Endowus review: Investing your cash, CPF and SRS money at low fees

What is Endowus?

Endowus is a Singapore-based financial technology company that allows you to invest your CPF, Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) money, and cash savings.

With access to funds from leading global fund managers, Endowus curates your investment portfolio with institutional-quality financial products, at the lowest cost possible.

Here’s what you’ll find in this review:

• Pros and cons of using Endowus
• How does investing with Endowus work
• Why choose Endowus as your robo-advisor
• Who should use Endowus
• Charges and fees involved
• Endowus vs StashAway vs Syfe vs MoneyOwl
• Eligibility criteria
• Current sign up promotions for Endowus

Overview of Endowus

Product summary:

• What you are investing in: Mutual funds/unit trusts
• Minimum investment amount: $10,000
• Types of funds Endowus offers: Funds from reputable fund managers such as Dimensional Fund Advisors and PIMCO. Full list of funds here.
• Management fee: 0.60 per cent for first $200,000 or 0.40 per cent flat fee for any amount for CPF or SRS money
• Endowus Cash Smart projected returns after all fees:
  • Core: 0.9 per cent to 1 per cent p.a.  
  • Enhanced: 1.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent p.a.
• What can you invest? Cash, CPF and SRS

Here are the pros and cons of using Endowus for your investment needs.

How does investing with Endowus work?

#1: Investments

Providing wealth accumulation solutions

With Endowus, you can choose from six different portfolios to invest your cash, CPF and SRS money, depending on your investment objectives and risk tolerance. Your funds will go into a portfolio that is globally diversified, offering the best-in-class mutual funds (also known as unit trusts) from leading fund managers globally, without spending any more than you should on fees (more below).

The portfolios you’ll be choosing from are broken down into a percentage of stocks versus bonds. 

Your investments come with automated rebalancing to ensure that your portfolio is aligned to your goals. You will also receive investment advice, and you have an option to set up recurring monthly investments. The cost of these transactions is factored into a single, all-in access fee. 

Invest your way, with Endowus Fund Smart 

Endowus has recently introduced Fund Smart to the mix. With Fund Smart, you can now build and personalise your own portfolio, a solution that was sorely missing in the robo-advisory field. 

With Fund Smart, you get exclusive access to best-in-class institutional funds from the world’s top asset managers to make up your portfolio. This means that Endowus has done the heavy lifting by screening out the best funds available for that asset class or category. Much like the existing Endowus offerings, you also enjoy no sales fees, no transaction fees and 100 per cent trailer fee rebates. 

You do the rest. Select the funds that make up your portfolio and customise your fund allocations. Currently, you can select up to 8 funds, choosing between equity, fixed income and multi-asset funds. Here’s the list of funds that are available for your selection with Endowus Fund Smart. 

You’re not all on your own when creating the portfolio. Upon selecting your funds, Endowus will provide you with an overview that includes your average annual return based on historical data, goal projection and total annual fee. 

Do keep in mind that investing with Endowus requires a minimum initial investment amount of $10,000.

#2: Cash management accounts: Grow idle cash

Endowus also offers a cash management account — Cash Smart. Cash management accounts are an alternative to savings accounts, helping you grow your idle funds. 

Unlike many high-yield savings accounts that require you to fulfill certain criteria to earn your interest, you can grow your money simply by keeping the money in your Cash Smart account. There is no lock-in period, no tiers to hit, no limit to the amount you can keep in the account and your interest returns are accrued daily. 

The cost? 0.05 per cent per year (excluding fund-level fees).

The Endowus Cash Smart account is available not only for your cash, but also for your idle SRS funds. Here are the two different Cash Smart accounts available. 

Endowus Cash Smart Core: 

• What is it: A diversified portfolio of cash and money market funds
• Underlying funds: 50 per cent Fullerton SGD Cash Fund, 50 per cent LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity
• Projected return after all fees: 0.9 per cent to 1 per cent p.a.  

Endowus Cash Smart Enhanced: 

• What is it: A diversified portfolio of money market and high quality short duration bond funds
• Underlying funds: 50 per cent UOB United SGD Fund, 50 per cent LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity
• Projected return after all fees: 1.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent p.a.

ALSO READ: How to be a CPF multi-millionaire in uncertain times

Why should you choose Endowus as your Robo-Advisor?

#1: Access leading global funds at the lowest cost possible

Endowus opens the doors for retail investors to invest in funds that are typically only available for institutional investors. 

Their platform allows you to access Smart Beta and actively managed Fixed-Income products from reputable fund managers such as Dimensional Fund Advisors and PIMCO, at the lowest all-in cost. 

With access to the funds from these fund managers, Endowus uses evidence-based investing to give investors the highest probability of investment success over the long-term. This means selecting the investment products that have exhibited good long-term performance with proven track records, that are also offered at attractive institutional-level costs.

#2: Invest your CPF, SRS and cash in a single platform

You can invest your CPF money with Endowus under the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS). To do so, you will need to open a CPF Investment Account. Once your CPF-IA is linked to your Endowus account, you can start investing and fund your Endowus investments with your CPF accounts.

While the money in your CPF Special Account (SA) earns a solid 4 per cent p.a. interest, the money in your CPF Ordinary Account (OA) earns a modest 2.5 per cent p.a.

There is also an extra 1per cent you earn on the first $60,000 of combined CPF balances, capped at $20,000 for the CPF OA. While a 2.5 per cent p.a. interest rate isn’t too shabby, there are investors who will feel like they can do much better by investing their retirement savings — specifically, by investing with the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) or CPF OA. 

Through Endowus, your SRS or CPF OA funds can access a globally diversified portfolio at some of the lowest costs for CPF-related investments. 

#3: Low, all-in access fee

Fees are amongst the top concerns when making investments. The reason is simple: fees eat into your returns. The less fees you pay, the more returns in your pocket. For example, if your fees add up to 3 per cent, in order to earn a 7 per cent return on your investments, the investments would have to reap 10 per cent in returns before fees. 

Your returns would depend on other factors as well, such as your risk appetite, which determines the makeup of your portfolio. Not all portfolios are primed for high returns as risk-averse investors could choose to take on lower risk for modest returns. 

Rather than paying multiple different fees at different levels, Endowus employs a simple, all-in fee that covers all the costs involved. The only fee that isn’t included in the all-in access fee is the fund-level fee of 0.18 per cent to 0.64 per cent p.a.

ALSO READ: Understanding home bias amongst Singaporean investors

#4: Grow your spare cash

With the present low interest rate environment, numerous banks have slashed the interest rates for their savings accounts. This means fewer avenues to grow your spare cash or emergency funds. W

ith their Cash Smart account, Endowus provides the opportunity to earn up to 1.7 per cent p.a. on your idle cash, without bothering with criteria like minimum credit card spending or salary credit. You even have the option to choose between two different Cash Smart accounts depending on your risk tolerance and how soon you’ll need these savings.  

#5: Curate your own investment portfolio 

With their latest investment solution — Endowus Fund Smart, Endowus gives investors the opportunity to design their ideal investment portfolio with the click of a few buttons. Similar to the Endowus advised portfolios, you can invest your cash, CPF or SRS funds with Fund Smart.

Investors looking for a robo-advisory option that allows you to customise the components of the portfolio and each individual allocation will find Fund Smart useful.

#6: It’s secure 

What if the company ceases to exist? One major concern many investors have when it comes to new-age robo-advisors is the security and safety of keeping money with the robo-advisory company. 

When you create an Endowus account, Endowus creates a trust account in your own name at UOB Kay Hian, Singapore’s largest broker. This means that regardless of what happens to Endowus in the future, you will have full access and claim to your assets that are held in the UOB Kay Hian account under your name.

For whom is Endowus best for?

Endowus is best for investors looking to invest and maximise their ‘locked money’ – namely CPF funds. Where Endowus stands out is also their commitment in offering the lowest fee possible for institutional level funds. 

Unlike other robo-advisors that allow you to start investing with just $1, Endowus is suitable for those with sizeable capital, with a $10,000 minimum investment amount. 

ALSO READ: How to start managing and investing your money

However, this minimum investment amount can be made using different modes of funding across cash, CPF and SRS. For example, you can invest $5,000 through cash and $5,000 with your CPF OA in order to make up the $10,000 minimum. 

Your subsequent investment amounts beyond the first $10,000 are set at a minimum of $100. The minimum for a new goal or transaction for Fund Smart is also $100, with no minimum balance required.

What charges or fees should you look out for?

Endowus works with asset managers to access the lowest fees possible, ensuring that customers get 100 per cent rebate of any trailer fees or sales commissions. As such, Endowus charges a single, all-in access fee that is based on your assets under advice (AUA), inclusive of GST. The more you invest, the lower the fees.

Investment type	Fee details
CPF and SRS money	0.40 per cent flat fee for any amount
Cash (tiered, not stacked)	Up to $200,000: 0.60 per cent$200,000 – $1,000,000: 0.50 per cent$1,000,001 to $5,000,000: 0.35 per centMore than $5 million: 0.25 per cent
Cash Smart	0.05 per cent flat fee for any amount

However, do note that these fees exclude fund-level fees of 0.18 per cent to 0.64 per cent. These fund level fees are built into the cost structure of the fund and indirectly affects the fund returns. 

What does this all-in access fee include? It includes the account and portfolio creation, investment advice, rebalancing costs, dividend withholding tax, FX transaction charges, transfers into and out of the account and brokerage fees. With a single access fee, this also means that there are no sales charges, no transaction fees and no hidden charges. To top it off, you enjoy a 100 per cent trailer fee rebate.

How is this fee charged? The access fee is charged on a quarterly basis, based on your daily average total AUA for that quarter. To make this a seamless process, if you have cash in your account, your cash balance will be used to pay for the fees.

Otherwise, Endowus will redeem part of your investment portfolio that is equivalent to your fees due for the quarter.

Endowus vs StashAway vs Syfe vs MoneyOwl

Endowus	StashAway	Syfe	MoneyOwl
Underlying asset	Mutual funds	ETFs	ETFs	Mutual funds
Management/advisory fees* (per annum)	0.60 per cent for first $200,000 0.40 per cent flat fee for any amount for CPF or SRS money	0.8 per cent for the first $25,000	0.65 per cent for sum invested of less than $20,000	0.50 per cent – 0.60 per cent p.a. (0 per cent fee for the first $10,000)
Cash management account	Endowus Cash Smart: 0.9 per cent to 1.7per cent p.a.	StashAway Simple: Up to 1.4 per cent p.a.	Syfe Cash+: Projected return of 1.75 per cent p.a.	MoneyOwl WiseSaver: 0.4 per cent p.a. (5-day moving average as at Nov 24, 2020)
Minimum investment amount	$10,000	No minimum amount ($10,000 minimum required for Income portfolio)	No minimum amount	$50 per month (or $100 lump sum)
Cash, CPF or SRS?	Cash, CPF and SRS	Cash and SRS	Cash and SRS	Cash and SRS

*Do note that besides management/advisory fees, other fees such as fund expense ratio apply

Eligibility criteria

To open an Endowus account:

• At least 21 years of age
• Minimum investment amount of $10,000

To invest your CPF money under CPFIS:

• are not an undischarged bankrupt;
• have more than $20,000 in your OA; and/or 
• have more than $40,000 in your SA.

From Oct 1, 2018, new CPFIS investors will also need to take the Self-Awareness Questionnaire (SAQ) before you can start investing under CPFIS

What are the promotions available?

Endowus promotion: Apply with a referral link from your loved ones and friends, plus fund your Endowus account a minimum of $10,000 and hold it with Endowus for a minimum of 90 days, in order to receive $10,000 in assets advised for free for 6 months (equivalent to a $20 access fee discount).

Overall summary

Endowus sets the bar high with a minimum investment amount of $10,000. However, this $10,000 is not difficult to meet, considering it can be can be combined using different modes of funding — cash, CPF and SRS.

Endowus also happens to be the only robo-advisor that you can invest your CPF OA funds with! If that’s not reason enough, their latest Fund Smart offering even allows you to curate your own investment portfolio using their approved funds.