Retirement Corner:
Bullet Proof Your Portfolio Now!

          Remember the old saying ‘When the cat is away, the mice go on a rampage'? And that's exactly what they did on September 19 th when Prime Minister Thaksin was ousted from power. Whether you agree with the cat or the mice, it does not really matter any more because the damage has already been done. But what you can do is to bullet-proof your retirement portfolio, excuse the pun, if you have not done so already.

          One way to do this is to diversify, not just locally but globally. Take our Equity Growth Provident Fund for example, it is 80% invested offshore in global equity and allocation funds, while the remaining 20% is well diversified in a SET-50 Index Fund. The results? Since its inception, the fund posted a positive return of 4.3 % vs. - 1.26 % for the SET-50 Index. In fact the fund beat the SET-50 Index during all periods going back, 1,3,6 and 12 months. As a result of its asset allocation strategy, the fund enjoys much lower standard deviation, 9.58 % compared to the SET-50 Index with 18.72 % during the period under review. In layman's language, the Equity Growth Fund has half the risk.

          Admittedly, in times like these the natural response for most investors is to run towards the safety of bonds and cash. But when it comes to investing for retirement, it is crucial that you must have the discipline to invest for the long term and equity is the only asset class that will realistically get you towards your goal. In fact the Equity Growth Fund only suffered minor set back during the September 19-21 st period because the fund only has 20% exposure to the SET and the weakness of the THB also contributed to the positive return of the fund. For more information on how you can make use of our Employee's Choice service, please call our Client Services Group on Tel. 0-2352-4000.