I have a few of these unit trusts. Standard Ctartered promotion now is 1.5% unfront fees for everyone that purchases online, but I still go through my relationship manager and get 1%.
The trick for me is not to invest in just one, don't put all your eggs in one basket. But I have about 10 different unit trusts. Some are bonds, some equties, some mixed. Some are global, some are US, some are Asia focused. I just bought a European one for the first time last week before I left HK. YTD return has been 14%, over last 5 years around 5.5% per year. I'm ok with something like this.
The ones I have all pay out monthly dividends without dispursal fees, which is great since I no longer have a HKD income but I do have HKD expenses, property in HK etc. So I'm after some HKD income to cover periods when my property isnt rented etc. But of course when looking at the performance of the fund, I don't look at the dividend. If I can get over 5%pa return over a sustained 5 year period, then I'm happy. Whether it pays out a monthly dividend and fund price remains stable, or whether it pays nothing and keeps growing, is not something I look at in determining the performance of the fund. But my choice is to go for ones that payout monthly for the reason above.
Don't forget, on top of all this, with Standard Chartered these unit trusts unlock the "Wealthpro" function and then I can leverage my investment, get a multicurrency overdraft up to 70% of the value of the investments. I borrow in JPY at the moment and only pay 1% interest rate, send the money to Australia and save 4% off my Australian mortgages, and I need to buy a car and house full of furniture etc in Australia now