Dear clients, stakeholders and the investing community,
We started Endowus because we felt your pain and dissatisfaction when we tried investing for ourselves and our families. We wanted to guide the people we care about on their wealth journeys, and to fill real gaps in the human experience of money.
Solving this problem grew into an obsession. It brought together our team, like-minded partners, clients, and a community who believe that through innovative solutions and by leveraging technology, we can make expert investing and wealth management effortless and accessible to everyone.
Our purpose has gained further clarity through these last two years of unprecedented times. We have a heightened responsibility to do what is right for our clients, and improve the way the industry provides this wealth experience as a whole.
Investing during unprecedented times
Life has changed.
Recent events have forced all of us to take a closer look at our financial, social, and physical health, as well as understand how to better position ourselves for the future. More people are aware today that they should not let their savings sit idle. We should put our money to work.
With technology, investing or speculating in various markets and products is now just a few clicks away. Differentiating what is relevant and suitable for your life and family amid so much noise and countless choices is difficult. Everyone needs and deserves proper guidance, as well as expert institutional-quality advice, and access to better financial solutions.
At Endowus, our commitment is to provide everyone with a personal and evidence-based investment approach that suits their wealth goals, so they can invest better to live easier today, and better tomorrow.
Walking the talk with 100% Cashback on all trailer fees
We feel grateful to have been entrusted by so many clients — from financial industry professionals to first-time investors and retirees — to support their wealth goals. We believe it is because we are trying to fix a root cause for poor outcomes.
Trailer fees are kickbacks that financial advisors, fund platforms, brokers and private banks receive when they recommend certain investment products. This is on top of other fees and sales charges they may earn from you.
At Endowus, we strongly believe that this is unfair for investors like you. Apart from not being transparent, this practice creates the incentive to sell you products that pay higher kickbacks and that also churn your positions. That's why we're the first digital wealth advisor and fund platform to refuse all trailer fees, and instead return them as 100% cashback to our clients.
An industry-first 100% Cashback on all trailer fees policy means our clients keep more of the returns they deserve, and we remain independent to offer the products that best suit them.
To date, we have returned more than S$2 million in trailer fees to our clients, for their investments in over 200 funds across cash, CPF, and SRS. If we add on the savings from giving access to institutional and clean share-class funds without these trailer and loaded fees, the savings will be several million more. We are proud of this accomplishment, and hope the industry will follow us in systematically aligning incentives to the client's best interests by only charging clients directly, with no ability to collect kickbacks, and being strictly and transparently fee-only.
With our clients' interests at the centre of everything we do, in 2021 alone, we have...
Achieved strong outcomes across our Advised Portfolios, with our 100% global equities Core Flagship Portfolio achieving a benchmark-beating 22% in 2021.
Launched new solutions such as Core ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Portfolios across the risk-return spectrum, Satellite Portfolios targeting key themes, and Income Portfolios for different life stages on the back of client requests and needs.
Added more than 300 carefully curated and screened best-in-class funds to Fund Smart, where clients can buy funds and construct customised portfolios with real-time analytics at the lowest average cost in the industry.
Expanded our financial knowledge story bank to bring full access to everyone, to enable smarter wealth decisions. We registered more than 900,000 total page views on various Endowus Insights articles, and hosted close to 50 live webinars.
Remained the first digital advisor to offer investment solutions for both private wealth and savings in cash, CPF, and SRS.
An investor in 2022
In this edition of the Endowus Wealth Insights, we hope to provide you with a deeper look into how Singapore-based investors have planned and executed their 2021 wealth plans, as well as their money aspirations and worries for 2022.
From a survey that was concluded in February, a large majority of respondents indicated that inflation and retirement adequacy are their top finance-related concerns this year. Against this backdrop, we see clear signs of people knowing that they cannot have their money sit idle. Investment sentiments remain positive with an overwhelming 80% of respondents indicating plans to invest more.
Looking into the crystal ball... or not
My team and I have been asked many times if we can provide predictions on the direction of markets in 2022. The answer is simply that we cannot, and we should not. Those who do, go against decades of empirical evidence and financial science.
We have anchored our advice in an evidence-based strategy of not timing the market, focusing on long-term, goal-based, and diversified investments that can power through volatility and market cycles.
Our work at Endowus will continue to be guided by the clear purpose of doing what's right and best for our clients. Endowus will be right with you, helping your money work harder, more efficiently, and effortlessly towards your important wealth goals.
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