Endowus launches Empower, a community impact initiative focused on supporting underrepresented, underserved, and underprivileged groups in reaching their wealth and life goals

• Key partners of Endowus Empower include the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, Financial Women's Association of Singapore, and United Women Singapore. 
• The initiative aims to reach 500,000 individuals by 2025.

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Endowus, Asia’s leading digital wealth platform, has launched a community impact initiative, Endowus Empower. This initiative aims to provide underrepresented, underserved, and underprivileged groups with the right tools, advice, opportunities, and community support to reach their wealth and life goals.  

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With the focus on financial inclusion, as well as social and community inclusion, Empower is created to provide support to four main groups, namely, not-for-profit organisations, women, gig workers, and tertiary students. 

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“Endowus knows its responsibility to play a part in strengthening the fabric of society, and creating greater opportunities for individuals to achieve their fullest potential in life. It was in our name to inclusively democratise institutional endowment-quality investing for all of us, and we have not wavered from this path. Through informed wealth management and greater access to the right resources, we are committed to empowering Singaporeans to secure a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones by investing holistically and responsibly. On the financial literacy front, we hope to positively impact 500,000 individuals through our outreach activities by 2025,” said Gregory Van, CEO of Endowus. 

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Supporting not-for-profit organisations by giving back 

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Empower is an expansion of the firm’s CSR efforts, beginning with the Endowus Gives Back (EGB) programme in 2021. EGB has raised over S$125,000 in donations for 24 beneficiaries such as the Centre for Fathering, Make-a-Wish Foundation, SPCA, and the Yellow Ribbon Fund in just two years. 

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In 2023, Endowus hopes to continue working with partners including the National Volunteer And Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) and Access Singapore to create more financial and social opportunities for individuals and organisations from 14 categories, including animal welfare; children and youth; community integration; sports, as well as women and girls. 

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Building a women & investing community 

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As society pushes for gender parity in all aspects, Endowus will be supporting women in their personal investing journeys through more dedicated content and community activities, in partnership with like-minded individuals and organisations. Data has shown that even though women get better returns than men do, just 14% of women say they know a lot about saving and investing, and 65% say they’d be more likely to invest, or invest more, if they had clear steps to do so.

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In this regard, Endowus will be partnering with the Financial Women's  Association of Singapore (FWA) and United Women Singapore (UWS) to host financial literacy workshops tailored for females across ages and socio-economic backgrounds. For the general public looking to find out more about investing, they can also access Endowus’ free content hub, Fin.Lit Academy and Endowus Insights, where articles tailored to a female’s wealth needs and goals may also be found. Collectively, there are more than one million unique page views of Endowus’ financial literacy content yearly.

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Additionally, to encourage dialogue and cross-sharing of experiences and knowledge, Endowus will be co-creating authentic content based on the financial journeys of women leaders and female creators. These individuals believe in the power of community and its ability to support and guide one another in their investing journeys.  

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Boosting retirement security for gig workers

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Endowus seeks to further partnerships with gig economy players in Singapore to provide useful and easy-to-grasp financial and investing education to gig workers. As compared to employed work, planning for retirement can be more challenging to gig workers, as they face a lack of consistent income; little to no contributions to their pension savings, and are disproportionately impacted by rising costs of living. A deeper understanding of how to manage their finances and total assets, as well as the role of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) in supporting their retirement plans will be key. This is in line with the Singapore Government’s latest mandate in bolstering the social security net for gig workers under the age of 30 through mandatory CPF contributions. 

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Endowus aims to collaborate with notable platform players to co-develop a financial literacy series for gig workers. The series will be customised based on their needs, and will cover topics such as “Understanding CPF”; “Financial planning for gig workers”, and “Investing for retirement”.

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Equipping tertiary students with essential investing knowledge 

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Endowus has been working closely with tertiary institutions since 2019 to provide young adults with the right resources on financial literacy. As an impressionable group about to enter the working world, the deluge of information online can make it difficult for young adults to identify sound strategies to make the best financial decisions. 

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This makes them vulnerable to false promises of quick wins and immediate gratification. In fact, a recent study by NTU found that 80% of students learnt about investing from social media, and only 20% were able to identify investment scams.

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Endowus has regularly conducted financial and investing 101 workshops, “Ask Me Anything” sessions and fireside chats at local polytechnics and universities including Nanyang Polytechnic (NP), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and Singapore Management University (SMU). This year, Empower will continue to broaden its reach to equip more young adults with the essential knowledge and skills to give them a firm foundation in managing their money. 

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