I was convinced by the fact that investing should start from young so that the effects of compounding can be maximised. And while trying to find a review online for "robo-advisors", I wasn't able to find any non-commercialised comparison post that presents an unbiased point of view.
Thus, I enrolled myself into Stashaway and AutoWealth. I met the AutoWealth advisor at a place of my convenience and started the account opening process manually by filling up forms and then signing them face-to-face with the advisor. The advisor was clear of what's he's doing and could handle with ease questions I threw at him with confidence. Shortly after the meeting, I went home and found Stashaway and rapidly signed up an account with Stashaway.
Stashaway processing time was about a day (almost immediate since all the forms and processes are online based) to open the account, while AutoWealth said they required a week to two after the initial meeting and signing of forms, but the account was open within 4 work days.
Thereafter I funded both accounts on the same day. AutoWealth managed to purchase the portfolio mix the next working day, during the same period of time, Stashaway merely converted the Singapore Dollars(SGD) to United States Dollars(USD) with nothing purchased. As both robo-advisors gets and store the assests in a custodian account with SAXO Capital Market I was expecting both to be utilizing the same exchange rate.
AutoWealth SGD-USD Forex Conversion Rate : 1.3543
StashAway SGD-USD Forex Conversion Rate : 1.3331
In this case, Stashaway offered a more favorable exchange rate than AutoWealth, but the differences were minor since the amount wasn't big in the first place. This comparison though occurred on the same day but at different timing, we all understand that Forex has been, and always will be fluctuating. There was no control to what the conversion rate would be, it would be good in future if the investor can determine if he/she is agreeable to the foreign exchange rate.
On a side note, the reason why I took the great leap of faith to investing with robo-advisors is largely that the investments will all be done in USD and I am confident that in the long run, the USD will strengthen significantly over SGD.
Both profiling was to grow the investment aggressively with the highest level of risk taking. I will update weekly or as and when there are significant movements within the portfolio. My next update will be on 21st September on the progress of my portfolio in Autowealth and StashAway. Stay Tuned!
