Investment- REITs Versus PNB Unit Trusts

I have been mulling over taking out my maximum investment in a REIT and place it instead in a PNB unit trust such as AS1M or ASM. Though the unit trusts are fully subscribed but you can always get them bit by bit following daily redemption activities of other investors.

PNB Unit Trust is Stockmarket-dependent

The REIT is giving a good dividend of 6.50% per annum which is the same as that given by PNB product. The advantage of the latter is it is credited back into your trust account and you just leave it for the compounding principle to do its wonderful job.

The REIT has some prime properties in the capital plus it is also doing more acquisitions of services to expand its capability of paying more dividend to its investors in the future. Whereas the PNB products are depending on the performance of the stock market in general. Both are managed by fund managers so one does not need to keep a close watch on the daily stock market activities.

REITs- Location,location.. occupation,occupation..

I would expect both investment instruments to behave more or less the same way in varying financial environments. Thus if the economy is down, both would not be able to perform as well. Even if one were to perform slightly better, there could not be that the dividend would be too much different. Could it? Could the REIT give a dividend of say 10% per annum? Like BSDReit which gives more than 9% for the last couple of years.Hmmmm... I am cracking my head now as I have to make a fast decision before end of this month.

You know that feeling of wanting to have everything? Not greed but call it diversification if you like to make it appear and sound better. By May next month I will get back my capital investment in Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) bond or sukkuk. Perhaps I would use this 50k and leave the same amount in my REIT and see the performance pattern  from then on. In this way, I will still be able to transfer 75% of my REIT investment to a PNB unit trust.... a kind of compromise.

Really REITs may have higher dividend potential given more market confidence in the property sector in the future but I am in no mood to face the risks at the moment.

" Help my baby's turning yellow!"

A young mother turned up at the clinic last month with her seven month old infant looking desperate. She said she noticed the skin of her baby has become progressively yellow for the past week. He is her first baby and he also suffered from jaundice at birth. She was worried that the condition had recurred. In fact she had been to a private doctor who assured her nothing was wrong with the baby. She was not convinced as the yellowish tint has become more generalised to involve the baby's hands.

The mother was asking whether a blood test should be done on the infant to establish the cause of his abnormally yellow skin.

General examination of the infant showed that he was active,alert and well-fed. Of course he was looking abnormally yellow but his eyes were not, as expected if he were to have a liver or blood problem causing a high bilirubin level in the system, yellow (jaundiced). The signs and symptoms did not point to  a usual medical condition.

I proceeded to ask about what kind of food the child was given and whether mashed carrot was given and how often. The mother said she gave mashed carrot everyday for every meal for the last one month! I advised her to stop the practice because frequent intake of carrot especially in a young child would cause the skin to have a yellow tint. And there was no need for a blood test.

What the baby was suffering from is called carotenemia that is an excessive blood level of carotene which causes a temporary yellowing of the skin (pseudojaundice). Carotenemia is most commonly seen in infants fed too much mashed carrots and also adults consuming high quantities of carrots, carrot juice or beta carotene in supplement form.

Carrots contain  carotene

Mashed carrot

A meal of mashed carrot twice a week would be just fine. The mother should also use other type of green leafy vegetables instead of just carrot.

The child's skin has since returned to a normal colour. The mother is thankfully relieved.