If you are an ardent unit trust investment, one of the main things you would be interested in would be your unit cost, or cost per unit. This is the mother of all numbers because it will actually tell you what is your profit or loss on a particular day.

For those who are not quite sure what a unit cost is, my very plain definition is the total of my investment in Ringgit over the units I have. That will give you the cost.

The other important number is your unit value. And this simply means what is the current NAV the fund is at now. When you compare these 2 numbers, you will see if you have a gain or a loss.

Simple isn’t it? Well, apparently not, as I have just found out today with one of the larger American bank down town.

The recent market run-up has done some good to my UT portfolio and I was intending to redeem it with the intention to invest with Public Mutual.

And so, the question I posed to the customer service personnel was “Can you tell me what is my unit cost, i.e. cost per unit since it is a regular savings plan?”

The answer? “Er, er, what is that ah? I can tell you what is the price today, it is …” After I explained in detail to her what I meant, she said she will get her colleague to call me. And then she said “Usually, customers do not ask this, they only want to know what is the NAV”.  By the time her colleague responded, the market already closed! Ok, enough said. Thankfully, the market went up today and my redemption tomorrow will mean some percentage points higher than today.

So, dear fellow investors out there, be sure that when you choose to invest, please remember to choose the fund house who can provide you with agents who are intelligent enough to know what a unit cost is!!!

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