Dear Anonymous, thank you for the question.
Unfortunately, as this whole concept of roboadvisers is very new even in the US (Betterment, the first robo in the world started in 2008 as a company but only started their roboadvisers a few years later), none of the roboadvisers have managed money for more than 10 years. None of them have gone through a financial crisis like 2008 to show how they handle one. In Singapore, roboadvisers are even newer. The first robo started just barely 2 years ago. But if you think about it, many financial advisory firms and advisers who are active on the Seedly platform are also inexperienced and have not gone through a GFC like crisis in 2008.
So how then do you choose?
At MoneyOwl, the underlying instruments we use are funds from Dimensional Fund Advisors. They have been managing money since 1981 and today manages close to USD600 billion. Although the funds registered with the MAS are pretty recent, these funds use the same approach as all Dimensional funds which have a good track record since 1981. But that Thing is, past performance is no indication of future results. As such, in selecting robos, you must be comfortable with the firm‘s way of giving advice and investing. As that will determine how your investment will perfrom going forward and not justbased on historical track record. So please allow me to repost an answer given to a previous question here:
First, MoneyOwl is not really a pure roboadvisor but a bionic financial advisor - meaning we combine human wisdom and tech - we have an investment robo but we also have a substantial team of well trained (fully salaried) client advisers. We believe that good advice helps to bring about a successful investing experience and that such advice must involve a human element. Advice includes asset allocation, risk profiling, fund selection, monitoring, rebalancing and very importantly risk coaching to help investors stay invested through turbulent market times. There are many reports that show that investors lose out on market return because they panic and sell too early. An adviser adds value when he or she can help investors understand how markets work and stay invested over the long term to capture market return, rather than time the market. Because it involves connecting the head and the heart, we need technology to do the quantitative parts but we also need human wisdom and empathy. Hence sometimes I hesitate actually to say we are a roboadvisor!
Second, in terms of scope of advice, MoneyOwl is not only an investment (robo)advisor, but a comprehensive financial adviser. The investment robo module is our third - after insurance and wills - and soon we will launch comprehensive planning where we integrate both CPF planning and investments for retirement planning, plus introduce retirement withdrawal concepts.
Third, we are confident to be this bionic, comprehensive financial advisor because of our DNA and parentage. MoneyOwl is not a pure start-up in that we are a JV between two home-grown Singapore corporates, NTUC Enterprise and Providend, who have been serving Singaporeans for decades. From the NTUC side, we inherit our inclination to serve the ordinary folk through fit-for-purpose solutions, hence our investing quantum starts from $100 lump sum/ $50 monthly. From the Providend side of our parentage, we inherit deep expertise and experience in best-in-class, conflict-free and holistic financial advice.
Fourth, we believe that our investment philosophy and expression of it through the way we construct and manage portfolios - when coupled with advice - give clients a very good chance of a successful investing experience. Because we are at our core advisors, more than fund managers, (even though we have a full fledged fund management licence), we do not define successful investing as being about maximising return or even maximising risk-adjusted return. Rather, we want to advise and structure investments for clients in such a way as to give you the best odds of meeting your goals. From a combination of evidence we have examined and experience including across the GFC, we know that the keys to successful investing lie in 4 areas: being globally diversified; aiming for market-based return, rather than trying to beat the market through "active management" (either by adjusting asset allocations tactically in response to reading of economic conditions, forecasts or events); keeping costs low; and staying invested over the long term.
Hope this helps!
Dear Anonymous, thank you for the question.
Unfortunately, as this whole concept of roboadvisers is very new even in the US (Betterment, the first robo in the world started in 2008 as a company but only started their roboadvisers a few years later), none of the roboadvisers have managed money for more than 10 years. None of them have gone through a financial crisis like 2008 to show how they handle one. In Singapore, roboadvisers are even newer. The first robo started just barely 2 years ago. But if you think about it, many financial advisory firms and advisers who are active on the Seedly platform are also inexperienced and have not gone through a GFC like crisis in 2008.
So how then do you choose?
At MoneyOwl, the underlying instruments we use are funds from Dimensional Fund Advisors. They have been managing money since 1981 and today manages close to USD600 billion. Although the funds registered with the MAS are pretty recent, these funds use the same approach as all Dimensional funds which have a good track record since 1981. But that Thing is, past performance is no indication of future results. As such, in selecting robos, you must be comfortable with the firm‘s way of giving advice and investing. As that will determine how your investment will perfrom going forward and not justbased on historical track record. So please allow me to repost an answer given to a previous question here:
First, MoneyOwl is not really a pure roboadvisor but a bionic financial advisor - meaning we combine human wisdom and tech - we have an investment robo but we also have a substantial team of well trained (fully salaried) client advisers. We believe that good advice helps to bring about a successful investing experience and that such advice must involve a human element. Advice includes asset allocation, risk profiling, fund selection, monitoring, rebalancing and very importantly risk coaching to help investors stay invested through turbulent market times. There are many reports that show that investors lose out on market return because they panic and sell too early. An adviser adds value when he or she can help investors understand how markets work and stay invested over the long term to capture market return, rather than time the market. Because it involves connecting the head and the heart, we need technology to do the quantitative parts but we also need human wisdom and empathy. Hence sometimes I hesitate actually to say we are a roboadvisor!
Second, in terms of scope of advice, MoneyOwl is not only an investment (robo)advisor, but a comprehensive financial adviser. The investment robo module is our third - after insurance and wills - and soon we will launch comprehensive planning where we integrate both CPF planning and investments for retirement planning, plus introduce retirement withdrawal concepts.
Third, we are confident to be this bionic, comprehensive financial advisor because of our DNA and parentage. MoneyOwl is not a pure start-up in that we are a JV between two home-grown Singapore corporates, NTUC Enterprise and Providend, who have been serving Singaporeans for decades. From the NTUC side, we inherit our inclination to serve the ordinary folk through fit-for-purpose solutions, hence our investing quantum starts from $100 lump sum/ $50 monthly. From the Providend side of our parentage, we inherit deep expertise and experience in best-in-class, conflict-free and holistic financial advice.
Fourth, we believe that our investment philosophy and expression of it through the way we construct and manage portfolios - when coupled with advice - give clients a very good chance of a successful investing experience. Because we are at our core advisors, more than fund managers, (even though we have a full fledged fund management licence), we do not define successful investing as being about maximising return or even maximising risk-adjusted return. Rather, we want to advise and structure investments for clients in such a way as to give you the best odds of meeting your goals. From a combination of evidence we have examined and experience including across the GFC, we know that the keys to successful investing lie in 4 areas: being globally diversified; aiming for market-based return, rather than trying to beat the market through "active management" (either by adjusting asset allocations tactically in response to reading of economic conditions, forecasts or events); keeping costs low; and staying invested over the long term.
Hope this helps!