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Google Pay 2023 Huat Pals

On By RistrettzIn Deals, Promotion, RandomLeave a comment

This year, 2023, GPay has updated and made minor tweaks to their Huat Pals. Gone with BB Loh and Panda and incomes CNY goodies. I don’t know why but it intrigues me every year that I spend some time every year doing a little bit more research.

With the social aspect of CNY back after the Covid years previously, there are some additional items that give you more opportunities to get more goodies. That said, it also means you have to make more effort to get more.

More Ways to Huat. GPay Huat Pals

Step number one: You need to set up and download Google Pay for a start.

You can sign up for a new account here: g.co/payinvite/t74cf8f from your mobile app or use this link here at Download Google Pay you’ll earn $3 when you opt-in to Google Pay offers and rewards and make your first payment (min. $10)! Download the app and use my referral code t74cf8f to get started.

Next Step number two: You will need to understand how the mechanics work.

Now, different things tick with different folks so do what comforts you. Do take this article with a pinch of salt and a guide. If $8- $88 is not worth your effort then do proceed to do what comforts you and gets you more for your time. It should not make you anxious and keep your mind calm.

In order to get a scratch card or an opportunity to win prizes:

Once you have collected all 5 goodies, you will win one of the following (It is random so please don’t over-react if you don’t get any):

  1. Scratch card worth up to S$88.88; or
  2. Pixel 7 Pro worth S$1,299; or
  3. Pixel Buds Pro worth S$299
The GPay 2023 New Huat Pals. The new five characters for collecting scratch cards

The rare item that I am putting my money on is the gold/ingot. Just saying since it has an auspicious gold shine to it and google being google is pretty local in Singapore.

Once again, this game aims to have as much activity as possible. It isn’t a game of fastest fingers first so you kind of need to strategize and spend money in general.

Step number 3: Available and activity required to get goodies (This year there are more options) but also slightly more difficult to get it.

These are the same as what is in your app in the same order so GPay has nicely done it in a way that you can work on the tasks as if it is a list of times to fulfil daily.

A. PAYNOW to merchants (You can do it 1 time daily)

You need to spend a minimum of $5 to make this eligible. Small tip, YouTrip DOES NOT work Now. I’m sure there are other apps that work as well. I will make it subtle and quiet on each option.

If you do not have a YouTrip account. You can sign up here: Get your YouTrip Card now

You can get $5 when you top up your YouTrip card. (25 Jan 2023 Update: YouTrip, Shoppee Pay and CPF QR code works. The reset timing is 10 am daily. Please note. Sorry for the mis-information)

B. Make a FavePay transaction (You can do it 1 time daily)

In all honesty, this is pretty tough and you need to spend a minimum of $5 as well. However, if you have a merchant that uses FavePay, then it kills two birds with one transaction. My bad. Fave Pay transactions through GPay is from a bank payment or from PayLah. You can’t kill two birds with one transaction.

C. Use your Fave Pay cashback in a transaction (You can do it 1 time daily)

Well, again it is probably to reward those who go out of the way. You need to have Fave Pay cashback equivalent partners and this would offset options A, B & C, killing three birds with one transaction (I will have to test this out first before I update my article) meanwhile, today (19 Jan 2023) is the first day of Huat Pals launch from Gpay so there will be some exploration steps I need to take.

My bad again. cashback earned from the Fave Pay App doesn’t appear on GPay. So it has to be a repeat transaction. Again, good to know but difficult to execute once more. Also GPay has this few seconds lag which kind of stresses me a little with the queue behind me.

D. Tap to Pay (You can do it 1 time daily)

Yup. As simple as it gets. Contactless payment with a minimum of $5 charged.

E. Buy movie tickets on Google Pay (You can do it 1 time daily)

This is pretty clear-cut to me but I’m not the kind who purchases a movie ticket at GV or Shaw these days. The comfort of home and the price of movie tickets deter me. But again, it may work for others.

F. Split an expense with two other friends (You can do it 1 time daily)

Anyone knows that in an essay, the number 2 should be spelt as Two? Anyways I sidetracked. Instead of one friend to split expenses, you need two others. That means you are splitting your bills three-way including yourself with the minimum charge of $3.

G. Gift a goody to your friend (You can do it 5 times daily)

Finally, the last daily activity is to give your extra goodies to another friend (Aka trade) Those who know where to trade will know. It takes a bit of effort but yeah just enjoy the process.

Step number 4: Additional quiz or mission-style requests

So random quizzes or daily requests such as taking photos of items will get you additional goodies and these come in random. These are known as Huat Scanner and Huat Quizzes. (It is a QR scanner and answering quizzes) My thoughts are similar to how google search functions. The more you engage in the activity, the more these requests will pop up. Though random, there is some AI to it (i.e. robots related) We will not know but like any other games you played before, the more active you are, the more likely you are going to level up and do better. Whether it gets difficult, I’m not sure but let’s just have fun.

Huat Scanner Sample that is available daily on GPay Huat Pals

Side note, thank you google for the media announcement but perhaps you can send it to me earlier than the next event because my day starts, I have a day job and creating all these takes time and effort. You are always welcome to reach out to me to have a chat via my email. I’m happy to explore. Cheers anyway for providing media items so that I do not have to source for those on my own.

Conclusion

I can’t tell anyone this is worth your time to do all these because we have different values in terms of time and what it gives back to you. However, during the promotion period, there will be changes as Google work on bugs and several things to make sure that they can be as fair as possible to everyone. May luck be with you. Remember two things: The more you want something, the less it will come to you. (Because of the state of the mind) & This should not shun you away from doing the proper and real things in life that matters to you. (Be real, be yourself)

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 the Google Media Kit for reference.

To a happier and better 2023 ahead. Cheers.

Being Micro (Understanding your Portfolio)

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

When discussing the portfolio of Financial Planning, it is common to waive it off if you have no interest in it or talk about investments only. Like any broken recorder, the basis of Finance Literacy is fundamental however you dislike it.

Let me put it on a storyboard – As a child or if you have a child, you would want them to learn skills from a young age. (NO! I am not talking about enrichment). Here I am talking about pure survival skills like swimming, psychomotor skills, being literate, learning to drive when you are older, learning simple skills like dealing with disappointment, etc.

Similarly, financial planning is no exception to life skills. Imagining a pyramid, the top layer is not investments but insurance. Meaning risk transfer. Now, skip the boring part of insurance planning. There are a few alternatives to cheaper insurance coverage.

One of them is actually SNACK by Income. Yes, Income Insurance.

Don’t miss out now because there’s a good deal going on at the moment.

The Promotion

Here’s $50 for you to start your investment journey!

All you need to do is:
1. Download the SNACK by Income app (https://income.sg/dl-snack)
2. Enter my referral code “PAU4055” and tap on SIGN UP
3. Complete your SNACK account creation with MyInfo
4. Start SNACK Investment and ensure that you have boosted Investment! (Refer to steps 1-4 here: https://income.sg/si-start)

Get your complimentary $50 investment credits in your portfolio the following week!

Technically, it can be termed as an ILP (Investment Linked Plan) and honestly I am not a big fan of it. But you can exclude the investment option if you don’t wish to. However, for a start, you probably should do the investment portion until you get the signup rewards.

The Limit

I use the personal accident, critical illness and life insurance portion to supplement my current insurance. In any case, there is a maximum that one can be insured and it starts from $0

Life – $200,000 coverage

Accident – $ 100,000 coverage

Critical Illness – $200,000

How it Works

How this micro insurance work is that:

  1. You need to set your lifestyle activities for different classes of insurance coverage and investment (if any). For each activity that is fulfilled, a new policy will be created and added to your total coverage. In this step, you can also set a daily cap so that you don’t spend more than $0.30 (for example) per day.
    • Food & Drinks
    • Transport
    • Retail
    • Groceries
    • Entertainment
    • Utilities
    • Petrol
    • Steps
  2. Then you set your activity source. These are the ones that measure your activities such as step or visa credit card if you spend on certain categories.
    • Apple Health
    • Burpple
    • EZ-link
    • Fitbit
    • Garmin
    • Visa
  3. Then set your weekly cap – This is for the investment cap. Up to one to decide
    • You will need to have your investment objective assessed such as CKA – Customer Knowledge Assessment
    • Risk Profile.

There you go and your SNACK account will be set up for you. That said, you can redeem the fund units anytime and can stop using the insurance app anytime you want.

I get that it takes a while to get used to it but you need some time to get used to it as it is pretty automated.

If there are some brands which interest you, you can also spend and get additional coverage from them as well. Once in a while, they will run some promotional campaigns and you can get additional investment credits. So far, luck has been on my side, I have collected more than a couple of hundred in investment funds terms. Like any insurance, this is pretty efficient for an ILP since I investment directly into a fund I am comfortable with.

Disclaimer

If you decide to sign up with SNACK, do remember to use my referral code: https://income.sg/dl-snack and my referral code PAU4055.

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 the Endowus website for reference.

Endowus Performance Review – Dec 2022

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

The time has come for the December review. I have changed the way I present as a totality. For example, my cash solutions, ESG, Pimco Income Funds, Dimension funds, CPF Funds and S&P 500 funds. To date it is still down overall but again because I am with a robo-advisor, I don’t expect to take any action on this.

Thank you to those who have used my referral code. If you wish to venture out and build your financial goals, please visit my referral code page thank you in advance.

Portfolio Summary

Again, like many other months when I look at my portfolio, I look at it as long-term growth. I am quite positive about US equities. My Ultra cash portfolio isn’t doing too great. In hindsight, I repeat that I do regret my decision because I thought I can take my liquidity out within 3 months but no. Now, I have to do it at a loss. This really sucks because Endowus did a boo-boo by saying that it can be a short-term cash-fund holding. Now, I am becoming a long-term investor and had to find cash for my large purchases that were coming up. I am still miffed about it but I’m not taking it out at a loss. It doesn’t mean that Fixed Income will stay down all the time. In fact, I might add on more Fixed Income related funds or investments going forward.

Like any other period, I still trust Endowus and I would actually recommend them to anyone I know for the investment concept. (Maybe not the cash solutions and also review them on a more frequent basis – In case they lose their goals or focus for any reason) I know that my investments will be safe with them. I’m happy with them for the investment part of things. I also learned that different people/companies have different expertise.

Lower Investment amount (This is quite important for new investors)

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. A minimum sum should not be the way to invest. 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 ones 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.

Total Portfolio

I decided to scrap away all those segmented accounts with different goals and look at the portfolio as a whole instead.

I don’t really have a strategy. But for now, I will move more into the Fixed Income space with my spare cash.

I’m do think that once we see some flattening of inflation, S&P 500 should start to see some bull legs.

As you can see, the all-time record is that I am now down -3.77%, which is rather disappointing considering that I have a relatively balanced portfolio. The bulk of the unrealised loss is actually from my cash funds. If you look at YTD performance, it is down -5.89%, which is rather in line with the current markets but I do expect better considering I had a good entry-level during the start of the covid investing when the markets were pushed down in a synthetic way in 2020.

The reason for Endowus

Like a broken recorder, why do I like using them for now:

  • 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 investors 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.

The 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. My Cash Funds are bleeding. That was a super bad call by Endowus.

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 the Endowus website for reference.

Endowus Performance Review – Nov 2022

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

After a short break and some self-sustained recovery, I think it is time to get back to updating the portfolios. During this period when I was down, I was not really monitoring the markets. In fact, I set my RSP up over these 8 – 9  months that I was missing in action. Partly, it was due to work and also self-discovery wellness. In my last post, I discussed being away and not being able to do anything to your portfolio and again I was away. I find that robots suit my style of investing. In good times and in bad times because I am just not in the right frame of mind to manage my portfolio. Not anyone can just buy in when the market is down. You need to understand your own investment appetite.

Thank you to those who have used my referral code. If you wish to venture out and build your financial goals, please do visit my referral code page thank you in advance.

Portfolio Summary

The whole portfolio has taken a big hit this year in 2022 and there’s nothing much to shout about but I look at it as long-term growth. I am quite positive about US equities. My Ultra cash portfolio isn’t doing too great. In hindsight, I repeat that I do regret my decision because I thought I can take my liquidity out within 3 months but no. Now, I have to do it at a loss. This really sucks because Endowus did a boo-boo by saying that it can be a short-term cash-fund holding. Now, I am becoming a long-term investor and had to find cash for my large purchases that were coming up. I am still miffed about it but I’m not taking it out at a loss. It doesn’t mean that Fixed Income will stay down all the time.

Like any other period, I trust Endowus and I would actually recommend them to anyone I know for the investment concept. (Maybe not the cash solutions) I know that my investments will be safe with them. I’m happy with them for the investment part of things. I also learned that different people/companies have different expertise.

Lower Investment amount

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. A minimum sum should not be the way to invest. 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 ones 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.

Total Portfolio

I decided to scrap away all those segmented accounts with different goals and look at the portfolio as a whole instead.

I hope can recover some of the losses but as a function of market-related money market funds, I think it will take longer than i expect.

I hope that I will be able to add more funds to the S&P 500 if it dips over the next few months.

As you can see, the all-time record is that I am now down -4%, which is rather disappointing considering that I have a relatively balanced portfolio. The bulk of the unrealised loss is actually from my cash funds. (Sad to say that FI instruments are still doing that badly) which is why it is true that no one has the crystal ball and we have to diversify. If you look at YTD performance, it is down -6%, which is rather in line with the current markets but I do expect better considering I had a good entry-level during the start of the covid investing when the markets were pushed down in a synthetic way in 2020.

I’m still looking forward to the day when S&P 500 goes up the roof and I see my portfolio doubling.

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 investors 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.

The 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. My Cash Funds are bleeding. That was a super bad call by Endowus.

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 the Endowus website for reference.

MoneyOwl Performance review – Mar 2022

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

Money Owl has been the regular investing strategy monthly for about close to 2 years. 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.

This is really a small part of my portfolio at $100 monthly RSP for around two years for now. I Probably will stick with MO for now just to compare them versus Endowus. I like the management team, honest and no conflict of interest. Maybe I add on other investment strategies on their platform if the timing is right.

Who is Money Owl?

MoneyOwl is an initative from NTUC Social Enterprise. They are 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

As a retail investor, you will most likely not be able to access such funds (Dimension 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. 

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 is kind of king now.

Context

My MoneyOwl Portfolio is one that does not hold a lot. It isn’t my main Robo Portfolio but they kind of become slightly more trusted over the last few months. At the same time, for folk who have just started the investment journey, S$100 is definitely doable for a long long term portfolio. The whole idea of this blog is to also show that it does not take a lot to start building your own retirement pot. I still envy folks who are in the twenties and build their portfolio early. 

However, when you are young – Money is a limited resource. As usual, personal finance also have to revolve around each individual situation and understand the situation will determine what is required.

On top of the asset that we acquire, there is a need to tweak the insurance coverage due to a new child and an increased mortgage. Should there be any issues that happen to any one of us, at least the full liabilities are covered.

Mar 2022 performance (Day One Deposit)

In portfolio terms, it is up +8.56% and compared to my last review in Aug 2021 which was at +18.30% on 2 Sep 2021, it has dipped quite a bit in terms of percentage points. The portfolio size isn’t something great. Just a net deposit of $3,200. I kept the regular investing of $100 per month and it’s looking rather slow. I might increase this monthly amount to build the base up a little more. 2022 has not been kind to the markets and will continue to do so. So far, the defensive nature is what I have seen as a plus point.

If we look at Time Weighted Returns, it is the more accurate to account of deposit and withdrawals at +24.63%. Again, this return 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, there is no change and it is at 60% equities and 40% fixed income. The portfolio consists 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.

f. Recently, the russia exposure was mentioned to investors that it was removed and likely due to the sanctions.

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$100,000 and below, there will be a 0.6% p.a. management fee and 0.5% p.a. for amounts above S$100,000. This amount will be rebated back in the portfolio. So take note that only Cash investments (Wise Income will also incur management fees), 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). 

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)

Personally, I think that they are decent. A very conservative bunch.

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 – Mar 2022 Performance

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

Here goes for the March 2022 StashAway performance. Nothing much to shout about.

StashAway has been rather stagnant but considering the environment, I think it is holding out well. I continue to question of this robotic/AI system if it is more human driven. Shouldn’t it be systematic driven for a robo advisor instead of attempting to drive better returns. With an ERAA approach, these actions seems rather active. Now, there are more steps taken to actively manage the volatility. I’m not sure if this is the right call.

If Mr Market drops, I’m not sure if I will do this more or do Endowus more. We shall see. I am also not sure of consolidating into one account.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

2022 is indeed volatile.  I started out with $1500 and March 2022 ended with me losing -$12.59. Just to put things to perspective,  I made $10 in 2021. Haha….Oh my word. Very Very flat indeed.

Pretty standard outcome and the YTD is definitely down for sure.

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

I started out with a base of $3200 and ended Feb 2022 at $3205.30. Haha, no surprises. Every month, I RSP $100 into the portfolio for 6 months until June 2021 so my absolute gain will be $5.30. Okay, this is holding up okay.

YTD wise, small gain.

 

Education Portfolio C (risk-20%)

I started out with a base of $3200 and ended Feb 2022 at $3342.49. That’s a $142.49 gain! The portfolio strategy was to RSP for 6 months until June 2021 so my that makes a +9.48% gain.

Year to date wise, it is also flat. The Russia Ukraine war is not a good thing for the markets and that is ongoing

 

Conclusion

It is now almost 2 years 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 StashAway will play as a competition to my Endowus Portfolio and true enough that fits exactly into how I plan it to be. Recent months, I’ve been thinking and I did not add on any regular monthly investing amount as I’m beginning to think twice about their strategy and if they have grown to a level where institutional belief is starting to take over instead of that pure robo fintech as compared to what they were in 2020.

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. No one knows so we have to try to know.

One thing for sure is that the cash funds is doing much better than Endowus and looking at SSB. I’m not sure if their cash funds makes any sense now.

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 Review – Mar 2022

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

I got a little lazy and probably a little distracted and depress early part of April 2021 – I did other things to distract myself. But overall, no worries. I just had a shorter break this time around but am feeling quite okay now. It is time for March 2022 review now. In my last post, I discussed about being away and not being able to do anything to your portfolio. I did nothing this month since there isn’t much of a dip. Not anyone can just buy in when the market is down. You need to understand your own investment appetite.

Thank you for those who have used my referral code. If you wish to venture out and build your financial goals, please do visit my referral code page and thank you in advance.

Portfolio Summary

The whole portfolio indeed is rocking in 2022 but I look at it as a long term growth. I am quite positive on US equities 1 year down from 2023-2024 for some reason despite the constant word around hyperinflation news. My cash portfolio isn’t doing too great. On hindsight, I repeat that I do regret my decision because I thought I can take my liquidity out within 3 months but no. Now, i have to do it at a loss. This really sucks because Endowus did a boo-boo by saying that it can be a short term cash fund holdings. Now, I am becoming a long-term investor and had to find cash for my large purchases that was coming up. I am pretty pissed with that but I had to move forward.

Like any other month, I trust Endowus and I would actually recommend them to anyone I know for the investment concept. 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. Except the fact for cash funds, I’m happy with them for the investment part of things. I also learned that different people/companies have different expertise.

Lower Investment amount

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% (this went downwards) because I can’t find anything that yields more than 1% interests and it is shitty because it is still down close to -3% all time. I really hate how this is going.

I hope can recover some of the losses but as a function of market related money market funds, I think it will take longer than what i expect.

Further, I added another 30k into the portfolio as cash injection to yield higher interests but it has been negative since day one and still in negative territory so let’s wait and see how things pan out. it is negative -$800. sucky at -2.66%. Well well well. It has been months so it better follows the uptrend when markets recover.

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. Performance has been stellar. It has pulled back and up +2.26% all time. Finally added $2500 when there was a pullback. Nothing done this month and performance has turned positive. Good for the future and your children guys.

 

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 still up +19.51% 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 12 April 2022, it is a +19.51% increase in absolute terms – quite okay. 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. YTD, it is definitely down.

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it is looking at +10.37% since inception in May 2020. That’s a huge drop of almost 9% from its all time high. This portfolio is being beaten down for now.

On the YTD front, it has dropped for sure.

 

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. All time absolute return is -7.77%. haha. This is done monthly on RSP until 2021. It still continues to be underwater so I will continue the DCA for this strategy.

 

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 1

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 am down -5.22% for the month of March.

Retirement Portfolio 2

Yet again, I put in 2 tranches of S$5k into the Lion Global Infinity 500. At one point it was close to 6-7% down and this month it is +3.47%. Real volatility, expected and still strong convicted on this one.

 

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. My Cash Funds are bleeding. That was a super bad call by Endowus.

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.

MoneyOwl Performance to date – Feb 2022

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.

This is really a small part of my portfolio at $100 monthly RSP for around two years for now. I may take it all out of StashAway and put it with them or Endowus on any pullback. Maybe I will RSP into ESG or the Lion Global infinity 500. I will decide once I see the situation.

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 24 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 Ultra HNW 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.

Summary

My MoneyOwl Portfolio is one that does not hold a lot and it is through regular S$100 crediting. It’s not a lot but as it isn’t my main Robo Portfolio, I am less inclined to put more cash into investments. At the same time, for folk who have just started the investment journey, S$100 is definitely doable for a long long term portfolio. The whole idea of this blog is to also show that it does not take a lot to start building your own retirement pot.

Importantly, personal finance also have to revolve around each individual situation and understand the situation will determine what is required.

On top of the asset that we acquire, there is a need to tweak the insurance coverage due to a new child and an increased mortgage. Should there be any issues that happen to any one of us, at least the full liabilities are covered.

Feb 2022 performance (Since Day One Deposit)

In portfolio terms, it is up +7.2% and compared to my last review in Aug 2021 which was at +18.30% on 2 Sep 2021, it has dipped quite a bit in terms of percentage points. The portfolio size isn’t something great. Just a net deposit of 3,200. 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. 2022 has not been kind to the markets.

 

If we look at Time Weighted Returns, it is the more accurate to account of deposit and withdrawals at +22%. Again, this return 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, there is no change and it is at 60% equities and 40% fixed income. The portfolio consists 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.

f. Recently, the russia exposure was mentioned to investors that it was removed and likely due to the sanctions.

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$100,000 and below, there will be a 0.6% p.a. management fee and 0.5% p.a. for amounts above S$100,000. This amount will be rebated back in the portfolio. So take note that only Cash investments (Wise Income will also incur management fees), 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). 

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)

Personally, I think that they are decent. A very conservative bunch.

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 – Feb 2022 Performance

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

I am one month late for this but I have to post this so that i can compared the upcoming month in April for the performance review. Honestly speaking, my  Crypto portfolio is moving faster than these stonks haha.

StashAway has been rather stagnant but considering the environment, I think it is holding out well. SA seems to try to take a bet around China and their recovery by doing a rebalancing. Now, is that system or human driven I question. Shouldn’t it be systematic driven for a robo advisor instead of attempting to drive better returns. With an ERAA approach, these actions seems rather active. Now, there are more steps taken to actively manage the volatility. I’m not sure if this is the right call.

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.

Retirement Portfolio A (risk-14%)

2022 is indeed volatile.  I started out with $1500 and Feb 2022 ended with me losing -$11. Just to put things to perspective,  I made $10 in 2021. Haha….Oh my word. Talk about paltry. Talk about flat.

 

Pretty standard outcome and the YTD is definitely down for sure.

Education Portfolio B (risk-16%)

I started out with a base of $3200 and ended Feb 2022 at $3201.15. Haha, no surprises. Every month, I RSP $100 into the portfolio for 6 months until June 2021 so my absolute gain will be $1.15. damn it. Can’t beat inflation.

YTD wise, small gain.

Education Portfolio C (risk-20%)

I started out with a base of $3200 and ended Feb 2022 at $3300.95. That’s a $100.95 gain! The portfolio strategy was to RSP for 6 months until June 2021 so my that makes a +8.48% gain.

 

Year to date wise, it is also flat. Nothing exciting. On China’s end, it must have been exciting. In terms of risk, probably Stashaway is dropping much slower than other portfolios since they are designed as such.

Conclusion

It is now almost 2 years 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 as a competition to my Endowus Portfolio and true enough that fits exactly into how I plan it to be. Recent months, I’ve been thinking and I did not add on any regular monthly investing amount as I’m beginning to think twice about their strategy and if they have grown to a level where institutional belief is starting to take over instead of that pure robo fintech as compared to what they were in 2020.

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. No one knows so we have to try to know. Now, they are taking China out of the equation all together. I don’t really like my returns. When do I exactly buy it at a crash level given all these active management.

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 Review – Feb 2022

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

A very late review of February 2021 – I took some time out. About three months just to make things a bit better for myself. It is time for the monthly review again. In my last post, I discussed about being away and not being able to do anything to your portfolio. While taking care of my own well-being, I didn’t do much nor did I monitor my portfolio. The only additional thing that I did was that when the Ukraine Russia War started and markets dropped. I added some funds to the Lion Fund that tracks the S&P 500. Again, it is not for everyone. Not anyone can just buy in when the market is down. It all bow down to how you invest.

Portfolio Summary

The whole portfolio seem to rock in 2022 but I look at it as a long term growth. I am quite positive on US equities throughout the rest of 2023-2024 for some reason despite the constant word around hyperinflation news. My cash portfolio isn’t doing too great. On hindsight, I repeat that I do regret my decision because I thought I can take my liquidity out within 3 months but no. Now, i have to do it at a loss instead of waiting it out but then again, the cash fund is now losing $1000 in totality. Oh well, we have to take charge of our own decisions. I was greedy for yields and yet not willing to hold for a longer period.

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. Except the fact for cash funds, I’m still quite happy with them.

Lower Investment amount

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% (this went downwards) because I can’t find anything that yields more than 1% interests.

I hope can recover some of the losses but as a function of market related money market funds, I think it will take some time.

Further, I added another 30k into the portfolio as cash injection to yield higher interests but it has been negative since day one and still in negative territory so let’s wait and see how things pan out. Negative $1000++. What the heck! For Cash funds!

 

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. Performance has been stellar. It has pulled back and dropped 0.92% Finally added $2500 when there was a pullback. This screenshot was taken early part of March, showing the volatility.

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 still up +17% 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 15 March 2022, it is a +17.05% increase in absolute terms – quite okay. 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. All time performance it has dropped 10%, that’s quite significant but everything just dipped.

On the YTD front, I’m looking at down $500+ haha.

 

CPF Portfolio

For the CPF portfolio, it is looking at +9.72% since inception in May 2020. That’s a huge drop of almost 10%. This portfolio is being beaten down now. But not for long.

 

On the YTD front, it has dropped to -$480+++ haha

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. All time absolute return is -8.62%. haha. This is done monthly on RSP until 2021. It still continues to be underwater so I have reviewed and will continue to DCA in when markets have dipped.

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 1

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. We are down 5.40% haha.

I deployed some cash on some portfolios as I can’t get good yields.

Retirement Portfolio 2

Yet again, I put in 2 tranches of S$5k into the Lion Global Infinity 500. At one point it was close to 6-7% down and today is is up 3%. Real volatility guys. Be prepared.

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. My Cash Funds are bleeding. That was a super bad call by Endowus.

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.