Investment Tip | 10 Places to Automate Your Investments in Malaysia
I’ve decided. Now, anytime anyone new to investing asks me about which investments to get, I’m going to say ‘get the set-and-forget’ ones. Take this investment tip: Unless you have a natural passion (or desire to learn about) stocks and properties and other research-heavy investments, go for the investments you can automate.
Why? Because the challenge is not about picking an investment. There are a lot of good options. The challenge is adding more money to it on a regular basis, usually monthly, over the long term.
Without automated investments, most people will start an investment… then ‘forget’ to contribute to their investment portfolio on a regular basis. And by not adding, the money will never grow as fast as you want.
I know because I’m talking about myself. Despite being an investor for over 10 years now, transferring money out of my banking account to my investment account still hurts each and every time. Therefore, it’s a good idea to feel the pain once (as you set up the recurring deductions), rather than feeling the pain many times over many years.
In this article, I’ve listed out all the investments that you can automate in Malaysia, that I know of. If there are more, let me know in the comments section.
#1 – Mutual Funds/Unit Trust/ETFs
Those three things are not *exactly* the same things, but close enough. Basically, these are the ‘fruits basket’ version of investment. Depending on which one you get, you might a combination of Malaysian stocks, US stocks (and other regions), precious metals, real estate, and/or other commodities, etc.
Some Mutual Funds/Unit Trust/ETFs you can automate include:
- (1) Fundsupermart – the marketplace of mutual funds and unit trusts. Many funds allow automating monthly contributions. I use this for my PRS (Private Retirement Scheme) funds, so I can get tax relief up to RM3k per year (Note: PRS is like secondary, optional EPF)
- (2) Best Invest – This is the new fintech app by BIMB Investment, a subsidiary of Bank Islam. Basically they’ll suggest you their unit trust fund(s) with their ‘robo-intelligence’ technology
- (3) ASB – You can set up monthly deductions to your ASB account (thanks Jakz for the info!), or get ASB financing, aka the upfront capital slash loan you take to invest in ASB (technically not so much as automating your investment, as paying your loan back. Still, I think it counts)
- (4) EPF/KWSP deductions – Didn’t expect to see this here, do you? Yup, this automation was already done for you employed folks. You might not be happy with the deductions now but I bet your retired ass will be grateful for this money
- All the robo advisor platforms – You can set up recurring deposits to (5) Wahed Invest (use code ‘surbin1’ to get RM10 upon min RM100 deposit), (6) Stashaway and (7) Mytheo. See a comparison of platforms here: Best Robo Advisor in Malaysia: Lowest Fees, Syariah-Compliant, Global Exposure and More article.
Just realised Wahed Invest added a much-wanted feature: set-and-forget auto deductions!
Omg and you can do it weekly too. That’s one of those investment ‘hacks’ I’ve always wanted to try. RM50 per week isn’t much but that’s RM2600 per year, an amount I might just waste away pic.twitter.com/xVrJZUdp0a
— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) January 28, 2020
#2 – Gold
The only gold investment platform that you can automate, that I know of, is through (8) HelloGold‘s SmartSaver plan (note: referral link; get RM5 on RM50 of gold purchase)
Personally I’ve completed my 12-months deduction:
Oh wow, I’ve completed funding 12 out of 12 months in HelloGold SmartSaver
Basically I add RM100 per month, and the system buys RM4.xx in gold per day, regardless of the price
Dollar-cost averaging, set-and-forget system. No need to time the market pic.twitter.com/YrF1msMRJj
— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) May 5, 2020
#3 – P2P lending platforms
And the third option is by using P2P lending platforms. Simplistically, through these platforms, you agree to lend businesses money in return for profits. High returns, but also higher risks.
I know that (9) Funding Societies have auto-invest bots, because that’s the reason I chose that platform. Read more: [SPONSORED] I Asked Hard Questions to the CEO of Funding Societies Malaysia
According to Blackbelt Millionaire, (10) Fundztastic also has a SmartInvest programme which you can enrol. It invests up to 5 investments at a time.
#4 – Cryptocurrencies
Not for everyone, but it *IS* an option as some of the platforms allow automatic and regular deductions.
For more info, read: How to Buy Cryptocurrencies in Malaysia [2021 Guide]
What do you think of automation as an investment tip? Do you have anything else to add to the list of what can be automated?
As you can tell, I love automating my investments. Personally, this is what I do in my own financial life:
- I add on to EPF and PRS via Fundsupermart once a year, to take advantage of the tax reliefs. Usually at the end of the year, because I keep delaying. If I automate these, I would have earned more in profit AND have a less financially painful December
- I am currently paying back my ASB loan – I took RM50k loan for 25 or so years, so I’m paying ~RM289 per month
- I am automating Funding Societies and reinvesting my profits
- I’d like to renew my HelloGold automation (since I completed 12 months)
- I’d also like to set up the weekly deposits to my Wahed Invest account. Still scrounging up the courage
How about you? Which of the above do you personally do for yourself? Do you know of any other options/platforms that allow you to automate your monthly contributions?
They may use different names for it: recurring deductions, monthly deductions, monthly debits, auto-invest, recurring deposits, auto-dedutions, etcetera, so it’s possible I might have missed a few options, who knows! Let me know in the comments section 🙂
To read all my previous articles on investing, please click here: ringgitohringgit.com/investing
One little trick I found was auto deduct for ASB 😄
Good enough for people who didn’t apply for ASBF.
Good point, thanks for pointing that out! Have edited that section
Hello Suraya,
Could you explain a bit more about what you mean by tax reliefs by investing in Fundsupermart? or if you have an article on it, perhaps link it?
Really enjoy your site as you make personal finance easy for the layman.
Hi Jasmine,
Tax relief are things that the govt encourage you to do/get cos its good for you, in return for lower tax payment. For example, medical insurance, books. More info: https://ringgitplus.com/en/blog/income-tax/everything-you-should-claim-as-income-tax-relief-malaysia-2020-ya-2019.html
Doesn’t have to be through Fundsupermart (though that’s what I went with), as long as its PRS fund.
Thanks for the kind words 🙂
How about investing in Bitcoin ? Can you write about cryptocurrencies.
I did. ringgitohringgit.com/tag/bitcoin
You can’t automate bitcoin investment yet, at least not that I know of. Copy-trading doesn’t count (and not recommended – I lost money that way).
Of all the investment’s instrument tools, which offers the best and higher profit by month?
Hi Ronny,
It would be irresponsible of me to give you a conclusive answer, without knowing your financial goals and risk appetite and other variables. Also I’m not a financial advisor
At the very least, I *can* say you can pick any of the things I listed here. At least, to the best of my knowledge, they’re not scams
Have you tried Raiz? If you have, let us know what you think about it!
I haven’t, but I think it’s a cool way to automate investment. But honestly right, I don’t think investing spare change is enough for any substantial savings goal at all. How much can the average person invest per month with that method. RM10? RM20? I’ll try it out because curious, but more for fun rather than anything serious
There’s another one recently launched. I think it’s called Raiz? Heard it allows automation of spare change investment. Interesting concept… Have you came across it?
Hi Muhd,
You’re not the first person who ask me about Raiz. I think it’s a cool way to automate investment. But honestly right, I don’t think investing spare change is enough for any substantial savings goal at all. How much can the average person invest per month with that method. RM10? RM20? I’ll try it out because curious, but more for fun rather than anything serious
You can set recurring deduction for Raiz as well. I did set daily recurring + spare changes & it is good for DCA.
Thanks for the info Amir, that’s good to know!
I’m trying out the Raiz app – and it is quite fun! The feeling when you open the app is the same as you korek-korek the bottom of your handbag/jeans pocket and found 5/10 bucks there.
Not gonna help you get far in the investment journey lah, for sure. But since I hardly ever use cash now, Raiz has become my new “tabung syiling”. Oh and it’s a good platform to try out all the money saving challenges (like those 52-week challenge etc).
Oh I love this! I’m glad you’re having fun with it! And being very realistic with the investment part too.
All the best with your money saving challenge Bee!
Hi Ms.Suraya, it’s been a great reading on the financial management, & investment. Of those mutual fund managers (FSMOne, Public Mutual, ManuLife, etc), which would advise on?
Hi Vicki,
My personal preference is without agents, to save on sales and high management fees. Look for 0% fee for PRS, and roboadvisors