How to monitor shares, trust funds

YOU should monitor the company you have invested in by tracking its profitability, earnings growth, gearing and dividend payouts.

Read the company’s announcements, shareholders’ circulars, annual and interim reports, and pay particular attention to the closing dates of rights issues, warrant issues, take-overs offers.

Pay attention to corporate earnings, auditor’s report and directors’ interest. Make yourself available to attend annual general meetings to find out how the company is managed and gauge its business prospects.

For collective investment schemes such as unit trust funds, you should monitor their performance (relative to the objectives of the fund), strategy, reporting and portfolios.

In addition, you can ask your unit trust agent for more information, including:

Performance of relevant investment markets

Level of volatility associated with return

Rate of inflation

Performance of other similar unit trust funds

Strategies employed in recent years.