Derek’s first book, Huat Ah! Building Wealth in Singapore with Unit Trusts is available at Kinokuniya, MPH and Popular!
Alternatively, to grab a copy and Huat!, email bwutbook@gmail.com. Special price of $25 (with autograph and mailing, no GST.) 🙂
Read the book first and email him comments and your experience with Unit trusts at bwutbook@gmail.com to attend the mini group discussion and connect with other like minded investors.
Dates for the group discussions are:
Jan 23, 2016
April 24, 2016
July 23rd, 2016
Derek Gue 
Hi Derek,
Recently started reading your book. two queries I have right now:
1. Why do fund managers sell UT through distributors. Isn’t it better and more cost effective to appoint one trustee and sell UT by themselves?
2. Besides the parameters in chapters 2.7 and 8 (NAV, expense ratio etc), are there any parameters you would look at to value a UT? does it make sense to value UT by PE and retracement?
Hi Jasin.
Many fund houses in Singapore still sells/distribute their funds directly at their office. As all fund houses love a greater reach and increase their Assets under Management as quickly as possible, they will want to tap on the traffic and customers of banks and other distribution channels as widely as possible. This strategy may be more cost effective than just selling the UT themselves and can free themselves to focus, manage and grow the NAV of the fund through the acquisition and disposal of the holdings in the UT.
Other than NAV, Expense ratio, you can look at the sharpe ratio, risk return ratio, min-max NAV vs current NAV and also the 3 years annualized volatility. (More details in Chapter 9, page 115-116). To obtain these other ratios, you can ask from the distributor or you can write in to ask from the fund house.)
It is difficult, almost impossible to use PE ratio for UT, because of the composition of over 30 Companies in the holdings of 1 single equity UT. PE is easier to calculate for stocks .
Retracement is not commonly calculated in UT or comparing UT performance.
Hope this helps in your investing journey.