Tag: portfolio

Mental well-being and DIY investing

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

Today, I’m going to go straight out and talk about Mental well-being and why DIY investing is related to it. Personal Finance is a wide topic. Some people talk about it passionately while other talk about it in monetary terms. If you come across my blog about how I view investing and personal finance. It would always bow down to one thing. You need to look at it long term (30-40-50 years).

My last post was on 15 Jan 2022. It was a new year and new resolutions but who knew that I was hit with reality and I got a little depressed. I’m quite the jovial and joker kind of guy so it is hard to see me depressed for a prolonged period. But I realised that I needed to get away for a short while. While this happened to make myself well a number of events happened and it was all unexpected. After all these has tide over. I found time to talk about this, write it down as a form of content as well.

Many things happen to our lives.

a. Triggering events

This is a wide scope. It can affect family members, jobs, health and other financial events

b. Illness/Sickness that spread from friends to friends and family to family.

This affects family the most. The support from the extended family and who take care of your kids while you grind at work

c. Your own well-being

Of the three items, I find that your own well-being determines who you are and what you want to become. Whether you like it or not, triggering events happens without any warnings. Sickness and illness happens mostly without much time to react. While all these happen, it is important to keep your own spirits up. What you do and say eventually is the outcome of how you treat yourself.

I’m no expert at this but if you do realise you need help. Look for professional help. With the option of working from home, it limits the interaction or distraction with colleagues, friends and family members. It makes one feels inwards towards approaching people. For people who realise it, it is a positive sign. For people who doesn’t, then it makes it tricky.

Now, here comes the key part to this article. When you are down and out, nothing interests you anymore. This includes your own investment portfolio and personal interests. However, there are things that will keep you going (i.e. kids, ferrying the kids, family and etc..) This will make you go at minimum pace. What if this distraction goes on for a year? Often, I hear many friends (Who thinks that they are Warren Buffet and I don’t blame them) say that why pay fees. These are for people who doesn’t know what they are doing.

Let’s look back and ponder on what we just discussed. If you DIY your own investing portfolio and you leave it under the bus for a long time. What will happen to your own portfolio? I will leave the answer to yourself because everyone is different. I’m not saying that paying exorbitant fees is the answer to this. There are many solutions to these and some of these include letting a robo-advisor manage your own portfolio. While you take time to find your own wellness and recover your motivations. No one run their lives in adrenaline until old age. There’s always peak and troughs like every investing period. Pace it out and find things that matter the most to you.

I’ll make this short but will probably do it in a three part format because I really find it important that what if one day (touch wood) something really happens to you. I’m not sure what everyone invests in but I dabble in a bit of a crypto defi and multiple platforms to maximum my exposure and benefits. I’m not sure if my family member can pick up the pieces to recover every cents of my investments should anything happen to me. I’ll remember my own passwords once I see how I algorithmically encrypt it. I can’t say the same for my family members.

Conclusion

Stop sweating on the small stuff. a 0.5% or 1% fee on your portfolio buys you  nothing but a piece of mind. All you need to do is to research for a reliable and honest company that can do the work for you. Review them from time to time to make sure they are still relevant to your own investing philosophies. For star traders who are often right than wrong. Think about the day when your hands doesn’t work quite that fast as your brain is thinking. Income is important to everyone so transfer your risk and sometimes paying a little more works out better.

Till the next blog. Great weekend ahead.

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is purely what I write about because I generally have a passion towards learning and spreading personal finance. There is no one size fits all investment strategy. I do not have any affiliation to any robo-advisors or company nor do I get any perks other than a referral fee.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at Referral and Recommendations

Series 1: Starting your Cryptocurrency journey with Crypto.com

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, Cryptocurrency, Interest Rates, New Ideas, Performance, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

Crypto.com (CRO mainnet & https://crypto.com) has been around for some time now. I have not seen any utility crypto company who has delivered what they want to deliver to consumers over the last few years. They are as similar if not the same as any other company with a physical product that works. While I have my concerns, I do feel that they offer a little bit of everything which new users can learn about and existing users can complement with their existing knowledge.

Cryptocurrency

To a certain extent, sometimes just jumping on the bandwagon allows one to commit and understand how the crypto world works. Once you have committed some money, one will take the effort to find out more and discover the traits of the crypto world and what it entails. Crypto is a highly aggressive alternative investment and everyone should be careful. This article just talks more about what I feel so do your own diligence before jumping onto something.

Meanwhile, given that Binance International is going through some regulatory and compliance issues in Singapore. Crypto.com is a good way to explore your options. To explain further about the perks on opening a crypto.com account:

Sign-up promo (SGD100 + NFT) & USD25 Referral promo

 
By signing up, you will get SGD 100 and an exclusive NFT. Of course, you would need to be the first 100,o00 users to do so. To find out more read here: Mid-Autumn Crypto.com Promotion
 
Plus, I’d get my very first NFT “Lion Mooncake”. Curious to know how it looks like!
 
To maximise your rewards, you can choose to stake SGD $500 CRO so that I can unlock the referral bonus of US$25 (Referral Bonus)
 
To redeem NFT, you will need to sign up the NFT account that Crypto.com has at Crypto.com NFT Account
How to connect your Crypto.com/NFT and Crypto.com App accounts (Taken from their website):
    1. Sign in or create an account on Crypto.com/NFT.
    2. Go to Account Activity and select Connect to App.
    3. Enter the email address that’s associated with your Crypto.com App account and send a connection request to your inbox.
    4. Open the authorisation email, click Connect, enter your Crypto.com App passcode, and click Authorise & launch NFT.
If you would like to give Crypto.com a try do remember to use my referral code: 1JIC-91CM

Crypto.com Eco-system

 

I understand that by now, most would be a little confused with so many accounts. What Crypto.com can do is a lot of stuff. Listing it down and in summary:
 
a. https://crypto.com – This is their main app which allows you to swap cryptocurrency and also to setup your Metal VISA card. The Visa Card gives you the perks of cashback and using CRO to pay for specific vouchers (Special cashback discounts as well) – [APP only]
 
b. https://crypto.com/exchange – This is the trading account which allow you to set limits and trade with other pairs that they allow on the exchange (You can treat this as a brokerage account. The perks of opening the exchange account can be found here: Exchange Perks [Website & APP]
 
c. https://crypto.com/NFT – This is the marketplace for NFTs and also known as non-fungible Token. This is also what many know as digital art. [Website & APP]
 
d. https://crypto.com/defi-wallet – With the Crypto.com DeFi Wallet (a non-custodial wallet), you can send crypto to anyone around the world at your preferred confirmation speed and the network fee. With this you can also store and earn interest Crypto.com DeFi Wallet is a decentralized wallet, which means you own your private keys. During wallet creation, you will have to write down your recovery phrase which when needed, you will be able to restore your funds. (This is very important)
 
From here you can have the option to choose among the whitelisted validators for staking and redelegation (change delegation from existing validator to another validator). This will give you additional interest. Read more about it here: Defi-Wallet Earn

Some simple benefits for sign up

1. Supercharger

Other than putting approved coins to earn interest on the APP. You can also join in the syndication on the Exchange or the Supercharger event on the Crypto.com APP itself. You can stake your CRO and treat it as a way to farm for other coins that crypto.com has a promotion or link with. More information can be found here: Supercharger Event.

2. Metal Card Cashback

 
The Metal Card Cashback works like a credit card cashback account. The only thing that functions differently is that it is a debit card. You will need to pre-load it with cash before transacting with spends. Like any other card, they have to abide by MAS PSA. The card also credits cashback based on the MCC spends. More details can be found here: Cashback eligibility under their CRO cashback rewards program
 
Not to mention that if you take on the higher tier cards, you can get rebates for Spotify, Netflix and ever prime plus other perks which can be found here at https://crypto.com/sg/cards

3. Additional Promotion and Discounts

More perks and discount will be added over time and the updated ones until 30 Sep 2021 can be found here at User Exclusives and Promotions. If you have any queries, drop me a note and I will try my best to answer your questions. It can be daunting at first but eventually, you will get a hang of it.

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 Crypto.com 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 Crypto.com website for this article.

 

Syfe – Performance Aug 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 (August 2021)

 

12 months has gone by and +28.65% is pretty insane in my opinion. The last time I looked at this was 6 months ago in March 2021 and it has increased by slightly more than 5%. 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.

1 free APPLE and NIO Stock for Moomoo users (One up for new sign ups)

On By RistrettzIn Alternative Income, Personal Finance SeriesLeave a comment

I’m just going to bring this Moomoo brokerage app up again on my blog because the promotion is too good now to be true. I’m not sure how fast this will run out but giving a new user 1 free APPLE stock and 1 free NIO stock is unheard of. There is just too good to not get this up now.

Let’s do the Math: USD 146 + USD 46 = almost USD 200

That’s just free money so let’s not waste any time.

To be honest, I am a little cheesed off that I signed up earlier as it feels like I got penalised for being faster and earlier on this.

You can click on my previous post to read more about it: Previous Blog Post

Who is Moomoo?

Who is Moomoo? Moomoo are a nasdaq listed company known at FUTU Holdings Limited. FUTU SG is a subsidiary of their parent company. Moomoo/Futu is also backed by Tencent and for those who don’t know who they are, they are a China based global gaming, superapp, entertainment, internet giant, etc. If you did not know, they do not charge commissions for stock trading for US, SGD and HK markets. They also do not charge a custodian fee. I am guessing that volume plays a big part in this whole scheme of things.

Promotions

Let’s just sum up what you will be getting first:

a. 1 AAPL Share

b. 1 NIO Share

c. Up to 20 Free TWTR shares

d. Unlimited Commission-free Trading for US, HK and SG Market, however you continue to pay the other fees such as trading, platform fees, etc.

d. Free Level 2 Market Data for US stocks

e. Free SGX securities Level 1 real-time data

f. SGD 50 Cash Coupon for stock transfer in.

Conditions to get your promotions (No free lunch)

Now, nothing comes free so these are required but do check the T&Cs officially to avoid any disappointment. These days, there are so much information flow that most of us can’t keep up.

a. You need to be a NEW Customer and be in Singapore to get this offer (You have to be above 18 years of age and have a valid bank account in your own name) – [For KYC purpose obviously]

b. Commission free trades does not apple for stock options, futures and China A shares. The promotion commission-free promotion is only valid for 180 days.

c. You can only transfer in shares that are for US and HK positions and you will get that S$50 cash coupon for the first transfer in.

d. In order to obtain your referral rewards, you will need to do some work. Referral rewards will be capped at a maximum of 20 Twitter Shares and 600 days of commission-free trading. So, get those referral coming.

e. To get your 1 free APPL share, you need to deposit funds worth S$2700 or USD 2000 or HKD16,00 within 30 days from account opening + Open an account by 2 Aug 2021.

f. As for your  1 free NIO share, you will need to unlock Level 1 trading bade or complete 5 successful trades within 30 days of account opening + deposit funds worth S$2700 or USD 2000 or HKD16,00 within 30 days from account opening.

Read more about their T&Cs here: https://support.futusg.com/en-us/topic128

Read about the Fees you need to pay: https://support.futusg.com/en-us/topic76

I personally think that it is a no brainer to get the perks. Thank you in advance for using my referral code: https://j.moomoo.com/004Fsa

For reference, please refer to the official website or contact their representatives.

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.

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 and information that I am using are taken from Futu’s/Moomoo’s website for the purpose of this blog post.

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!

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.

ESG & more on Endowus & Why Endowus

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

There’s a lot of hype around Robo-Advisors these days. I still go by the same rules, if nothing is broken, there isn’t a need to fix anything. Robos are here to stay for sure and they have been rather un-emotional when it comes to investing (That is a good thing by the way if you are thinking otherwise)

Trust

Trust – It is the pinnacle of consideration when you invest or put money with a certain institution. Endowus has been – I would use the word trustworthy to describe them. A lot of these have been shown in how they conduct their business. Firstly, I have a finance background and for the longest time, I’ve worked in Finance. To be honest, there wasn’t a single day I felt happy until I truly left the industry. Finance is all about numbers and money. People are motivated by the fact that they make the quickest buck from the fastest source. However, what I am seeing here is quite the opposite. They are pretty truthful and walk the talk through their actions.

The points in Summary

  • The introduction of institutional class funds. If you are not in the know, you will not know. The more funds/money you have, the more you will be in the know hence you save more on fees.
  • The exclusivity in certain funds that only that few can launch with other fund providers. Sometimes, it’s about the expertise that is focused on the fund type
  • The fund rebate. No need to explain more about it. Fund fees and rebates are very transparent and apparent in how they rebate it back.
  • Quarterly fund charges are charged only end of the quarter. I’ve never seen that before or not many does it. Most funds and banks does the front loading. The worst type of funds are ILP – They embed the bid-ask to 5% (That’s just rip off and I say that those who offer these may not even know about it)
  • First and only digital advisor to be able to use your CPF to invest. Speaks a a lot about the trust of the board to allow them to do so.

New Point to Note (& ESG)

  • Recently, they launched an ESG fund portfolio that is made up from several well known fund houses specific to the ESG criteria. It is important to invest responsibly and sustainably. ESG has been around for the longest time. In Asia, we hardly ever hear it until only recent years and by quickly moving on this front – They are really one of the fastest to bring this up to scratch. No doubt, this is one to invest for the generations to come.
  • To secure your funds, all your investments are not held in custody. You own your own account in UOB Kay Hian but the investment is managed by Endowus. This is to safeguard your own money should they decide to close down one day (which I don’t think they will in the near term)

Finally, i recently received an email from them. For the longest time, they have the bar set at an initial S$10k investment. This has been slowly reduced and to date. For every friend who invests with Endowus, you both get $20 in Access Fee credits, equivalent to $10,000 advised free for 6 months. There is no limit to the number of friends you can invite.

There is anything much to add on and nothing to complain about other than your investment and redemption takes times to complete.

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.

AutoWealth – Performance Update & YTD (February 2021)

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

AutoWealth is my long-term portfolio approach. For my child’s portfolio, this is to  add on over time and have a good 20 years horizon. My only gripe is that I cant measure YTD performance. Of course, there is no reason to do that expect for measurement purposes. A time weighted performance is more of an important indicator in my opinion. Just a reminder for myself and on why I chose Autowealth:

Why Autowealth?

My two reasons for doing so is really just (a) try out one more robo advisor/segregate a portfolio for a sole purpose and (b) segregate this fund for any other purpose other than the kid’s investment journey.

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 like it that they have already breakeven so it would be less of a pressure as a company.

As a pretty new kid on the block, it does look 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. No change in Portfolio allocations.

Performance – Feb 2021

Looking at the portfolio, it is pretty expected as the market has been pretty neutral.  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 +9.13% and I like this. The impact of USD on SGD is about -2.08% and by referencing the portfolio in USD, absolute return would be at +11.00%. 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 $5457. Some simple and manual YTD calculations below

YTD Performance[($5457-$5334)/$5334] x 100% = +2.30% (YTD 10 March 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.