StashAway’s 2024 Returns

Capturing growth over a year of diverging global markets

2024 was a year of divergence across major asset classes. On the one hand, global equities and gold posted significant gains – 18% and 27%, respectively – driven by a combination of solid economic growth, healthy corporate earnings, exuberance for tech, and Fed rate cuts.

On the other hand, global bonds posted negative returns of 3% for the year – weighed down by still-sticky inflation, concerns about government debt issuance (especially the US), and increasing uncertainty about the path of central bank policy.

This is in line with how asset classes tend to perform in an environment of “Inflationary Growth” – where growth is solid and inflation is sticky. Given our ERAA®-managed portfolios’ positioning for such an environment, that has enabled them to post solid absolute returns, and continue to outperform their same-risk benchmarks on average in 2024.

Here’s how the portfolios on our platform performed in 2024

• General Investing portfolios powered by StashAway 
• General Investing portfolios powered by BlackRock
• Responsible Investing portfolios 
• Thematic portfolios 
• Income Investing portfolio powered by J.P. Morgan Asset Management 
• Singapore Investing portfolio 
• Simple and Simple Plus portfolios 

General Investing portfolios powered by StashAway

StashAway’s General Investing (GI) portfolios were up +8.3% on average in USD terms (+12.1% in SGD terms). That compares with an average of +7.2% for their same-risk benchmarks in USD terms. 

Navigating 2024’s asset class divergence

The wide dispersion in major asset classes this year – with gold and equities seeing double-digit gains, and bonds posting declines – is not a common occurrence. Over the past four decades, this combination has only occurred once: in 2005. 

Back then, the economy was doing well, inflation was also rising, and the Fed was hiking rates. With the exception of the Fed now being in a cutting cycle, we’re in a similar macro environment today – one that our Economic Regime Asset Allocation (ERAA®) framework labels as “Inflationary Growth”, and which it signalled that we entered in April of last year.

Against this backdrop, the outperformance of gold and equities benefitted our ERAA®-managed GI portfolios in terms of strong absolute returns. In the more conservative portfolios, we navigated this tough environment for fixed income by allocating to ultra-short-duration bonds and gold.

Looking ahead, we expect macroeconomic factors to keep us in this regime of Inflationary Growth in the year ahead – which should continue to benefit equities and real assets like gold. For more on that, see our 2025 Macro Outlook: “FAT” is the new normal.

Gold shone in 2024 amid market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty

The strong performance of gold in 2024 – with gains of 27% – can be attributed to a number of cyclical and structural reasons. Safe-haven demand during periods of market volatility, elevated geopolitical tensions, and sticky inflation were near-term factors underpinning the asset class. Meanwhile, concerns over increased US government bond issuance and global central banks’ demand for the asset remain longer-term sources of support.

These considerations were the basis for our ERAA® investment framework's overweight allocations to gold – and which served as one of the main drivers of its portfolios’ performance last year. During that period, the portfolios’ allocations to the asset class contributed between 14–45% of total returns from the lowest to highest-risk portfolios. 

Equities rallied in 2024, driven by the US and Big Tech

Global equities had a solid year in 2024, with the asset class gaining 18%. It was a bumpy ride to get to that point, however, with sizable market corrections in April and August.

Most of the year’s strong performance was driven by the US market, with large-cap American equities outperforming all major global markets. Within the US, mega-cap tech continued to dominate – as illustrated in Chart 2 below, the communications services, information technology, and consumer discretionary sectors led the pack. 

Here, ERAA®'s allocations to broad US equities helped capture these gains, especially in the higher-risk portfolios. Pulling in the other direction, its underweight allocation to communications services and its overweight allocations to healthcare and energy were detractors to relative performance.

ERAA®’s fixed income allocations outperformed, despite the asset class’s weaker showing

Despite the start of major central bank easing cycles, global bonds continued to face headwinds in 2024 – as economic resilience and concerns about sticky inflation tempered expectations for rate cuts. In total, global government bonds were down 3% for the year.

Our GI portfolios navigated this challenging environment via ERAA®'s overweight positioning on ultra-short-duration US Treasuries, which offered still-elevated yields at low risk. Its allocations to higher-yielding parts of the fixed income market – including non-investment grade corporate and emerging market debt – also supported performance.

General Investing portfolios powered by BlackRock 

The General Investing portfolios powered by BlackRock posted solid absolute returns and outperformed versus their same-risk benchmarks on average this year. They were up +13% on average in USD terms (+16.9% in SGD terms), versus +12.5% for their benchmarks in USD terms.

Here’s a detailed commentary on the latest reoptimisation by BlackRock.

Responsible Investing portfolios

The Responsible Investing (RI) portfolios – which optimise for both long-term returns and ESG impact – also continued to deliver positive absolute returns across StashAway Risk Indexes (SRIs) and outperform their same-risk benchmarks on average in 2024.

For the year, they were up +10.7% on average in USD terms (+14.5% in SGD terms).  That compares with a +9.5% gain on average for their same-risk benchmarks.

As with our GI portfolios, our RI portfolios benefitted from allocations to ESG-screened large-cap US and global equities, especially in the higher-risk portfolios. Gold’s strong performance was also a major contributor to returns – or between 13–24% across risk levels. In the lower-risk portfolios, ERAA®’s allocations to ultra-short-duration bonds were also a key source of support.

Thematic Portfolios

The Thematic Portfolios showed mixed performance over the last year. While the tech-focused Technology Enablers and Future of Consumer Tech portfolios benefitted from the AI-related stock rally and posted the strongest gains, the Environment and Cleantech and Healthcare Innovation portfolios posted declines for the year.

As a note, we refreshed our Thematic Portfolios toward the end of 2024 to reflect the latest developments in the thematic investing universe.

Technology Enablers

The Technology Enablers portfolios posted returns of +24.6% on average in USD terms (+28.9% in SGD terms) for the year. 

The rally in stocks related to AI was a major driver behind market returns in 2024 – and these portfolios were key beneficiaries. The cloud computing sector was the largest contributor to the portfolios’ performance, accounting for a quarter of returns. The semiconductor sector similarly remained a key contributor. The rally in crypto, particularly in the latter part of the year, also lifted blockchain-related companies. (For more on AI, see CIO Insights: What’s next for investing in AI?) 

Future of Consumer Tech

The Future of Consumer Tech portfolios saw returns of +12.6% on average in USD terms (+16.4% in SGD terms) for the year.

Esports and gaming were the main drivers of returns for these portfolios in 2024, reflecting both robust growth in the global video game industry as well as strong performance from the semiconductor industry. The fintech sub-sector was also a key contributor, buoyed by solid performance from the traditional financial (“TradFi”) industry as well as its exposure to crypto-related companies like Coinbase. Pulling in the other direction, the global autonomous and electric vehicle industry was a slight detractor.

Healthcare Innovation

The Healthcare Innovation portfolios posted returns of -3.3% on average in USD terms (+0.1% in SGD terms) for the year.

The healthcare sector faced muted performance in 2024 due to a number of headwinds – from drug pricing and regulatory pressures, to uncertainty stemming from US President-elect Trump’s potential policies. The negative performance in the Healthcare Innovation portfolios last year was largely driven by the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (which we’ve since reoptimised out of our investment universe with our Thematic refresh), as well as a broad-based downturn in the sector’s performance towards the year-end. 

That aside, its allocations to the healthcare tech subsector and the global healthcare industry supported returns. In lower-risk portfolios, balancing assets like gold and ultra-short-duration Treasuries were also sources of defense.

Environment and Cleantech

The Environment and Cleantech portfolios saw returns of -3.2% on average in USD terms (+0.1% in SGD terms) for the year.

The global clean energy sector was the main detractor for these portfolios due to major solar and wind companies facing sales slumps, as well as uncertainty tied to Trump’s policy agenda – in particular, any scope to repeal or scale back the US Inflation Reduction Act. The global uranium sector, which we added in the Thematic refresh in Dec, also saw a dip towards the year-end. Offsetting those declines were allocations to smart-grid infrastructure companies, as well as the water and environmental services subsectors.

Income Investing portfolio powered by J.P. Morgan Asset Management

The Income Investing portfolio powered by J.P. Morgan Asset Management generated returns of 2.18% from its inception on 15 July 2024 to end-November 2024 (latest available figures). On an annualised basis, that amounts to returns of 5.9% in SGD terms.

The portfolio saw positive contributions across all allocations. High-yield bonds led the way, carried by stronger performance across higher-risk fixed income sectors. The portfolio’s shift away from US aggregate bonds to emerging market debt proved beneficial in the fourth quarter, as emerging markets outperformed traditional core bonds. While longer-term investment-grade credit and government bonds also contributed positively, their returns were more modest against a backdrop of rising yields.

Singapore Investing

The Singapore Investing portfolio (formerly known as the Income portfolio) generated positive returns of +7.5% for 2024 as a whole. 

These returns were driven by solid performance across asset classes. Singaporean equities rallied over the course of the year, led by the country’s 3 big banks – DBS, OCBC, and UOB – which comprise about half of the Straits Times Index. 

In fixed income, Asia high-yield bonds also provided strong returns amid declining default rates and solid economic growth. They also offered solid yields during the year, or upwards of 7%. Pulling in the other direction, REITs detracted from performance as still-elevated interest rates  weighed on the asset class.

Simple & Simple Plus cash management portfolios

Simple posted returns of +3.6% in 2024. That’s in line with the portfolio’s average projected annualised rate during the period of 3.6% (including trailer fee rebates). The underlying funds’ exposure to low-risk, ultra-short duration government and corporate bonds provide a stable source of returns throughout the year.

Simple Plus generated returns of +4.24% for the year – essentially the same as the portfolio’s average yield to maturity (YTM) of 4.25% during the period. The portfolio’s allocations to ultra-short duration bonds provided a stable source of returns during the year, while its exposure to short-duration provided an additional pickup – particularly during periods of safe-haven demand and as interest rates declined.

Disclaimers:

Model portfolio returns are expressed in gross terms before fees, withholding taxes, and reclaims on dividends. They are provided only as a gauge of pure performance before other items.

Actual account returns may deviate from the model portfolios due to differences in the timing of trade execution (e.g. during the day vs close), timing differences and intraday volatility of reoptimisation and rebalancing, fees, dividend taxes and reclaims, etc.

Past performance is not a guarantee for future returns. Before investing, investors should carefully consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses, and if need be, seek independent professional advice.

This communication is not and does not constitute or form part of any offer, recommendation, invitation or solicitation to purchase any financial product or subscribe or enter any transaction.

This communication does not take into account your personal circumstances, e.g. investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs, and shall not constitute financial advice. You should consult your own independent financial, accounting, tax, legal or other competent professional advisors.

This information should not be relied upon as investment advice, research, or a recommendation by BlackRock regarding (i) the iShares Funds, (ii) the use or suitability of the model portfolios or (iii) any security in particular. Only an investor and their financial advisor know enough about their circumstances to make an investment decision. Past Performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and should not be the sole factor of consideration when selecting a product or strategy.

For StashAway General Investing portfolios that are powered by BlackRock, BlackRock provides StashAway with non-binding asset allocation guidance. StashAway manages and provides these portfolios to you, meaning BlackRock does not provide any service or product to you, nor has BlackRock considered the suitability of its asset allocations against your individual needs, objectives, and risk tolerance. As such, the asset allocations that BlackRock provides do not constitute investment advice, or an offer to sell or buy any securities.

BlackRock® is a registered trademark of BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates (“BlackRock”) and is used under license. BlackRock is not affiliated with StashAway and therefore makes no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in any product or service offered by StashAway. BlackRock has no obligation or liability in connection with the operation, marketing, trading or sale of such product or service nor does BlackRock have any obligation or liability to any client or customer of StashAway.

For StashAway Income Investing portfolios that are powered by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management provides StashAway with non-binding asset allocation guidance. You would be investing into an investment product which is established, offered and sold by StashAway and would not be investing in any J.P. Morgan fund. There is no contractual relationship between you and J.P. Morgan Asset Management or any of the J.P. Morgan Chase Parties nor has J.P. Morgan Asset Management considered the suitability of the investment product's asset allocations against your individual needs, objectives, and risk tolerance.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is not affiliated with StashAway and therefore makes no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in any product or service offered by StashAway. This promotional material is not issued by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, any J.P. Morgan funds and fund parties, or other entities in the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. group of companies. J.P. Morgan Asset Management and any J.P. Morgan Chase Parties have not reviewed the contents of the promotion material and accordingly take no responsibility for the accuracy of the contents or any liability for any statement or misstatement.