Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM)

Camping at Maybank? Some of my friends were puzzled when I told them I will be going for a camp. However, close friends knew that my destination was to Maybank instead to purchase the Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) which was selling like hot cakes. It was an issue that have been long discussed. Ever since the Prime Minister announced that there will be a new unit trust called Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia, I were searching the information online as well as friends around. A shocking finding was that many of them about 40% had actually bought ASM long time ago. I had heard about ASM previously but too naive to know what was it all about until today. So, what is ASM? The below images were captured from the ASNB website.

In short, ASM is like a fixed deposit. The difference would be the return rates or interest rates. You can only buy the unit trust during the selling period after which it is difficult for you to purchase unless there is people selling off their units but very slim chance.

Normally, during the first launching, there will be NO limit to the amount you wish to purchase. Then, there might be additional fund in the subsequent years of which the unit trust holders can purchase additional unit for their investment. If not mistaken, there is no race quota for this unit trust when it was introduced. As the time changed, the policy also had changed.

ASM is an equity-income fund launched in 2000 with a fund size of two billion units which were fully subscribed in 21 days. It must be noted that such unit trust has quota for different races. On 21 April 2009, 3.33 billions additional unit were open for sale. RM 1.665 billion (50%) were allocated for the Bumiputras, 999 millions (30%) for Chinese, 499.5 million (15%) were allocated to Indians and the remaining 5% for other races. All the Chinese quota was sold off while 99.4% or 496 millions quota for Indians were purchased as on 7 July 2009. All the Chinese allocations has been sold off within hours or HALF DAY.

As on 20 July 2009, the allocations for the Indians have been totally sold out. The Bumiputras bought 7.65 millions (50%) from the allocated 1.665 billion. There was a total of 1.635 billions unsubscribe ASM units for Bumiputra which probably include those units from previous ASM launch that was unsold. The expiry of this newly introduced quota based offer period was till 20 July 2009, after which will open for sale to ALL.

The minimum initial investment is 100 unit or RM 100. However, it is only logical for investors to invest at the minimum RM 1000 in order to gain good return. This ASM is yearly basis sort of FD which expiry on every 31 March. From the table above, the dividend payout is as high as 6.25 to 7.8%. Lets take 2009 as an example. At the current FD rate of 2.5 % per year, the difference if you invest the money into ASM is additional 3.75 % (6.25-2.5%) CASH into your account. It is exactly 2.5 x more interest rate or return to your investment.

I myself predicted that the dividend payout for 2010 will be slightly higher based on the current positive economic boost. (compared to other countries globally) Lets say you have a capital of RM 100, 000 and you used it to purchase ASM. If you have any FD or special investment FD alike plan offered by the banks, the interest rate would be 2.5-3.5% per year. Compared to ASM, you are actually earning RM 6250/year (as for 2009) rather than RM 2500-RM 3500.

As the terms investment, the more you invest the visible is the figure of earning. As compared to any other forms of investment, this ASM or any other related unit trusts are the SAFEST in terms of cost and risk of investment.

On 21 July 2009, PNB offered 1.6 billion unsubscribed ASM units including the Bumiputera quota to all Malaysians. However, there was 20,000 unit maximum limit for investors to ensure all the people have the equal chance to purchase and to prevent the rich to buy all the remaining units. It is a fair for all investment. If you want to purchase and earn some money, you need to compete with the rest of Malaysians to grab this opportunity.

The fundamental of purchasing this unit trust is to QUEUE up as early as possible. For those who had bought before and own an investment book, it is much faster for them to top up their account or investment than those newbies spending at least 10-15 minutes registering for new account. Such great deal is mainly targeted to low to moderate income Malaysians to somehow earn some money and learn on investment.

So, as planned, I met up with Vun at 7.30 am at Maybank, Taman Connought. He came earlier a bit than me and was 2 persons in front of me. There were many other friends whom I told them about this plan and interested on it. However, this ASM might be new to them and they need time to decide and prepare the investment capital. I suggest to those who are interested to open up a account now based on your convenience and later top up your investment as needed when you think the need arise. Early minimum investment can save up your time in future as you no need to wait a longer queue to register a new account.

See.. this was the queue at 7.30 am and there were about 20-30 people in earlier than me. Those experienced uncles and aunties brought along foldable stool, newspaper and some foods along. For the younger one, they brought along headset to listen to the music while reading books. (the person in front of me) It is always good to have somebody to accompany you to prevent you dying from boredom. This was my first time experience queuing up and will never forget the long hours I stood. For your information, Maybank opens its door at 9.15 am and they start giving out the numbers at 8.30 am.

Vun got number 14 while me, 17. Coincidentally, my mum who also queued up got the number 17 like me as well. Ironically, I got the number by queuing up at 7.30 am but she got hers at 8.15 am ++. What I wanted to stress here is that always aim at the banks who have lesser customers or in less dense population or in this case, Malay dominated area. This is because if the Malays are interested to buy, they need not to wait until today to purchase (no bias against any race). Usually, the allocation for them will not run out so fast.

The small paper printed with the number is usually given out instead of printed from the machine. It was claimed by the bank officers that such transaction was done manually and hence no auto generated tickets. I found this way of distributing the tickets is not efficient. When we are purchasing ASM, they claimed they will call your number out but sadly they speak softly and the customers cannot listen to their voice. By having the usual auto generate ticket and usual calling up of number using the display board, it is much easier for the customers to know.

See the queue. Due to the inefficiency of the calling, some customers went to queue up for long period of time only to know that their number will be called out later. The process of registering a new account may take from 10-15 minute. It was a dreadful period having the need to stand for a long period of time before waiting for your turn. It was my turn at about 11.15 am after queuing up for approximately 3 hours and I think I got everything settle by 11.30 am before rushing back to the university. If you bring CASH, the application is faster and can be even done at Post Office which opens at 8.30 am. However, there is a risk and its better to do money transfer at banks.

On 22 July 2009 approximately 11 am, my sister who queued up and got number 7 was told that all the ASM units have been sold off. This meant that the 3.33 billions additional funds launched in April were fully subscribed. The duration of sold out should be in just 1.2 days for 1.6 billions. It is actually longer than expected 1 day time.

So, do you want to buy ASM? PM Dato Seri Najib had announced that there will be launching of new fund called Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia in coming September with the size of 10 billions. If the quota remains to be 30% to the Chinese, the amount would be 3 billions. Lets do some prediction:
a) If 999 millions were sold out half day, it means that the maximum sold out time will be in only 3 DAYS time.
b) If 1.6 billions were sold out 1.1 day with the maximum investment of RM 20, 000, it means that maximum sold out time will be only in exactly 2 DAYS only.

So, what do you think? As for me, I was happy to own my very first investment book. Hope it grows more and more and more. Haha =P