To The Moon

$STI ETF(ES3.SI)$

For those who are like me, lazy to stock pick, or don't know what to pick, can just invest and put your money in a benchmark country index ETF.

Comparing stock pick, ETF is boring. But for me, I don't need the thrill and excitement. I can get those through a EPL game. For investment I want it to be up and steady, pun pee pee. No sleepless night. Just close my eye, setup a DCA, every month just pump in regardless of market trending.

At most i just need to chose between the market segment.

The STI ETF is like an old man ETF, slow but steady. Good time bad time also around 3% dividend. Which is what I need to build to have consistent base income for retirement.

My aim is to live through with dividend + cpf life payout during my retirement.

I think $1M investment with 4% dividend will be nice.

Till date during such volatile time, high inflation, War and interest rate hike..etc, surprisingly Singapore index is doing relatively well. The index is heavily weighted by Banks and Reit. Banks can benefit from interest rate increase, but Reit also do well which was unexpected. Hope STI become the safe heaven during such time.

There are two STI ETFs available.

Both the SPDR STI ETF and the Nikko AM STI ETFs aim to track the Straits Times Index (STI) as closely as possible.

Main difference is that the two STI ETFs are managed by different fund managers. The SPDR STI ETF is managed by State Street Global Advisors Singapore Limited, one of the largest fund management firms in the world. 

Nikko AM STI ETF is managed by Nikko Asset Management Asia Limited, one of the largest asset managers in Asia. 

Both are Power one.

The SPDR STI ETF was listed on the SGX on 17 April 2002, while Nikko AM STI ETF was listed on the SGX on 24 February 2009.

A larger fund is typically looked upon as more trusted, stable and better able to enjoy economies of scale.

Since the SPDR STI ETF has been around longer, it has also been able to capture a larger slice of investments into the STI ETF. The SPDR STI ETF has $1.7 billion under management, while the Nikko AM STI ETF has $613 million under management

The performance of an ETF is usually based on how closely its returns are able to track the index it is trying to replicate. This also means that it will almost always underperform the market, as it charges a management fee and incurs trading costs while trying to match the benchmark returns

Both the SPDR STI ETF and the Nikko AM STI ETF have an expense ratio of 0.3% per annum.

The component stocks within the Straits Times Index (STI) usually pay out dividends. In fact, Singapore stocks are known to pay some of the best dividends across Asia. These dividends will be paid to the respective ETF, which will subsequently pay out these dividends to its investors.

Both SPDR STI ETF and Nikko AM STI ETF have a distribution policy of paying out dividends semi-annually.

According to the SGX ETF Screener, SPDR STI ETF has a dividend yield of 2.52%, while the Nikko AM STI ETF has a dividend yield of around 3%.

Personally I don't see a different between the two. Today i still continue with my DCA on Nikko through DBS bank. I also have SPRD STI which was purchase during the pandemic plunge last year. So, basically, DCA with Nikko, Lump sum buy with SPRD. Not particular reason or strategy here. More of convenient .

As mention at the start of passage . I am lazy investor, working hard toward retirement.

Hope you will achieve your investment objective@TigerStars