Category: Personal Finance Series

S$280 from SCB Bonus$aver Account

On By RistrettzIn Deals, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

For cash solutions, there are plenty of those around on robo-advisors. Cash solutions actually mean as good as cash. They can also be termed as money market solutions. In terms of allocation, they can be considered riskier than holding cash and less risky compared to bonds. Generally, the risk is lower as compared to any investments.

Cash Solutions/Management

Most of the solutions are termed as cash management. It may sound complicated, it is just another term or a financial description.

i. It can be a series of money market funds combined to get a yield.

ii. Some of these cash solutions also be cash backed by loans/mortgage/cheap loans.

iii. When there are deals or directive from a company, there can be a combination of marketing dollars and promotions. These benefits the consumers usually.

There are multiple creative fiduciary ways to get a better yield however not all are covered under SDIC. This means that if there is a bank run – Your first S$75k in the bank covered by SDIC is secure.

The SCB Bonus Saver account

Standard Chartered Bank is running an interesting promotion for customers who currently do not have a Bonus Saver Account. The clause is that you need to transfer fresh funds (Not from Standard Chartered Bank) to the newly opened Bonus Saver account.

As a result from using SingPass to apply online, you will get an additional S$30. (Total: $208 via Bonus Saver + S$30 via SingPass) Hang on there. If you sign up via SingSaver, you get a little more!

a. The first condition is to fund SGD 50,000 into the Bonus$aver account until the end of the next month. This means that if you opened the account in May, you have to keep the cash in there until end of June)

b. The second condition is to take note of the promotion end date. That will be 31 May 2021. There is still 10 days to go from today 21 May 2021. The account opening is almost instantaneous.

If you apply the Bonus Saver account via SingSaver here at SingSaver Bonus Saver Promotion

Option wise, you can choose to get a set of Apple AirPods Pro (worth S$379) or S$250 cash when you make a min. fresh funds deposit of S$50,000 + S$30 cash upon account opening. Validity will be till 2 Jun 2021.

(Total: $250 via Bonus Saver + S$30 via SingPass) Sweet.

Take note of the charges

  • After you receive your payout take note of the – Fall below fee (fee incurred if you fail to meet the minimum average daily balance of S$3,000): S$5 per month [This is the item you need to take note of]
  • Early account closure fee: S$30 (within 6 months of opening) [Close it after 6 months if you do not require this account]
  • Cheque book fee (optional): S$10 [Not required in my opinion]
  • Debit card annual fee: S$20 [I don’t think we will get there]
  • Credit card annual fee: S$214 [I don’t think we will get there]

How to apply?

If you are looking to apply for the Bonus$aver account and Bonus$aver credit card, you will have to be between 21 to 65 years old.

Click on this link: SingSaver Bonus$aver to apply.

Terms & Conditions

Check out the T&Cs here before you apply: SCB Terms and Conditions

Just a disclaimer, I don’t get anything from this. It’s just a good deal how I see it.

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely my own opinion. 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

In this article, the pictures were taken from websites for illustration only. Stay Safe!

Portfolios Test – Baptism of Fire (Robos, Cryptos, Value Investors & more)

On By RistrettzIn Macroeconomic, Performance, Personal Finance Series, PsychologyLeave a comment

Portfolio Drawdowns

In the year 2020, almost anything that you buy in any asset class will make you some money. Going into the year 2021, it is going to be a tough year. As I mentioned many times, portfolios will go through their baptism of fire. Perhaps it is the month of May. As the saying goes, sell in May and go away? It is going to be a trying year. This year, we will most likely see portfolios taking a hit. This is the time to put all those concepts to use.

Equity markets are pricing in the real leverage, over trading and over optimism with inflation risks and other factors to concerning investors. What are the other reasons? Frankly no one will know. Risky assets are always risky and they reward you with the rewards if you are spot on.

It is always hindsight

No one has any crystal ball so stop looking for gurus. As emotional as many people out there, I see green with envy for others who make the one hit wonder and 1000x their portfolio. The truth is, I doubt that I will even go into that kind of trade. However, it doesn’t stop me from trying stuff out. You never know which one might hit the jackpot.

Cryptocurrency – The way?

Dreaming of 100 BTC at USD 10? If it ever gets there again, will you buy a 100 of those? This is a question only every individual can answer on their own. To put things to perspective, d not look at what others have. Instead, look at your own portfolio and see what make sense of it. What does it serve and what is your target?

There are plenty of blogs out there who have different styles and objective. Their aim is not yours. We are all unique in nature. Learning to cope with drawdowns are key to the investment journey. Don’t panic, keep calm and keep buying. Just continue to do what you are doing consistently, results will show for itself when the time comes.

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely my own opinion. 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 relevant website for this article. Stay Safe!

Endowus Performance – April 2021 + New Fund Smart Portfolio

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

Equities have retraced and between Tech and Cyclical equities, it seems to sway from side to side – With Tech equities taking a big hit currently. There isn’t seem to be any clear signs for any particular trend. It just seems tough out there for the hottest equity star in 2020

I’ve been talking about Endowus for a while now. I feel that their corporate story sells to me. I would actually recommend them to anyone I know to be honest and I know that my investments will be safe with them.  To me, it is always a plus point when the founders want to keep their company stock value because they see value in their own company. There are people who are passionate about building a business.

I feel that at least they are genuine and passionate about their work coming from big financial names. I came from finance with a little experience from work and I never liked the way bank works with revenue and hard selling. Having a charismatic leader doesn’t mean that they can play with their words and make glory with their decision making. However, who am I to say that. I just feel that the culture is toxic and it doesn’t mean that they don’t acknowledge it. The money is just too good for them to walk away.

ESG Portfolio

I started this last month and I do know that ESG have performed relatively well in the European zone for the longest time possible. 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 saving this earth for our next generation – a little step goes a long way.

 

This is at +4.80% since inception some time in Mid March 2021. I like what I am seeing. Of course this 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. I like it even better now. You do good and it brings you sustainable returns.

SRS Portfolio

Overall, portfolio is up +20.85% 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 5 Apr 2021, it is a +20.85% increase in absolute terms – Fantastic. For YTD performance, the fund was stable and at + 7.31% for 2021. Sweet. Long term guys, long term view.

 

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it is looking at +13.07% since inception in May 2020.

 

In Terms of YTD returns in 2021, I’m looking at +2.54%. This is quite expected so not much of a surprise. I have no requirement to login daily to view my portfolio performance. Just a monthly review will be sufficient.

 

Similar to the previous months, cash management accounts have started to report a decline. This is also expected since LOW interest rate environment is here to stay for the long term.

Fund Smart Portfolio

Finally, I setup my 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 because It has been lingering around for 6 months already.

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%]

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, it isn’t Cryptocurrency. Super high risk = Potentially Super high returns. Fair enough in economic terms. Just remember that = Potentially Super high decrease in portfolio as well.

I’m not ruling cryptocurrency as an asset class here because I do trade this asset class as well. What I do see is that they will be a disrupter in traditional currency in the future. What I am saying is traditional investments brings stable, slow and disciplined returns. I do have a portion of my funds in cryptocurrency and the latest trend of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). I deal with these two investments separately and realistically.

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.

StashAway Performance – April 2021

On By RistrettzIn Performance, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

The first quarter of 2021 has gone by and my portfolio remains pretty similar. Well, slow and steady. Nowhere similar to what I have in my crypto portfolio.

As a usual reminder, 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. That is what I believe will work for me for my traditional and rather stable investments. 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.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

I still am pretty sad about my timing on this as this was invested before the pandemic outbreak came out. The SRS account since deposit is currently at +2.86% as on 11 May 2021 (Time-weighted return). I think this is quite okay i suppose timing isn’t everything. Performance wise, I think it is ‘doing 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 to monitor on the progress.

In USD performance, that’s about +7.79% YTD (Time-weighted return). That’s quite a bit of FX i am losing out here. 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.

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

This portfolio B is set out to be on a 15-18 year investment horizon. It is at +8.40% YTD on 11 May 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.

In USD, I’m looking at double digits +13.89% (Time-weighted returns). Again on the Forex rate as reference

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 +15.48% YTD (Time-weighted return) at inception as at 8 Apr 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.

In USD terms, we are looking at +21.35% (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.

Conclusion

So far StashAway has been a great supplement as a robo advisor. I will try to do more regular updates as a reminder to self. After using a few robo-advisors, I find that SA will play second fiddle to my Endowus Portfolio. The year of 2021 should be a test of time for most portfolios. I’m not too sure about you but looking at cryptos seems to be better than these. A lot more risk but yet a lot more excitement. I guess we need some excitement in our lives to look forward to.

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.

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.

Cards N Such – More Cards – You Trip Debit Card

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, Deals, Personal Finance Series2 Comments

The thing about Cards (Being Credit card, debit card or prepaid card), there seem to be a trend of introduction usable physical card. Just to name a few, Razer Card, Big Pay Card, Wise Card, GrabPay Card, Singlife card and an upcoming card Hugo Card. There is just too many of these around isn’t it. I’ll say it isn’t a bad thing, It is indeed a little troublesome but as long as you manage it properly, it will assist you in your little own personal finance journey.

You Trip Card

Today, I shall discuss more about the YouTrip card. It used to be a wonder travel card before the pandemic hit. Basically, you get superb FX rates when you use the YouTrip card to make a purchase in a foreign currency. Pretty decent I say. Yes, it is another card and you need to preload the amount in SGD (If you dont have any other currency). The max limit I believe will be the same, which is S$5000 at any point in time and an annual limit at S$30,000.

Within their app, you can store any of the following 10 currencies:

  • Australian Dollar (AUD)
  • Euro (EUR)
  • Great British Pound (GBP)
  • Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
  • Japanese Yen (JPY)
  • New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
  • Singapore Dollar (SGD)
  • Swedish Krona (SEK)
  • Swiss Franc (CHF)
  • United States Dollar (USD)

Pros:

  • It has a great Forex Exchange rate if you need to purchase an item in another currency
  • They don’t charge you any other fee except for the amount they need to pay Mastercard as a service provide.
  • It works just like any other card that you use. Even has a pay wave function.
  • You can most likely use a credit card or debit card to top up the You Trip Card. Pre-Paid cards are most likely not accepted.

Cons:

  • You can’t add it to your mobile wallet.
  • It is a Debit Card (Meaning you need to preload the amount in there and it is capped at S$5000) at any point in time.
  • You also cannot take that money out once you have put it in so think wisely.
  • Other than good Forex rates, there are no perks, rewards or cashback so it really depends on what you are looking out for.

Disclaimer

If you decide to sign up on the You Trip Card, do remember to use my referral code: You Trip Card Referral Link, You will get S$5 once you made your first top up to the card and I will receive the same too.

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 You Trip website for reference

Syfe – Performance Mar 2021

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

Here is yet another robo advisor that I get on my portfolio since the start of 2020. It has been okay I feel. Ever since 2020, it has been a year and till today – I’m not exactly convinced though.

I am caught in both minds. I like reits but yet I don’t quite like Singapore equities in general. Dividend paying equities are definitely good but yet I have more appetite for a growth company. It is just not that sustainable over the long term I feel. Where are the money coming from to build more creativity and expand their business.

Why Syfe?

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 (March 2021)

12 months has gone by and +23.44% 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 Syfe Signup) :

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 Referral and Recommendations

The pictures were taken from Syfe website for this article.

AutoWealth Performance – March 2021

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

Here we go for March 2021 performance for another Robo Advisor. Different robo advisor really does things differently. They concept, the drive and the unique selling point are all different. Some just have more marketing power than others while some just like to lay low. It is a little like a new acquaintance to a friend and eventually to a close friend. Wondering if you made the right choice? I guess only time will tell.

Why Autowealth?

Every month, I’ll just to just remind myself why was I a friend of Autowealth. My two reasons for doing so is really just (a) try out one more robo advisor/segregate a portfolio to find out how they invest and what their model is and (b) Diversify my investment assets through different companies.

Against all odds, the costs of robo have set a bar in the local scene that they are one of the lowest cost solutions to build a portfolio. These options used to be only available to people who have access to unique solutions like private banks or high networth individuals. Then again, the manager takes a big cut from their investments by taking risks.

As Usual, overall market goes through peaks and troughs. Every 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 like it that they have already breakeven into their third year so something is working right for them.

So far, no change in asset allocation. I think I have been rebalanced two times now. It’s a little like locking in gains due to the rising market.

 

Performance – Mar 2021

Looking at the portfolio, the last few months have been stagnant and I still feel that it will continue to do so through 2021. My 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. USD has been steadily increasing versus the SGD.

 

Overall, since funding to date (in SGD currency) performance is +10.66% and I like this. (compared to Feb 2021, it is up +1.2%) The impact of USD on SGD is about -2.69% and by referencing the portfolio in USD, absolute return would be at +13.14%. No complaints thus far.

 

Looking into the details if I were to look at the portfolio value at $5334 (end Dec 2020) versus today at $5533. Some simple and manual YTD calculations below

YTD Performance[($5533-$5334)/$5334] x 100% = +3.73% (YTD 8 Apr 2021 and +1.4% as compared to 10 Mar 2021)

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 – Mar 2021

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

I have been later for one quarter in 2021 in terms of updating. Nothing much has changes for the StashAway portfolio. Similar to Endowus, it is on auto-run and monthly additions are placed into different portfolios. I am still on the risk index of below 20%, split all the risk portion for 3 different portfolio. 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. That is what I believe will work for me for my traditional and rather stable investments.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

The SRS account since deposit is currently at +2.11% as on 8 Apr 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. It was at around +3% in Dec 2020 but oh well. Let it be i guess.

In USD performance, that’s about 5% (Time-weighted return). That’s expected.

 

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

This portfolio is set out to be on a 15-18 year investment horizon. It is at 7.63% on 8 Apr 2021 and I think that this is pretty good. 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.

In USD, I’m looking at double digits 11.75% (Time-weighted returns)

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 14.42% (Time-weighted return) at inception as at 8 Apr 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.

In USD terms, we are looking at 18.81% (Time-weighted return). Looking great I feel.

Conclusion

So far StashAway has been a great supplement as a robo advisor. I will try to do more regular updates as a reminder to self. After using a few robo-advisors, I find that SA will play second fiddle to my Endowus Portfolio. The year of 2021 should be a test of time for most portfolios. I still believe that rebalancing regularly will be the key.

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. I can’t see those actions being translated into customer’s returns.

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.