It has been more than one occasion where I have made plenty of comments on the Employees Provident fund (EPF) buying high in the hope of one day selling higher.

What to do? My biggest asset is my EPF savings and I have no control over the way EPF manages its portfolio.

Recently the EPF Board in collaboration with UEM Group Berhad announced it was buying the whole business of Plus Expressways Berhad (Plus) for RM23 billion which works out to be RM4.60 per share.

Without a doubt, Plus is a good company. One has to pay good money for a good company. But if played correctly, one can still get a good company at a cheaper price.

It seem that EPF is again buying at the height of the market where the benchmark Bursa Malaysia Composite Index is nearing the all time high of 1500 points.

Why EPF did not buy Plus when it was around RM3.00 last year? Over the years, Plus has always been profitable with consistent dividends.

It seem that one would not go wrong buying into an air-tight concession agreement with guaranteed toll increases or else the government compensates.

Even better, during the 2008 financial crisis, EPF would have got a better deal as the index that time was nearing 800 points for many months with plenty of people panicking. At buyout at RM3.50 would have been well accepted and saving EPF several billions.

Any layman would know that the operations of Plus was only marginally affected despite the crisis. In short, Plus is a cash cow no matter how bad is the global economic situation.

Imagine my frustration when EPF chose to lay back during times of crisis.

In fact, what EPF should have done since Plus listing in 2002 is to continuously buy small blocks of shares over the period where the share price ranges from a very low of near RM2.00 up to RM3.50.

By doing so, EPF would have be able to built up its share holdings to just below the 33% of the total paid up capital of PLUS today.

When the time is right, EPF strategically could increase its share holdings to above a certain percentage to trigger a mandatory takeover of Plus.

For readers' information, today, EPF has 12% of the Plus share capital. This buyout could have been done much earlier at a much cheaper price. After all, with plenty of money at its disposal, EPF could make a decision at any time of the day.

On another matter, EPF should have invested heavily in listed companies of independent power producers which also has a steady long term cash flow and attractive risk return profile.

Has EPF also considered investments in real estate investment trusts which has good returns? But please be careful should EPF consider anything to do with the ill conceived 100 storey mega tower in a congested are near Stadium Merdeka.

Perusing through the published list of top 30 equity investments in terms of percentage holdings in the Bursa Malaysia as at 30th September 2010 made me almost fall of my chair as most of the companies are not high dividend yielding companies and some not even considered in the blue chip category.

If EPF dares to publish the whole list of equity investments, I am sure many would have a bone to pick with EPF.

My advise to EPF is to get your timing and pricing correct. Or else don't even bother investing in overseas markets.

Another recent news I heard is that EPF dividends would be gradually scaled down to encourage contributors put their money in some Private Pension Fund.

It did not work last time and I am sure it would flop again. It is a cruel joke and nightmare I wish to wake up from.

What I am looking for is consistent above 10 percent yearly returns from EPF and/or at least three time better than fixed deposit rates.

I think since the 13th general election is coming, I can dare hope for a little higher dividend that 5.65% as declared for 2009 but it will not be up to my expectations.

I already can predict that the next year's dividend where the EPF Board will be comparing its returns to that of fixed deposits and then claim to have done very well.

As it is , I am a poor person hoping for scraps and handouts. Looks like I would need to work until the day I drop dead.