Over the past three years, SqSave's Balanced portfolio has earned 1.87 units of return for every unit of risk it took — the best ratio of any tier we run. Here's why that number matters more than any single month's return.
Return is only half the answer
When a portfolio statement lands, most of us look at one line: the return. It's natural — it's the simplest number to compare. But a return on its own doesn't say how it was earned. Two portfolios can post the same 10% gain: one by climbing steadily, the other by swinging wildly up and down along the way. Only one of those is a ride you can stay in when markets get uncomfortable.
Picture two drivers covering the same 400km route in the same time. One holds a steady 100km/h the whole way. The other alternates between 160km/h and sudden hard braking. They arrive together — but you'd only want to be a passenger in one of those cars. Investing works the same way: it's not just where you end up, it's how bumpy the ride was to get there.
"How bumpy" is what the Sharpe Ratio measures: return earned per unit of volatility taken on. A higher number means more reward for the same amount of turbulence. It's paired here with Max Drawdown — the deepest fall from any peak to the lowest point that followed — which answers the question clients actually feel in their stomach: "how bad could it have gotten if I'd looked at my worst possible moment?"
The 3-year scorecard
Calculated from SqSave's actual daily NAV history — not a snapshot, the full trading record — here's how each risk tier has performed on both counts over the past three years.
| Reference Portfolio Risk tier1 | Ann. return | Ann. volatility | Max drawdown | Sharpe Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 12.9% | 8.4% | -7.9% | 1.53 |
| Balanced | 16.7% | 9.0% | -8.8% | 1.87 |
| Growth | 14.5% | 11.0% | -12.7% | 1.32 |
| Aggressive | 16.6% | 10.7% | -12.7% | 1.55 |
| Very Aggressive | 16.7% | 11.6% | -13.7% | 1.44 |
| 3-year annualised figures to 31 Aug 2026, calculated from daily NAV. Sharpe Ratio assumes a 0% risk-free rate. | ||||
Balanced stands out — not because it took the least risk, but because its extra return per unit of volatility is the highest of any tier. More risk doesn't automatically buy more reward; this is the tier where SqSave's allocation earned it most efficiently.
The number clients skip: Max Drawdown
Max Drawdown is the worst peak-to-trough fall a portfolio actually experienced — the number that answers "what if I'd needed to withdraw at the worst possible moment?" It scales with risk tier the way you'd expect, but the size of the number is the real story.
The one real test in this window came between late January and late March 2026, when Balanced fell 8.8% from its prior peak. It had fully recovered to a new high within about five weeks of the trough — a shorter, shallower dip than the market moves that typically accompany a correction of that size.
Three years, every risk tier, ahead of benchmark
Return-for-return, the same three years also show SqSave's active allocation ahead of a static benchmark of the same equity/bond mix, in every tier.
Across all five risk tiers over above past 3-year periods, SqSave's active allocation returns have outpaced their static benchmarks’ returns of the same equity/bond mix — in the Balanced tier, by more than double.
The real test: what happened when markets dipped
Anyone can look good when everything's rising. July 2026 was one month that markets pulled back this year — a clean window into downside behaviour versus a static benchmark.
Every SqSave tier fell less than its benchmark equivalent in July — smaller losses in the month that tested the portfolio, not just bigger gains in the months that flattered it.
How SqSave stacks up against other robo-advisors
Measured the same way — trailing 3-year cumulative return, matched by comparable risk tier — SqSave leads most peer comparisons, and stays competitive where it doesn't.
| Reference Portfolio Risk tier1 | SqSave | Peer A | Peer B | Peer C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 35.9% | 18.8% | 19.9% | 21.1% |
| Balanced | 50.2% | 23.4% | 27.0% | 31.1% |
| Growth | 41.8% | 28.6% | 37.8% | 41.7% |
| Aggressive | 49.6% | 38.3% | — | 52.2% |
| Very Aggressive / All-Equity | 50.0% | 46.6% | 49.3% | 63.1% |
| All figures reflect trailing 3 years cumulative returns to 31 Aug 2026. Peer figures are return-only — no peer NAV history was available to calculate a comparable Sharpe Ratio or Max Drawdown. | ||||
At the very top of the risk scale, one peer's all-equity portfolio outran SqSave on raw return. That's expected — SqSave's Very Aggressive tier still carries a 10% fixed-income buffer, designed to soften exactly the kind of month July was. Chasing the last few points of return at the very aggressive end usually means giving up some of that cushion.
The takeaway
A single month's return tells you almost nothing. Three years of return, volatility, and drawdown — and how quickly a portfolio recovered from its worst month — tell you almost everything. That's the case for judging SqSave, or any long-term portfolio, on more than the headline number.
See your risk profile on SqSaveImportant Disclaimer & Sources
Past performance is not indicative of future results. SqSave figures are calculated from daily portfolio NAV, 31 Aug 2023 to 31 Aug 2026, net of standard fees unless otherwise stated and are subject to change upon final reconciliation. Sharpe Ratio assumes a 0% annual risk-free rate. Benchmark and peer figures are trailing 3-year returns for a comparably-weighted passive benchmark and third-party robo-advisory portfolios respectively, sourced from provider-published performance data; peer volatility and drawdown figures were not available for comparison. This material is for general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Pivot Fintech Pte. Ltd. (SqSave.com) holds Capital Markets Services Licence 100806, regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Footnote
1 SqSave uses AI to design and manage diversified investment portfolios for each investor. Because SqSave is not an investment fund, there is no single return measure. Instead, every SqSave investor has his/her own investment performance as each investor is managed separately by our SqSave AI. As investors can withdraw and top-up any time, investment returns will be affected by individual investor decisions. Hence, SqSave uses reference portfolios which are actual portfolios managed on an ongoing basis, without any interference with withdrawals or top-ups, to measure investment performance.
