20y/o - Need advice on Investing

[judahreese]

Hello! 20 y/o and currently a Uni student looking for advice on investing.

My spending is very low and I use a finance tracking app to make sure I don't overspend each month.

Currently able to save about RM750 a month and planning to DCA this amount monthly into S&P500 VOO through Rakuten Trade. So far have deposited RM2k and converted to USD 415.67 (about RM1986) , the brokerage fee is additional 2 USD. Need advice whether I should continue using Rakuten Trade or switch to different platform? Rakuten don't have Irish domiciled ETF that I would like to buy, but I cannot use IBKR as Wise recently closed my account because they didn't accept my source of income proof and I don't have foreign bank account Also don't know if there's any other platform that don't require Wise or foreign bank account to make deposit with lower fees than Rakuten. For emergency funds, my parents help me by putting together some money into an FD for me under my name.

My savings and investment so far is looking like this

Savings: RM14.3k, Versa: RM1.5k, VOO(Rakuten): about RM2k, BTC(Luno): RM500, FD (3.7%): RM105k

Any advice on what to do or change is very much appreciated

 

[johannatan]

@judahreese Nice savings there!

I'd say you're doing good and you're all set for investing. By Irish domiciled ETF did you mean VWRA? =)

Wishing for that myself.

I think instead of DCA monthly, go for every quarter maybe to save you fees. Focus on one as I see they're all really sparsed out.

For your savings, put them into FDs if you don't have immediate needs, I do FD laddering and keep like RM2-3K in savings for absolute emergencies.

 

[judahreese]

@johannatan Thank you for the advice. VWRA is one of them =) Is there any chance you know if there's any other app than IBKR that we can use for Irish domiciled ETFs that doesn't require Wise or a foreign bank account?

 

[johannatan]

@judahreese Hmm, AFAIK the best right now if IBKR.

I wish Rakuten or one of our local brokers would just pick up VWRA and offer it to us though. =(

 

[ineedadvice101]

@judahreese I would say platforms not approved by SC Malaysia very risky and these other platforms normally registered in other countries so anything happen you are on your own.

Stick with Rakuten for now.

For me I put half of my liquid assets into EPF. You can already start self contributing.

 

[neobondjames]

@judahreese If the money you need is for university, then probably try to find the highest rates you can find. 30k max into Versa cash for 4.3%. Then the rest into Rize saving account which is PIDM protected. 5% for 5k (for now), then 4% for the 90k; might be wrong but I think no limit. Alternatively you can buy 1 year US t-bills through ibkr, I think 5.4%, if you can stomach currency risk, currently usd is at near highs, and as you're buying through a broker as a foreigner, the yield as I understand will be lower.

 

[manvswld]

@neobondjames First time i heard about rize. How has it been for you? Do foreginer got protected by pidm? Im an expat workong in malaysia for 5 years nowi

 

[neobondjames]

@manvswld I have never considered as I am a local. I did use my ic to register as with any other bank but if you look hard enough, I am sure there's a way. And in the eligibility section, there's no mention of nationality. Incidentally, as its an online bank, I have heard of reports of poor support but it has not been my experience; I have made some queries and they have been promptly answered but they were nothing particularly urgent nor important.

 

[judahreese]

@neobondjames I see, thanks for the advice. How safe is Rize? it seems quite new. I can't use IBKR because my Wise account got closed can I use Rakuten to buy T-bills, or is there any other app for this?

 

[neobondjames]

@judahreese Probably safer than an index fund, and even versa which isn't capital guaranteed. As usual with any debit cards/savings account, be careful to not be scammed. Unlike other banks, they don't have physical counters.

I don't understand the part about wise. What would you use to fund Rakuten? If you can't use wise then what alternative do you use to fund Rakuten that can't be used for ibkr?

 

[judahreese]

@neobondjames I see I will have a look at Rize then.

For Rakuten, I can directly fund it through FPX and there's no fees. If I were to fund IBKR through bank transfer, my bank would charge higher fees and in that case Rakuten would be cheaper

 

[neobondjames]

@judahreese Try searching for us-t