Changing your Public Mutual Fund agent
In December 2008, I’ve said that I wanted to change my Public Mutual Fund agent since my agent basically disappeared. She’s not contactable, and she did not do the things I’ve told her to do – stop the auto-debit, and also to move my equity to bond (that was in May or June 2008). She did not do both of those. And that’s why I become very frustrated and wanted to change.
But I didn’t have the time to change since the Public Mutual office only opens during office hours (close on weekends). This makes the office inaccessible to working people like me. Maybe they do this on purpose? I’m not sure.
So during the Chinese New Year break, I finally managed to go to the Public Mutual office in my hometown and requested to change my agent. Here’s the conversation between me and the customer service officer.
Me : Hi, I would like to change my Public Mutual agent. Do you have a form or something which I can fill up?
Officer : Sorry sir, we don’t have such a form.
Me : Huh? Then how can I change?
Officer : I’m afraid you can’t do that sir. You need the agent to write in a formal letter to the head office.
Me : What?! But that person is not reachable!
Officer : I don’t think there’s anything you can do.
Me : What nonsense is this? I’m the customer, and I can’t do what I want? It seems like I’ve been held hostage by the agent!
Officer : That’s our policy…we are merely following the orders from HQ.
At that moment, another customer service officer stepped in.
Officer B : You can actually write in a formal letter by youself, sign it and write down your IC number, then post the letter to the HQ. They will change it for you.
Seriously speaking, I’m not happy at all with such policies. It seems like Public Mutual is trying to avoid such “transition” taking place and this is making things difficult for the investors especially when those agents are not reachable. And I really don’t like the feeling of being held hostage by the agents.
Anyway, I’m going to call up my friend to see if such a policy does exist.
So for those of you who are trying to go into Public Mutual, be sure to get a good agent who will never go disappear.
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Comments
Hey Bro, sorry to hear your experience. Normally agents take care of really big fish but he/she has no choice as they get their commission ONCE and its very low. Just 2.38% or something like that. Say you invest RM1000, the agent will only gets RM22.38 and FULL STOP. The sum can’t even cover Petrol, Toll and Coffee. So its not possible for the person to see you so many times as he/she will end up doing charity work. Next time, if agent not answering your calls, just call any Public Mutual office and ask them to fax the form over. After filling up, fax it back to them and at the same time post the original sign copy over.
Unlike Insurance Agent, they are getting between 25% to 45% commission everytime they close a deal and they will continue to get the commission for 6 years, so generally they give you better services compare Mutual Funds Agent as you can see the commission margin is very big.
For example :- You pay RM200 insurance premium every month, the agent gets at least RM25 every month. And if you pay auto debit for public mutual RM200 every month, the agent only gets RM4.76 every month.
I am a Insurance and Mutual Agent but I still do serve my client no matter small or big case.
You dont really need agent to do withrawal and switching.
all you need is his agent number.
Hasbullah Pits last blog post..Najib Leburkan Perak demi Ekonomi Malaysia?
true, all you need is your agent’s number which is stated in your statement.
i personally think there’s too many agents, there’s bound to be bad apples from the lot. my guess is the majority of these bad apples are working part-time who have either quitted or can’t commit the time to service their clients, which is tainting Public Mutual’s image.
i engaged a friend as an agent, this is anyhow far more reliable than randomly picking an agent from anywhere.
@ Damien
Actually, it’s pretty hard when it comes to Public Mutual agents since most of them will be very motivated in the beginning. LOL.
@ LawOfArabia
Really? I thought the money earned is much higher than that? Hmm but the monthly thing is still quite good if you’re an active agent. Imagine if you have 10 clients, each buying RM 200 every month, and you’ll have at least RM 50 per month without having to do anything (except for answerng few calls).
@ Hasbullah
I was told otherwise by the people in the Public Mutual office. =_=
Guess I really havt to check with my uncle who is an agent.
@ livingmonolith
Yeap. There are just too many agents and most of them are not really active.
Anyway, some of my friends prefer to engage strangers to be their agents since all the information including salary, will be made available to the agents….kinda risky if the person knows you very well.
Just my 2cents, before I am the agent, the agent that approach me does not really tell me what is the fund that i bought. After i become an agent, i just wonder that there are too many type of fund which invest in different sector.
Ask as many questions as you can before invest in mutual fund with any of the agent.
eg: how they protect your fund? do they monitor for you? are they full time or part time? what knowledge do they have in mutual fund, what is the objectives of growth fund, aggresive fund, bond fund, money market fund? how the current market condition? what is the transaction cost? what is the rate of return mutual fund can give? You must ask more than they ask you to see how well they are in the mutual fund business.
The more you ask, the more you know whether the agent is the right person.
@ Eng Hua
The agent is actually my ex-supervisor. Just helping her out.
But yeah, those are some of the questions which one should always ask in order to gauge the capabilities and experience of an agent. But in the end, I believe that an agent can only give you certain information. The investor himself has to be monitoring those portfolio because the agent is not the investor and most probably they don’t think alike.
i am a beginner here,just want to invest in Public Mutual.So,right now i’m still searching the informations about their products what the best for me.also the right agent..anyone can help me??
@ mr emran
I think you can try to go to their web site http://www.publicmutual.com.my
You might be able to get some info there.
Also, try to search for other unit trust, preferably those which don’t charge you any service charges. Public Mutual service charge is pretty high at around 5%.
Good luck!
Hi the service charge is 5.5% for loaded fund and 0.25% low loaded fund.
Hi Mr.Emran, I do a lot research for the mutual fund, my email is kohenghua@gmail.com and you can just send me email and I am willing to share with you. Thanks.
@ Eng Hua
What’s the difference btw loaded and low loaded?
Care to explain? 
Oh, and I won’t be charging you if you get new customers here. LOL.
Haha, thanks man.
Loaded fund is the fund which is align with share market, equity fund and balanced fund are loaded. Means almost 80% of the NAV of the portfolio invested into the share market, which market that the fund invest depend on which fund you have bought and this is call the equity fund. This fund is for aggresive investor who look for short term high capital gain, young, no obligation to family, and able to take the risk if the market volatile within short period of time horizon.
For balance fund, you it consist either 60-65% into the share market and the other portion invest in fixed income securities. This is for the moderate investor, who look for long-term moderate capital gain and enchance their current income. Most of the NAV ivest into the blue chip company which have high growth and high dividend yield.
So both of the fund are charge with 5.5% service charge and is call loaded fund. Loaded fund means they charge u for 5.5%.
For low loaded fund, they charge you for only 0.25%. This is for the bond fund and money market fund. Which almost 90% of the NAV invest into government bond and bank FD. Low capital gain. For invest to enchance their current income, mostly for those retiree which has large lumpsum, and dont have current income. Since bond and money market fund are low risk fund. You dont see volatility of the portfolio and your capital appreiciation are really low. And it just charge 0.25% of ur total investment.
So normally agent will introduce you the high risk fund which are equity fund, because they dont get any commission if you invest in bond/money market fund. The proper way is to uderstand your risk profile, willingness to take risk, then do asset allocation for your portfolio.
If you feel confuse, just let me know which point u are confuse.I am willing to answer.
@ Eng Hua
Thanks for the explanation. To make complicated things simpler, public mutual is divided into equity and bond. Equity’s service charge is higher – more expensive, high risk, high return. Bond’s service charge is lower – cheaper, low risk, low return. And when we convert from equity to bond, there’s an extra cost. But not the other way round.
That is what I remember actually.
LOL, maybe I should make you one of my guest writers to write about public mutual.
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@ Tony
Hmm is ok. I’m just a small player. By the way, it will be more useful if you allow people to check it out for free. RM 1 is quite a hassle. Just my opinion.
to Alvin,
when you start close 1st customer to joining public mutual fund?what strategy good for use?i hope you can share the exprience with me.
Regard,
Fadli
@ fadli
actually i don have any strategy. i normally go for the higher risk fund which is equity fund. i’m still young, that’s why i’m willing to take the risk. it also depends on your tolerance on risks.
@Alvin
hopefully you will success in mutual business.to be friend we can share more information about this business…
@ fadli
thanks. not really looking for any big success from mutual fund. I treat it as a saving account more than anything else.
Hi guys, guess all of you are experts. congratulations to those who earns millions out there. I am a beginner investor. I would like to ask ” Do we need to lock in profit as ie switch to Bond funds if we feel that the market is going downtrend in short term (1-3 months). For me, I personally feel that the Dollar-cost averaging time has gone as the trends is so volatile and unpredictable. Hope to hear some comments from you guys…thanks
@ Koh Han
Earning millions in investment is not easy AT ALL. Unless you’re a big time gambler with tonnes of cash and PLENTY of good fortune, then maybe. Otherwise, it’s not easy.
Rather than looking at millions, perhaps it’s better to look at percentage of return per year.
Dollar cost averaging can still be used as long as you know what you are investing into. And the market has always been unpredictable. Remember that nobody, including Warren Buffett, can predict the market. If the richest man in the world can’t, who can?
And switching ur equity to bond is FINE but if you are switching it for short term, then you might as well don’t switch it at all. Don’t forget there are service charges whenever you switch to Bond. Of course, if you switch back to equity after that, there won’t be service charges (if there is, it’ll be minimal).
If I’m in your position, i will just ignore it. Mutual fund for me is just a saving account. Because the more I trade/switch/change it, the more expensive it will become.
Hi Alvin, thanks for your advise. Let see how it goes. Perhaps I just switch mine extra volatile / high risk funds only. Those growth funds remains as it is. And I would considering other fund houses as well. I wonder why we dont have any hedge funds in Malaysia. Anyone care to share?..
@ Koh Han
Mmm I believe now the economy is recovering slowly (not as slow as I would like). So perhaps those high risk funds should be still safe there? But who am I to judge? I can’t time the market 
So it’s your call again.
Hedge funds? Not sure about it ler. Sorry.
Hi..I also believe the economy is recovering, but there’s always uncertainty and new bubbles is building or another loan or debt crisis, then we are back to 2008 fall again. Hopefully, its not as severe as last time. Any other investment that you would like to recomend beside pm, property, insurance? .. Anyone here buy gold investment by Public bank and Maybank ?
@ Koh Han
I’m not sure about gold investment or anything related to gold. Didn’t do any research as well. I only know it’s freaking expensive now. LOL.
I put most of my $$$ into stocks.
Great Alvin, hope u make wonderful returns. Found out these lately http://www.traderstruthrevealed.com/. Happy trading.
Alvin,
Im already submit new investor form,IC no at New Investor Form correct but IC investor application form wrong,so how?????im already attach with photostat IC when i submit that form..
@ fadli
Mmm i’m not very sure what you mean but I assume there’s a form which you’ve filled up wrongly? Maybe you can call up the agent who helped you to submit or the office that you went? If there’s any wrong information, they should not be able to proceed actually. Just call them up and see.
hi there, i want change my agent as well.
can u send me via my email da sample of the switching agent that u hv written.
thanks.
If you can’t avoid disappearing agents, the next best thing is to srutinize the fine print carefully before you make long term commitments. It’ll slip our minds when its the first time we buy but its a good lesson to learn.
Btw, I have dealt with Public Banks officers before. I had the impression they were more into institutional business than retail customer (= high risk) business. The disinterest in facilitating walk-in customers as you’ve experienced is a dead give-away.