Introducing Endowus Fund Smart — access top-rated funds and curated model portfolios in Hong Kong

We are excited to introduce Endowus Fund Smart in Hong Kong  — a new and truly differentiated investment solution now available to individual investors in Hong Kong on the Endowus platform. It allows for investors to get direct access to a curated and carefully selected list of Best-In-Class Funds from the world’s leading fund managers. You can also use them as building blocks to build your own personalised DIY portfolios, at the lowest achievable cost. We also offer several pre-built and optimised Model Portfolios that you can easily invest into or enjoy the flexibility by tweaking the weights and personalising it to suit your risk appetite and investment goals. 

As an independent, conflict-free, digital advisor, we always do what is in the best interest of our clients as we do not receive product commissions and are not paid by anybody else other than our clients. Endowus is the first truly independent fund platform in Hong Kong. 

With Endowus Fund Smart, you get a seamless, one-stop, cutting edge, digital experience to invest in a wide range of top-tier funds and our pre-built Model Portfolios, or build your own DIY portfolios, with institutional-grade analytics and lowest achievable costs. Here's what Fund Smart offers you today:

What you can do on Endowus Fund Smart 

1. Invest in Best-In-Class single funds from major global and local fund managers, curated by our experts at the Endowus Investment Office through the proprietary SMART+ fund manager due diligence and fund selection process. 
2. Build or gain access to optimised personalised portfolios based on your investment goals and risk tolerance, using Best-In-Class Funds available on Fund Smart as the building blocks. You can either adopt our Endowus model portfolios or use them as a base to tweak allocations or build your own DIY portfolios according to your preferences with our proprietary Endowus portfolio analytical tools. It's your portfolio, so the choice is yours.

This is all done at the lowest cost achievable with zero upfront subscription fees, no sales commissions (also known as trailer fees) on institutional or clean share-class of funds, or with 100% trailer fees Cashback on retail funds that have embedded fees/commissions that we return back to our clients. We do not keep a single cent of product commissions, and are not paid or affected by product issuers, which allows us to stay truly independent, and only offer what we view is best and most suitable to our clients and only our clients. 

Institutional-grade fund selection process by Endowus Investment Office

With thousands of funds — including unit trusts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — on the market today, many of us will find that there is simply too much choice available. In Hong Kong alone, there are more than 2,000 SFC-authorised retail funds.  It is our job at Endowus to cut through the noise and handpick a shortlist of Best-In-Class Funds, for you to access or to use for creating personal investment portfolios suitable for your goals.

At Endowus, we stand on the shoulders of giants, working with top-rated global and local  asset managers who are aligned with our mission and vision. Being conflict free and not being paid by product providers allows us to be independent and objective in reviewing each fund to see whether they are truly Best-In-Class for each asset class and category leaders. Our Investment Office provides a rigorous, institutional-grade due diligence process on thousands of funds globally through a quantitative and qualitative screening process. This SMART+ due diligence and fund selection process is similar to how global institutional asset allocators like sovereign wealth funds, endowments and pension funds would select their funds and investments. We are offering this investment advisory service to our clients and populated the Fund Smart platform with a curated shortlist of Best-In-Class Funds handpicked by our Investment Office. You can view this list of over 140 Best-in-Class Funds on our Investment Funds List. 

The Endowus cost advantage

Cost and return are two sides of the same coin. By paying high costs, you are giving up your future returns. Lowering the cost has an immediate substantial and direct boost to your returns. This cost compounds just as returns compound and results in a meaningful difference in returns over a long period of time. That is why Endowus is so focused on reducing the cost of investing at every layer, as much as possible.

At Endowus, we offer you the lowest achievable cost by helping you get access to the cheapest accessible share class of the funds, known as the institutional or clean share-classes without any loaded fees embedded into the cost. These were previously only accessible by big institutional investors such as endowment funds, or high-net-worth individuals through private banks. But not anymore — you can now invest in institutional share-class funds, some exclusively on Endowus, starting from just HK$10,000. These institutional and clean share-classes of funds bring your costs down significantly compared to industry average.

In cases where the institutional share-class is not available, you can invest in the retail share-class of the fund while getting 100% Cashback on the trailer fees or commissions that are paid to the distributor of these funds, such as banks, brokers or fund platforms. Endowus does not keep a single cent and returns all of these commission trailer fees back to our clients achieving the same effect as access clean institutional share classes. This removes any conflict of interest as we are not paid by anybody other than our clients. It also helps our Investment Office to not be affected in selecting only the Best-In-Class funds, maintaining our independence and allowing us to be a trusted advisor to our clients. 

This access to the institutional and clean share-classes of funds, combined with the Cashback on trailer fees, has significantly brought down the costs of investing when compared to the industry average. As a result, as of April 2023, Endowus clients have collectively saved over US$15 million in investing costs since 2019.

Here are two examples to illustrate the cost savings by investing via Endowus Fund Smart in Hong Kong as compared to some other popular channels:

Cost saving example: institutional share class 

Cost saving example: 100% Cashback on trailer fees

Access a curated list of 140 Best-In-Class Funds selected for you on Fund Smart

You can access more than 140 Best-In-Class strategies offered by top-rated global and local fund managers via Endowus Fund Smart in Hong Kong. Some of the popular investment options available include cash/money market funds (MMF), fixed income, passive dividend/yield income, Global/China equities, natural resources, and thematics. The table below shows selected funds and themes curated by the Endowus Investment Office from the total list. 

Endowus model portfolios on Fund Smart

For those who want to set up their own core-satellite investing strategy with diversified, multi-fund portfolios, you can tap into a suite of Endowus model portfolios that are optimised and handcrafted for your investment needs. 

The table below provides an initial list of the Endowus model portfolios that we have launched in Hong Kong.  You can find short summaries of the various model portfolios below. For more details, please refer to this article. 

1. Endowus Global model portfolios for your core investments 

In taking a core-satellite approach, most investors should allocate the bulk of their asset allocation to the core portfolios. Investors would therefore typically begin their journey with the Endowus Global model portfolios. The core portion of your portfolio serves as the anchor to the long-term growth of wealth in a passive, diversified, and low-cost way. The Endowus Global model portfolios are designed to give investors broad diversified exposure to global markets for your long-term, general wealth accumulation needs. 

Read more: Introducing Global model portfolios: a core investment for everyone

2. Passive Income model portfolios for income investors

We have three Passive Income model portfolios created with different client demographics in mind. These portfolios are designed to meet your real-world needs for different types of passive income. Whether you prefer stable payouts, higher payouts, or higher capital appreciation, we balance higher-yielding assets and higher-quality assets to meet your unique income and wealth accumulation needs. The asset allocation and yield target is what drives the design and optimisation of the portfolio to make it more suitable to your personal needs. 

Read more: Introducing Passive Income model portfolios: earn payouts effortlessly

3. Cash Management model portfolios for short-term liquidity management 

The Endowus Cash Management model portfolios consist mainly of cash funds, money market funds (MMFs) and/or short-duration fixed-income funds (unit trusts). They are designed to have relatively lower risk with exposure to more stable returns as compared to other fixed-income portfolios of longer durations and maturities. They are not capital-guaranteed, but offer daily liquidity and no lock-ups. Your investments can be withdrawn at the daily NAV of the underlying investments with no asset liability mismatching risks, which is a hot topic these days with the bank failures in the US.  

We offer two Cash Management model portfolios. The Cash Management - Plus takes more duration and credit risk in exchange for higher return potential. Cash Management - Simple is the lower-risk portfolio, targeting to preserve capital with good yield. 

Read more: Introducing Cash Management model portfolios: earn more on your cash with no lockups

4. Thematic portfolios as your satellite investments

After allocating the bulk or all of their asset allocation to core portfolios, some investors may then look at the satellite model portfolios as an option to diversify further or focus on certain geographies, sectors, themes or factors you want additional exposure to. 

While not everyone would need or want to have a satellite allocation, at Endowus we understand everyone has different circumstances or preferences. The Endowus Satellite model portfolios are designed for those who would like to supplement their core portfolios. We are launching an initial list of four most popular themes — Sustainability - Equities, Global Technology, China Equities, and Future Trends.

Read more about the satellite model portfolios:

• Introducing the Global Technology model portfolio: ride the wave of tech innovation
• Introducing the China Equities model portfolio: capture Greater China’s high growth potential

For more details on the model portfolios, please refer to this article. 

DIY your own multi-fund portfolios

The Endowus core model portfolios — such as Global, Passive Income, and Cash Management — are designed to serve our clients’ main investment goals, ranging from short-term to long-term goals, and varying in risk appetite. You can use them for general investing or for long term goals such as retirement preparation. These portfolios are carefully built and maintained by the Endowus Investment Office, and can be suitable for novice and expert investors alike. 

That being said, we recognise that everyone is different and with varying personal needs, personal circumstances, different goals, and investment views that may require different levels of customisation. So we have given investors the option to use the Endowus model portfolios as a base but allow them to tweak the allocations to suit your personal risk appetite or preference or goals.

Alternatively, on the Fund Smart platform, you can also choose to build your own do-it-yourself (DIY) portfolios from scratch, through Endowus’ proprietary portfolio creation tool. This institutional-grade portfolio building tool allows you to select up to eight funds to build your personalised portfolios using the Best-In-Class single funds curated by the Endowus Investment Office as building blocks. 

Once you select the funds and weights, immediately you are able to see detailed analytics of the overall portfolio and not the underlying single funds only. This includes data such as long term historical performance, analytics such as best and worst returns and average returns, country, sector, asset class breakdowns and detailed breakdown of cost at the portfolio level. This should allow individuals full flexibility, transparency and analytics to make informed decisions in creating the personalised portfolio for each investor.   

How to use Endowus Fund Smart in Hong Kong

If you are new to Endowus Hong Kong, you can get started either by opening an account with us here, or by clicking the button below. 

Already have an account with Endowus HK? Here are a few simple steps to start using Fund Smart:

1. Login to your Endowus account
2. Click on “Invest |  Redeem”
3. Click on “Add Goal”, and then follow the instructions to select the fund or portfolio of your choice, based on your investment horizon and objective.

<medium-btn-link>GET STARTED WITH ENDOWUS<medium-btn-link>

Read more:

• Introducing Endowus model portfolios — curated with Best-In-Class Funds for core-satellite strategies
• Why invest through Endowus
• Introducing the Endowus HK team
• Choosing Endowus when investing in Hong Kong

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Risk Warnings

Investment involves risk. Past performance is not an indicator nor a guarantee of future performance or returns. Projected performance or returns is not guaranteed to materialise. The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, and you may not get the full amount you invested. Rates of exchange may cause the value of investments to go up or down. Individual stock performance does not represent the return of a fund.

General risk warnings relating to collective investment schemes 

Before making an investment decision, you are reminded to refer to the relevant prospectus/ offering document for specific risk considerations and related fees and charges. Funds are not a bank deposit and not capital guaranteed, and is subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested. Some of the funds also involve derivatives. Do not invest in them unless you fully understand and are willing to assume the risks associated with them.

Opinions

Any forward-looking statements, prediction, projection or forecast on the economy, stock market, bond market or economic trends of the markets contained in this material are subject to market influences and contingent upon matters outside the control of Endowus HK Limited (“Endowus”) and therefore may not be realised in the future. Further, any opinion or estimate is made on a general basis and subject to change without notice. In presenting the information above, none of Endowus HK Limited, its affiliates, directors, employees, representatives or agents have given any consideration to, nor have made any investigation of the objective, financial situation or particular need of any user, reader, any specific person or group of persons. Therefore, no representation is made as to the completeness and adequacy of the information to make an informed decision. You should carefully consider whether any investment views and products/ services are appropriate in view of your investment experience, objectives, financial resources and relevant circumstances. You may also wish to seek financial advice through a financial advisor or the Endowus platform and independent legal, accounting, regulatory or tax advice, as appropriate.

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Product Risk Rating: Please note that any product risk rating (the “PRR”) provided by us is an internal rating assigned based on our product risk assessment model, and is for your reference only. The PRR is subject to change from time to time. The PRR does not take into account your individual circumstances, objectives or needs and should not be regarded as advice or recommendation to purchase, hold or sell any fund or make any other investment decisions. Accordingly, you should not solely rely on the PRR in making your investment decision in the relevant Fund.

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