STI ETF

Hi anon, ETF investments are never capital guaranteed, so you will get back an amount equal to: Number of units x Price sold at - Fees incurred = Final amount received This applies to shares, etc, as well, even if you are buying under DBS RSP. I must emphasize again: ETFs are not capital guaranteed. The same goes for shares/UTs/REITs, etc. It doesn't matter whether you go through DBS RSP, OCBC BCIP, buy on your own, do Stashaway or go through a robo advisor or a financial advisor to invest in these asset classes. Your capital is not guaranteed.

Given that you've chose investment funds, in this case an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and index funds (through roboadvisors), I'm gonna assume that you're not incline to stock-picking. If I were in your position, I would explore other assets such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), which pay out relatively generous dividends. If you like funds, you could opt for a REIT fund such as the Lion-Philip S-REIT ETF and the Nikko AM STC Asia REIT, just to name a few. However, instead of investing in the STI ETF, which has lower volume and is less dynamic, I would opt for an ETF that tracks the S&P500 for growth.

Hi, in my view, investing requires the investor to be disciplined and committed to a time horizon. Else, you will become emotional and tend to "buy high, sell low". In all my years of experience of stockbroking and asset management, I have seen enough data points to convince me of the differences between investing and gambling. We should do less gambling and do more investing. People say they invest, but it is easily proven using science and maths to confirm we are mostly gambling. The key to investing is to decide our risk tolerance, which is a function of risk attitude and risk capacity. Go read my whitepaper at https://squirrelsave.com.sg/blog/risk-profiling-just-another-questionnaire.html to understand the subject better. The other experts in this thread have explained the difference between RSS and Robos. As for Robos, there are differences. Do check them out. SquirrelSave which I founded is new. My aim is to use machine learning to take the human emotion and betting tendency out of real investing. The system remembers the risk profile you set and does not need the investor to make any day-to-day decisions. I used to be an investment manager. But with the availability of live data, the evidence led me to decide that the machine will offer a better investment outcome over the long term compared to the average human investment manager. Check out my blog at https://squirrelsave.com.sg/blog/why-replace-human-investment-manager.html to learn more. Given my recommendation to get your risk profile right, I created a tool to help people assess their own risk profile. Try it out and have some fun doing it. https://app.squirrelsave.com.sg/Start/RegisterRiskProfiler#loaded Therefore, the answer to your question whether to start with high or low risk is that it is not the appropriate question if you want to invest, It should be a mix depending on your risk profile. All the best!

1 lot is 100 shares usually in Singapore context. 1 lot or 10 lot is up to you and have to see the share price of the REITs that you are interested in as well. Just make sure you done your research before buying and comfortable with stock volatility.

Hi E-An Tan, I think that for low monthly contributions, you might want to consider the various fees that each robo-advisor platform charges. From their websites, Stashaway only charges for Management Fee (0.8% for your amount), 0.1% of spot rate for currency exchanges, and ~0.2% ETF fee; MoneyOwl charges 0.65% advisory fee, 0.18% advisory fee, and 0.3-0.4% fund management expense. For MoneyOwl, only the advisory fee is taken by MoneyOwl. Thus considering the type of investments that you are making, the relevant fees will be charged. I think both platforms will allow your monthly investment amount nonetheless. You might also want to consider the objectives of investing as an NSF. Personally, I feel that while you are still young and have a considerable amount of time on your side (with the internet access of course), you might want to start "experential learning" by exploring what investing in different asset classses are like. You can start so by understanding the portfolio allocation that each robo-advisor platform recommends to you and look at the breakdown of asssets they invest in. If you want a mmore flexible approach in investing, you can consider Kristal.AI where there are 0% management fees for investors with under $50k accounts. After looking at their recommended portfolio, I would suggest looking at the other ETFs (known as "Kristals") and analysing the ETF's breakdown of asset allocation via the factsheets. The plus point would be customisability of the exposure that you want in your complete portfolio! Hope this helps! :) https://advice.moneyowl.com.sg/on-moneyowls-fees-and-comparisons/ https://www.stashaway.sg/pricing https://kristal.ai/help-center/ https://solutions.kristal.ai/seedlypost

Your asset allocation should follow your age as the % of monies in fixed income. So if you're 25, have a 75 Equity 25 Bonds Split. For your equities allocation, I'll set up to have a global exposure. I wouldn't even touch SG equities. Split them into US, UK, EU, Asia, Japan, Emerging Markets. Your % of choice in each sector is up to you. Also make sure that you're diversified across sectors as well. Not so heavy into tech and financial even though they're very appealing. Get some defensive sectors as well.

I am in the same situation as you but I have already jumped in the bandwagon.. The transaction starts 15th of every month I won't know the impact.I decided to do it because I am OK with the risk and since it is valid for 1 year only. Based on the advise you got, I would recommend you to wait and see if it is worth it.. Maybe if I remember, I will tell u if there is gain or. Loss few months later

The future investment returns on the funds depend on performance of underlying assets so it is not really "interest" like you get from a bank/bond which would be fixed at outset. Anyway - if you are interested, the historical investment returns can be found here: https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/quote/G3B.SI/performance?p=G3B.SI https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/quote/A35.SI/performance?p=A35.SI Do also note for something like the STI ETF - its objective is to track the index; so a low return number doesn't mean a crap manager (or high return mean a good manager). The return is just reflective of what the STI is doing.

Hello! Its great to start investing at an early age, so kudos on starting at 18. However, just leaping straight into it may not be a very good call. It is always good to make an informed decision, especially with your savings. I see that you want to invest a large portion of your capital in the STI ETF, but in the financial world you should not have all your eggs in one basket. Diversification is the key to protect your money, while still earning good returns. For this, I would suggest looking up other opportunities like REITs, robo-advisors etc. so that you are able to arrive at an asset allocation that is in line with your long term goals. I work for Kristal.AI, and it's my passion to evaluate various upcoming investment opportunities. I hope you find this helpful! Happy investing!

Hey hey! This is definitely great that you want to have a systematic approach to learning how to invest. Fear not! You can refer to our Kristal.Ai's blog about investing 101, really simple to read, nothing too technical at all (very basic), yet increasing your financial literacy and it is actually fun to read as well! Give your situation, you can invest in highly diversified ETF, like VTI where it consists of over 3000+ securities and you can find some of the big names in their top 10 holdings. Also, do check out Kristal.AI wherein you can invest in a few Kristals for 10K completely free of any advisory fee (except ETF fee which ETF providers take). You can even set up a SIP (systematic investment plan) on an ETF like SPY or VTI or VWO. You can also run the Algorithm to check what that suggests for your profile. Do reach out to our advisors or support team if you need help.