Was wondering if I should purchase a unit trust or trade equities to start my investment journey?

You should be aware of the expense ratios for unit trusts which are known to be among the highest in the world. The fees eat into your returns. You are better off using the digital investment choices now available in Singapore with low minimum entry and low fees. www.squirrelSave.com.sg is one of them, Do browse the choices and all the best!
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Hi Melissa, I generally don’t recommend investing in unit trusts due to the high fees involved. Fees have one of the largest impacts on returns. What’s more, the higher fees you pay for unit trusts may not translate to better returns.

If you look at the chart below, you’ll see that despite having higher total expense ratios (TERs), the 10-year annualised return for these unit trusts wasn’t better than their comparative ETFs.

High TERs can substantially erode investment returns. If the TER was 1%, $100,000 invested at an annual return of 5% would be worth $324,000 after 30 years. If the TER was just 1% more (2% TER), your final investment value would drop to just $242,000.

When it comes to investing in equities, my preference is to invest in equity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) instead, for quick, easy diversification. ETFs allow you to invest in a large number of stocks through a single transaction. This built-in diversification protects your portfolio. If your portfolio is concentrated in just a few stocks, when one underperforms, it can drag down your whole portfolio.

A fuss-free way to start making dollar cost averaged investments into ETFs is through a digital wealth manager, as Tat Tian mentioned. You can consider Syfe – our portfolios are a combination of up to 25 ETFs for equities, bonds and gold.