I can't comment on behalf of the other platforms you're using, but if you're considering Syfe, please know that the security of our clients' money is of utmost importance to us, and that we have stringent measures in place to prevent an event like what happened with Smartly. Syfe is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and we hold a Capital Markets Services (CMS) License for retail fund management. As a CMS license holder, we have met all the requirements and standards set by MAS to prevent a bankruptcy event from happening, and to keep our clients’ funds and assets safe. This includes meeting the minimum capital requirement, as well as audits and compliance to ensure that Syfe has sufficient daily cash flow to meet all operational needs. Funds in your Syfe account are held in a Trust Account in DBS Bank while your investments are kept in a Custodian Account through Saxo Capital Markets. These are held separately from Syfe’s assets. This means that Syfe will never be able to use your funds and assets, even in the very unlikely event that Syfe stops operating. Finally, all clients are free to withdraw their money any time they wish. Syfe does not impose any exit penalties or lock-in periods, so clients are genuinely able to access their money any time. In the midst of the evolving COVID-19 situation, we have taken steps to ensure there will be no interruption in our services. We have also been seeing steady growth throughout this period as more and more new investors trust their money to us, and our existing clients stay on track with their investment plans. You can also read more about our performance during this period here: https://www.syfe.com/magazine/coronavirus-pandemic-how-syfe-builds-resilience-into-portfolios/

Just received an email from Smartly: Thank you for investing with Smartly. We are writing to inform you that we have taken the difficult decision to cease Smartly’s operations in Singapore. As you may know, competition in the digital investment advisory space is intense and maintaining a high service standard on the platform has been challenging. Despite initially contemplating core platform improvements, strategic corporate considerations by our parent company, VinaCapital Group Ltd, ultimately guided our decision. Smartly is a brand of VCG Partners Pte. Ltd. (“VCG”), which is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”). Accordingly, VCG has notified MAS of its decision to cease Smartly’s operations. Please note that no action is required on your part, although do note that you will no longer be able to log in to your Smartly account from 18th April 2020 onwards, which also coincides with the official date of your account closure. Should you desire to receive digital advice from another service provider, we have reached an agreement with Asia Wealth Platform Pte Ltd (AWP); which has kindly agreed to offer Smartly customers a 50% management fee discount for the first 6 months, up to the first SGD50,000 invested for new customers on its StashAway platform. Please click on this link if you are interested in opening an account to be entitled to this offer, which is valid until the end of April 2020. Please note in relation to the above special promotion with AWP, VCG is not permitted to give advice on the suitability of any related investment product or market any collective investment scheme as an introducer and AWP is the party giving advice on its Stashaway Platform. VCG may be remunerated by AWP for each referred customer that proceeds to invest on the StashAway Platform. VCG will disclose the amount of the referral remuneration it receives from AWP in respect of your referral if requested by you. If you have questions about any of the above or another matter(s) relating to your account, please contact us at [email protected](mailto:[email protected]) or via telephone at +65 6332 9081 / +65 6332 9084. Once again, we appreciate the trust you placed in Smartly and wish you continued success as you invest for your future. Yours sincerely, Richard Martin, Head of Operations VCG Partners Pte. Ltd.

No one will know what will happen within the next 1 month. For other robo investing platform, they could continue to employ DCA method to buy when the market is low (currently). But due to the closure of smartly, I am afraid that you can't explore that option. Hence, it is your decision to make whether to cut lost now, or withdraw in 1 month time (hoping that the value will increase).

Not sure but i have friends who cannot get their deposits back when they stop it and they cannot sell their current portfolio now too. Not sure for the rest or if it’s true but this two friends told me that.

Hi There, you can alco check the review on Kristal.AI here https://seedly.sg/reviews/robo-advisors/kristal-ai Kristal aso provides you with investment advice via its propietary algorithm within minuets to create a personilized investment portfolio. Which is designed sepicifically to meet your investment requirements and investor profile. You can be advised as much as you need. There's also ZERO fees for your first $50,000 investment. Hope this helps, Cynthia

Hi Anon, Investments are for the long term, markets will fluctunate, but in time they will recover and your investments along with it. It would be wiser to stay invested, and you will see returns in the long run

Dear Anonymous, This is a great question and Endowus has reviewed the pros and cons of accessing various products and we believe that the most efficient way to access certain asset classes or funds is through a third option - Irish UCITS Funds(Unit trusts). I have seen many comparisons but nobody has really delved into the key issues in detail. Because they normally compare the US ETFs vs Irish UCITS ETFs or UCITS ETFs vs UCITS funds. I will review the pros and cons of the respective fund vehicles below; 1. US ETFs on the surface look good as they have lower fees and have narrow bid-ask spreads but this is more than offset by the huge witholding tax that it is subject to (For example, if dividends are 3% then you will be charged 1% which dwarfs any benefits of lower fees/narrow bid ask spreads). Recouping taxes is notoriously difficult as the money is co-mingled (meaning the dollar invested is not in your name and the tax refund is not specific to you) - you only get partial refund and you have to wait a long time after the money has been deducted to get a refund and God forbid you take your money out from the platform before the refund comes through as you may never get it back. 2. Irish UCITS ETFs simply solves the tax issue but on the other hand you have less choice in terms of ETFs, the bid-ask spread is quite wide as liquidity is poor, and finally the fees are higher as they tend to be smaller in scale and scale vs cost is directly and inversely correlated. However, you can bypass the bid-ask spread issue by accessing them through market makers at a small fee at NAV (this is the actual price/value of the fund = and please remember ETFs are funds as well but they are just listed to provide intraday liquidity and readily tradeable. This is a key point I elaborate on later). 3. UCITS Funds. Apart from the fact that these funds are tax-efficient like the UCITS ETFs, they also have no bid-ask spread. NONE AT ALL. This is because you can buy/sell it at the actual NAV. Even US ETFs have bid-ask spreads and some US ETFs are very wide at times. The whole point of ETFs and the reason they have bid-ask spreads is because it is exchange traded. If we trade US or UCITS ETFs from Singapore then we normally trade only once a day so it defeats the whole purpose of using ETFs which is supposed to provide live intraday liquidity. They trade once a day and provide liquidity once a day. So there is no benefit to ETFs other than the other factors focused on cost, which on balance including tax and FX risk, they lose out on. We are not taking advantage of the most important aspect of why ETFs exist. Furthermore, for UCITS funds, because you are buying at NAV at daily liquidity there is no additional cost of transaction and no need to inefficiently fractionalize shares(llike ETFs) as you can invest to the cent at NAV price. Finally, these funds have a broader choice than UCITS ETFs and they tend to be at scale much cheaper in terms of total costs. There is also another important factor that many people don't discuss as much as taxes, and that is the impact of FX on risk and returns. We pursposefully build and access UCITS funds denominated in SGD or Singapore dollar hedged products in the case of fixed income products. Whereas you are taking FX risk with US or other ETFs, which involves additional costs. This is a big additional benefit to accessing the products through Irish UCITS fund structures. So if you combine all of that, UCITS Funds from the likes of PIMCO and Dimensional that Endowus uses, are in fact the most cost-efficient, tax-efficient vehicles and removes completely any FX risk. Thereby allowing you to invest your Singapore dollar savings as a Singapore based investors with peace of mind. Thank you! Yours Sincerely, Sam

It seems that you are planning to be a passive investor rather than an active trader. Then robo advisory is a good choice. Robo advisory is a passive investment. In investment, there is no best time to buy. Under the situation of a recession and a long term investment, I will DCA my dbs my dbs digi portfolio. From the question, it seems that you just started to know the concept of investment. So, what should you do? 1. Understand the various financial tools such as robo advisors (read them from Seedly) 2. Understand your assets, liability, equities and cash flow 3. Your risk profile and your investment goal so u can project your returns After learning the above, what do u to your DBS digi portfolio? If dbs digi portfolio meets your investment goals, continue putting in for a long term If dbs digi portfolio does not meet your investment goal, let it grow until you have better way to use the money / situation is better

Hello! There are 2 SeedlyReviews on Phillip SMART Portfolio, and more reviews for other Robo-Advisors that you can find them here: https://seedly.sg/reviews/robo-advisors They are a little dated, so perhaps you could drop a comment below their review to get a conversation started to find out more! (: