The equity fund of the Mandatory Provident Fund, which accounted for nearly half of the total net assets of the pension fund, posted an average return of 10.3 percent in the past 12 months through September, with a staggering disparity between top and bottom performers.
The best-performing fund logged a return of over 98.4 percent in the period, while the worst suffered a 15.7 percent loss, according to the provisional figures released by the Mandatory Provident Fund Authority on Tuesday.
The mixed assets fund, which took up 34 percent of the fund assets, saw an 8.5 percent gain on average in the 12 months, while the core accumulation fund under the default investment strategy, commonly called “funds for lazy people”, also posted an average annualized net return of 9.5 percent.
Since the inception of the MPF System, the equity fund and mixed assets fund registered average annualized net returns of 5.1 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively, outperforming the annualized inflation rate of 1.8 percent over the same period, the regulator said, adding that the average annualized net return of the core accumulation fund was 7.1 percent since launch in 2017.
The authority reminded scheme members that MPF is a long-term investment spanning more than 40 years.
They should avoid adopting a short-term investment approach in managing their MPF or attempting to time the market, so as to avoid “buying high, selling low” which may adversely impact MPF investment returns of scheme members, it added.
