As for Public Mutual agent, it is not about tips but commitment from the agent. Can your agent really commit his or her time? Is what your agent say relevant (more like advice than tips)? And is your agent efficient enough?

Those are few questions you need to ask yourselves before locking yourselves up with a particular agent.

As for me, I engaged my ex-supervisor who is a part-timer. She used to help me a lot in the past and I did not hesitate much then. But the end result is not really that pleasant.

• I told her I need to change my equity to bond. That was before the market crash. She told me not to do that because China funds are sustainable. I know China funds are better than some other equity, but I also know bond funds are better options when the economy is bad. To date, the bond funds which I was looking at have gone up quite a lot, but my equity funds have dropped nearly 30-40%
• I also told her to stop the auto debit in September. She said it will only take effect in October but until now, it is still the same. I was hoping to collect enough cash for myself to use and keep during this difficult period since I expect the equity funds to drop further in early 2009. Save up now, and use the money to buy more at lower price later.
• Also, I have no ways to know how much money I have invested after all this while and how much money I have left based on the current fund price. It’s important to keep track of the total loss or profit but I just don’t have the mean to do so since my agent doesn’t help me with that.
• It’s very hard to meet my agent since she no longer works in the same building as I do. There’s not much communication between my agent and I.

To some, these 2 might not be very big problems. But to me, I was hoping my agent will listen to me and do what I told her to do. If she is not free, then she can tell me and let me know how I can get it done by myself. In the end, I consulted my friend who is in Penang. Here are the solutions for point (2) and (3).

• I can call Public Mutual’s number if I want to stop the auto-debit or I can leave my bank account balance to be less than the auto-debit amount for 3 months, and the auto-debit feature will stop automatically. Or I can just go to the Public Mutual office (I know there’s one in Damansara Perdana) to fill in a form to stop the auto-debit.
• Go to the Public Mutual office and seek help from them to check your outstanding balance and how much you’ve earned or lost. They have the system to calculate that.
• If you want to change to another agent, you can go to the Public Mutual office and fill up a form.

As for my case, I will talk to my current agent first and will most probably change the agent to my stock broker uncle. At least he stays nearer to me and I do meet him quite often.

Hope my personal experience here can help you.

About 2 months ago, I wanted to move my high-risk equity fund to bond fund but my uncle told me not to do so since China is still quite stable. Now, the bond fund which I was looking at has gone up and my equity fund has gone wayyyy down. Too late to sell or to convert to bond fund.

Then I decided to call up my agent and told her to help me stop the auto-debit. My plan is to stop the auto-debit, take the money and save it up, and then buy in again (with lump sum) once it drops further. I expect most equity funds to drop further in the months to come.

Just sharing with you my decision. I could be wrong and this might be a beginner’s mistake. I don’t know. But I feel it’s worth a try.