Previously, I wrote an article on the robo-advisors in Malaysia. In this article, we will look at the comparison of cash management platforms in Malaysia.
Robo-advisors are similar to cash management platforms where it will use your fund to invest and charge a fee. However, the difference is that cash management platforms are simpler and have lesser options in the portfolio. Besides that, they also hold different license that are approved by Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) in this list here.
We will take a deeper look at each of the cash management platforms in Malaysia.
BEST Invest
BEST Invest is a cash management platform by BIMB Investment. They are a full-fledged Shariah-Compliant stock broker which we have mentioned here. With just RM10, you can invest in the 5 funds that are offered in BEST Invest. The 5 funds that are available are as per the table below:
With BEST Invest, you can either Do-It-Yourself or Do It For Me. If you opt for Do It For Me, you can invest either through Smart Investment Plan (SIP) or Lump-sum. With SIP, you can set up automatic transfer via FPX which you can choose on either 5th or 28th of every month.
Based on the photo below, they charge a minimum of 0.5% for Money Market Fund and up to 1.8% for Global Equity Funds.
The frequency and return of the investment depends on each individual fund. In addition, the returns will be automatically reinvested into the fund.
Raiz
Raiz is a partnership with Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) to offer financial service in Malaysia. With Raiz, they will invest your funds into Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB)’s unit trust funds. One of their unique features is their round-up function. With this feature, firstly you will need to link a debit card to Raiz. Whenever you spend with the debit card, it will round up to the next RM based on your selected threshold. However, currently it is only supporting Maybank’s debit card.
Besides that, they have also Raiz Kids where you can invest for your dependents if they are under 18. With this function, when they reach the age of 18, they can open their own Raiz account and you can transfer the funds in Raiz Kids to them.
In addition, they charge a fee of RM1.50 per month for accounts under RM6k. On the other hand, if your account is more than RM6k, they charge 0.025% per month. You can read about the fee here.
Last but not least, you will receive the dividends and distributions (if any) at the end of each financial year. You may refer here for each fund’s financial year end distribution history.
Versa
Versa is a digital cash management platform that earns you daily interest. And with just RM1, you can invest into Affin Hwang Enhanced Deposit Fund. You can read about the fund details here. However, do take note that the payout occurs every 2 weeks. The payout will then be automatically reinvested into the fund.
Besides that, there is a fun, interactive function in Versa’s website where you can see the difference between putting your funds in your savings account compared to placing it with Versa. The higher amount and longer period you put with Versa, the difference becomes more significant. You can play around with it here.
Based on the table below, there are certain fees that are payable to the fund manager. For more info, you may read it here.
GO+
GO+ is a new Touch n’ Go feature that earns you daily interest that is credited daily with just a minimum of RM10. The underlying fund of GO+ is Principal e-Cash which is a money market fund managed by Principal Asset Management. To invest into GO+, you would have to activate it via your TNG eWallet app. If you have not cash in before, you can do your first cash in with my link here. After that, you can enter rwb8hv as the referral code. However, do take note that I will get a 1% pa bonus return rate if it is done before 10 Aug 2021.
There is no fee involved by using GO+. However, do take note that the maximum amount that can be stored in GO+ is RM9500. Therefore, do buffer some amount for the daily interest that will be credited every day.
Comparison and thoughts on the cash management platforms
Based on the 4 cash management platforms in Malaysia, the investments are limited to unit trusts and money market funds that they offer or partnered with.
- BEST Invest: only BIMB funds
- Raiz: only ASNB unit trust funds
- Versa: only money market fund
- GO+: only money market fund
Therefore, if you are serious into investing, you might not consider these platforms due to their limitations. However, if you are already investing in other investment vehicles like stocks and properties etc, these platforms can be used to diversify your investments which are lower risk.
If you are looking for Shariah compliant funds, BEST Invest is the only platform among the 4 that offers them. However, if you want to look for higher risk with higher returns, you may consider Wahed which I wrote about it here which is also Shariah compliant.
For Raiz, I would not recommend to invest in it because of various reasons. Firstly, it only opens up to Maybank debit card for now. Next, I am an advocate of paying with credit card or e-Wallet because they effectively increase the value of your money which I wrote about it here. However, do take note to not delay the credit card payments or you will fall into the debt hole due to their high interest rate. Lastly, it would be better to purchase the ASNB fixed price funds than the variable price funds and pay a fee to Raiz. Learn to buy the ASNB fixed price funds here.
For Versa and GO+, there are 2 difference only which are the underlying money market funds and the interest payout. However, between the 2 platforms, I would choose GO+ because it pays out the interest daily. And most importantly, I am a frequent TNG eWallet app user so it would be more convenient to cash into GO+.
Conclusion
Based on the comparison above, I would recommend the cash management platforms based on the order below:
- GO+
- Versa
- BEST Invest
- Raiz
For a person that don’t really save up, Raiz is good because you will unknowingly saved up from your daily spending thanks to their round-up feature. Next, BEST Invest is good if you are looking at Shariah compliant funds. Lastly, I would place my funds in GO+ as I do not need to purposely install a new app for money market fund. Besides that, I can cash out whenever I need the fund but yet I would have earned from the daily interest which is higher than placing in the bank account. However, do take note that the funds in any of the cash management platforms above are not protected by PIDM.
Which cash management platform that you are using and would recommend to others? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
