Month: November 2020

Best time to Invest Now?

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance Series, PsychologyLeave a comment

More often than not, I read articles and comments and many people ask about if it is the time to invest now. Markets are too high…What asset class to invest into and should I invest now? I only have $100, $500, $1000 (It doesn’t matter how much you have. It matters to start early and depending on which stage you are at. It might be better for you to start an emergency fund first before you invest)

Just this morning, I was listening to Kiss 92 radio channel and I heard that there was a miracle. A fan fell down and went into coma for 23 days. While he was a in a coma, the morning show DJs started to call and talk to him. While they wished  for a miracle, they kept it real and thought that it might not happen. This then sparked a little thought – something we all know but fail to execute.

The story is such a good one that it kind of send me teary eyed for a short while. While we know that miracles do happen, we also know that miracles don’t happen all the time. However, it is important to keep believing that thing will happen the way you want it to no matter how far it seems. Never say never. Be practical but sometimes there are no explanations.

When is it really time?

You will never know when is the time you may lose your loved ones so treat them well and shower the love. Similar to investing, we will never have the crystal ball that tells us the future. If you do have one, I think there isn’t a need to seek financial independence anymore. No matter how accurate, lucky or correct one can analyse – there are no shortcuts. All things take time.

Spend time not focus purely just on money

Spending time on your loved ones is more important than making money. Money as what I alway advocate accelerate the process to many other things. Spending that time not also allows one to connect socially with family as well as reconnect with the young and old. Crossing generations also gives you fresh perspectives and new ideas. Don’t write them off.

Investing takes up a lot of brain cells if you are always exploring for new ideas. These perceptions will provide options and aide in that journey.

Family is family

Whatever your situation is family is always family. What you represent eventually will be translated down to the next generation. There isn’t a guide or way to do it but everyone is a parent for the first time so cut some slack on yours. After all, they were in different times as we did today. Family time provides connectivity that helps one mentally while providing that support. Some may call it safety nets in the finance world but personally I prefer to call that emotional support group. Perhaps friends might be as close to family but everyone’s comfort level is different.

With a section of the mental support covered, naturally one’s focus will be freed of distraction. However, there should always be a balance.

Is it the best time to invest now?

It is hard to say all of that with so many conflicting articles that talk about an all time high and that an impending correction is coming soon. That is all technical and feel. There are no scientific rules as to why markets goes higher or lower. Only interest rates and bond prices are inversely proportional. Other than that, there are no fixed formulas and no one can single handedly control or manipulate the markets.

As always, you can choose to put in some during the initial phase and stagger the investment on a regular basis. This is what most people know as dollar cost averaging.

The other way is really to split the amount that you wish to invest into 3 or 5 parts. Every time the market drops, just diligently put some in.

What ifs?

What if the markets were to increase by another 5% or 10% and you are not invested. That would mean that you will always be missing the market rallies. A medium and long term view of the market will definitely help in the long run.

The excuse

The contradiction will always be there. When you are young, your commitments are lesser but the disposable income is lesser too. Moving into middle age, your commitments increase but your disposable income depends on what you need to spend on. When you are slightly older, your commitments decrease but your risk level should not be like 20 years ago.

The concept

The whole idea is to really to invest early and invest regularly. A miracle happened for someone today but that doesn’t mean it happens to everyone. Some people missed their chance or opportunity and that would have been too late.

Disclaimer

This is purely my own opinion after using their service and/or products. If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

The pictures were taken from website solely for the purpose of illustration. Remember not to be a slave of money but make as much as you can so that you can make use of money.

SNACK – Microinsurance

On By RistrettzIn Deals, New Ideas, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

As I have said, I am a firm believer of insurance but not a firm believer of agents. I am of the mind that there are invested interest. Even the most honest guy needs to earn a living but I have yet to find anyone who is able to pass my test. More often than not, I tend to DIY on my own so most of my plans are generally bought online. The exception is that during the early years, agents used to manage those that I bought.

Why Insurance?

Let’s face it. Everyone needs to transfer their risk and that is a fact. Whether it is term or whole life plans, it is up for a debate but no best answer. You need health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, travel insurance, car insurance and the list goes on. My only grip is that DIY stuff comes cheap but you have to figure out how to to that on your own. Nothing wrong with that but it comes in as a pain when you don’t have time to manage those stuff.

Try Microinsurance

Personally, I feel that it is fine to try out a cheaper alternative of insurance just to get yourself covered at the lowest cost possible. SNACK is by Income and recently introduced this concept of microinsurance. I find it appealing personally coming from someone who understand how these things work. It kind of like supplement what i have existingly.

I think that the Income branding is starting to change and this helps with the brand image. At least they try to speak the millenia language. Next, I find that with such low cost products – There will be less barrier to entry. The difficulty in this solution is to educate people. It is much easier to say that it is complicated than trying to find out what this is all about.

Once you sign up online and register the amount you can commit daily, every document will be sent to you via email or digitally. Quite simply, I would say.

They are 3 ways your can choose to buy insurance from (Choose 1 or whatever you need):

a. Critical Illness

b. Personal Accident

c. Life Insurance.

You can also trigger these daily costs from a few parts:

a.  Redeeming a deal from Burpple or pay for meals using a VISA card.

b. Commuting bus, train or cab and pay for it using a VISA card.

c. Through retailing and purchases using a linked VISA card.

d. Shopping for groceries using a linked VISA card.

e. Through entertainment and paying using a linked VISA card.

f. Topping up petrol and paying using a linked VISA card.

g. Pay your utilities and paying using a linked VISA card.

h. Activate your fitbit app and fulfilling your daily steps.

You may be thinking what happens if you hit every objective. There is a limit to the premiums charged to your credit or debit card depending on the weekly cap you’ve set up. Once you’ve hit this weekly cap, SNACK will no longer charge you premiums when you complete lifestyle triggers and you will not be issued any more policies for that week.

The minimum amount daily you can set is $0.30 and you can add on as many triggers as you wish.

There is also a cap on each insurance segment:

a. For Personal Accident, the cap is at $100,000

b. For Life Insurance, the cap is at $200,000

c. For Critical Illness, the cap is at $200,000

These insurance are known as non-participating policies so the moment you stop paying for these, the coverage will stop. To me it is a stop-gap kind of coverage and at an extremely low cost. If you are looking at the full suite, take time to understand and learn. You will definitely benefit from the knowledge and to suss out your new insurance agent. Whether they are in it for the long term or to hit and run. We will never know unless we experience and have the basic knowledge.

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely my own opinion after using their service and/or products. If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

The pictures were taken from SNACK website for this article. If you need a referral code, please use my referral code “PAU4055” and both of us will be rewarded with additional $500 coverage for personal accident. Visit here https://www.snackbyincome.sg/ to find out more.

CardUp and getting more buck for your money?

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

Do you randomly try to look up for deals on cashback and miles? I can say that I’m a true blue Singaporean. I will try my best to always look for a good deal without going out of the way and affect my time when searching for such good deals. I’ve used this service CardUp when it first launched and the first transaction was kind of like free since it was on a promotional rate with Citibank cards.

Two years on, I still find it hard to catch on this bandwagon where you actually have to pay a fee to get rewards. But who am I to say anything about if this is a good business model. They must be around here to service a group of customers who want to buy miles or get cashback for some of their payments.

I’m not exactly the kind of guy who spends more to save more but I must say it is a good marketing strategy.

What is CardUp?

From their website: “CardUp is a credit card enablement platform, which enables the payment or collection of big expenses using credit card, in places where cards are not accepted today. Examples of payments include rent, tax, invoices, payroll and more, which are still paid by cash, cheque or bank transfer.

With CardUp, individuals and businesses can now shift these big payments to their existing credit cards. This provides an unparalleled opportunity to earn credit card rewards, access interest-free credit and digitise payments – making big payments rewarding.”

Rewards or Spend more Get More

Even until today, I still find it very difficult to see if this is a reward scheme. Maybe this is a way to get more out of spending more. I stay by my own views about credit card rewards because if you have to spend more to get more. I don’t get it. I’ll say that unless there are monetary benefits to cover the initial or some of the fees that is required, I don’t find it sensible. That said, there are the miles and cashback camp who like to make sure there are benefits for every transaction.

Don’t get me wrong, these are great strategies to get the best bang for your buck. Again, different things is just for different folks. This doesn’t really work for me. Truth be told, I am 50-50 on miles and cashback but don’t agree with paying more for it. Perhaps more selectively, a good deal is something worth paying for but not all situation.

If you really want to get on this, just drop me a note for a referral code.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

Able to write and share is my main objective is to create a community. Blogging is what I always wanted to do. Being mentally well and put down content is something I always wanted to do. Trying out new things will definitely bring one’s horizon to a different level.

When the world drops in front of you

On By RistrettzIn PsychologyLeave a comment

Life is very strange. It can be tough for some, easy for others. Sometimes smooth sailing while some have to ride heavy waves for extended period of time. Covid-19 has not been great to many people and companies globally. This also pretty much sums up the cashflow situation most companies are when the economy shuts down for months. The typical companies who are in debt are just simply living on future money, future growth and future prospects. Never touch those companies.

Uncertainty

Life has a lot uncertainties but these should not be the decisions you make in your life. Life will also give you a fair share of knocks but these knocks when looking back ensures that these formulate and set you up for the future. It is actually kind if you look back in that way however at the very moment that things happen, it isn’t easy to take.

Personally, I do understand how it feels and it is totally fine to feel dejected, upset and even cry about it. Immerse into the whole dejection and slump but don’t drag that out for too long. It is equally important to pick up and build the self confidence from scratch.

Your plans will change. Your ideas will fail and things will not fall in the way you want it to be. Truth be told, that is reality. The world starts dropping on you and the worries start formulating in a strange way. Whatever the situation is – It is a setback and you need time to recover. Be it one month, one year for 2 years – that is a process that everyone have to go through. It strengthens your resolve and makes your mind work so much harder.

Moving Forward

The first step is the dismay and anger. Get it through thoroughly and do not withhold. The next step is actually crucial – your own support group. Your family, your parents, your friends, your spouse, your extended family. This is also the time when you will start to realise who you can depend on. Some friendships will be lost while new ones will be developed. The support group is important to keep the sanity going.

Step number 3 is the recovery part and at times, mood will change from step 1 to 3 but that is not a step back but a step forward because there is a plan to go ahead. Regardless you like it or not, you will have to accept it and move ahead. The important thing is to push ahead. At this point in time, confidence can be at a all time low and you will definitely know what you need and what you don’t need.

Moving Backwards

Many times, when you feel that the world has fallen right in front of you. You are not alone and it happens to many people. No one likes to share to tell you the bad things. After all, everyone really just tell you the positive and optimistic stuffs. Social norms say you can’t say but I beg to differ on that view. I’ll say, it is better to speak your mind than keep it under a smile or silence.

I can’t say that this is a good feeling but it is indeed a humbling experience. It can be a time to rethink and/or reevaluate.

It will not happen

Most often, things happen at the most unexpected moments. I often hear people say things like this will not happen. These companies are too big to fail. These are the monopolies or even “My plan is …..” Well, I would say that who knew Covid will actually be a global impact to our livelihoods. The thing is really never say never. Humans are forgetful but these setbacks brings you back to the ground. When you struggle to find a solution, the struggle makes everyone resilient. We are only resilient when you experience hardship.

The Impact

What is impacting is that being a majority middle-class, we are all sandwiched-class. Being financially savvy brings your step out of the sandwich class. A close friend of mine once said that your best gift to your child is getting your own retirement plan ready. I reflected on that statement multiple times and it is true to a certain extent:

a. It is intangible and your child will never be able to understand it until their later stages of life

b. Being financially free and getting ready for retirement gives less stress on your kids as compared to now when you are sandwiched between the seniors and your young ones.

c. By getting ready for retirement, you will eventually also prepare for your child’s education. This is reality and it is real. Imagine contribution CPF to your child’s account and compounding at an early age. This kick start their beginning where most of  us either started too late or had to little to begin with.

Conclusion

The purpose of this is really to gain some awareness about personal finance and how important it is over the longer term. You have to know what you have or what you don’t in order to cover what you are lacking.

As each and everyone of us are different, if you are in difficult times. Don’t worry, it will pass and something better will come by. You may or may not see it now but it will be better as time goes by. Health is important so take care of your own well-being and be mentally stronger over time.

Sustain, maintain and grow your wealth. There is no rush as baby steps are the ones which brings you confidence. Each time, you fall as a kid, you just got to get back  up. Similar with your own investments (Be it personal investments or monetary investments) every step of the way is an experience. No one said that it was easy. Tough knocks makes you a better person and let you make better future choices.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

Able to write and share is my main objective is to create a community and blogging what I want to do. Being mentally well and put down content is something I always wanted to do. Trying out new things will definitely bring one’s horizon to a different level.

Human Nature and Psychology

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance Series, Psychology, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

Humans are interesting. Technically and Fundamentally. There has been a lot of discussion around behavioural finance but I tend to see that as behavioural psychology. For the human mind, there is a sense/emotion that triggers a good feel or bad feel and that triggers almost every decision we make. I’m no exception but it very strange. How does this affect us? I believe it affect our decision to buy a company, invest a counter, sell a counter, buy a long-term product or even purchase a new gadget even though we don’t need one.

Needs versus Wants

The most old school human nature is the needs and wants. I kind of feel that this is forgotten after being used so extensively for so long. We are forgetful creatures so we have to be constantly reminded into the basics. As defined:

Needs – They are necessities and compulsory. These should be our main focus when living life to the greatest. As I have always said, there has to be a balance as well. Sometimes, it is good to take a step back and don’t follow the sense or what seem logical to be doing. It takes routine out of norm momentarily.

Wants – They are good to have and not mandatory. However, they are stuffs that has an alluring sense to being able to own it. It does not happen all the time but these are mostly things we want to own.

More often than not, we make our goals in order to achieve our wants. Those stuff are not sustainable. They make one feel good or even give a great sense of achievement.

Herd Theory

This is probably an ingrained set of behaviour that has always been affecting human being. If we win, we win together and if we lose, we all lose together so it isn’t that bad. But com’on, that isn’t really correct technically. Herd doesn’t give you immunity to anything. No one gains from the same damaging impact (If the end result is negative) but on the flip side the herd tends to celebrate when there is a success during the end goal.

It also doesn’t mean that by following analysts call, it is always the right call. How much of those really do impact your decision. I would like to think that most people decide to delegate the job of choosing a counter to the “experts”. However, it just means to always do your due diligence. If it matters to someone, you will take that extra effort to do so.

Investor Psychology

These days the market doesn’t just pick up everything from one big investor call. Geopolitical tensions and psychology plays a huge part in everything as well. The talk about the famous words Warren Buffett once said that it is wise for investors to be “fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” This is a little overused but it makes absolute sense. However, this need to be taken into context as well. Is this the typical trader or the long term portfolio building strategy? We can’t typically pull a rabbit out of the hat and apply this to every scenario.

To date, I still find too many irrelevant quotes applied to conditions that are simply not apt for the scenarios. Even when the scenario seems apt, it may not be because of the situation every individual is in. Which is why, time and again I emphasize that there is no one size fits all strategy but building and learning from each other.

The $1 million investable asset versus the $100k versus the $10k versus the $0 can really learn from one another. It is never too late to do so but by not doing anything, that’s not doing yourself the favour to plan ahead.

Disclaimer

If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

Let me know what kind of articles resonates with you and what you would like to see or hear. I’ll try to make those more frequently. After all, the main objective is to create a community of sharing and learning from each other. The end goal is to be financially free.

Autowealth Robo Advisors – Performance (Oct 2020)

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Investments, Personal Finance Series, Robo Advisors1 Comment

So, it goes on and on for robo advisors. Many would probably be tired of hearing this. I mean, this is pretty normal. Unsexy stuff is not always exciting than the buzz of trading. Just only a couple of years back where i left the financial industry, I seem to be able to take a step back and think about what is an investing portfolio.

From where I came from, building a long term portfolio is very rare. The emotions, drive, passion and revenue counts a lot. Customers want quick and fast trade execution with low rates and high profits, sometimes it comes with terms like low duration and low risks. Let’s face it, people are a greedy bunch – most people just want guaranteed returns, beat the system, make huge profits and take low risks. I rather people show me how to make those returns guaranteed and i’ll put money with them instead.

I get it that property, gold and some asset classes do generate huge returns over the past few decades. That is history and history doesn’t mean it will return the same going forward. All these talk, there can only be a process when there is a conversation around planning, finance or even trading. Most people are just classified under the one way channel.

Investing especially in spot market is a tough business. Most people cannot accept fluctuations in their portfolio. Autowealth is yet another solution for me. Just that this time around, this is for my kid to start out her investment journey when she can. Teaching financial literacy is something I would recommend to anyone.

Why Autowealth?

My two reasons for doing so is really just (a) try out one more robo advisor and (b) segregate this fund for any other purpose other than the kid’s investment journey. We shall talk about if robos die off in the future but this is conversation for another day.

My take about the investing journey has been the same since day one. Don’t sweat the small things, the costs of robo are so low. We are talking about a 15-20 year horizon here so heck those low costs. You need to pay them to keep their lights running. For companies like Endowus and StashAway, these guys have the experience and passion and these translate into action.

Perhaps Auto Wealth is in a different segment all together but they are the ones I see positively after the other two. After signing up in June I finally got to funding the account in September and October when markets were on the downside. The idea of doing this over the long term is to really to buy in when markets drop. Down the naysayers, just take a look at this historical S&P 500 chart for the last 50 and 100 years. Markets will go up and each time it drops, just pick some up and let the robots do the work on balancing and re-balancing. As long as fees remains low, the portfolio will grow over time and over a longer period. It should remain in the black based on some backtesting.

For a 50 year horizon on S&P 500 (roughly around 1970 to 2020):

Big time hedge funds and billionaires made their market on the equity markets during US boom time. Naturally, capital market are still the source of capital funding even till today.

For a 100 year horizon on S&P 500 (roughly around 1920 to 2020):

From 1920, US markets isn’t that global and the equity markets isn’t that advanced so there is a long plateau. There are more factors than not being global as capital raising. It is not a popular medium since investors are less savvy as well.

Performance

Looking at the portfolio, it looks pretty nice ahead of the 15-20 years horizon. This is a portfolio which is set at roughly 40% equities and 60% bonds. The investment vehicles will be through ETFs. It does look like it can withstand long term peaks and troughs. What i really like is that i can switch between the SGD and USD currency performance portfolio as well as the impact on USD SGD forex on performance. I wouldn’t say this does as well as the portfolios but to be fair, markets were already slightly upwards and I would like to deploy funds out into the market in tranches over time.

+3% absolute is decent in my view and this is as at 16 Nov. If markets drop, the rule is to fund the account more. Do note that all of these will have USD exposure. Time versus DIY – it is really about what is important. I usually will want to see the ultimate end goal whenever I start anything.

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely my own opinion after using their service and/or products. If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

The pictures were taken from Auto Wealth website for this article. If you need a referral code, drop me a message and you can indicate my full name during registration. From there, both of us will  get $20 each to supplement the fees.

 

Syfe – Performance (October 2020)

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

Here is yet another robo advisor that I get on my portfolio since the start of 2020. It has been quite a fun journey I’ll say.

Adding Syfe – More Robo Advisers

When the markets were down during March 2020, it was quite exciting times because those were the kind of period which I actually will put money into investments. To a certain extent, I have also put money into other robo advisors such as Endowus and StashAway. While those are more of a “global diversification”, Syfe is more of a local bias for it’s Reits+ Portfolio and truth be told I then took the plunge for a small amount just to try it out a non-DIY approach to Reits investing.

Next, what I struggled with then over the period is that there were quite a discount off many equity tickers and I didn’t really know what to buy or what to expect since the market was in a downtrend. As with every investment, making a rational or emotional decision can only be determined after the event has passed. Reits has since risen, dropped and risen yet again. Frankly, I’ve been busy to keep looking into my own portfolio.

I haven’t got around to increase the investment funds so it is only a very small initial amount. Partly, my mind tells me to do dollar cost averaging for my other investments so we still have to see how things go.

Performance (Oct 2020)

6 months has gone by and +13.60% is pretty insane in my opinion. Then again, the base that I started out with is quite a fantastic benchmark so maybe that isn’t too fair. From here, there isn’t fresh funds invested as I am think more about my overall portfolio. I do think I have enough of the local investments and typically Singapore equities are rather slow and neutral in performance. Even the STI isn’t that exciting in my opinion. If you really look at a 50 year and beyond horizon for S&P 500, it is an amazing uptrend with good returns.

Do use my referral code to get some benefits when you sign up a new account with Syfe. Referral Code: SRPTSMQ5J

You will get (Find our more about their referral scheme here https://www.syfe.com/magazine/how-can-i-invite-a-friend-to-join-syfe/) :

a. S$10 bonus if you invest S$500

b. S$50 bonus if you invest S$10,000

c. S$100 bonus if you invest S$20,000

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely my own opinion after using their service and/or products. If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. There is no one size fits all investment strategy.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

The pictures were taken from Syfe website for this article.

Everest Gold

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, Alternative Investments, New Ideas, Wealth & HealthLeave a comment

The sound of Everest Gold is not exactly sound and safe at first notice but they are a new digital trading platform. You can trade gold digitally now, akin to a stock brokerage account. There are a number of articles out there from bloggers and online news that talks about Everest Gold.

Trying it out

To try it out, you do not need to put in any money. All you need is to use my referral code and your will be awarded 200k points which is approximately USD 20. These rewards can be used to subscribe for gold during their events.

  • No need for any transactions. Just make sure your details, bank accounts and everything is verified.
  • Referral is limited. Not sure if they will be bringing this back but in Oct 2020, the fee was 300k points which is approximately USD 40.

Referral

Use this link to find out more if you are interested at Everest Gold or use this referral code when you decide to sign up: TZLLE. Both of us will get more rewards for subscription.

History

A little dig up of the company. Everest Gold is a Singapore-based  fintech gold trading form. The creation of such a service is to digitise gold trading and makes it easy for both beginner and expert investors. It is suitable for anyone who have interest in gold trading. I personally have also tested their customer service team and response is pretty decent.

Everest Gold uses 999.9 pure investment grade gold. 1kg bard are from a refiner in switzerland. You can also download them from an app and investing starts from 1 gram. From what it seems, anyone can trade and liquidate almost immediately. Physical gold assets can also be collected from their depositories by submission of a request in-app.

Disclaimer

I do use this service and by signing up as a referrer, both you and I will get some benefits.

As with all investments, there are risks involved so please do your own diligence.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/

The pictures were taken from the Everest Gold website for this article.

Stash Away (Sep & Oct 2020)

On By RistrettzIn Deals, Performance, Robo AdvisorsLeave a comment

I’ve not been diligent in posting my performance that i invest into Stash Away. It has been positive so far (the experience) and I’ll say it is on par with what Endowus is providing. In my own words, I’ll say that they complement each other and offer different perspective. I do trust and believe their views on certain aspects of investing and hence, SA shall be the second robo advisor that I will build a long term goal with over time.

I have since adjusted the risk index to below 20% as I felt that there isn’t a need to go all out Risk On. Having calculated risk per $ makes more sense in my opinion as news and information goes on a random rampage. Most importantly, I am invested – So if Mr Market decides to go up that is fine too. If Mr Market decides to go down, then it will be time to put more funds in. After all, it is a long game.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

The SRS account since deposit is currently at +2.46% as on 5 Nov 2020. It’s one of those that I went in February 2020 before the crash came in March 2020. Nonetheless, I believe in the long term strategy that S&P 500 or index generally rises over the longer term so I have a super long horizon on this. I haven’t decide if I should fund more SRS monies into SA or Endowus. We shall see how things turn out.

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

This is something I set on a 15-18 year horizon. It is at +5.06% as at 5 Nov 2020 and I think that is a good return in my view. I have been averaging in whenever there are market dips. The risk index is at 16% and I will adjust from time to time as I do believer that by doing so, you sell some assets while buying into a new asset class based on the risk you set so in a certain sense, I can take profit while increasing or reducing my risk. Try not to touch any of those if you don’t quite understand how that works. There is some level of punting involved.

Education Portfolio C (risk-20%)

This portfolio has a shorter horizon of 12-15 years so I feel that I need to take on some risk to achieve my goals. This SA risk index is currently at 20% and will take on to be one of my riskiest portfolio. More funds will be added over time to achieve my targeted invested goals.

Conclusion

So far StashAway has not failed me in a sense that it fits in to my investing style and logic. I wish to put more into the accounts but I cant bring myself to invest when prices are going higher and higher. Instead, when things come down I find it easier to put money in.

To sign up or try out Stash Away, visit the website and use my referral code at Stash Away Referral

We’ll both get up to $10,000 SGD managed for free for 6 months which is a good deal.

Disclaimer

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/

The pictures were taken from the Stash Away website for this article.

Endowus – Performance Sep & Oct 2020

On By RistrettzIn Performance, Personal Finance Series, Robo AdvisorsLeave a comment

I should actually do this regularly on the monthly updates to reflect how effective this portfolio can be. I missed one month of record in Sep 2020 and hence this jumped forward to the Oct 2020 portfolio.

As you can see, the last period of Oct has been a pretty volatile US market which makes diversification much more important. I am beginning to see the benefits of using Endowus as it is a systematic approach. When i initially signed up for this in May 2020, I wanted to see how the CPF portfolio and SRS/Cash portfolio performs. Truth behold, there wasn’t any worries about market dropping off and if I should sell any tickers.

SRS Portfolio

This is definitely up my alley in terms of overall portfolio management as well as long term Core portfolio. Without more talk, let’s take a look at both portfolio. This is the SRS/Cash portfolio which consists of my favourite Dimension Funds in a 40% bonds/60% equity. Overall from May 2020 to 5 Nov 2020, it is a 6.86% increase in absolute terms.

 

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it does not come with the Dimension Funds due to the restrictive nature in what you can invest in but I think this is excellent performance compared with the 2.5% in CPF.

Just simply, 6.66% in absolute returns ever since investments were made in May 2020.

Frankly, initially when I got to know about Endowus it felt like oh gosh another robo-advisor but when I started to listen and understand what they are trying to do, I am beginning to trust that what they are doing is for the good of the community and retail investors. Their fees are arguably one of the lowest in terms of value from the way i see see.

Recently they came up with a SmartFund DIY portfolio which looks really interesting. I would definitely be looking this up when there is a market pullback.

A quick review again:

  • Endowus is the first and only robo-advisor to be approved by the CPF board to use your CPF OA excess funds to invest.
  • 100% trailer fees back to the consumer.
  • Over the months, investment content and market overview has been valuable.

Disclaimer

If you decide to sign up with Endowus, do remember to use my referral code: https://endowus.com/invite?code=EDZ8M

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/

These pictures were taken off Endowus website for reference.