OMG this looks like fun! I saw his video and thought it would cool to offer my two cents (wall of text coming).

I myself have about 70% of my overall investments in mutual funds in FSM and 15% in StashAway, so I am still more pro mutual funds. It's mainly because I still have faith in active investing over index investing. No other real reason. So with that out of the way, my comments on CF Lieu’s video as below:

Timeline 0:32: CF Lieu showed a negative YouTube review (of another user) saying that the actual amount withdrawn in StashAway is lower than the published amount when he clicked withdraw.
Argument: Is this not the same case with mutual funds? If you withdraw today and the market turns red the next few days when the system cashes out, you’ll of course get a lower than published amount in your bank account. Misleading that he implies mutual funds have no such issues.

Timeline 0:55: CF Lieu says that StashAway hides the fact we will be charged a 30% withholding tax since the ETFs are domiciled in USA.
Argument: Agreed, there is a 30% withholding tax ON THE DIVIDEND. CF Lieu seem to purposely leave this phrase out in his rant and gives this impression that the 30% tax is hit on the entire investment. He never actually says the words ‘tax on dividend’ and instead just says ‘tax on the investment’, repeatedly. Misleading.

Timeline 2:55: CF Lieu compares Franklin Templeton Tech Fund (19% p.a. in 10 yrs) vs XLK (15% p.a. in 10 yrs). He says that Franklin Tech Fund is domiciled in Luxemborg to bypass the withhholding tax on dividend.
Argument: Yea no issues here. Active investing does sometimes beat index investing. As for the tax bypassing tactic, it feels like being penny wise, pound foolish. 30% withholding tax on DIVIDEND is just so miniscule to affect the overall investment.

Timeline 5:30: CF Lieu mentions that investing in StashAway means you are subjected to foreign exchange risk when you buy in or cash out your position. (I think) he goes on to suggest using a MYR-hedged mutual fund that his company offers. Not too clear.
Argument: I could be wrong because I could not clearly interpret his video, so say he does suggest using MYR-hedged funds to alleviate FOREX risk. I reckon FOREX risk is unavoidable when investing in foreign funds. Having a MYR-hedged fund won’t reduce the risk especially when the foreign currency (say USD) is on an uphill climb vs the MYR. With FOREX, you win some, you lose some, whether hedged or not.

Timeline 7:30: CF Lieu made fun of StashAway’s bank-emptying issue on 30th July 2020.
Argument: It’s a cheap shot. I’m looking for constructive criticism of RoboAdvisors (vs mutual funds) but no need to go below the belt with software issues. Even Bursa recently experienced a glitch in July 2020 for the whole afternoon. Such is life.

Timeline 9:05: CF Lieu talks about why mutual funds (again, his bread & butter) sometimes lose money. He says it’s because of sleazy unit trust agents from Company A who recommends only his Company A mutual funds which could suck. So he suggests to hire an independent advisor (CF Lieu) who has access to ALL the mutual funds in Malaysia to make an objective judgement for you. I guess he insinuates that the advisor would also revamp underperforming portfolio from time to time.
Argument: I 100% agree with everything he says here but it feels like he is talking about his mutual fund rather than trying to compare it with RoboAdvisors. So let’s do it properly by comparing fund selection side of Mutual Fund vs RoboAdvisor. Like the financial advisors, the RoboAdvisor company would already select the set of ETFs that they think is the best for your risk profile and the current climate. In fact, the RoboAdvisor would reoptimize the portfolio with a new set of ETFs if they think the investment climate has changed quite a bit. We have seen this happen about once a year in StashAway.
So how would one BEAT the other if the fund has been selected and reoptimization happens for both mutual fund and RoboAdvisor? Whoever that selected the ‘right’ fund of course. But without a crystal ball, who is to say one advisor is better than another at fund picking?

Timeline 11:15: CF Lieu argues that RoboAdvisors has very limited (and subpar) funds. He argues that he can provide a lot more funds and increase the likelihood of selecting a better fund.
Argument: Yea this is a repeat from the previous one. Without a crystal ball, who is to say one advisor is better than another at fund picking? On top of that, more choice doesn’t automatically mean a better choice can be made. There is such a thing as paralysis by analysis.

Timeline 13:20: CF Lieu says that there a lot of people making YouTube videos praising StashAway and asking other people to sign up with their referral code. He blatantly compares StashAway to a pyramid scheme (there’s a chart he shows where the top earns most money and bottom loses money – i.e. pyramid scheme).
Argument: I do sometimes feel a bit suspicious that these YouTubers may be paid to review the app. But even if they were, I don’t see what’s wrong with it. It’s just marketing. And the only benefit they get from having their promo code used is the free management fees for 6 months (for both parties). I cannot for the life of me, see how this can turn into a pyramid scheme with the late joiners losing out. Seems incredibly misleading.

Timeline 15:15: CF Lieu suggests having RoboAdvisors invest in Malaysian ETFs instead of USA ETFs to avoid the 30% withholding tax (on the dividend).
Argument: Oh this is easy. Malaysian ETFs is not as popular worldwide, so it is not as liquid and has higher spreads. And I’m pretty sure we’d still get hit with the 30% withholding tax on dividends as well if say we invested in the MyETF Dow Jones US Titans 50.

Final Thoughts:
I am always up for constructive criticism on investing methods & platforms but this one by CF Lieu is just riddled with misinformation. That’s all, thanks for reading!