Quick question of forumites: Anyone involved with managed funds that are primarily exposed to Asia? If so, has the experience been positive of late? Dave
Platinum Asia invests in all of Asia except Japan. The fund currently has investments in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand. Return for the last 3 months = 15%. http://www.platinum.com.au/reports/paf_m_update.pdf Platinum Japan invests in Japan and Korea. Return for the last 3 months = 6.7% http://www.platinum.com.au/reports/pjf_m_update.pdf Leveraged Equities offer 65% LVR on Platinum Asia, but only 60% LVR on Platinum Japan. Platinum Japan has been fairly volatile - so you'd need to be able to cope with periods of negative growth.
Sim, I'll have a very large stake in each of those sometime this month once my diversification plans have been executed. I too would rate them highly based on everything I've read, hence my decision to go that way for my Asia exposure. Cheers, Michael.
Hi Michael, I'm also considering investing into Platinum Asia and Japan funds. While I'm very happy with sort of diversification of the Asia fund across markets/countries, I’m a bit concerned with Japan fund being more concentrated on Japan and Korea. Michael, can you share references to the information about the funds apart of what is available at their website? What do you think about Sim’s comment: Regards.
FWIW, I have exposure to both the Platinum Asia and Japan funds, but I am much more heavily weighted towards the Asia fund ... I figure the economic diversification benefits are significant in being able to invest in a wide variety of countries (including China and India). Interestingly, one of the reasons I invested in these funds was for higher growth / lower income (better tax balance ... I already have too much income) ... but ironically, my research indicates that some of these funds are still returning in excess of 10% income per annum. Don't you hate it when your funds pay you too much income ? One thing to note with the Platinum funds is that they only pay income annually (end of financial year) ... so you won't be able to use that income to pay your interest costs throughout the year as you can with a quarterly paying fund like NavraInvest. (Although you could possibly draw money from your LOC to help pay the interest bills during the year).
Thanks for the feedback and links. Like most I need to consider some level of diversification and I have been thinking of Asia as it seems to be on the rebound. I'm a Gold customer of St George and they are offering access to their wholesale Advance funds, including the Asian Equity Fund without the usual minimum $50k and only wholesale management fees and no entry fee. I have a bit of research to do comparing funds. Thanks again for the info, I'll definately be investigating Platinum in my list. Dave
