Besides heading the Singapore business sector of wealth-management platform StashAway, Amanda also leads its financial-education arm, StashAway Academy, and acts as a wealth advisor to the company’s high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. At the moment, she’s focused on launching a number of new investment products and features. “Our goal is to be the most client-centric wealth manager, so a lot of what we do is on the back of client feedback and suggestions,” she tells us.
Why this particular piece of advice for girls on International Day of the Girl Child?
I’m hoping to inspire girls around the world to become financially independent and have them realise that the quality of their lives isn’t dependent on who their partner is or how much they make. I believe that being financially independent will give them the confidence to know that they can achieve anything they want to in life.
Would you say apps like StashAway have made investment easier for women and have levelled the playing field when it comes to growing wealth?
With a focus on financial education and no minimum-deposit requirements, we’ve allowed women who have not had any previous investing experience to start their investing journey with us very easily. In 2017, less than 30 per cent of new clients to StashAway were women. Today, that number is 50 per cent.
Growing up, did any adult play an important role in your money education?
My dad. He worked really hard to give us the opportunities other children had while teaching us the value of money and how we needed to be financially independent so that we, in turn, can provide those same opportunities for our own kids.