Top performing PRS funds! Find out how your PRS is doing

Looking back to November 2012, some will remember that as a month filled with wave after wave of Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) Fund Launches. 4 Fund houses comprising of CIMB-Principal Asset Management, Hwang Invesment Management Berhad, Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd and Public Mutula Berhad launched their PRS funds respectively:

Click HERE to read

Being a relatively new concept, PRS received rather lukewarm reception from the public. For some investors, taking opportunity of the tax relief offered from investing in PRS was the primary reason for investing into PRS launched funds.

Another reason why many aren't too excited about investing into PRS is the lack of track records for these newly launched funds.

Since it's been close to 3 months from the launch of all 23 PRS funds, I thought it might be a good time to sneak a peek into the performance of these funds. Before that, if you've not heard of PRS, read up about it HERE.

PRS Fund Performance According to Fund Houses

Shown below is a table of PRS Fund performance according to respective fund houses:

Funds under CIMB-Principal Asset Management	Fund Launch Date	Launch Price (RM/unit)	Price as of 4th Feb 2012	Returns (%)
CIMB Principal PRS Plus Equity A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4862	-2.76%
CIMB Principal PRS Plus Conservative	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4947	-1.06%
CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Equity A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4931	-1.38%
CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Growth A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4938	-1.24%
CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Conservative A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4993	-0.14%
CIMB Principal PRS Plus Moderate A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4881	-2.38%
CIMB Principal PRS Plus Growth A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4874	-2.52%
CIMB Islamic PRS Plus APAC Ex Japan	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.5103	2.06%
CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Moderate A	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.4955	-0.90%
CIMB Principal PRS Plus APAC Ex Japan	12-Nov-12	0.50	0.5341	6.82%

Funds under Hwang Investment Management Berhad	Fund Launch Date	Launch Price (RM/unit)	Price as of 4th Feb 2012	Returns (%)
Hwang PRS Conservative	2-Nov-12	0.50	0.5023	0.46%
Hwang Aiiman PRS Shariah Growth	2-Nov-12	0.50	0.5031	0.62%
Hwang PRS Moderate	2-Nov-12	0.50	0.5083	1.66%
Hwang PRS Growth	2-Nov-12	0.50	0.5194	3.88%

Funds Under Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd	Fund Launch Date	Launch Price (RM/unit)	Price as of 4th Feb 2012	Returns (%)
Manulife PRS-Moderate A	19-Nov-12	0.50	0.4966	-0.68%
Manulife PRS-Growth A	19-Nov-12	0.50	0.5011	0.22%
Manulife PRS-Conservative A	19-Nov-12	0.50	0.4999	-0.02%

Funds Under Public Mutual Berhad	Fund Launch Date	Launch Price (RM/unit)	Price as of 4th Feb 2012	Returns (%)
Public Mutual PRS Growth	26-Nov-12	0.25	0.2505	0.20%
Public Mutual PRS Moderate	26-Nov-12	0.25	0.2505	0.20%
Public Mutual PRS Islamic Growth	26-Nov-12	0.25	0.2500	0.00%
Public Mutual PRS Conservative	26-Nov-12	0.25	0.2505	0.20%
Public Mutual PRS Islamic Conservative	26-Nov-12	0.25	0.2504	0.16%
Public Mutual PRS Islamic Moderate	26-Nov-12	0.25	0.2503	0.12%

Observation:

Among all 23 funds, the best performing so far comes from CIMB Principal PRS Plus Asia Pacific Excluding Japan with +6.82% gain.
Second best performing comes from Hwang PRS Growth fund at +3.88% gain.
The worst performing fund belongs to CIMB Principal PRS Plus Equity fund, losing -2.76% of its NAV.
It is extremely vital to take note that fund performance differs due to the nature of investment, risk and also location where funds are invested.

PRS Fund Performance Sorted According to Geographical Focus


Ranking	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	Fund Launch Date	Returns (%)	Risk Factor
1	CIMB Principal PRS Plus APAC Ex Japan	12-Nov-12	6.82%	9 / 10
2	Hwang PRS Growth	2-Nov-12	3.88%	7 / 10
3	CIMB Islamic PRS Plus APAC Ex Japan	12-Nov-12	2.06%	9 / 10
4	Hwang PRS Moderate	2-Nov-12	1.66%	5 / 10
5	Manulife PRS-Growth A	19-Nov-12	0.22%	7 / 10
6	Manulife PRS-Moderate A	19-Nov-12	-0.68%	5 / 10

Ranking	Equity Malaysia	Fund Launch Date	Returns (%)	Risk Factor
1	Hwang Aiiman PRS Shariah Growth	2-Nov-12	0.62%	9 / 10
2	CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Equity A	12-Nov-12	-1.38%	9 / 10
3	CIMB Principal PRS Plus Equity A	12-Nov-12	-2.76%	9 / 10

Ranking	Mixed Asset Aggressive (Malaysia)	Fund Launch Date	Returns (%)	Risk Factor
1	Public Mutual PRS Growth	26-Nov-12	0.20%	7 / 10
2	Public Mutual PRS Islamic Growth	26-Nov-12	0.00%	7 / 10
3	CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Growth A	12-Nov-12	-1.24%	7 / 10
4	CIMB Principal PRS Plus Growth A	12-Nov-12	-2.52%	7 / 10

Ranking	Mixed Asset Balance (Malaysia)	Fund Launch Date	Returns (%)	Risk Factor
1	Public Mutual PRS Moderate	26-Nov-12	0.20%	5 / 10
2	Public Mutual PRS Islamic Moderate	26-Nov-12	0.12%	5 / 10
3	CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Moderate A	12-Nov-12	-0.90%	5 / 10
4	CIMB Principal PRS Plus Moderate A	12-Nov-12	-2.38%	5 / 10

Ranking	Mixed Asset Convervative (Malaysia)	Fund Launch Date	Returns (%)	Risk Factor
1	Hwang PRS Conservative	2-Nov-12	0.46%	3 / 10
2	Public Mutual PRS Conservative	26-Nov-12	0.20%	3 / 10
3	Public Mutual PRS Islamic Conservative	26-Nov-12	0.16%	3 / 10
4	Manulife PRS-Conservative A	19-Nov-12	-0.02%	3 / 10
5	CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Conservative A	12-Nov-12	-0.14%	3 / 10
6	CIMB Principal PRS Plus Conservative	12-Nov-12	-1.06%	3 / 10

Observation:

1. Once we have divided the funds according to the Geographical Focus, the performance among different PRS fund is easier to for comparison.

2. As expected, the best performing funds with positive returns are funds invested in Asia Pacific excluding Japan.

3. Considering that PRS is a long term investment and can only be redeemed upon retirement, investors should be selective and practice caution in selecting the right fund and right fund category to invest in. Risk factor should also be considered when making a decision.

I hope that this simple performance comparison for PRS funds will help you decide on which PRS fund to invest in. As for me, I will be considering to allocate a small portion for PRS in order to maximize the benefit of tax relief. Perhaps you should do the same?

Cheers and Happy Investing!

If you like this post, reward me with an ang pow by :

1. Sharing this article on your Facebook!

2. Like my Facebook Page

3. Subscribing to me. See the "FOLLOW MY ARTICLES VIA EMAIL" section located at the top left? Just key in your email and click Submit.

4. Visit my blog for other articles at http://invest-made-easy.blogspot.com/