It is a very unfortunate event that investors lost their hard earned money and retirement fund with Six Capital.

Angry investors file police reports against fintech firm SixCapital

What can we as the retail investors learn from this incident?

Let’s use the SABO model to analyse this incident. By the way, this SABO is NOT the Singlish of “Sabotage”.

SABO stands for S (Suitability), A (Affordability), B(Benefit) and O(Objective).

Objective

Before we invest, we need to have a very clear objective in mind on why we need to invest, how long is our investment horizon, what is our risk profile, how much time we can allocate to monitor our investment portfolio, etc.. Setting the right objective is very important because it serves as our lighthouse to identify, select and understand the right asset classes to meet our objective.

Suitability

Once we are clear with the objective, the next step is to select the asset classes which are suitable to our risk appetite, our life style, available time to do our homework and investment horizon.

Examples of the wrong match of one life style, personality, risk appetite with wrong asset classes and investment strategy:

• a busy executive scalps forex every night after work;
• a retiree invests his / her majority of retirement fund in land banking;
• a person who dislikes numbers trades Option
• a housewife who does not have computer knowledge trades crytocurrency

It is not sustainable with all the above examples due to the mismatch.

If you are struggling with your current investment, it is strongly suggested you do a review immediately on your current investment portfolio or your trading strategy, before you commit more time and more money doing something which is not suitable to you.

The following questions the investors have to ask to see whether the investment is suitable to them :

• How the investment strategy can give 18% per year?
• What are the risks in this investment?
• What is the worst case scenario?
• How volatile is this investment?
• How quickly if the investors want to redeem their investment? Is there a lock in period? Are there any early redemption and other charges?

Affordability

• Can we afford to lose all our investment if we make mistake investing in the wrong asset classes or instrument?
• Can we afford to ride through the market volatility if there is a big correction or black swan event?
• Can we afford to take more risk for higher return?
• Can we afford to be ignorant, DIY and listen to tips when come to investing?
• Can we afford to get professional advice to help building the safe and diversified portfolio?

Benefits

• Is the return of the  investment meet my expectation?
• Is my expectation realistic?
• Is it worth to take more risk for additional return?
• Is my investment liquid and sell anytime when I need money?
• Can the investment give me Peace of Mind and give me a “Sleep Well” factor?

I am rather concern with this statement “A few retirees indicated that they had poured in significant retirement sums. One lady was the age of my mother. She said that she was going to the temple to pray.”

My recommendation to retiree on their retirement fund:

• First priority is Capital Preservation, Not Chasing for Return because you can’t afford to lose your retirement fund unless you can replenish your capital easily if you lose all of them.
• Look for investments which are less volatile and pay consistent dividend like Bond or REITs.
• Nothing is guaranteed in this investment world. Please don’t believe in those marketing materials indicate “Guaranteed Return”, etc. Countries, Banks, Insurance companies can all go bankrupt.. so, where does the guarantee come from?
• Do have a diversified investment portfolio and Manage the Risk… Don’t put all your eggs into one basket. You cannot afford to make any costly mistake at retirement age. One big mistake may wipe out all your retirement fund.

If you need an Independent Third Party to have an unbiased view on  your current investment portfolio (Fee based), you can contact me through email kennyloh@fapl.sg.

Scope of the Investment Portfolio Review

• Identify your Investment Objective
• Risk Profile Assessment
• Strength and Weakness of current portfolio
• Recommendation