Wake me up when September ends. It is time for the monthly review again. Last month was flat as usual but this is very little impact on the portfolio as performance has been stellar since inception. For performance in Sep 2021, I’m seeing some market pull back and it is finally showing how it is going to be for current markets. The whole portfolio seem to be steady and going on a good long term growth. I am quite positive on US equities throughout the rest of 2021 for some reason despite the constant word around hyper inflation news. As it seems, it is not quite a good month due to all the bad news coming out from China.

Like any other month, I trust Endowus and 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. The paradigm shift is happening faster than expected.

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.

There’s something else which I like about them and that is how they use the power of retail investors to put money into institutional class funds. These funds are accessible only to people with the money and volume to purchase. Yet, they are now available to retail investors.

Cash Fund Ultra Portfolio

I started the ultra portfolio since July 2021 which claims to be around 1.9-2.1% (Changed upwards of 0.1% for now) 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 now flat at 0% after a week of negative. This should be fine pretty decent going forward but funds being funds, they will all move on a downtrend.

I also added another 30k into the portfolio as cash injection to yield higher interests but it has been negative since day one so let’s wait and see how things pan out.

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. It has pulled back this month going +9.81% into the positive territory at +15% during the year. Might consider adding on to this.

 

This is at +9.81% since inception some time in Mid March 2021. (and -3.0 plus % since Aug 2021) This is probably a healthy pullback. 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. Maybe it is time for more deployment of cash.

SRS Portfolio

Overall, portfolio is up +23.93% 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 02 Sep 2021, it is a +23.93% increase in absolute terms – Fantastic once more. 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. This has dropped 2+% points for the month of Sep.

 

On the YTD front, I’m looking at +10.00% in 2021. Great news for me but it dropped -3 plus % points in Sep.

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it is looking at +15.62% since inception in May 2020. That’s approximately 1.5% drop from the previous month in Aug 2021. This portfolio is beating my CPF returns every month.

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

 

On the YTD front, it is yielding +4.85% in 2021. Nice but it has dropped 3+% points for Sep.

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 -0.40% to date. This is done monthly on RSP until end of the year. As compared to Aug 2021, the portfolio is down by 2 plus %. I tried to run a mini thematic fund around this fund and diversification is key. Of course, if I had just dumped these into the ESG portfolio from the start, performance would have been much better now.

 

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 +0.64% (reinvest) on 1 Oct 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. This has dropped 0.4% for the month of Sep

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.