Comparison of Junior Savings Account

Updated 5/9/2012: Updated latest interest rates for some of the products.

As a parent myself, it is never to early to teach your children about the concept of savings. Even though the children might not understand the meaning for the savings, but if we as the parent, make savings as a part of daily fun activities, the kids will definitely enjoy it and appreciate it more. Experts have came out with many methods and systems that can encourage the children to learn the savings concept, but personally I'm practicing the Money Jar method. I will elaborate more about this Money Jar method in my next article.

So now, we've got some savings for our children and what do we do with it? Some people will invest the money in unit trusts or stock market. There's nothing wrong with this, but the savings quantum must be quite big to make a big difference. For small savings, naturally we are looking for a savings account for children.

There are plenty of children savings accounts in the market. The common features of these children/junior savings accounts are:

• Higher interest rate as compared to normal savings accounts
• Limited number of withdrawal per month
• Limited withdrawal method (normally OTC withdrawal only)
• Low account opening sum, as low as RM 1
• Rewards / Incentives, i.e. cash rewards for excellent exam results, free personal accident coverage etc.

Asset Allocation - End June 2011

Portfolio review for Q2 2011 has been way overdue and I would like to apologize for the delay in updates to my portfolio holdings and its performance.

As compared to my portfolio in Q1 2011, there is some minor changes to the fund compositions in my Q2 2011 portfolio. I've switched my OSK-UOB Asian Growth Opportunities Fund (AGO) to OSK-UOB Resources Fund (RESO) as I feel that AGO fund is too volatile for my liking, even though i was making some profit on this fund. I've decided to concentrate my Asia Pacific ex-Japan exposure to only a single fund, Public Far East Select Fund (PFES).

Since I've switched to OSK-UOB Resources Fund (RESO), this fund will be my main fund for exposure to resources sector, although the resources exposure is limited to AP ex-Japan region, as compared to the global nature of previous holding of Pacific Global Agriculture, Infrastructure & Resources Fund (GAIR). I've disposed off GAIR fund in Q2 due to lack of performance as well as limited fund size.

The music will stop

I would like to share an article that I came across regarding the madness of property prices in Malaysia currently. As more and more property launches come with exorbitant prices that are beyond the income level of many workers particularly in key cities of Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Bahru, my gut feeling is that the property market is in a bubble stage and might see some softening moving forward.

So, for those who are highly leveraged with housing loans, do have a good read on the article and reflect on what the writer who has seen the ups and downs of property cycles is saying.

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ASW 2020 Declares Dividend 6.5 cents per unit for FY 2011

Amanah Saham Malaysia Berhad has declared a dividend of 6.5 cents per unit for Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020) for the current financial year. The income distribution will be reinvested in the form of new units and will automatically be credited into the unitholders' accounts on September 1.


As a comparison, last year's dividend declared was 6.35 cents.


Source: China Press, Business Times