My investment in the Lion Global Infinity US 500 fund through Endowus during the 2022 market downturn has finally paid off. The portfolio has now returned 19.53% (SGD 4,873.26) with a current total investment value of SGD 29,730.54 as at 1 March 2024.
Please note that this article does not provide any financial advice. It is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please consult your financial adviser concerning your circumstances.
S&P 500 Index
For those who are still in the process of considering an investment in Lion Global Infinity US 500 fund, this fund actually tracks the S&P 500 index. In the investment world, we term this as index passive investing. This is as opposed to active investing where we buy individual stocks for the potential of achieving a higher return than the ‘average’ market return.
S&P 500 has been hitting all-time high. In turn, this translate to a higher performance of my investment in Lion Global Infinity US 500 fund.
Inflation
The US inflation has been steadily coming down since it reached the peak of 9.1% in June 2022. The CPI rate is hovering slightly above 3% for the past 3 readings. There is still a distance to go before we can reach the 2% inflation target of the Federal Reserve. We will need to watch the core PCE reading. The latest reading was at 2.8%.
Interest Rate
In my opinion, I believe that inflation is unlikely to spike up again to the level that we saw in 2022 due to the restrictive monetary policy that we are seeing now. The current Fed funds rate is at 5.5%. I don’t foresee that the Fed will raise the interest rate further. Nevertheless, I’m not optimistic that the Fed will be too eager to cut the interest rate too early and risk the inflation rate spiraling up again.
What I will be watching for?
While my Endowus portfolio applies a passive index investing strategy, I generally still follow what’s going on in the market. There are a couple of things that I’m watching out for. They are inflation rate (as measured by CPI and PCE), Fed funds rate, employment data as well as GDP. Over the years, I learn that these are significant market moving economic data that investors should not ignore. There are many things to pick up in the market. If you are new to investing, keep learning!
– Yanto Wong –
