Over the years, I was approached by multiple investment platforms for collaboration via my affiliate link or paid post. I have successfully collaborated with a few but there are also many that I have chosen not to collaborate with. Usually, the investing platforms are those platforms that I personally use & it is approved by Securities Commissions of Malaysia. There are some investment platforms that approached me before for collaboration to which I have rejected as they are not approved by the Securities Commission of Malaysia. These companies are all well-known platforms that operate legally in other countries such as Singapore or the USA.
The only reason why I did not collaborate with them is due to their legality in Malaysia but I’ve seen other bloggers, YouTubers & other personal finance & investment influencers that have collaborated with them. Don’t get me wrong, I am not putting anyone on the spot but there is a problem that many Malaysians are facing when it comes to investing in Malaysia. Mutual Fund companies are overcharging their customers up to 5% sales or load fee & up to 5% management fee. Our online brokerage platforms are also not one of the best where we are also charging high trading fees when we invest in foreign stocks & honestly the platforms are not as advanced as other foreign online brokerages. One of the examples includes how much we are supposed to pay if we are investing in USA stocks using our local brokerage platforms vs international brokerage platforms such as eToro. If we are using local brokerage platforms, we have to pay a minimum brokerage fee which is as low as USD20 while platforms like eToro offer 0% commission. Bear in mind, eToro is not approved by the Securities Commission of Malaysia but they are a legal entity in the USA.
Prior to Rakuten Trade coming to Malaysia, our brokerage fees is also not the cheapest compared to other countries brokerage fees. With the RM7 Brokerage Fees, imagine you are purchasing 1 share is worth RM0.40, which means that you are paying RM40 per lot + RM7 + other charges such as Stamp Duty, Clearing Fee & Tax, you may pay a total of RM9 of miscellaneous charges. RM9 to purchase 1 Lot of share is totally not worth it if you are buying 1 Lot. In my meeting with the brokerage that is not approved by the Securities Commission of Malaysia, their biggest challenge is to get a brokerage license in Malaysia. I am sure many of us know why it is difficult to get a brokerage license. LOL.
Looking at Raiz which is somewhat related to Acorns, where Raiz invest your money vs where Acorns invest, we can conclude that Acorns users are enjoying more benefits with a more diversified investment portfolio with lower cost vs what Malaysians are getting with a limited risk portfolio & they invest in PNB Funds. Overall, we can rarely find investment platforms that are benefitting the users in Malaysia more than the companies.
Those scenarios have resulted in Malaysians sourcing to invest in investment platforms such as eToro, Tiger Brokers, Philip Capital & many others because their fees are cheaper & there are more benefits when investing with them. The next question is, is it safe to invest with them since they are not approved by the Securities Commission of Malaysia? Well, you have to bear the risk if something bad happens but since they are regulated in their country of origin or neighbouring country, they should be “safe”. I’ve heard of many good things on those platforms by other fellow personal finance & investment influencers but I personally never tried it myself. SC of Malaysia has a certain type of protection, guide & regulation to avoid any potential risk or fraud. In other words, investment platforms that are approved by them are safe to invest in. Whether or not you choose to invest in those platforms, as long as you do enough studies to ensure your investment is safe, you are good to go.
OSS!
You can also check out my latest YouTube video on How To Invest Like Warren Buffett:
