A Fantastic Investment Deal at the Bank - Or Maybe Not

I received a call from a relative recently. She was at a bank. Apparently, she had a fixed deposit that had matured and she wanted to cash out. The Bank Officer had proposed that she invest the cash in a Unit Trust offering a return of 2% per month. She was pretty excited. I laughed.

Obviously it wasn't a Bank Officer. It was one of those Customer Relations Executive (CRE) pedaling investment products to the innocent individual.

At 2% a month, I told her to ask the CRE to put that down in writing and guarantee it. If it was so good, I also want. I laughed big time.

I then asked if the CRE had told her how much they charge for the sales charge. Apparently, the CRE had said that they were offering a *huge* discount, reducing from the usual 5% to *just* 3%. Come on, Fundsupermart and POEMS charge a lot less.

The relative of mine had an interesting reaction to all these. She said, "I knew it, it's a con job! Never mind, I'm keeping the money in my savings account."

Oh dear. Sigh.