Why count units instead of ringgit?

The ringgit value of your account moves with the market and will frighten you in a crash. The unit count is the number that decides what you get paid later, and while you keep contributing it only ever goes up.

Is a market crash bad if I invest monthly?

It lowers the price you pay. In this illustration RM6,000 bought 14 units at the 1999 top and 28 units at the 2002 bottom. Between 1999 and 2002 the account value fell 62% while the unit count rose 44%, because contributions continued throughout.

Does the highest dividend yield give the most income?

Usually not. A fund paying 6% and never raising it is overtaken at about year eight by one starting at 3% and raising its payout 9% a year. By year twenty the lower-yielding fund pays RM16.80 a year against RM6.00.

Count Units, Not Ringgit

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There are two numbers on your statement.

You always look at the ringgit figure. It moves with the market, and sooner or later it will frighten you.

The second number — how many units you own — is the one that decides what you get paid later.

Twenty years of RM500 a month: the account-value line collapses around the year 2000 while the unit-count line never falls once.

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Same person. Same fund. Same twenty years.

RM500 a month, no clever moves. The top line is the money value; it collapsed around the year 2000.

The bottom line is the unit count. It never fell once.

1999 to 2002: account value fell 62%, from RM84,000 to RM32,000, while the unit count rose 44%, from 131 to 187 units.

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The worst three years, told both ways.

1999 to 2002: the value fell 62%. RM84,000 became RM32,000.

Over those same three years the unit count went from 131 to 187 — 44% more units, bought while everyone panicked.

A crash is a discount: the same RM6,000 bought 14 units at the 1999 top and 28 units at the 2002 bottom.

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The same money buys twice as much in a crash.

RM6,000 at the top in 1999 bought 14 units. The same RM6,000 at the bottom in 2002 bought 28.

Nothing clever happened. Prices were on sale — and only the people who never stopped buying got that price.

You never sell a unit — income is units held multiplied by payout per unit, illustrated with a fund yielding 3% today but 10.6% on what was paid in 2011.

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One day you turn the tap, and keep everything.

For decades you reinvest every payout and the unit count climbs. Then you take the cash instead — and you still own every unit.

Income is just units held × payout per unit. That US dividend fund pays 3% today — someone who bought in 2011 collects about 10.6% on what they paid.

The highest yield is rarely the most income: 6% flat forever versus 3% growing 9% a year, which overtakes it at year eight and pays RM16.80 against RM6.00 by year twenty.

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The biggest payout today is the smallest one later.

One fund pays 6% and never raises it. The other starts at 3% and raises it 9% a year. For eight years the 6% looks obvious.

By year twenty it pays RM16.80 a year against RM6.00.

Buy units, keep buying when it hurts, then live off them.

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That is the entire plan.

There is no ticker in it, no timing, and nothing worth screenshotting. Buy units, keep buying when it hurts, then live off them.

Work out how many units you actually need → See the other stories

Illustration only, not a recommendation. Distributions are not guaranteed. Past performance does not indicate future returns. Adezeno is a licensed Unit Trust Consultant with Eastspring Investments Berhad, FiMM No. F01029300.