Tag: 2020

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.

Happy Holidays -Merry Christmas

On By RistrettzIn Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

Season Greetings

Christmas is finally here. Truth be told, I didn’t really feel that it is festive but it is here and personally I just love Christmas. Perhaps it is because of religion but most of all, what i like is the warm fuzzy feeling of the celebration to the year and also in preparation to the upcoming one.

Finance Blogging

Maintaining a blog isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do but it is one of the more handy things to do since you generally just write what you like and what you feel. Different people have differing views, hence why we have different opinions and how one react to certain things will be unique as well. Some of our actions are determined by the culture, the attitude and the way we were brought up so none of these are wrong. However, in my opinion it is wrong to shout or scream in public no matter what unless you are slightly deranged.

Media

I also learned that social media is an extremely negative arena. One wrong move and you will be victimised or CSI-ed by people. People take no responsibility for mistakes if they found the wrong person. Can you imagine the stress the family members have to endure to only find out that they got the wrong person. I’m not a big fan of naming and shaming. After all, no one knows their side of the story. Everyone would think that they are right in their own manner of reasoning. That’s why there are still lawyers in the country.

2020 – The year that the impossible happened

Not everyone had a good year. For those who had a good one, plenty to shout out about given how tough a year it has been mentally, physically and monetary wise. Anyone who had an okay year, I guess it isn’t that bad given the circumstances. For those who were impacted this year and you have struggles which will bring through the next year don’t feel bad. Remember that positive vibes will bring you positivity. Don’t forget to always help other regardless of your situation.

Conclusion

Regardless, life must still go so. We are resilient. Life is tough but so are we as Singaporeans. Saving for a rainy day is something we do best. Different people have different levels of savings. The most important thing is to accept that you need a rainy day fund. Start today.

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://lifejourney.blog/contact/

The pictures were taken from the websites for this article.

2020 – The Year in Review

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

2020 is going on by quickly as with any other year. Especially this  year, with the Covid-19 announced as a pandemic. The world went into a global communism, shutting off the doors everywhere quickly. It feels like Industrial Revolution version 0.0 but yet you have technology that kind of connects you with the rest of the world as well. What makes it different is that some industry do well, some medium, some would benefit in the longer term. Irrelevant businesses would eventually shut down while new ideas continue to grow in the market.

Looking back there have been some hits and misses and while things didn’t shape up nicely. The year ended off with a small little cheer that can light up our faces.

There are some segments I would like to focus on in review. That would help me to understand what I have done right, do better or not to do at all. This very blog started on the basis of money matters and personal finance – This shall be the basis of the review. Christmas and the New Year is coming and so I would also like to wish everyone a Happy Holidays. I am for once looking forward to the coming year and for a great 2021!

Thank you everyone who reads my blog or thinks that it is worth looking at. I am humbled by anyone who actually stumble or read what I have penned down online. Hopefully, the coming year would see some interesting moments for my blog or perhaps even more interesting concepts.

Money Decision

The Good

  • The decision to enter the market during the market dips in March 2020.
  • The decision to divest funds into StashAway, Endowus, Syfe, MoneyOwl and Autowealth. This has proven to be an asset for the long term.
  • Full contribution to the SA account for both Tax Rebate and Retirement Fund in CPF.
  • Usual contribution to SRS account which supplements the Retirement Funds.

The Bad

  • Didn’t save as much as I wanted due to a lot expenses. Staying at home also meant that there were more expenses for food deliveries.
  • Celebrations were a little more elaborate due to the covid. More shopping and gifting at home since there wasn’t any travelling that can be done in the next year or so. Which I kind of miss and it has been taken granted for.
  • Not too sure if it is actually is a good or bad thing that Covid hits the business. We are actually pretty resilient to the situation.

Mental Health

The Good

  • It has been pretty refreshing to work from home. After 3 months of working from home, things have been turning rather boring but it is family bonding indeed.
  • It is actually better to avoid a lot of negativity in some offices. Luckily for me, I don’t have that issue but it kind of helped for the family mentally.
  • Work has more flexibility and there isn’t that much of a rush so it helps me generally.

The Bad

  • It became kind of stressful with the wife and kids and in laws.
  • Working from Home became both good and bad because it has become rather boring where I miss the hustle and bustle of communicating with colleagues and networking with new friends.
  • There are no limits to when working hours end so I can keep on working throughout which isn’t that great. My place of relax now becomes a place where I need to focus and work.

Fitness

The Good

  • Definitely more time to do more crunches and jogs.
  • A change in lifestyle and a change in diet.
  • Exercising is actually an individual sport. Group exercising are sometimes counter intuitive.

The Bad

  • The diet and exercising kind of slowly died off and I see myself seeking more new ideas to be more active.
  • The holiday weight doesn’t help so I need to work harder to stay focus.
  • Group games are pretty impossible now so less options to stay in better shape.

Summary

The Good

  • Finally, after procrastination for years. I decided to put in the effort to pen down and build a personal finance blog. How far will I go? I don’t know but due to the Covid situation, I took some time during the wee-hours of the morning when I could not sleep to build in some hosting, webpage, WordPress setup and finally writing articles which I think people might like to read about.
  • I would like to thank those readers who picked up my codes for the services that I use. Hopefully, these services will bring the same level of expectation that I already have since I have been using them for a while now.

The Bad

  • I am still deciding whether I should attempt to write a book. A simple and funny one. It’s just to figure new projects to work out on.
  • A long-term objective is to explore alternative income/passive income
  • I’m still in the infant stage of this personal finance blog. The growth rate isn’t quite what i expected but hey I’m still learning and exploring so I’ll keep trying.

Conclusion

I decided against looking at winners and losers in the equity markets as time and again I have traded, won and lost. At least 3 or 4 cycles it happened. Using the right services to not let my emotions go wild or make irrational decision only to regret it later on. The focus of investing money should not just be money but also investing in yourself. There should also be time taken to upgrade ourselves, improve our own health and find out what matters to every individual.

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 the websites for this article.