Who has the lowest fees? StashAway vs Syfe vs Endowus

I first did a comparison 3.5 years back - Who has the lowest fees? StashAway vs Smartly vs AutoWealth when robo-advisors were new to the Singapore market. Time flies and one of them is already "dead". lol.

Anyway, I felt it was about time to update the spreadsheet with some of the new robo/competitors. The new additions are Syfe and Endowus.

1. StashAway has tiered fees - https://www.stashaway.sg/pricing.

2. Syfe has a very straightforward fee structure but unclear if Platinum clients enjoy a lower management fee as compared to Gold clients - https://www.syfe.com/pricing.

3. Endowus has a tiered, not stacked fees structure for the cash investment and a flat fee pricing for CPF and SRS - https://endowus.com/pricing.

At one glance, which one do you think has the lowest fees?

The correct answer is still "It depends". lol. However, it is pretty obvious that if your investment is large (more than $1,500,000), StashAway is clearly the winner in terms of the annual fee charged for the respective portfolio size.

These are the raw data/numbers used to plot the graph above. For any investment smaller than ~$900k, Syfe would be the cheapest option. Anything more, StashAway becomes the cheapest option. Interestingly, Endowus Cash would be the cheapest for a very brief period when it crosses the next tier which is at $200,001 and $1,000,001.

Based on the above, we can also see why StashAway was able to reach 1 billion AUM so quickly. They are simply the cheapest by a huge margin when the portfolio/investment amount is large. All they need is (multiple) 1 person with 1 million to invest instead of 100 people with $10,000 each competing with Syfe/other robos because there are cheaper alternatives.

These are the raw data/numbers for CPF/SRS investment. Similarly, any investment smaller than ~$900k, Endowus CPF/SRS would be the cheapest option (flat fee of 0.4% which is similar to Syfe's Gold tier) while StashAway becomes the cheapest option beyond $900k.

For CPF investment, Endowus is your only option. For SRS, it really depends. Firstly, how long is your investment horizon and do you foresee your investment growing beyond $900k? Given that the maximum SRS contribution/investment is $15.3k per year (capped), your only variable is how long you can invest vs the return to achieve your goal. Let's say you are starting your SRS at mid/late 40s, you would need a much higher return (e.g. 14%) as compared to someone who started their SRS investment at late 20s (e.g. 3%) to grow the portfolio beyond $900k. Simulate with a finance calculator and decide for yourself! Secondly, are you already investing your cash through StashAway? If you are, you might want to just continue using StashAway to reap the economies of scale (easier to grow beyond $900k) since StashAway does not differentiate between cash/SRS when computing the fees.

Anyway, you can refer to this google spreadsheet for the data and graph.

Do stay tuned to our next article on the Effects of Fees on Returns for StashAway, Syfe, and Endowus which will be pretty similar to what we blogged about previously too - Effects of Fees on Returns - StashAway vs Smartly vs AutoWealth.

Referral

If you are interested in StashAway, do use our referral link. You get $10,000 free management fees for 6 months and we will get $16!

If you are interested in Endowus, do use our referral link for our readers! You will get S$10,000 managed free for 6 months ($20 equivalent) and we will get $20 too! $28 if you fulfill the above conditions.

If you are interested in Syfe, do use our new referral code (KPOCZM). You will have your first $30,000 managed free for 6 months and we will be receiving a $10 cash incentive for our portfolio if you invest $500 or more on your first deposit.

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