What is a Robo-advisor?

Robo-advisors in Singapore represents a personalised trust where investors can invest their money in.

They provide a investment solutions based on mathematical rules or algorithms. These algorithms are calculated and programmed by humans based on financial models and risk appetites set by the company, and requires lesser human supervision.

This is in contrast to actively managed funds which are run by mutual fund managers. With the use of algorithm, the cost of managing the fund is cheaper as compared to the hefty 2-3% management fee that fund managers usually charge.

In Singapore, most of the robo advisors invest in US and global ETFs, and the portfolios are usually exposed to a variety of asset classes which encompasses equities, commodities and gold.

What happens when one invests in a Robo Advisor?

In Singapore, the process for signing up to invest with a Robo Advisor is as such:

• First, the robo advisor will collect information from the investor to understand the risk appetite, investment time horizon, future goals and financial situation that the investor is in.
• Once the above is done, investor will be assigned one of the robo advisor's portfolio that best suits the investor.
• The investor can then fund the account. This can be done either through a lump sum or monthly option.
• The robo advisor will then monitor the market, rebalance the portfolio if need be.

As most of these are done with the help of algorithm, investors cannot actively choose to allocate their investment different from the fixed portfolio provided.

Robo-advisors in Singapore

Currently there are a few major Robo-advisors in Singapore.

They are mainly:

• StashAway
• AutoWealth
• Smartly
• Kristal.AI
• Syfe
• SquirrelSave
• Phillip SMART Portfolio
• Endowus
• UTRADE Robo
• OCBC RoboInvest
• DBS digiPortfolio

Tools to help you choose the best Robo Advisor for you

To help Singaporeans make smarter personal finance decision, here are some tools to help you:

One can read up our comparison article on all the robo-advisors here:

• SG Robo-Advisor Wars: StashAway vs AutoWealth vs Smartly vs Phillip SMART vs FSMOne Maps

If there are still questions after reading Real User Reviews on the Robo Advisors or ask the community at Seedly QnA.