Interested to know how Endowus managed to arm twist UOBKH, LGI etc to offer such favourable rates to investors, especially retail investors.?

Hi CH - its our secret sauce but the bottom line is that we all come from the inside - the institutional landscape of finance and so we know how things work. This does help us in working or finding solutions creatively.

We are likely Amazon in our ability to work the system and improve cost efficiencies, negotiate better deals and to solve the problem of logistics, etc. Consider it like group buying where Endowus is the institution that is buying for all of us. We have no big names or other supporters. The only thing we have is the mission to try to change the way the industry is run for the better.

If we align interests of fund management companies and our clients and work in their best interest everything is possible. The fund managers themselves have been suffering having to deal with banks and brokers and fund platforms and other distributors who always take a cut from them for doing nothing then selling the fund. And they take that cut (called trailer fees) forever not just one year but for as long as you hold that fund, which doesn't make any sense.

They provide zero value-add yet they take a huge chunk of the cost and that is borne by you the investor eventually, which leads to poor outcomes. This is just wrong. When we introduced Endowus and our service we made sure that our interests are completely aligned to the best interest of our clients and our fund management partners are happy to work with us.

This way - the best products and fund manager rise to the top as there is no way for shitty fund managers to pay themselve to the top of the distribution channel by paying higher commissions and giving higher cuts even though they have bad funds and performance. It is a win for clients, win for fund managers, and for us also.​​​