Month: August 2021

MoneyOwl Performance to date – July 2021

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, New Ideas, Robo AdvisorsLeave a comment

I have been investing regularly into my MoneyOwl portfolio monthly for some time now. While the amount is nothing to be shout about. It is just regularly fixing something so that I can save and invest at the same time.

Who is Money Owl?

MoneyOwl is an initative from NTUC Social Enterprise. They are sort of a Robo-advisor coupled with a suite of wealth planning tools such as will writing and insurance solutions. What really attracted me is their rather simple way of investing and using Dimension Funds as part of their portfolio construction. I believed back then I was comparing them versus StashAway. It was only when I found out about Endowus that I went full on robo-advisors.

As a retail investor, you will most likely not be able to access such funds. When the market tanked sometime in Feb 2020, I picked a few Robo-advisor to invest into and look into performance a few months later. Almost 18 months has passed now and I will most likely show some of the performance in my later posts but I must say, by doing nothing much, all advisors reported positive returns as compared to my own stock picking.

One of the reasons I went into MoneyOwl and Endowus initially was because of the Dimensional Fund. These are not readily available to retail investors but the investing landscape has changed. Retail has as much power as one UHNW investor if combined as a whole. Of course, you can still argue that doing 1 ticket size is better than doing one million ticket size.

July 2021 performance (Since Day One Deposit)

In portfolio terms, it is up +18.19% on 4 Aug 2021 since inception in June 2020. The portfolio size isn’t something great. Just a net deposit of 2,300. I kept the regular investing of $100 per month and it’s looking rather slow. I shall decide if I would want to up that amount soon given that I have quite a bit of commitment in the coming months. July was a positive month again by +0.3%

 

If we look at Time Weighted Returns, it is the more accurate to account of deposit and withdrawals at +30.38% (which is 1.5% compared to June 2021) Again, this returns is just for reference. At the end of the day, what you originally invest in and the final amount will be the absolute profit.

 

In terms of the portfolio allocation, it is at 60% equities and 40% fixed income and makes up of 4 different funds. Everything will be on Dimensional Funds. I kind of wished that I had a small cap fund in there. But I guess, as long as my main robo has that exposure that would be good as well on an overall basis.

Personally, I like the allocation % because it is just widely diversified for equities and widely disperse in terms of investment grade.

In the details on the profit and loss sheet:

a. The Global Core Equity Fund will be the largest allocation and makes up most of the returns to date and continues to do well.

b. The Emerging Market Large Cap Fund will be the lowest allocation and makes the least of the returns to date. I don’t mind some EM exposure at this point in time.

c. The Global Core Fixed Income Fund will be my main steady income Fund and finally.

d. The Global Short Term Fixed Income Fund will be the last stabiliser in my portfolio.

e. The government bonds remains to be on the downside which is expected though it recovered a little as compared to the previous month. The impact is negligible.

MoneyOwl fees

A few months ago, MoneyOwl announced that they have lowered their investment advisory fees as well as absorbing the platform fees due to the pandemic.

a. For asset under management S$10,000 and below, there will not be any fees charged through 31 December 2021. This amount will be rebated back in the portfolio. So take note that only Cash investments are eligible for this rebate. The cash management accounts do not have these in place and your total portfolio value has to be above S$50.

b. There is an introduction fee of S$99 which is worth about S$535 for a comprehensive Financial Planning. Money Owl’s advisors will sit down with you to review your portfolio. The review is expected to contain detailed report and recommendations (It is estimated to be around 2 hours). I do think there are some discounts if you use some linked services of sorts such as Ohm Energy (You get a S$20 off)

c. Additionally, they are introducing free financial resilience workshops to focus on cash flow management and debt management. Likely through Webinars and anyone can join in.

It is nice to see that as a partner to our national social enterprise, they are making moves to help Singaporeans. The reduced fees on investments which is one of the key points in long term investments. The more fees you pay, the more it affects your long term goals.

If you would like to give MoneyOwl a try do remember to use my referral code: 1JIC-91CM

Both of us with get S$20 worth of GrabFood Vouchers for every product or service that you sign up so that means that both of us will get up to S$60 worth of GrabFood Vouchers. (Total of 3 services/products)

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 would like to give MoneyOwl a try do remember to use my referral code: 1JIC-91CM

Now, if what I am sharing does resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral and Recommendations

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 Money Owl’s website for this article.

StashAway Performance – July 2021

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

Here we go, the second half of 2021 has arrived and it wasn’t too long before we had resolutions and new ideals. There’s only 5 months left for us to actually do anything to plug the gap. For those who actively review their goals and are on par or exceeding it. Keep on pushing, make it count. At the same time, it does seems like it has also passed rather quickly.

StashAway has been rather stagnant but considering the environment, I think it is holding out well. Then again, it is about comparison. If I compare it with my core Robo then it seem to be a tad shy from the performance. Then, they decided with an ERAA approach that has been rather active. Only time will tell if their algorithm makes the right choice and if there is some human involved, I hope it is only minimal.

Repeating to myself that if Mr Market decides to go either way, it would matter that much to me. Why is that so? If Mr Market drops, then I will add on more to the portfolios. If you have not taken the first step, action early so that you can start doing this early and learn from any mistakes along the way. By now, I would have decide on the main Robo to stake my money with. SA is not quite the one but let’s see how it goes. The competition remains strong.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

My longest term portfolio for retirement. A little off on the performance level. I could have done a lot better but I shall not look back and will pop in a little more when i contribute to my SRS account. The SRS account since first day deposit is currently at +3.95% as on 4 Aug 2021 (Time-weighted return). Oh well. Performance wise, I think i is okay and also this is a super long term portfolio – I would say close to 25 years horizon so I’ll just leave it there.

 

In USD performance, that’s about +6.90% YTD (Time-weighted return). That’s quite a bit of FX i am losing out here. It dropped a further 0.8% from last month and 0.6% from the previous month. Then again, I wouldn’t sweat on the exchange rates since I am going to stay invested and into these portfolios. They are just a mean of reference as I look back at the performance. So, still high risk high returns? I think it’s more like, higher risk commensurate the higher returns but there is no guarantee.

 

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

This portfolio B is set out to be on a 15-18 year investment horizon. It is at +8.72% YTD on 4 Aug 2021 and It’s steady. It’s the same as the last time i measured during Dec 2020. I have been averaging in whenever there are market dips. The risk index is at 16% and I will adjust those risk levels as and when I feel that there is a risk on or off. For just a 2% risk increase, I see a better performance already. This month versus the last was a -0.6% drop.

 

In USD, I’m looking at double digits +12.09% (Time-weighted returns). Again on the Forex rate as reference. This has dropped almost 1% month on month for 2 consecutive months.

 

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 +15.59% YTD (Time-weighted return) since day one as at 4 Aug 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. Two consecutive drop in performance for this portfolio.

 

In USD terms, we are looking at +19.90% (Time-weighted return). Looking great as usual. Although I feel that this isn’t exactly the year to take on higher risk for better returns. This has dropped 1.2% month on month for two consecutive months.

 

Conclusion

It is now more than one year since I started using StashAway. I still think that it has been a great supplement as a robo advisor. After using a few robo-advisors, I find that SA will play second fiddle to my Endowus Portfolio and true enough that fits exactly into how I plan it to be.

StashAway does have their own advantages. They do hedge their portfolios against huge crashes and take a stand on some positions which I do like because a lot asset managers don’t and even though they talk big about macro. The gold move was bold but it protects the portfolio. Again, Rome wasn’t built in a day so I guess you need to safeguard some of your monies to future proof it.

Recently, there were even more adjustments to reduce USD equities allocation all together. I’m not sure if this is an ingenious move that will  reap returns in the future but it is take a small hit at the moment. I do hope there isn’t too much of a human factor in these decision.

To find out more about the pros and cons of using StashAway, do refer to my previous posts.

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 Referral and Recommendations

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

Endowus Performance (New Cash – Ultra Added) – July 2021

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

It is the time to do Endowus July 20221 monthly review again. Last month was kind of a stagnant month but this is very little impact on the portfolio as performance has been stellar since inception. For performance in July 2021, I’m seeing new index highs but yet careful on what is going to show in the near future. The whole portfolio seem to be steady and going on a good long term growth.

Like many of my previous post and like a repeater every month, I kind of trust Endowus. I feel that their corporate story sells to me. Frankly, I would actually recommend them to anyone I know. I know that my investments will be safe with them.  I also read in their newsletter that traditional banks and investing firms are starting to put in monies in the company as part of the drive to stay relevant.

Whatever it is, they have been quite reasonable about everything. Another plus point is that they have also given me a lot of comfort in the way they allow investors to reduce their initial investing sum. Minimum sum should not be the way to investing. Overall, I feel that I take more pride in knowing who is holding my money and how they do it. Lowering the bar also allows people who are younger to start early in this long-term process. The other point is what many people are talking about which is the fees. They are probably the only one in the market to rebate trailer fees. I like that bold big move as compared to the other advisors. I will slowly shift my funds over to them. Everyone is different so, you have to try them out first before you decide.

Cash Fund Ultra Portfolio

I started tried out their ultra portfolio which claims to be around 1.8-2% (Investing into cash related funds) because I can’t find anything that yields more than 1% interests.

Not sure how this might work out but over the long run, it should be fine. Portfolio is down -0.04% after a week. This should be fine though.

ESG Portfolio

I started this ESG Portfolio during March 2021 and I have some high hopes for this fund to do pretty well. This segment would serve me well for a long term portfolio because I do see the value in investing in sustainable companies an practices. After all, we are trying to make a difference for our little ones. So, a little step goes a long way.

 

This is at +10.72% since inception some time in Mid March 2021. (and +2plus% since June 2021) This is moving in a good direction to date. The allocation is a 80%/20% Equity/Bond portfolio allocation so there will be more movement on the equity side. This is long term so, just leave it in there. You do good and it brings you sustainable returns. It is for the future and the next generation. I can’t explain more. My only regret was I did not put in more.

SRS Portfolio

Overall, portfolio is up +24.90% since May 2020 in SGD. As usual, in USD terms, due to no FX impact as the portfolio is USD ETFs, the performance will definitely be better especially when USD becomes stronger. Of course, the reference will be SGD since I use SGD. This is the SRS/Cash portfolio which consists of my favourite Dimension Funds in a 40% bonds/60% equity. Overall from May 2020 to 30 July 2021, it is a +24.90% increase in absolute terms – Fantastic. This is for the long run. I’m just going to keep it simple to report it overall as I have less time on my hand these days. But do try it out and put out your own performance and tell everyone about the experience. Unless, you nitpick aggressively – I think you will be fine.

 

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it is looking at +16.67% since inception in May 2020. That’s about a 1.20% increase from the previous month in June 2021. This portfolio is beating my CPF returns.

 

Similar to the previous months, interest rates for cash has been dropping like crazy. That’s pretty expected and the trend is to follow.

Fund Smart Portfolio

I started this semi medium term Fund Smart portfolio this month in May 2021. I tried to build a balance portfolio. I’m not exactly sure but I will go in via RSP monthly as I wasn’t sure but I do want to deploy some of my cash. I have put in just a little during the correction and it is at +1.68% to date. This is done monthly on RSP until end of the year. As compared to June 2021, the portfolio is slightly up by +0.2%.

 

Overall: 52% Equity and 48% Fixed Income

a. 15% in Multi Asset Fund (1 Fund)

b. 45% in Equity Funds (2 Funds)

i. Focus into China Play [10%]

ii. Global equity with dividend accumulation (Re-invest) [20%]

iii. Small Cap equity play (For the Alpha) [15%]

c. 40% in Bond Funds (3 Funds)

i. Climate Bond Fund Play [20%]

ii. Core Fixed Income Play [20%]

Retirement Portfolio

So last month, I got down into building a portfolio of unallocated funds to the institution Pimco GIS Income Fund. 0.55% will be the fees annually so that’s going to be start of the accumulation of the coupons from the funds. I will add on 2 or 3 tranches of the same should the time allows. Otherwise I would look at the Lion Global fund that matches the S&P 500 Index for a long-term portfolio. Since inception, it is up 0.46% (reinvest) on 4 Aug 2021. We shall see where we are heading towards. I put in another S$10k into the fund in July 2021 and the accumulation is slowly taking place.

I really do need to deploy some cash as I can’t get 2% on cash solutions.

 

The reason for Endowus

Like a broken recorder, 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 in my personal opinion.
  • I believe all retail investor should try them out because of how they are trying to disrupt investing and make investing work for everyone.

Thank you all in advance for using my referral code.

Last point is to do your own diligence. What works for me may not work for you. Investing in traditional portfolios is about risk management.

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 Referral and Recommendations

These pictures were taken off Endowus website for reference.