Versa Invest Malaysia (Honest Review)

In this video, we provide an in-depth review of Versa Invest and our personal thoughts on it.

Use code VERSATMF2 to get a bonus RM20 when you invest with Versa Invest.

VERSA INVEST vs STASHAWAY, WAHED, KDI and OTHERS

Unlike the other platforms, Versa doesn't use a robo advisors or AI. Instead they’re going with active fund managers.

How this works is that they’ve partnered with Affin Hwang Asset Management and came up with a fund that’s dedicated for Versa Invest which means there will be fund managers who actively manage what the funds invest in.

This seems to be contrary to popular financial advice out there harping on how we should just put into passive ETF’s because fund managers can’t outperform the market.

Personally, I do like active funds and have a few investments in my portfolio that are actively managed.

However, I wouldn’t really go all in or have a significant allocation of my portfolio in any single active fund manager as a diversifying strategy.

Since they’re actively managed, we need to put their investment strategy and holdings under the microscope.

VERSA INVEST HOLDINGS & STRATEGY

On top of having this being an active fund, they will also use a combination of passive and active funds to try and beat the market.

They have 3 portfolios to choose from being conservative, moderate and growth.

As usual, I went for the growth option so everything I talk about here will be in relation to that portfolio.

Going back to the active funds they choose to invest in, they claim to 6 of the top 10 global fund managers like Blackrock and Baillie Gifford.

Usually, investments in funds like these can have a relatively high initial deposit amount but Versa pools together investor funds to provide access
1 thing to take note off is that active funds usually do have a higher fee than passive ones, but that is factored into returns.

Like I always say, fees don’t really matter as long as the fund manages to outperform the market.

When I look into my Versa Growth portfolio holdings though, I’m slightly disappointed that 40% of my funds are currently in money market funds.

Also, the only actively managed equity fund I have is from Affin Hwang with a 6% allocation where the rest are in passive ETF’s.

After speaking to the team, they mentioned that they’ll start to add in more active funds as the AUM grows, so that’s definitely something to look out for in the future.

If this doesn’t come to fruition, then they would have lost a massive USP of this product.

In terms of the money market fund allocation, I guess I can’t really complain since markets are horrible right now and it must’ve been an active decision to go risk-off.

I would’ve lost more if more of that 40% was in equities anyway so I’m not complaining right now but it’s still something I’ll keep my eyes on as we go into a risk-on environment (hopefully soon).

In terms of ETF selection at the moment, they all seem to be pretty standard with nothing that’s out of the ordinary.

One thing that isn’t great from a user experience POV is that the funds and allocations seem to only be updated once a month. Since this is an active fund it’s slightly harder to update it in real time, but more frequent updates would be good moving forward.

Another cool thing that they do is that they actively hedge our positions to reduce forex volatility. Since all our investments are in USD, we do face the risk of reduced returns in MYR if our currency appreciates against the USD.

However, in recent years the USD has actually significantly outperformed the MYR which means that if we were to be hedged, we would’ve missed out on potential gains.

If you’re expecting to see the fruits of this, there unfortunately will not be a way for us to visualize to impacts of their hedging strategies.

One callout that I have to make here is that the fund has no cap to how much allocation can be given to Affin Hwang funds. This is a definite conflict on interest since the Versa Invest funds are managed by Affin Hwang.

I don’t like this approach at all, even if Affin Hwang funds end up doing good. This is because if they start to underperform, there will be a big question mark over their fund choices.

Since my portfolio currently only has 6% exposure to Affin Hwang funds I’m ok with it, but again its something I’ll be monitoring moving forward.

VERSA INVEST APP, FEES & OTHERS

Hey! Thanks for reading the description. We can't fit everything in here, so make sure to watch the whole video to find out more :)

⌚ Timecodes:

00:00 - Versa Invest Malaysia (Honest Review)
0:51 - Versa Invest vs other investing apps
2:18 - Versa Invest strategy and holdings
7:36 - Versa Invest app, fees, deposits, withdrawals, etc.
9:06 - Our thoughts on Versa Invest

#TheMillennialFinance

[mumk]

Very humble and honest review, appreciate it. Definitely will invest in versa once I have make more research against it.

[philipvincent]

It's very easy depending on how good you are at understanding the market and price actions but if not I'd suggest you get assisted by a Market advisor who would at least interpret the market direction.

[jayliew]

Hey, I'm curious wether this versa invest has a lock in period ?

[cammillielillieoceon]

What do you think is a decent maximum percentage of allocation to Affin Hwang that you would be comfortable with?

[twin_dd]

Does Versa have limit how much I invest ? And is it save after 50 year ?

[Rainbow-yznt]

How do I find my Varsa referral code l just signed up but can find my referral code

[jasonphung]

Currently I’m also invest in versa invest but not sure what the returns in the long run..

[SaadonAksah]

The return is not that enticing though..

[stk]

Has millenial finance withdrew all investments from stashaway? KDI still ongoing right?

[keoneeweyummy]

I’m watching your video with USD 4.75 or MYR 😂

[Noah-tsdy]

Even with the fluctuation in the economy, I’m so excited I’ve been earning $45, 000 from my $10, 000 investment every 10days.

[SteveJobs-uurk]

<I totally agree with what you are saying. I started in crypto in August 2017, and I bought in. I was up 5x by December only to watch that disappear quickly and then watch the original investment go down by about 85% during the ensuing 4 year bear market. I took the opportunity to accumulate more over the last 4 years which was hard to do and at the same time a smart thing to do. I wish I had bought more. I am in profit for now but I am planning on using my experience and what i have learnt from Nathan Chui I have learned from you and other Youtubrs especially my mentor Nathan Chui who taught me how to make trade and increase my crypto from 11 to 27btc that no one really knows what is going to happen in the

[ninaneo]

Maybe u don't shake your head so much