Financial Planning - The iFast Way - An Introspection - Part 2

iFast Financial brings out a bi-annual publication viz., 'iFast Insight'. In the context of portfolio diversification, apart from the conventional unit trusts (mutual funds which have the category of debt fund, equity fund, E.L.S.S. - equity linked savings scheme - sectoral fund, thematic fund, etc.), another alternative for investors to consider, would be fund of funds (F.o.F.).

It deserves mention here that the Indian mutual funds industry has undergone a sea change, with the abolition of entry load (of 2.25%) by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Henceforth, the independent financial advisors (I.F.A.) have to collect an advisory fee from the investors directly, but cannot expect anything from the fund house. The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) tried its best to represent its case to the statutory body, but in vain.

It's my privilege to inform the valuable readers about the communication address of iFast, which is given below: iFast Financial Pte Ltd., 20 Raffles Place, # 08-00 Ocean Towers, Singapore 048620. Their two websites are: ifastfinancial and ifastcorp. Their mail id is : info@ifastfinancial.com.

Vincent Trouillard-Perrot, the chief executive officer (C.E.O.) of BNP Paribas Asset Management (Asia excluding Japan), who is currently based in Hong Kong, wanted to build a relationship (with the investors) based on trust and long-term commitment.

As he said, it is important to remember that mutual fund industry must not be construed as a speculative business (which may fetch windfall gains), but as a long-term option. The Frenchman expressed further that they (BNP) wanted to bring the world to Asia and Asia to the world. Besides, having a foothold in Singapore and Hong Kong, the BNP has presence in both China and India.

Managed futures are an asset class, the industry of which is made up of professional money managers who are also known as commodity trading advisors or CTAs, according to Aaron Smith, managing director of Superfund Financial Singapore. It has 19 offices around the world.

A fund of funds simply refers to a managed portfolio investment which invests into other funds. Also known as multi-managers fund, it provides investors the opportunity to invest into a number of funds managed by competing fund management institutions through a single investment portfolio. Fund of funds are distributed to the retail investor as well as to high net-worth investors (HNWI) or H.N.I. clients. (to be continued in part 3)