SPDR STI ETF v Nikko AM STI ETF - Are they worth investing?

You could select ETF: ISAC.

picking single stocks does not seem to be longterm successful when even the majority of professionals fails.

https://seedly.sg/questions/what-is-your-genera...

Of these two, generally, SPDR STI ETF (ES3) is regarded as the preferred of the two.

That said, personally, I would not bother with the STI. This is for the following reasons:

1. Overly concentrated: The top 3 holdings are all banks (our 3 local banks) and they make up 40% of the index. Just wow. For reference the top 3 in the S&P 500, AAPL, MSFT and AMZN, make up just about 15% of their index.

2. Too many dividend players: Dividends I guess is much more of a personal preference although many SG investors love them. But for me, dividends signal a lack of growth opportunities which is why they find that the best way to provide return is through dividends instead of reinvesting it in themselves. This is also contributed by the large number of REITs in the STI (which is only likely to go up). REITs do not grow much organically and generally grow through acqusition of new properties. As such, these REITs do tend to grow slower than companies such as AMZN or AAPL in the S&P500.

3. Lack of tech: The STI is still heavily focused on financials and does not hold much tech. The future will be driven by tech and that is where many opportunities are emerging and will continue to. Many people look at tech as a single sector but tech will continue to leak into every sector out there, financials, communications, media, consumer staples/discretionary and so on. Without a large revamp of the STI, the STI will only continue to underperform.

If you're looking at STI for growth, don't bother. If you're looking at it for dividends, I guess it's decent if you don't have the knowledge or desire to handpick your own dividend portfolio instead.