Hi there - very interesting question. In fact, when I left Morgan Stanley Inv Mgt, I took a sabbatical for one year as I promised not to go to a competitor and I wanted to embark on a new journey of being a venture investor and also FinTech investor with an eye to building something in the WealthTech space.
I looked into all the Robos in US and Europe. At the time (2017~2018), there were only a few robos just starting off in Asia. And I met or looked into all of them. I wanted to invest in them and possibly work with them to build it up. But unfortunately I ended up giving up as I didn't want to invest in any of them.
The reason was largely 2. Firstly, most were just copying the US robo model and nobody was really trying to solve for the local problems of saving and investing the way for example Endowus is doing it now - things like CPF, new ways to invest, new product, new structures, changing the way things are done in the industry, truly innovating, solving for retirement - all the things I thought technology would help us do things better! Secondly, most of the Robos are fund management licensed entities making funds(products) and doing it inefficiently using US ETFs.
I wanted the new roboadvisors to really focus more on the advice piece and use technology to solve for the advice better. If I was a robo like that (maybe call them a Robo Fund Manager) then I'd rather build new solutions or products like my own ETF rather than use double layer of fees and tax/FX-inefficient overseas ETFs. The reason they cannot is that they don't know the industry and how it works because none of them have worked in the wealth industry or really managed client assets before. I think they can do a much better job as well. But I wanted something different.
Just then I met Greg and You Ning and how they wanted to solve for the unique problems here in Singapore and HK and across Asia. And also focus on the most important need we face as a society - the problem of retirement adequacy and in the Singapore context how to invest your CPF better. These were exactly the things I wanted to tackle and so we joined forces and the rest as they say is history! So I actually had the chance to invest in ALL the other robos or advisors and platforms (iFast was publicily listed!), but I never wanted to and so I did not. Not much has changed in the past 2-3 years. Endowus is the only one that is different still in my humble opinion.
Hi there - very interesting question. In fact, when I left Morgan Stanley Inv Mgt, I took a sabbatical for one year as I promised not to go to a competitor and I wanted to embark on a new journey of being a venture investor and also FinTech investor with an eye to building something in the WealthTech space.
I looked into all the Robos in US and Europe. At the time (2017~2018), there were only a few robos just starting off in Asia. And I met or looked into all of them. I wanted to invest in them and possibly work with them to build it up. But unfortunately I ended up giving up as I didn't want to invest in any of them.
The reason was largely 2. Firstly, most were just copying the US robo model and nobody was really trying to solve for the local problems of saving and investing the way for example Endowus is doing it now - things like CPF, new ways to invest, new product, new structures, changing the way things are done in the industry, truly innovating, solving for retirement - all the things I thought technology would help us do things better! Secondly, most of the Robos are fund management licensed entities making funds(products) and doing it inefficiently using US ETFs.
I wanted the new roboadvisors to really focus more on the advice piece and use technology to solve for the advice better. If I was a robo like that (maybe call them a Robo Fund Manager) then I'd rather build new solutions or products like my own ETF rather than use double layer of fees and tax/FX-inefficient overseas ETFs. The reason they cannot is that they don't know the industry and how it works because none of them have worked in the wealth industry or really managed client assets before. I think they can do a much better job as well. But I wanted something different.
Just then I met Greg and You Ning and how they wanted to solve for the unique problems here in Singapore and HK and across Asia. And also focus on the most important need we face as a society - the problem of retirement adequacy and in the Singapore context how to invest your CPF better. These were exactly the things I wanted to tackle and so we joined forces and the rest as they say is history! So I actually had the chance to invest in ALL the other robos or advisors and platforms (iFast was publicily listed!), but I never wanted to and so I did not. Not much has changed in the past 2-3 years. Endowus is the only one that is different still in my humble opinion.