Construct a globally diversified portfolio with SRS-approved funds

A four-step process for constructing and managing a globally diversified portfolio using SRS-approved funds.

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  • Published on 22 Nov 2022

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  • The Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) is a voluntary savings scheme designed to help Singaporeans save more for retirement. SRS account holders can contribute varying amounts to their account at their own discretion. These contributions are eligible for tax relief and can be used to purchase investments.
  • Investors can construct a portfolio through a four-step process for constructing and managing a portfolio – 1) determining inter-asset allocation, 2) determining intra-asset allocation, 3) product selection, and 4) risk management.
  • In this article, we use MAPS portfolios as an example to show investors, step-by-step, how to construct and manage a globally diversified portfolio using SRS-approved funds.

What is the SRS and its benefits?


The Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) is part of Singapore government's multi-pronged strategy to address the financial needs of a greying population. Unlike the mandatory Central Provident Fund (CPF), the SRS is a voluntary savings scheme. It is designed to help Singaporeans save more for retirement as SRS account holders can contribute varying amounts to their accounts at their own discretion (subject to a cap). 

The SRS funds can be used to purchase SRS-approved investments that not only help grow the retirement funds but the returns are also accumulated tax-free. Beyond that, the SRS also offers attractive tax benefits as contributions are eligible for tax relief (check here for details on the SRS tax relief).

An SRS account can only be opened with one of the three local banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB). After the SRS account has been successfully opened, account details can be updated in one’s FSMOne account to allow the transaction of SRS-approved funds (check here for further details).

A four-step process for constructing a portfolio using SRS-approved funds


The wide range of SRS-approved funds available on our platform (over 1,000 funds at current) allows investors to construct a diversified global portfolio. In this article, we introduce a simple four-step process that investors can follow to construct and manage a globally diversified portfolio using SRS-approved funds. 

1. Determine your inter-asset allocation


The first step of this process begins with inter-asset allocation, where a decision is made to determine which asset classes (e.g. equity, fixed income, cash, commodities) the portfolio will invest in. At FSMOne, our portfolio construction process utilises two main asset classes, namely equities and fixed income. It is our opinion that a portfolio consisting predominantly of these two major asset classes will be sufficient to deliver a risk-return profile that can meet an investor’s requirements.

Fixed income securities are typically seen as portfolio anchors that stabilise a portfolio due to their lower risk, although they also provide a lower level of return. On the other hand, equities offer relatively higher returns than fixed income, but they come with much higher volatility and risks. Having a portfolio that invests in both fixed income and equities incorporates the benefit of diversification across these two lowly-correlated asset classes, improving the risk-return profile of the overall portfolio.

In addition to diversification across asset classes, investors should also determine their fixed income and equity allocations based on their individual risk-return profiles. For example, an investor with higher risk tolerance can assign a larger weight to equities and consequently, a lower weight to bonds, and vice versa. To illustrate this further, Chart 1 shows the neutral allocation across our MAPS portfolios, each with a different equity-bond split that is meant to cater to varying risk profiles (from conservative to aggressive). 

Chart 1: MAPS portfolio inter-asset allocation across our five risk profiles



2. Determine your intra-asset allocation


In the second step – intra-asset allocation – investors need to decide which sub-segments to invest in within each of the asset classes. The purpose of this is to enhance portfolio diversification, as well as for the investor to express more granular investment views. There are multiple ways to segment an asset class further. For instance, the equity asset class can be further categorised based on sizes (large-cap vs. small-cap), geographical markets (international vs. domestic), or even styles (value and growth). 

To ensure a well-diversified global portfolio (more on the section below), investors can consider allocating across major geographical regions on an intra-asset level. Using our MAPS portfolio as an example, we primarily adopt geographical allocation to express our macro views and capture investment upside from global growth (Chart 2). The increasing importance of developing nations to global growth means that greater consideration must be given to these regions in portfolio construction, as compared to a traditional market-cap approach that favours the developed markets. Similarly, we seek to achieve adequate diversification in our fixed income allocation in terms of credit and geography.

Chart 2: MAPS portfolio intra-asset allocation for each risk profile

 

3. Product selection


Choosing the appropriate investment product, which is the third step, is key to enhancing the risk-return of a portfolio. For both equities and fixed income, investors can consider assessing the product based on its i) performance, which includes the historical returns as well as the consistency of these returns, ii) expense ratio, which is often better if its lower, and iii) risk, which can be gauged based on metrics, such as the maximum drawdown and downside volatility over various periods.

Another consideration for investors is the choice of active (i.e. unit trusts) or passive investments (i.e. ETFs). The former means investing in funds that are run by portfolio managers who select investments based on their analysis and assessment with the aim of beating the underlying benchmark. As a result, active instruments are often more expensive. On the other hand, passive investments refer to funds that replicate the performance of an index. These funds often buy into the underlying securities of the given index, mirroring the proportion held in the index.

Our research team has been publishing the Recommended Funds Report and the ETF Focus List to help investors make informed decisions on investment product selection. Given the wide and increasing variety of funds and ETFs available for investors, the Recommended Funds Report and the ETF Focus List should help to reduce some of the choice paralysis that investors may have. Our recommended products span across both equity and fixed-income, covering global, regional, single-market, and sector-focused strategies. The lists are updated annually to ensure that our recommendations remain current and relevant for all investors.

Using a 50-50 equity-bond portfolio (with our neutral geographical allocation) as an example (Table 1), investors can construct a globally diversified portfolios with the SRS-approved funds that are featured in our Recommended Funds Report.

Table 1: Example of a 50-50 equity-bond portfolio using SRS-approved funds, with our neutral geographical allocation

Category

Product Name

Weight

SG-Centric Bond

Nikko AM Shenton Asia Bond Fund

15.1%

Global Bond

Allianz Global Opportunistic Bond Fund

10.0%

Asian IG Bond

United Asian Bond Fund

7.5%

EM Bond

Neuberger Berman EMD Hard CCY Bond Fund

5.1%

Global HY Bond

PIMCO Global High Yield Bond Fund

7.6%

Asia HY Bond

Blackrock Asian High Yield Bond Fund

4.9%

US Equity

JPMorgan Funds - US Value

10.6%

Europe Equity

HGIF Europe Value Fund

10.6%

Japan Equity

JPMorgan Funds Japan Equity Fund

3.0%

Asia ex-Japan Equity

FSSA Dividend Advantage Fund

12.6%

LATAM Equity

Schroder Isf Latin American Fund

2.7%

EMEA Equity

Fidelity EmEur MidEast and Africa Fund

2.7%

China Equity

JPMorgan Funds - China

2.5%

Digital Economy

Fidelity Global Technology Fund

5.0%

Source: iFAST compilations. 


4. Risk management - Review and rebalance


After the construction of a global diversified portfolio, it is beneficial to regularly monitor the underlying positions, to ensure that each exposure stays within the range of its intended allocation and rebalance the portfolio if required. This is important as portfolio allocations tend to drift over time as market fluctuates (Chart 3), leading to an unintended overweight in better-performing assets and an underweight in low-performing assets. Not only does this disrupt portfolio diversification, but it also shifts the portfolio’s risk profile as investors end up being exposed to higher risk assets when compared to the target (neutral) allocation. 

To mitigate this, investors can review their portfolios periodically, on a semi-annual or a quarterly basis, while those with time on their hand could do so more regularly (i.e. monthly). It is also worth reviewing your portfolios after major market movements that can potentially shift portfolio allocations. Should allocations drift notably away from the target mix, investors can consider rebalancing the portfolio, which is the process of re-aligning the asset allocation back to the intended original allocation (by buying underperformers and selling outperformers).

Rebalancing the portfolio periodically has not only been shown to improve long-term returns (Chart 4) and also acts as a mechanism to reinforce diversification. By rebalancing, the portfolio is actively reset to the intended allocation, helping to maintain the investor’s diversification choices through market fluctuations. This can produce a more stable return during volatile periods. For our portfolios, we adopt both periodic and range-based rebalancing, which is rebalancing being triggered when the asset allocation is outside a pre-specified range. We regularly utilise both to enhance our risk-return profile and maintain our diversification choices during periods of market volatility.

Chart 3: Without rebalancing, a portfolio can drift significantly from target allocation over time, especially during market gyrations

 

Chart 4: Over the long-term, rebalancing (even if done annually) generates a higher portfolio performance than a buy-and-hold (no rebalancing) strategy

 

4. Risk management - Diversification


After constructing the portfolio, it is important to ensure that it is well-diversified – and for this framework, diversified globally. Diversification is an important strategy to avoid concentrated exposure to any asset while minimising the correlation with the aim of reducing portfolio risk. This can be achieved simply by investing across asset classes, within the various segments of the asset class, and in assets that have little or no correlation to one another. 

A diversified portfolio serves well to minimise losses during sell-offs, particularly in a downward-moving market like the one we see today. A portfolio with assets that are less concentrated and correlated can reduce volatility and the magnitude of drawdowns as assets tend to have varying beta (sensitivity to overall stock market movements) and correlations to one another. Furthermore, in today’s rapidly changing backdrop, rarely does one asset outperform consistently (Table 1) which further underscores the importance of diversification not only in managing portfolio risk but having exposure to potential winners.

Table 1: Best-performing assets over the past five years (Ranked in terms of total returns)

 

An example of the merits of diversification


To demonstrate the diversification benefits at an inter-asset level, we ran the long-term returns of a pure global bonds, global equity, and an equal-weighted equity-bond portfolio as illustrated in chart 3. Over a 30-year period, the global equity portfolio delivered much stronger returns at the expense of greater volatility and fiercer drawdowns. On the contrary, the global bonds portfolio saw lacklustre returns but experienced half the annualised volatility and maximum drawdown over the last three decades. 

However, by holding both asset classes - proxied by a 50-50 equity-bond mix – the portfolio enjoys lower annualised volatility and maximum drawdown without significant trade-offs in returns. While the results may vary with the equity-bond split, the conclusion is clear – by diversifying across asset classes, investors can enhance their portfolio’s risk-return over the long-term. 

Chart 6 Comparison between a global equity, bonds, and 50/50 equity-bond portfolio over the long-term

 

The Research Team is part of iFAST Financial Pte Ltd

All materials and contents found in this site are strictly for general circulation and informational purposes only and should not be considered as an offer, or solicitation, to deal in any of the funds or products found/identified in this site. While iFAST Financial Pte Ltd ("IFPL") has tried to provide accurate and timely information, there may be inadvertent delays, omissions, technical or factual inaccuracies and typographical errors. Any opinion or estimate contained in this report is made on a general basis and neither IFPL nor any of its servants or agents have given any consideration to nor have they or any of them made any investigation of the investment objective, financial situation or particular need of any user or reader, any specific person or group of persons. You should consider carefully if the products you are going to purchase are suitable for your investment objective, investment experience, risk tolerance and other personal circumstances. If you are uncertain about the suitability of the investment product, please seek advice from a financial adviser, before making a decision to purchase the investment product. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. The value of the investment products and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. In respect of any matters arising from, or in connection with the said research analyses or research reports, recipients of the report are to contact IFPL at 10 Collyer Quay, #26-01 Ocean Financial Centre Building, Singapore 049315, or by telephone at +65 6557 2853. Where the report contains research analyses or research reports from a foreign research house and if the recipient of such research analyses or research reports is not an accredited investor, expert investor, institutional investor or an ex-accredited investor, IFPL accepts legal responsibility for the contents of such analyses or reports to such persons only to the extent as required by law. Please note that only certain security(ies) herein are available to all investors, while the rest are only available for certain persons to invest in, such as Accredited Investors (as defined in the Securities and Futures Act) or one who invests at least S$200,000 (or its equivalent currency) per transaction. To qualify as an Accredited Investor, one needs to submit a declaration form and certain relevant supporting documents, according to iFAST’s prevailing policies and procedures.

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