unexpected I'll admit. Aberdeen Growth for example has no front end fee, and annual management fee of about 1.5%, with total annual expense ratio of about 1.75% -ish.

I've held since around 1999, and don't mind these charges being deducted, given an annualised return of about 19.7 % on the fund. It's my largest single holding.

Good Governance, Big Cap Div and Aberdeen LTF are all Long Term Equity Funds (LTFs) in Thai equities where there was an initial tax benefit for investing of up to 37%. Returns exclude this, so actual returns are higher. These LTFs have only been around since about 2005 onwards tho'.

Edited June 6, 2012 by fletchsmile

[fletchsmile]

For investments: I have a large weighting towards Thai equities via mutual funds. These have been doing quite well this year. The SET is one of the best performing markets YTD = up around 7%. The funds I have continue to outperform the index:

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9% (recently went XD so this excludes an additional approx 5% div)

I need to hire you as my advisor! I'm down about 10%...maybe a bit less...over a year ago!!!! Redoing my portfolio as we speak...no fun...

Yes happens to us all at one time or other.

Living in Thailand I think you need some THB assets, and if living in UK or US many people would have assets in UK or US funds, so I do similar here and invest in Thai funds as a significant part of my portfolio. The funds do have their ups and downs. For year ends 2001-2011 Aberdeen Growth has had positive returns in 9 of 11 years, with the best being up just over 100% in 2004, and worst down just over 40% in 2008.

So they're not smooth sailing all the time, and for long term investment. Average annualised return for me ia about 19.7% on Aberdeen Growth = Thai Equity Fund.

If you're working here, Thai Good Governance, Thai Big Cap Div and Aberdeen LTF are all worth looking at for the additional tax benefits (up to 37%) as Long term Equity Funds. These are over and above the returns mentioned, and an additional nice cushion in tough times.

Funnily enough I've observed over the years that even though Thailand shoots itself in the foot regularly, the economic effects are usually temporary. Factors such as the Coup, and Thai floods can have an interesting impact on portfolio diversification. eg this year one factor in outperformance is the evening out of underperfomance last year due to the floods. This impact on timing can actually be useful on a portfolio, as Thailand can be doing well when others aren't. Doesn't always work tho' as 2008 was a bad year like most other equities!

Edited June 6, 2012 by fletchsmile

[CrazyKid]

All my money is invested in the USA Government. When I put it there my thinking was well unlike stocks i don't have to worry about the company going bankrupt, having second thoughts now ( I haven't lost any equity in last 12 months but have not made much). Sometimes safe is insane

[Naam]

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9%

any ISINs available Fletch?

[changnaam]

For investments: I have a large weighting towards Thai equities via mutual funds. These have been doing quite well this year. The SET is one of the best performing markets YTD = up around 7%. The funds I have continue to outperform the index:

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9% (recently went XD so this excludes an additional approx 5% div)

I need to hire you as my advisor! I'm down about 10%...maybe a bit less...over a year ago!!!! Redoing my portfolio as we speak...no fun...

Yes happens to us all at one time or other.

Living in Thailand I think you need some THB assets, and if living in UK or US many people would have assets in UK or US funds, so I do similar here and invest in Thai funds as a significant part of my portfolio. The funds do have their ups and downs. For year ends 2001-2011 Aberdeen Growth has had positive returns in 9 of 11 years, with the best being up just over 100% in 2004, and worst down just over 40% in 2008.

So they're not smooth sailing all the time, and for long term investment. Average annualised return for me ia about 19.7% on Aberdeen Growth = Thai Equity Fund.

If you're working here, Thai Good Governance, Thai Big Cap Div and Aberdeen LTF are all worth looking at for the additional tax benefits (up to 37%) as Long term Equity Funds. These are over and above the returns mentioned, and an additional nice cushion in tough times.

Funnily enough I've observed over the years that even though Thailand shoots itself in the foot regularly, the economic effects are usually temporary. Factors such as the Coup, and Thai floods can have an interesting impact on portfolio diversification. eg this year one factor in outperformance is the evening out of underperfomance last year due to the floods. This impact on timing can actually be useful on a portfolio, as Thailand can be doing well when others aren't. Doesn't always work tho' as 2008 was a bad year like most other equities!

How are you buying the funds Fletch, through the bank, do any of the banks offer a fund platform which you can manage online?

Thanks

[rakman]

If anyone is in bonds, it is looking like a time to move out as inflation and interest rate rise will crush bond values.

The world has experienced a large devaluation of currencies around the world, but upcoming interest rate rise (historically occurs after the recession ends) will probably be worse than normal since the currency injections have been so massive.

Since Greece, Italy and Spain (so far) haven't solved their core problems, interest rate rise in these countries is indicative of future increases around the world.

With the US currently borrowing 40 cents of every dollar being spent, and no end in sight (currently) to the > $ 1 Trillion annual deficits, the economic condition is a ticking time bomb once interest rates start to rise.

This era of artificiality cheap loans won't last forever and the rebound from the flood of money injection is going to be ugly.

[Naam]

If anyone is in bonds, it is looking like a time to move out as inflation and interest rate rise will crush bond values.

don't hold your breath! neither for an end of any recession nor for "upcoming" interest rate rises. moreover, interest rates as set by the ECB have not risen in Greece, Italy and Spain. it's the creditors who demand risk compensation from bankrupt countries or countries on the verge of bankruptcy. these risk additions have no bearing whatsoever on the interest rates of other countries and not even on the same currency. evidence is that "sound" European countries with the same currency €UR pay no or only miniscule interest on their sovereign debt.

note: there are interest rates and there are interest rates to pay. but both can be and are completely different animals.

p.s. based on your assumptions i don't expect that you understand what i am trying to say. but that's nothing to worry about, e.g i don't understand any details when two brain surgeons discuss their latest cases but i'm not worried.

no offence meant!

[MrRealDeal]

It's only going to be ugly if you are on the wrong side of the trade rakman ..... and I wouldn't say Greece is at all indicitive of your average country I would say it's indicitive of what happens when your people want to retire at 50 and half the people cheat on their taxes and everyone wants something free on top of it. ..... not indicitive of very many countries at all.

[Naam]

It's only going to be ugly if you are on the wrong side of the trade rakman ..... and I wouldn't say Greece is at all indicitive of your average country I would say it's indicitive of what happens when your people want to retire at 50 and half the people cheat on their taxes and everyone wants something free on top of it. ..... not indicitive of very many countries at all.

once is acceptable, but i consider three times "indicitive" as "indecent" and eye hurting

[MrRealDeal]

[Naam]

why do i have the funny feeling that you did not understand my indicative posting?

[fletchsmile]

Aberdeen Growth +16%

Aberdeen LTF +15%

ING Thai Equity +11%

ING Thai Good Governance +10.5%

ING Thai Big Cap +9%

any ISINs available Fletch?

Sorry I don't use the ISINs for these. I check the prices via their websites and occasionally look at the factsheets, eg:

http://www.aberdeen-asset.co.th/aam.nsf/thailand/fundinformationfactsheets

http://www.aberdeen-asset.co.th/aam.nsf/thailand/fundinformationhistoricalprices

http://www.aberdeen-asset.co.th/doc.nsf/Lit/FactsheetThailandOpenABG

http://www.ingfunds.co.th/EN/PricesPerformances_FundFactSheet.asp

http://www.ingfunds.co.th/EN/PricesPerformances_FundFactSheet.asp

How are you buying the funds Fletch, through the bank, do any of the banks offer a fund platform which you can manage online?

Thanks

I bought most of them thru my bank.

The individual fund management houses, eg Aberdeen and ING now have their own online platforms, where I believe you can buy/ sell online, such as:

https://secure.aberdeen-asset.co.th/eavenue/

As I started well before these were available, and originally did thru my bank, I don't use them for purchases/ sales. You have to fill in paperwork first for the online access, with each of the providers. Originally when I set most things up it was easier to deal with paperwork thru one source only (the bank), rather than each provider individually. I guess the online solutions change this a bit, but I haven't been thru the hassle of changing everything.

[gk10002000]

If anyone is in bonds, it is looking like a time to move out as inflation and interest rate rise will crush bond values.

The world has experienced a large devaluation of currencies around the world, but upcoming interest rate rise (historically occurs after the recession ends) will probably be worse than normal since the currency injections have been so massive.

Since Greece, Italy and Spain (so far) haven't solved their core problems, interest rate rise in these countries is indicative of future increases around the world.

With the US currently borrowing 40 cents of every dollar being spent, and no end in sight (currently) to the > $ 1 Trillion annual deficits, the economic condition is a ticking time bomb once interest rates start to rise.

This era of artificiality cheap loans won't last forever and the rebound from the flood of money injection is going to be ugly.

I don't care about bond vaules. The bonds I hold, I bought for their interest rates. The value of the bond is not an issue if I hold to maturity.