How To Create A Syfe Custom Portfolio

Building your investment portfolio with Syfe Custom is easy. You start from an investment universe of around 100 carefully curated exchange traded funds (ETFs). Our investment team has selected these funds based on factors such as low fees, high liquidity, and having little tracking difference from their benchmark. 

In addition, we vet these funds based on assets under management (AUM) and track records. Our ETFs are managed by world-leading asset managers like BlackRock, Invesco, State Street, Vanguard, and ARK. Between them, these familiar names manage trillions of dollars in AUM.

Consider asset class, geographies and sectors

While we’ve done the legwork for you by narrowing your focus to a curated list of 100 best-in-class ETFs, you still have important decisions to make based on your investment goals, time horizon and risk appetite.

Use the filter tool to help you narrow your investment options

If you’re a long-term investor with a fairly high risk tolerance seeking higher potential returns, you could consider equity ETFs that hold stocks of companies from different sectors and countries. 

Your options are truly varied. Here’s a small snapshot of the ETFs available for your Syfe Custom portfolio. Apart from different geographies, you can choose sector exposures such as technology, healthcare, finance and many more.

syfe select custom equity etfs
Return figures as of 30 July 2021
* ARKF was launched in Feb 2019. 1-Year annualised return at 40.3% as of 30 July 2021

The table above is non-exhaustive. Want to invest in cybersecurity, space exploration or eSports? Check out the full list of curated ETFs on our Syfe Custom page. 

If you have a more conservative risk appetite or prefer investing for income, you could consider fixed income ETFs that hold government bonds and / or corporate bonds. You can select investment grade bonds, high yield bonds, or have a mix of both.

syfe select custom bond etf
Return figures as of 30 July 2021

Again, the table above is non-exhaustive. View the complete list of fixed income ETFs available on Syfe Custom.

Consider the risk ratings of the ETFs

You might have noticed that we provided risk ratings for each ETF on our curated list. This is to help you determine whether your custom portfolio is aligned to your risk appetite.

Here’s how it works. We give each ETF in our investment universe a risk score between 1 to 5 based on its underlying asset class, geography and sector exposures. A score of 1 is very low risk; a score of 5 is very high risk.

Risk score and ratings of Syfe Select ETFs

For example, an equity ETF will have a higher risk score relative to a bond ETF. An ETF that invests in global markets will have a lower risk score relative to one that invests in a single emerging market. An ETF exposed only to the technology sector will have a higher risk score relative to one that is exposed to a broad range of sectors. 

If you have a medium risk appetite, you may consider choosing ETFs that are rated 3 or lower. Have a higher risk tolerance? ETFs with a 4 or 5 risk score can be options to consider.

Decide your asset allocation

You’re in the driver’s seat when it comes to building your Syfe Custom portfolio. You could choose to weight all your ETFs equally, or assign higher weights to certain exposures you’re more optimistic about.

As you’re designing your Syfe Custom portfolio, you’ll be able to view all the necessary portfolio analysis: historical returns, exposures across asset classes, sectors and geographies, top holdings in the portfolio, as well as overall portfolio risk. We calculate the overall portfolio risk by using the weighted average risk scores of the individual ETFs you’ve selected.  

Not fully satisfied? Add or remove holdings, or adjust your portfolio asset allocation. Whenever you make an edit, you’ll see immediately how your overall portfolio diversification, past returns, and risk level changes with your adjustment.

A sample Syfe Custom portfolio

Let’s put everything together by considering a sample portfolio for “Jack”. Jack is in his mid-thirties and is planning to invest for an early retirement. He’s comfortable taking investment risks and wants to enhance his core portfolio with targeted exposures to trends he’s bullish about. 

Here’s the portfolio Jack might build.

Note: This example is purely for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as financial advice.

Jack would be able to see the details of his custom portfolio, such as top company holdings, historical returns and overall portfolio risk level.

Note: This example is purely for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as financial advice.
Note: This example is purely for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as financial advice.

With an investment universe of 100 ETFs, there are millions of ways that you can build your own personalised portfolio. You may add up to eight ETFs in one Syfe Custom portfolio, although there is no limit to the number of portfolios you can create.

Use it to complement your core holdings

As Jack’s sample portfolio shows, Syfe Custom works best as a complement for your existing core investments. It is an opportunity to strategically add certain geographies, sectors, themes or asset classes to your current investments for better diversification and potential returns.

In fact, this is part of core-satellite investing, a strategy we like to recommend to our customers. Implementing this can be as simple as owning two portfolios. For your core component, start with a diversified portfolio like Syfe Core Balanced. For your satellite, use Syfe Custom to express your views and complement your core holdings. 

Ready to get started? Build your Custom portfolio now with no minimum investment and no brokerage fees. The fees you pay for Custom portfolios are the same as all other Syfe investment portfolios too. Our low fees start from 0.35% per year and you may withdraw your funds at any time with no extra charges.

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