You’ve probably read about StashAway, one of the biggest breakout Robo advisors existing in the country. Many investors stand by its dependability thanks to its advanced algorithms and simple but effective interface.
StashAway is an app that’s conveniently friendly because it has zero minimum investment. Plus, you won’t have to deal with heavy fees and have a user-friendly interface for beginners. But, don’t mistake that it’s just for starters — you can expand your portfolio fairly quickly with this Robo-advisor!
In this short but detailed StashAway review, you’ll learn all about what StashAway has to offer, how it measures up against other existing Robo-advisors, and how to get started if you feel great about using it.
StashAway Overview
One of the biggest things we hate about first and second-generation Robo-advisors is the data barrage you’ll face once you open the application. Everything feels confusing, and nothing’s there to guide you on getting started and getting the results you need fast.
StashAway avoids intimidation by simplifying its app, asking you short questions before showing you the best way to reach your goals. You can think of it as an actual financial advisor without a body and voice. Once it understands your least investment preferences, risk profile, and everything else in between, you’re good to go.
No Minimum Investment to Start
With most robo-advisors, you’ll need to have a maintaining balance to keep using the service. If your profits fall short, you’ll need to boost your existing portfolio to keep using these robo-advisors.
With StashAway, you won’t have to deal with any least investment fees. If StashAway’s robo-advisor can’t turn a profit for you or you’re below the thresholds, you won’t need to worry about having a terminated account due to a minimum investment.
Light Fees
StashAway’s fees are lighter than the competition. You can expect to pay a small 0.20-0.80% annual management fee. However, you won’t need to retain minimum deposits and platform fees.
Other robo-advisors have similar fees and arrangements with investors. However, some might charge higher platform fees or require you to have minimum deposits. With some robo-advisors, if your deposits reach a certain threshold, you’ll need to deposit an additional amount to access all its features.
You won’t have these problems at all with StashAway.
Conveniently-Accessible App
Many investors have duly noted the aesthetically pleasing, simple, and intuitive StashAway app. We believe (and felt) that many investors moved from other first to recent generation robo-advisors because having an intuitive app simplifies actions you want to take without unnecessary taps and scrolls.
Plus, a visually pleasing and symbol-oriented app helps you quickly take in data and make informed minimum investment decisions afterward. It seems like a small and somewhat unnecessary feature for some investors, especially for experienced “old-school” investors.
However, a faster understanding of everything happening in the portfolio allows investors to save much more through swifter loss cuts and perceived gains.
Quick Future Portfolio Expansion
StashAway might seem simple at first glance. However, its convenient and starter-friendly approach doesn’t limit its potential to increase your gains exponentially. The robo-advisor’s algorithm continues to improve, and its list of ETFs and bonds are its primary portfolio builders for the “regular” StashAway account.
In addition, you can use StashAway with your individual stock and savings portfolio and expand all of your assets simultaneously.
So, for example, if you’re playing it safe with your bond and UITF investment portfolio, you can use StashAway to venture towards much higher-risk investments, especially if you’ve been making slow but sure gains with your individual low-risk portfolio.
So, How Does It Expand Your Investments?
Robo-advisors are the digital counterparts of actual real-life advisors. Therefore, they expand your portfolio using a series of conditions using economic data. In addition, you can be sure that robo-advisors react much more swiftly because they don’t need to sleep.
Global ETF-Focused Investing
StashAway focuses on investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). If you need a refresher on ETFs, you can use this simple analogy: stocks are to money as ETFs are to wallets.
Therefore, ETFs are as volatile as individual stocks, but they follow certain stock market indexes or lists of notable companies with equal performance or similar industries.
The robo-advisor follows local and global ETFs with a focus on the latter because of potential gains. Plus, you have access to ETFs from every country in the world. StashAway provides a full list on its website. Some of them are the following:
- The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR® Fund
- The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR® Fund
- The Technology Select Sector SPDR® Fund
- The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR®
- The Energy Select Sector SPDR® Fund
- The Health Care Select Sector SPDR® Fund
- The Financial Select Sector SPDR® Fund
- SPDR® Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill
- iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond US 1-3y
- Schwab Intermediate-Term U.S. Treasury
- iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF
- iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
- iShares International Treasury Bond ETF
- iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF
Investor Risk Profiling
Risk profiling algorithms are old news because almost every robo-advisor has it. But it’s still standard for StashAway. How they use those profiles is the unique selling point of investor risk profiling.
StashAway has two risk profiling types:
- Core: StashAway will make inflation adjustments as its goal. Doing this urges it to invest in an equal set of bonds and low-risk, virtually guaranteed ETF returns.
- Higher Risk: As its name implies, StashAway will take on much higher risk, aggressively investing in higher-return ETFs with varying risk profiles.
On the other hand, StashAway can adjust its algorithm to focus on meeting your goals. For example, if you’re investing to receive short to medium-term gains, StashAway can focus on this particular goal. You’ll set an ideal profit amount and leave the robot to do its job.
Economic Trends Analytic Algorithm
During the first decade of financial technologies, many traditional financial advisors saw the technology as negligible because only financial advisor experience can help adjust their client’s portfolios during sudden economic changes.
However, further advancements in software design and processing technology enabled many robo-advisors to adjust and adapt to economic changes.
StashAway uses a special algorithm that uses economic trend analytic algorithms to anticipate and predict future drops or increases. It uses this data and can take independent action to ensure it can meet the investor’s portfolio-growth goals.
You’ll Pay For StashAway’s Management Fee, Of Course!
All robo-advisors will always be for-profit software. However, StashAway has better management fee than many of Singapore’s other robo-advisors.
Here’s a handy table for your reference.
Note: The highest management fee StashAway will charge you per profit tier: 0.8% of your total profit. Now, that’s modest by today’s robo-advisor management fee standards!
| Total investment (SGD) | Annual fee |
| First $25,000 | 0.8% |
| >$25,000, up to $50,000 | 0.7% |
| >$50,000, up to $100,000 | 0.6% |
| >$100,000, up to $250,000 | 0.5% |
| >$250,000, up to $500,000 | 0.4% |
| >$500,000, up to $1,000,000 | 0.3% |
| >$1,000,000 | 0.2% |
Eligibility Criteria
StashAway has simple requirements for its investors. Anyone in Singapore, including foreigners, can use StashAway as their robo-advisor
- 18 Years of Age
- Anyone Residing in Singapore
Requirements
Below, you’ll find the list of documents StashAway will ask from you. Singaporeans can use SingPass’ MyInfo to verify their personal information without personal visits. On the other hand, the following documents are necessary for manual or personal applications. So if you’re ready to use StashAway, make sure to have everything prepared.
- Singpass MyInfo digital verification
- Singaporeans: NRIC front and back copy
- Foreigners: Passport with a minimum of six months validity, proof of residence (utility bill, bank, phone statement) with three months maximum backdate
StashAway is Safe, Right?
StashAway is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). However, it doesn’t mean that robo-advisors are virtually infallible, such as banks. While it’s a legal service, its performance varies because it’s a startup financial technology. And while it offers so much convenience, robo-advisors do have their risks. Plus, the Monetary Authority of Singapore isn’t exactly restrictive of financial technologies, including robo-advisors.
How Much Should I Invest in Stashaway for my Investment Portfolio?
StashAway doesn’t guarantee returns. However, it provides an effective platform to invest your money. A good rule of thumb is to invest money you can willingly part with because it’s greatly possible to have great losses with high-risk investments. On the other hand, you can protect your savings against inflation using StashAway’s Income Portfolio.
StashAway Income Portfolio: If You Prefer Singapore-Centered Investments
Currently, Singapore’s economy isn’t expanding to the disappointment of investors. However, anyone’s minimum investment might be worth it with StashAway’s Singapore-centered StashAway Income Portfolio – and it has an extremely low-risk index value of 12%, perfect for conservative investors!
Its purpose: provide you sustainable income through dividends. While it does limit you to Singapore banks, it carries relatively low risk because the robo-advisor optimizes its decisions towards giving you the best dividends within a set period.
One major turn-off for some investors is the steep S $10,000 minimum investment. This barrier to entry does not include StashAway’s financial management costs, making StashAway’s income portfolio a costly endeavor.
On the other hand, if you’ve made a killing with StashAway’s “regular” account, having additional immediate income above your medium to long-term investing ventures is always helpful.
However, we highly advise going DIY to maximize your dividend profits because the barrier-to-entry costs are relatively lower.
StashAway Income Portfolio includes the following:
- ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund
- Nikko AM SGD Investment Grade Corporate Bond
- iShares Barclays USD Asia High Yield Bond Index ETF
- NikkoAM Straits Times Index ETF
- NikkoAM-StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT ETF
- Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF
StashAway Simple: Cash Management Portfolio Without Any Fees
What makes a savings account great? High per annum interest added to your savings to combat inflation. It’s the same thing making StashAway Simple an excellent addition to your investment portfolio: you can offset inflation with a higher margin than banks because of its StashAway-guaranteed 1.4% per annum interest.
Plus, you can store any amount in your StashAway Simple cash management portfolio. However, the fund does have an underlying manager because it uses money market funds to stabilize and provide you the 1.4% per annum interest.
In addition, your account can get a 0.205% fee from LionGlobal SGD, which invests half and half values in LionGlobal SGD Money Market fund and LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity Fund SGD, respectively.
Why Is StashAway Simple Safe?
Being a cash management portfolio with 0% fees, StashAway Simple focuses on relatively stable money market funds. Therefore, you have slow growth, but you get a guaranteed 1.4% interest yearly. On the other hand, its low risk level, safety-first investing policy limits its potential for growth.
Should You Use StashAway Than Other Existing Alternatives?
StashAway isn’t the only robo-advisor with promising results and low fees available in town. Syfe and Endowus are two other robo-advisors with promising returns for their customers. Here’s a handy comparison table to help you learn more about their fees per profit.
| Total investment (SGD) | StashAway | Syfe | Endowus |
| First $25,000 | 0.8% | 0.65% (up to $20,000) / 0.5% (above $20,000) | 0.6% |
| > $25,000 to $50,000 | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
| >$50,000 to $100,000 | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
| >$100,000 to $250,000 | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.6% |
| >$250,000 to $500,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| >$500,000 to $1million | 0.3% (Above S $1million: 0.2%) | >0.4% | 0.5% (Above S $1million: 0.35%) |
How Good is Stashaway Against Other Competitors?
StashAway has a higher first-few-profit charge than either Syfe or Endowus despite having zero minimum investment.
Syfe has middle-value profit charges, while Endowus has the highest charges for larger portfolios.
StashAway is the better option for long-term investment because of its lower charges as your portfolio grows.
Syfe Vs StashAway
Syfe will educate you about its available portfolios and won’t decide the best investment for you.
For example, while Syfe offers the same high-quality global ETFs, their equity orientation makes them a high-risk global portfolio compared to StashAway’s global ETF offerings.
On the other hand, StashAway has REIT limitations, making Syfe’s REIT-focused portfolios in Singapore, which has a fast-growing real estate market, an excellent choice if you want in on real estate action.
Endowus Vs StashAway
One big barrier to the mass usage of Endowus is its S $10,000 minimum investment amount, making it available only for those with enough capital or have full confidence in their investment strategy.
However, Endowus asks for such an amount because it invests in professionally-managed (non-robot) fund and unit trusts.
If you’re all about unit trusts, then Endowus is a great service to use despite its shortage of ETFs (which you can get from StashAway)
How Can You Get Started Using StashAway?
SingPass MyInfo makes it easy to get started with StashAway. You don’t have to have a minimum investment to get on with your new personal finance adventure. The app you’ll download is effectively user-friendly, helping you understand how to start seeding your minimum account balance. With its aesthetics and user-friendliness, you can get started easily.
Watch out for promos from other websites and sponsors to help you save on management fees too.
Overall: StashAway Excels But Not Without Its Flaws
Undeniably, StashAway knocks down the barriers to entry that both Syfe and Endowus have. However, it does charge highly upon profiting from your first S $25,000. But, if you’re someone staying for long-term growth, StashAway’s late fees, income dividend fund, and even StashAway Simple are excellent choices.
Low On Investment Cash? Get Started With a Personal Loan!
If you want to grow your money, but you’re unsure because your savings are limited, a low-interest personal finance payable within one year might be an excellent choice. If you have excellent credit scores, your current bank can disburse your personal loan with their instant approval.
However, if you have sub-par credit scores and want to have at least six months of your salary, you can use licensed moneylenders to help you get the financing you need. Loan Advisor is a top loan comparison website that can provide you with three high-quality quotes from licensed lenders free of charge. Visit our website today and get quoted now!
