Month: January 2021

Autowealth Robo Advisors – Performance Dec 2020

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

In my previous post, I introduced Autowealth to supplement my portfolio. This is newly setup for my child’s account. Hopefully, over the long term this will turn out great as well. To repeat on why I chose Autowealth:

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.

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.

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.

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 back testing.

I would say I wouldn’t rate them as aggressive on the marketing front but at 100 million AUM and in the black since 3 years of inception does bode well for them. Looks like they are one of those companies who keep things lean, mean and transparent for others. Many times, I do not mind paying slightly more for better service or better app/products. I speak for myself though as I do know many who penny pinch and I shall not comment more on this. My philosophy is to never sweat the small stuff – To have bigger dreams, you will have to let go of the small things.

Performance – Dec 2020

Looking at the portfolio, it looks pretty nice again in December. The investment horizon would be estimated to be 15-20 years. 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. Again, as time goes by, I would like to deploy funds out into the market in tranches over time.

+7.65% absolute return (SGD currency) is pretty good in my view and this is as at 18 Jan 2021. The impact of USD on SGD is about -3.43% and by referencing the portfolio in USD, absolute return would be at +10.87%. Wow, okay that’s pretty nice for not doing anything after investing.

 

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 Referral and Recommendations

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.

StashAway – Performance Dec 2020

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

Here comes the late performance report in December 2020 for StashAway. I am still on the risk index of below 20%, split all the risk portion for 3 different portfolio let me understand how I want to do this portfolio going forward. I still maintain that having calculated risk per $ makes more sense in my opinion. It doesn’t mean high risk high rewards although it can give you high rewards.

As I have always preached, the important thing is that I am not left on the sidelines. If Mr Market decides to go either way, it would matter that much to me in my opinion. If Mr Market drops, then I will add on more to the portfolios.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

The SRS account since deposit is currently at +3.06% as on 18 Jan 2021 (Time-weighted return). I think this is quite okay as I entered the market at a high before it dropped in March 2020. Performance wise, I think it is decent and also this is a super long term portfolio – I would say close to 25 years horizon so I’ll just leave it there to monitor on the progress.

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

This portfolio is set out to be on a 15-18 year investment horizon. It is at 7.61% on 18 Jan 2021 and I think that this is pretty good. I have been averaging in whenever there are market dips. The risk index is at 16% and I will adjust from time to time but try not to touch any of those if you don’t quite understand how that works.

Education Portfolio C (risk-20%)

For this portfolio, I look at this at 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. Return is at 14.92% at inception but as  I didn’t take a screen shot on 18 Jan, this is on 22 Jan 2021, Not much of it has changed or rather it has dropped slightly but this is just a note to self and measure the monthly performance. Over time, more funds will be added to achieve the targeted invested goals.

 

Conclusion

So far StashAway has been a great supplement as a robo advisor. I will try to do more regular updates. I’m not sure if I can do that given things have been rather difficult of late and it has been quite busy at work.

2021 should be a test of time for most portfolios. I believe have rebalancing regularly will be the key.

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 Dec 2020

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

I’ve been late in updating my report so that I can look back in future to see what are the lessons that I’ve learned. December 2020 ended on like probably an even better annualised return. It is extremely satisfying – the way Endowus has been working out well for me thus far. Notably, no timing of the market whatsoever.

December has been interesting with Senate Elections, Market news on Covid Vaccines being implemented or going to be implemented globally. As I have always said, being systematic about investing is quite important. Month on month, diversification has been really important. Slowly but surely, I’m actually feeling that Endowus and my investment goals do align pretty nicely.

SRS Portfolio

Overall, portfolio is up another 2-3% month on month in terms of SGD. As usual, in USD terms, due to no FX impact as the portfolio is USD ETFs, the performance will definitely be better. We are spending Singapore dollars so this is our reference currency. This is the SRS/Cash portfolio which consists of my favourite Dimension Funds in a 40% bonds/60% equity. Overall from May 2020 to 18 Jan 2021, it is a 14.03% increase in absolute terms – Fantastic. I shall reset to complete a new Year performance and an all time performance going into 2021.

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it is nicely coming up another 1-2% this month and looking strong at 11.42% which is very very good.

All through 2020, the funds performed double digits in total estimated to average around 12% in absolute returns. Both portfolio combined ever since investments were made in May 2020. and comparing the previous month. That is estimated to be around 2-3% higher from November going into December

Also, I would be looking at the new Smart Fund DIY portfolio which looks really interesting. I would definitely be looking this up as interest rates are still pretty low and I got some cash lying around.

Like every month, the pros once more:

  • Endowus is the first and only robo-advisor to be approved by the CPF board.
  • 100% trailer fees back to the consumer, not the fund management fee. This is really one of a kind I’ve seen so far.
  • They do have a decent team who makes sense when introducing their platform.
  • I believe all retail investor should try them out because of how they are trying to disrupt investing.

Again, I will shamelessly thank all of you in advance for using my referral code.

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.

A New Chinese New Year

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

A New CNY

A year has passed and the fight with Covid-19 is still ongoing today. The biggest festive of the year is coming in February 2021 – The Chinese Lunar New Year. How great things are going to be for the upcoming event. With a max of 8 pax per household, things will change for a while now. Zoom meetings are going to happen more instead of the usual activity.

Inside me, there is a little me shouting out in joy. To a certain extent, I dread those meetings with some of my extended families so it is indeed a relief for me and also less hassle for my family. 2021 is going to be a good year, as it is always when there is a new start. I get a lot of comments about giving out ang pows during CNY all the time. Frankly, the bulk of those good luck money goes to my family (Really close ones) That makes up about 80-85% of the budget? roughly. The balance 15% goes to friends and extended family so it isn’t really that bad.

Festive Season Again

The last few years has been great and I felt like I do enjoy the festive celebrating with my real and close and extended family. Now the reason for bringing CNY up is that usually it takes us one month in terms of preparation. The washing, cleaning up and preparing new notes. I think that for this year, many things will change including how I hand out the good luck ang pows. (Red Packets)

There is something which I would like to address though. The idea of red packets has been misconstrued for such a long time. Generally kids would enjoy this period since it funds their “wants” but my views about giving is that you should not be pressured into giving more in your red packets than you actually can afford. I can understand that kind of pressure sometimes but it defeats the purpose of giving.

Like many wedding red packets, there is a standard but is there really a need for a standard. It is good to know but it should still be a level of affordability as well. I mean I do understand that it is good to know what is the market rate but to understand that it is a matter of affordability to some, it might have been overlooked to a certain extent.

Objective

The objective of passing a red packet to someone younger is to wish them well. If you wish to, you may also extend that red packet to someone who is elderly. The amount should not matter that much, instead the intention and thought is what matters. Maybe many beg to differ but that isn’t really a correct or wrong way to do this.

The purpose to give a red packet follows a well wish depending on what one would want to wish for:

  • Good Luck
  • Happiness
  • Prosperity
  • Fresh Start
  • Health
  • Education
  • Promotion and Good Career

However if you really want to know the market rate, Seedly has a write-up here: https://blog.seedly.sg/chinese-new-year-cny-ang-pao-red-packet-guide/

As I have always been advocating, don’t always look for the “Best”. A guide is always good but it warps the conception and mindset once you have taken that look. Well, I can’t speak for everyone but I definitely can’t erase what I have seen once I see a sample or a blueprint or a guide.

Disclaimer

Whatever I blog about is purely my own opinion. If you like what you are seeing, do remember to check they out and do your diligence. For me, it is always about the whole package. Like minded people can flock together to create good and powerful things.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do check out my shop or drop me a note here at https://lifejourney840443474.wordpress.com/contact/

Thank you in advance for the support.

The pictures were taken from the respective websites for this article.