
Knowledge of investment basics
| What is a Mutual Fund |
A Mutual Fund is an investment vehicle that mobilizes money from a vast number of investors and aggregates the amount into a large pool which is then invested in securities, financial instruments, cash deposits and other assets such as common stocks, government bonds, corporate debentures, deposit notes, warrants, or property assets, as indicated in its prospectus. A Mutual Fund would be established by an investment management company who would manage the fund to generate returns. The returns is earned proportionately to the amount of units each investor owns in the fund. An investor may choose to invest this way for various reasons, because investing directly oneself may not be as feasible for reasons such as:
|
| In Summary … Attractive Features and Highlights of Mutual Funds |
|
| Source: "RMF-LTF Handbook: Attractive Twins Providing Tax Savings" produced by the "Put Your Money to Work Through Mutual Funds" initiative which is a program jointly supported by the Board of the SEC, the Stock Exchange of Thialand, Capital Market Development Fund, the Association of Investment Management Companies, and the investment management companies to disseminate know-how and basic awareness regarding mutual funds. |
| Investing And Age Considerations The following describes general characteristics of a typical individual in the various age groups with regards to likely factors and restrictions influencing their investment decisions. |
|
| Participants Involved With A Mutual Fund A Mutual Fund is structured in a way that benefits the interests of unitholders. It encompasses several participants, each of whom has a defined role to service the fund. Supervision is also established by both private and state institutions. Participants involved with a mutual fund include:
|
| Risks Surrounding Mutual Funds The risks associated with each Mutual Fund is of the same nature as the inherent risks of the type of financial instruments in its portfolio. For example, an equity fund would have similar risk characteristics as common stocks. Likewise, a fixed income fund would have the same risk characteristics as fixed income instruments. |
Benefits of Mutual Funds
|
| Source: Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC) |
Fund Type
| Types of Fundss Funds can be classified into 2 categories, namely |
|
| Investment Policy There are altogether 11 main investment policies |
|
Special Funds
|
Tax
| A Tax is imposed on the public by the government to raise money to finance programs for public social benefit. As such it may not reciprocate the contributing taxpaying individual directly. Taxes are compulsory collections imposed on the public; all citizens are obliged to pay taxes. The purpose of taxation is to finance public expenditures for collective public social benefit. |
| Objectives of Tax Collection |
|
| Tax Privileges for Mutual Funds |
| Retirement Mutual Fund : RMF Retirement Mutual Funds have an objective to promote long term savings and investment by individuals to help financially prepare for a better retirement. Unitholders in RMF funds therefore receive greater tax incentives than unitholders of general mutual funds. Money invested in RMF funds are tax deductible up to 500,000 baht per annum when summed together with Provident Funds or Pension Funds (as applicable). Unitholders receive immediate tax savings beginning with the initial year of investment. |
| RMF funds are suited to which type of investor ? |
|
| Terms and Conditions For Investment To Qualify For Tax Privileges include |
|
| Investment policy of RMF funds |
| An RMF fund's investment policy may match any of 10 standard types endorsed by the SEC as mentioned above. Since risk and return profiles vary accordingly, investors are advised to consider carefully before making an investment decision and take into account factors such as one's age, acceptable level of risk, and prospective returns. |
| Long Term Equity Funds : LTF Long Term Equity Funds' primary focus is to invest in equities. The government promotes LTF funds in order to increase the proportion of institutional investors (specifically mutual funds) who would invest in the Stock Exchange of Thailand over the long term. Increasing the proportion of institutional investors in the Thai equity market is beneficial to the market's stability. Individual investors in LTF funds will receive tax benefits as incentives to invest over the long term. |
| LTF funds are suited to which type of investor ? |
| Long Term Equity Funds are suited to investors who intend to invest in equities over the long term but may not have the expertise to handle stock investments or may not have the time to do so, therefore prefer to invest through mutual funds. Investors, however, should be aware and accept that there are risks associated with investments as well as the restrictions regarding investment time horizon. |
| Terms and Conditions For Investment To Qualify For Tax Privileges include |
|
| Investment Policy Of LTF funds |
| LTF funds have only one investment policy, namely to invest in stocks of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, averaging at least 65% of the net asset value of the fund. The fund could focus on investing in stocks in the SET 50, a specific industry sector, or in stocks selected at discretion of the investment management company, depending on what is explicitly outlined in each LTF fund's investment policy. |
| Tax table: http://www.scbam.com/brochure/funds-tax11I.xls |
Knowledge about property
| Find Out More About Property Funds Property Funds, also referred to as "Type I" funds, aim to invest in property that generates regular returns from rental income and may invest in offices, serviced apartments, etc. Income earned from these properties translate into income for unitholders, earned through the fund's dividend payments. The fund generates returns for unitholders in the form of:
|
Establishment and Management of Type I Funds
|
Features of Property Funds
|
| Terms and Conditions Regarding Investments Income and returns generated by Type I funds are earned primarily from property assets, thus strict restrictions are imposed on investments assets to mitigate risks to unitholders.
|
| Appraisal of Assets Since the assets of Type I funds are properties which may not readily have a daily market price as other financial instruments, it is therefore vital that unitholders have an up to date price reference to help support their investment decisions when determining the value of the Type I fund's assets. Thus, it is required that:
|
| Information Disclosure Type I funds must provide information disclosure regarding subscription offer, property invested and other necessary information such as:
|
Calculation and Disclosure of NAV
|
| Differences Between a Type I Fund and a Property Developer Investment: Type I funds have a policy to only invest in property assets that generate income, while property developers are not bound to invest or limit its business to the property sector. Property developers have better flexibility in diversifying its investments. Dividend Payments: Type I funds must pay out at least 90% of its net profit while property developers have the discretion over policy regarding dividend payouts and permitted to make amendments. Debt leverage: Type I funds are not permitted to take on debt, whereas property developers can do so. Investment management and safekeeping of assets: Type I funds deploy a third party to take on the role of Trustee which will safekeep the investment assets such as title deeds, rental contracts, etc. including auditing the assets and monitoring the investment management company's duties as fund manager. |
What can unitholders expect to receive from Type I funds
|
| Investment Risks Net profit generated by Type I funds will depend on the conditions of the property market and general economy. The NAV of the fund may fluctuate and if it declines to a certain level, the Type I fund may be unable to provide a dividend payment to unitholders when it has a net loss. |
Points to consider, before deciding to invest
|
| Purchasing or selling units of Type I funds Investors may purchase or sell units at the Stock Exchange of Thailand; prices may incur a premium or discount from the NAV. |
Points that investors should consider
|
| Source: Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission |


