Wealth, The Edge Malaysia

26/01/2023

Last year, we saw a slew of investment products and services enter the market as the financial industry ramped up its pace of digitalisation. From new investment solutions to financial services, such as insurance offered by start-ups and incumbents, here is a round-up of some of the notable digital products in the market.

This year, we saw a slew of investment products and services enter the market as the financial industry ramped up its pace of digitalisation. From new investment solutions to financial services, such as insurance offered by start-ups and incumbents, here is a round-up of some of the notable digital....

26/01/2023

“This is your life. And it’s ending one minute at a time.”

If you are an angsty millennial like me who grew up in the 1990s, these memorable words spoken by Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club have probably been seared into your memory. Played by the effortlessly cool Brad Pitt, the anti-capitalist, anti-hero is unapologetic and unconcerned about the traditional roles and societal norms that the modern world forces upon us.

The movie, which is adapted from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel of the same name, probably ranks among my favourite films of all time. Beyond its hypermasculine portrayal of men beating each other up in underground “fight clubs”, there are deeply profound themes about rebelling against the status quo, self-identity and enlightenment.

If you dig even deeper, the film also contains a plethora of wealth witticisms that we can take heed of, especially in our current dystopian reality. "

“This is your life. And it’s ending one minute at a time.” If you are an angsty millennial like me who grew up in the 1990s, these memorable words spoken by Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club have probably been seared into your memory. Played by the effortlessly cool Brad Pitt, the anti-capi...

25/01/2023

In the course of his work, Peter Lim Tze Cheng, a fund manager and chief research officer at Trident Analytics Sdn Bhd, found that the semiconductor industry had been overgeneralised. The former CEO of Inter-Pacific Asset Management and head of research at Equities­Tracker Holdings Bhd says local investors tended to look at these companies as though they were all the same.

This gave him the idea to write a book, What I learnt about semicon & EMS: A sharing of my views on the industry, to help readers and investors break down the complexity of the semiconductor industry (see review). Despite the long title, the book is easily digestible at just 144 pages.

Tap the link in our bio to learn more.

In the course of his work, Peter Lim Tze Cheng, a fund manager and chief research officer at Trident Analytics Sdn Bhd, found that the semiconductor industry had been overgeneralised. The former CEO of Inter-Pacific Asset Management and head of research at Equities­Tracker Holdings Bhd says local i...

25/01/2023

Most thrillers in the financial industry happen in the world’s largest financial centres, such as New York and London.

Think of the US subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

While all of this may seem distant to Malaysians living in another time zone, the internet and streaming platforms are rapidly closing the gap. One would only need to spend a few minutes browsing through Netflix to find interesting titles that document exciting stories happening in faraway nations with vivid video footage and colourful images.

Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn, for example, details the intriguing event in which Carlos Ghosn, former CEO and chairman of Renault and Nissan, was charged by Tokyo prosecutors for financial misconduct and fled the country in a suitcase.

There is also Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga, which recounts how a community of amateur traders plotted a plan to beat Wall Street at its own game and Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard explains how the poster child of the European financial technology industry was a sham.

Stretching back further in time, The Laundromat is a fiction comedy that takes its viewers on a tour to discover the dark side of offshore legal firms that help businessmen and politicians set up to avoid taxes and business responsibilities.

The Wealth team, which watched through these series amid the hustle and bustle at work as the year fast approaches its end, has put together a compilation for readers’ holiday viewing.

Most thrillers in the financial industry happen in the world’s largest financial centres, such as New York and London. Think of the US subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. While all of this may seem distant to Malaysians living in another time zone, the internet an...

18/01/2023

"Years of triple-digit gains had transformed cryptocurrency into a multitrillion-dollar market. By late 2021, there were about 100 crypto assets valued at a billion dollars or more. This asset class was like a vortex, sucking in capital and talent from everyone, everywhere.

The prevailing bet was that sooner or later, a new killer app would emerge. It would be the next Facebook, or even Google.

Enter Sam Bankman-Fried, a former Wall Street trader who launched crypto exchange FTX in 2019. Despite being a relatively new player, FTX swiftly became the second-biggest trading venue, thanks to its popular and exotic leveraged financial instruments.

In May, as the bear market set in, Korean crypto developer Do Kwon declared that 95% of cryptocurrency projects were “going to die”. Barely a week later, his brainchild — the Terra protocol — collapsed, wiping out US$40 billion of market value.

If there was someone who couldn’t take a hint, it was Bankman-Fried. Days after Kwon’s ill-timed interview, he told the Financial Times (FT) that “the Bitcoin network is not a payments network and it is not a scaling network”.

If Bitcoin had no future as a payments network, which cryptocurrency did?"

Tap the link in our bio to read what Andrew Vong, chief future officer at EquitiesTracker Holdings Bhd, has to say.

Years of triple-digit gains had transformed cryptocurrency into a multitrillion-dollar market. By late 2021, there were about 100 crypto assets valued at a billion dollars or more. This asset class was like a vortex, sucking in capital and talent from everyone, everywhere. The prevailing bet was tha...

18/01/2023

Not surprisingly, 51% of Malaysian adults have not started investing, presumably because of the little savings they have in their bank accounts. For those who do, unit trust funds is the most popular investment instrument, followed by stocks and cryptocurrency. Tap the link in our bio for more insights.

The overall personal finances of Malaysians have deteriorated after the pandemic, according to the RinggitPlus Malaysian Financial Literacy Survey (RMFLS) 2022. Based on a statistically accurate sampling of 3,144 respondents aged 18 and above, the survey shows 70% of the respondents save less than R...

10/01/2023

"Looking at past US recessions, the previous Fed chairs almost always caused a recession with their control of the fed funds rate. Recall that a higher interest rate, among others, means less money to hire new workers to expand the business.

History shows that in good times, the number of people without work starts small and then rises before a recession begins. This has happened 13 times in US history. Each time there was a boom, the unemployment level stopped falling, flattened and started to move up. And a recession followed soon after.

Applied to the present day, layoffs have been announced by quite a few industry leaders such as Amazon, Goldman Sachs and FedEx. It would be a good idea to watch the US unemployment level in 2023 for signs of the start of a recession."

Tap the link in bio to read more.

Amazon was the darling of the stock market in 2020 and 2021. The online e-commerce giant was riding on the Covid-19 stimulus cheques that the US government sent to locked-down Americans. Many of them were sitting around without much to do but shop online. As the cheques were cashed, Amazon’s share...

09/01/2023

The question of whether active or passive investing is the superior approach has been asked since the launch of Betterment — the first robo-advisor in the US — in 2008. The discourse carries on to this day, with many supporters at each end of the spectrum.

Various reports have shown that passive investing has done well in developed countries but many fund managers in emerging markets, who pick and trade stocks based on their research, have done better.

The rapid pace of technological advancements, especially machine learning and big data, which can recognise past patterns and predict future trends, is another reason that some believe passive investing, which is often underpinned by computer algorithms, will prevail in the long run.

So, how do local robo-advisors, otherwise known as digital investment managers (DIMs), stack up against their active peers since emerging on the local scene in 2018? Like their peers overseas, DIMs are online platforms that invest globally through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and make investment decisions using algorithms.

The question of whether active or passive investing is the superior approach has been asked since the launch of Betterment — the first robo-advisor in the US — in 2008. The discourse carries on to this day, with many supporters at each end of the spectrum. Various reports have shown that passive...

04/01/2023

Wealth editor Kuek Ser Kwang Zhe pens his thoughts about digital investment managers or robo advisors that are operating in the local market, and some off the financial issues we may face in the coming year.

Wishing all our readers and followers a very happy new year 2023!

15/10/2022

Heard about redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS) when investing through equity crowdfunding (ECF)? Do you actually know what it is, including its good and bad? We spoke to Shawn Ng, partner and head of corporate, property and tax of law firm Donovan & Ho to find out the key features of RCPS.

If you are an equity crowdfunding (ECF) investor, you would probably have heard of redeemable convertible preference shares, or RCPS. Some individual investors who invest just a few thousand ringgit in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) may not research this investment instrument thoroughly...

14/10/2022

Having a house, babies and money for retirement is a must, so the baby-boomers said.

Lee Sheung Un, assistant manager of content & communication at Affin Hwang Asset Management and former producer at a business radio station, says that's no longer the case for the millennials. They prefer flexibility over stability, discovery and new experience over hard assets and money.

There is a funny but oh-so-stinging meme comparing the lives of millennials with that of their parents at the age of 30. For baby boomers, it was about making adult decisions and crossing out a checklist of life’s milestones. They thought about buying a house, having a baby and planning for retire...

13/10/2022

In the book, the authors share the story of how Adam Neumann made his way into Silicon Valley, largely through personal charms and bold statements.

A good read for anyone wanting to find out what the red flags are when investing in start-ups and private entities.

Author: Reeves Wiedeman Two figures have left a lasting impact on the younger generation of entrepreneurs: ­Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank Group, who made his fortune from investing in early-day start-ups like Yahoo! and Alibaba. There is no doubt the duo ha...

12/10/2022

Thinking of how to invest your money? Look no further than sectors related to climate change and environment.

Governments around the world are spending a huge amount of money to, perhaps, prevent events like the flood in Pakistan this year that misplaced 32 million with one-third of the country under water.

The recent financial struggles faced by businesses and households worldwide due to soaring energy prices highlight that the low-carbon transition will not be smooth. Still, the passing of the US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) and its climate and clean-energy-related incentives recently do ind...

11/10/2022

The performance of the local stock market has driven a specific group of investors into equity-linked structured products that allow them to earn attractive returns in specific conditions.

Azzahir Azhar, Maybank Investment Bank's head of investment management, explains how these products work and how the bank recently emerged as a big issuer of these financial instruments.

Owing to the lacklustre performance of the local stock market in recent years, equity-linked structured products have become popular among high-net-worth individuals. Embedded with certain features, these products allow investors to capture potential gains from a sideways market while protecting the...

10/09/2022

Our writer Kiran Jacob was a generous food donor to his family members in 2020 when the pandemic was at its peak. It took him a while to find out that he had accumulated RM1,223 in debt, unknowingly, no thanks to one of the buy now, pay later services. He painstakingly paid it off later and vowed not to overspend again.

The benefits of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) may be apparent to consumers, especially when people have little money to spare and poor cash flow. Its downside may, however, take some time to manifest. Allow me to go back in time and share my story to illustrate this point.

09/09/2022

Investors can consider investing in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through peer-to-peer financing platforms (licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia) with potentially attractive returns. It is much better than throwing them into get-rich-quick or dubious schemes.

News headlines such as ­“Investors seeking return of RM50 million worth of funds from company” make me wonder, yet again, why such incidents surface every few months. Just like how our health is sometimes neglected with excuses of “It is fine to finish another packet of chips” and “Health...

09/09/2022

Fees and charges of unit trust funds of certain asset classes have almost halved from 2014 to 2020. The trend is expected to continue, according to Kaleon Keong, CEO of the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM).

He adds that the number of socially responsible funds are expected to increase by five folds to over a hundred by 2030. Tap the link below to read more.

Two developing trends — the lowering of fees and charges and the growing number of sustainable funds — are contributing to the changing landscape in the asset management industry. First, sales charges of unit trust funds have fallen by more than a third in recent years, which is good news for in...

08/09/2022

Malaysian economy and the rest of Asia will hinge on the economic recovery of China, which is being weighed down by the suspension on mortgage payments by homebuyers.

Investors are advised to have a diversified portfolio with a defensive tilt, says Michael Lai, executive director of wealth advisory at OCBC Bank (M) Bhd.

As Malaysia transitions from the pandemic phase to the endemic phase of Covid-19, the reopening of the economy has thrown up various challenges such as labour shortages in certain sectors and higher input prices from still-jammed supply chains globally along with transport and logistics bottlenecks....

08/09/2022

While influencer marketing is not a new strategy, it was most recently used by unregulated and unlicensed foreign exchange (forex) and derivative trading apps. The red flag in this instance is that these influencers tend to promote quick riches, as opposed to transparently talking about the complexities of forex trading.

Even industry experts with decades of experience of forex trading shared that they wouldn't dabble in it, explaining that forex is not the place to make a quick buck.

Checks on social media showed that financial novices had fallen prey to these apps, resulting in huge monetary losses which could not be recovered. Is there a way to protect the people from falling prey to misleading influencer marketing?

Tap the link in our bio to read our cover story on this issue.

On advertisement-driven platforms such as YouTube, mobile games and social media, it is common to come across an advertisement for foreign exchange (forex) and derivative trading apps. In recent months, certain forex apps have upped the game by employing local influencers for promotional work.

10/08/2022

The Ukraine, Russia conflict has caused European countries to slow down on their renewable energy transition efforts. But that doesn’t mean that the trend is stopping. While investors should invest in companies that ride on the ESG macro trend, they should also put some money in companies that can benefit from “national security interests”.

The European Union recently announced details of its REPowerEU plan to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels and strengthen its overall energy security. First proposed in March, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the plan builds on the EU’s much broader “Fit for 55” package of policies annou...

08/08/2022

Ajay Dayal, director and client portfolio manager at ClearBridge Investments, says “boring companies”, such as infrastructure companies, are back in vogue. They are defensive plays amid a volatile market and pay attractive dividends. Yet, not all companies are cut from the same cloth.
ClearBridge Investments

Having largely been under the radar over the past two years, infrastructure companies are now back on centre stage, thanks to inflation and rising interest rates, says Ajay Dayal, director and client portfolio manager at ClearBridge Investments. Infrastructure companies are defined as those with tec...

05/08/2022

Should BNM raise interest rates more aggressively by following the Fed’s footsteps? Raising it would add to the financial burden of the B40 and M40 as Malaysia’s household debt is at 89% of GDP. But not raising it fast enough will see investment money flowing out from the country to other more attractive destinations.

At the start of the year, a prevalent view was that monetary policy error in managing inflation was a key risk for the global economy in 2022. This prediction may be coming to bear; in the second half of this year, signs are emerging that the delicate balancing act of ensuring economic growth and ta...

03/08/2022

The performance of alternative investment platforms, including robo-advisory portfolios and peer-to-peer financing (P2P), has not been spared by multiple market downturns. But these platform operators remain confident about delivering fair returns to investors.
StashAway, CapBay, MyStartr.com 股权众筹平台

Major stock and bond indices have taken a beating year to date as investors fear that interest rate hikes, on the back of fast-rising inflation, are hurting global growth. Market players are debating whether a recession is looming — if not this year, then in 2023.

22/07/2022

"What was unique this time, though, was what Jones said about Bitcoin. He pointed out that unlike any other large tradable asset globally, the cryptocurrency is the only one with a known, fixed maximum supply, making it the perfect hedge against inflation — at least on paper," writes Andrew Vong, chief future officer at EquitiesTracker Holdings Bhd.

Tap the link in our bio to read more of Andrew's analysis on Bitcoin in times of surging inflation.

The pandemic hit the world in early 2020, forcing the global economy to shut down. Stocks only bottomed out after the US Federal Reserve promised to make unlimited asset purchases to support financial markets. Governments of major economies, led by the US, pledged to hand “stimmy” cheques direct...

20/07/2022

StashAway investors can now invest in ETFs that have access to 55 asset classes, including emerging markets, S&P500, real estate investment trusts (REITs), gold, energy and government bonds.

Tap the link below to learn more of Stashaway's new investment offerings.

The country’s first licensed robo-advisory firm, StashAway, launched on June 20 its Flexible Portfolios solution, which allows investors to custom-make their portfolios with a variety of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) managed by global fund houses. These ETFs provide investors with access to 55 asse...

18/07/2022

"Food security has become a key concern for consumers, and the government has had its hands full in dealing with the issue. Food price inflation has hit consumers across the globe, and the effects have crept into most countries’ consumer price indices (CPIs)."

"The reasons for the soaring global food prices are probably plain enough to see and include the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and unfavourable weather conditions," says Michael Lai, executive director of wealth advisory (wealth management) at OCBC Bank (M) Bhd.

Tap the link in our bio to read more on Lai's thoughts on how export bans on food impacts investors with exposure to both equities and bonds.

Food security has become a key concern for consumers, and the government has had its hands full in dealing with the issue. Food price inflation has hit consumers across the globe, and the effects have crept into most countries’ consumer price indices (CPIs). The reasons for the soaring global food...

15/07/2022

Versa app users can start putting money in its two newly launched investment portfolios. Those with a higher risk appetite can invest in its growth portfolio, while the lower-risk ones can invest in its moderate portfolio, both of which are managed by Affin Hwang Asset Management ().

Tap the link in our bio to learn more abour Versa's roboadvisory offerings and how it plans to expand its services to more investors.

Retail investors are spoilt for choice these days. Versa, a local start-up that allows individuals to invest in a money market fund, launched its robo-advisory solution this month to help the man-in-the-street generate better investment returns. Individuals can invest in its two new investment portf...

13/07/2022

Ever since the pandemic hit us, the importance of keeping healthy has become the top priority for most people. Yet, the focus of health for many has always been on attaining or preserving physical and mental health. What about financial health? How does it fit into our daily life?

"Financial health, while not neglected, in many instances may end up being misunderstood as only attainable if you have the time, knowledge and capital to invest. However, just as physical and mental health are important to our general well-being, so too is financial health," says Kristine Ng, co-founder and ex-CEO of licensed peer-to-peer financing platform Fundaztic and a former banker.

Tap the link below to learn how to make the best out of your EPF benefits.

Ever since the pandemic hit us, the importance of keeping healthy has become the top priority for most people. Yet, the focus of health for many has always been on attaining or preserving physical and mental health. What about financial health? How does it fit into our daily life?

11/07/2022

Tucked away in a quiet area in Sungai Pelek, Sepang, is the headquarters of Nova Wellness Group Bhd — a health and beauty small-cap company that is listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia and has a market capitalisation of RM294 million (as at June 10).

It has attracted the attention of some investors due to its strong balance sheet, steadily growing revenues and attractive profit margins. It is also one of the companies that have done well during the pandemic period.

But what are its growth plans? Tap the link belo to learn more about Nova Wellness.

Tucked away in a quiet area in Sungai Pelek, Sepang, is the headquarters of Nova Wellness Group Bhd — a health and beauty small-cap company that is listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia and has a market capitalisation of RM294 million (as at June 10). Nova Wellness develops and manufactures i...

08/07/2022

In our June cover story, we spoke to crypto analysts and investors to find out whether non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a fad or here to stay. Mainly consisting of digital art and gaming elements, NFTs were very much sought after by the crypto community... until it crashed recently.

Tap the link below to find out how investors have been affected and if there is still value to be found in this asset class.
1. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-investing-nfts-real-demand-or-hype
2. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-many-are-hurt-nft-crash-no-one-telling

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) have been all the rage in 2022 although of late, they have come under the spotlight because of crashing crypto prices and rising criticism. Amid the hype, how can investors pick winning projects? Wealth speaks to Jason Kwong, an NFT investor and founder of blockchain market...