SA is too slow and unreliable for you to time the stock market. Get an online brokerage account if you want to do that.

Ok since my previous post got a number of likes I'll explain a bit more.

On average it takes 2-3 days for a deposit to take effect on SA. When there's a public holiday, like the recent Hari Raya, it took 6 days. I haven't withdrawn before so I don't know how long that takes, but let's say the sell is done at 1-2 days after placing it.

Here's a chart of my portfolio; it's not a lump sum chart but I've adjusted away my regular deposits and normalized it to 10000. Ask yourself, if you were looking at this, at which points would you be making a decision to enter or exit? Would you be profitable if you were to use the price on that decision day? Would you still be profitable if you were to use the price 2-3 days later? That's how much disadvantage you are at when you try to "trade" with SA.

I would even say that if you had a portfolio of 8 etfs. Selling and buying with your live brokerage also may not be a great way to make a few hundred bucks here n there.

Typically the max swing is 0.8% per day, average 0.2 to 0.4% per day....and actively trading that.....no thanks.

Hi guys,

I've just opened an account in Stashaway and put to the highest risk settings (36%), so the portfolio is equity heavy and weighed more towards China and the US. So due to work-related reasons, I have around 50k to put in now and another 50k fairly soon.

Do note that most of my other portfolio is in property so it's relatively stable, that's why I'm going for the highest risk setting in Stashaway.

So my question is: as now the market seems very high, should I wait for it to drop before throwing all the money in? Or just put in immediately?

Another course of action that has occurred to me is to put all the money in but put the risk settings to the lowest, then if the market crashes set it back to the highest. Not sure if this makes sense or not.

Thanks!

just a note,...putting money in lowest risk index does not mean you will not lose money....
see post 13842, page 693 by forummer ChipZ

as mentioned earlier,....if you are wondering if you should wait for it to drop before throwing all the money in? Or just put in immediately?...try research more on DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) method....maybe it suit you
BTW,...just some info,...now most of the mkts are NOT high ...already dropped some % from it high in Mid Feb 2021

You can try dollar cost averaging to reduce your risk. If you put a big amount in 1 time, if it has a big drop, you will take time to recover your investment.

This post has been edited by datolee32: May 24 2021, 10:22 PM

R u confidence that now is ATH? If yes, u can wait until the dip come n u lump sum in so that u can buy low sell high later.
Bcoz u know how to timing market very well.

I'm not well in timing market, so i practice dca all the time.
I will split the amount into several small amounts, eg total 50k split to 5k each or 1.25k each, i will regularly top up my portfolio, either monthly or weekly.
If occurs dip in certain month, i will manually topping again.
This is normally i do.

U can use as reference n make ur decisions. 😁

I won't choose low risk in stashaway bcoz I dun like pay the fee n ask professional ppl manage my money.
Low risk punya investment I diy sendiri with SSPN /FD/ASM/MMF/........

This post has been edited by ironman16: May 24 2021, 11:24 PM

Thx bro. I checked the S&P 500 and it seemed at a high point now but not so sure about other markets. Because for my portfolio a significant share would be in the USA.

Yea will probably do that, thx man!


Yea I agree on the low risk part - might as well buy bonds. I'll split up the amounts also, that's a pretty good point.

So with your 50k for example, you can consider putting in 10k at a time, (bi)weekly (LYN norm), or monthly (public norm), whatever floats your boat. While the rest of the amount isn't in the portfolio yet, you can consider
A) SA simple (the advantage here is then, you can schedule DCA via SA itself)
B) FD (easy, liquid, safe)
C) any other short term investment like MMF

That will give you a peace of mind of not losing too much at the same time.

Thx bro. So you also feel it's better to put it in now rather than to try and time the market and put it in at a low point?

The other amount of money hasn't arrived yet, but I'd probably put it in tranches like you mentioned.

Your 36% RI has about 39% in US....

this 39% is divided into 3 categories....
just how many % of this 39% is following the S&P500 index??


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Yeah... this is coming from someone (me) who has no fundamentals on stock chart analysis, extensive studies on the market, global economy and various companies/industries. If you have any of that then your educated guess may fare better, but everything is 20/20 in hindsight. DCA eliminates the need for you to "own up your mistake" of trying to time the market, it's better in terms of emotional well-being I guess haha.

If you are scared always have spare cash laying around. Of course when market crash you have the guts to buy or not

You cannot use S&P 500 for benchmark

1) SRI 36 actually has only 39% in "US Equities" made of several ETFs which themselves are a basket of multiple stocks, many of which do NOT follow S&P500 pattern

2) A significant chunk is also in "International Equities" ETFs which do not follow S&P500 pattern

better for you to actually study the underlying ETFs of each asset instead of blindly assuming that "US Equities" means S&P500 performance.

I wished I had asked here more when I first started out with lump-sum, as with stroke of ugly luck, went in during ATH...now...just DCA very min every bi-weekly (someone mentioned this is LYN norm, lol, funny reference) until... portfolio recovers now on and off just look see my portfolio, little temptation to do anything drastic unless market dips alot, maybe add more, or else just auto mode. Again, wished I didn't put in that lump-sum, hehe

This post has been edited by pinksapphire: May 25 2021, 02:34 AM

Even on 30% the closest to mirror SnP500 the weightage is only 10% on IVV

Underlying ETFs that is heavy US are still most sectorial play with Healthcare, Consumer Disc, Small Cap and Staples

I believe he is still doesn’t understand how ERAA works hence assumption that is mirroring SnP500 when SA on does invest on sectorial play compared to broader index

On the other hand I have no regret with my lump sums, if any the regret is I should've bought more.

After I consider personal investment records, including many which are actually loss making, I think lump sum is still better. But believe me I was a student of DCA. And even today, I still practice it.

It's been talked to death in this thread but just want to point out for transparency that generally speaking, (1) DCA itself is a form of timing the market because you're deliberately choosing not to invest now on the fear that the market may dip in the future, (2) history favours lump sum investing over DCA approximately 2/3 of the time.

You can check out a couple of links here on the subject:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2...sh=6fb5351e7c50

https://ofdollarsanddata.com/dollar-cost-av...ng-vs-lump-sum/


However, it comes down to an individual's risk tolerance - if DCA is psychologically more comforting and helps you sleep better at night, then absolutely go for DCA.

I am personally a bit impatient and don't like waiting for my money to start working for me, so knowing the historical data and that my investment horizon is long term, I am very comfortable just investing lump sum.

Go with the strategy that you're most comfortable with and that will allow you to stay invested during the downturn without being tempted to pull out your funds.

This post has been edited by blackchides: May 26 2021, 12:17 AM

At the end of day whether DCA VCA or lump sum the key is risk assessment whether does someone can handle risk due to volatility

Good Morning Everyone,

Just a quick question...

Is there a way to transfer funds from one StashAway account to another? Not transferring between portfolios but transferring funds from person's A account into person's B account.

I've searched through but there doesn't seem to be a way of doing it. Thought I'd ask here for confirmation and to see if I missed something.