A rising tide lifts all boats. The real measure of an investment manager is not how high they ride in the boom — it is how little water they take on when the tide turns.
In a bull market, almost every fund manager looks good. Equity indices rise. Bond yields cooperate. Even portfolios constructed with little discipline deliver returns that, on paper, appear competitive. This is the comfortable illusion of a rising market.
The genuine test of an investment process arrives somewhere else: in the corrections, the drawdowns, and the bear markets that punctuate every long-term investing journey. It is in these moments that a manager either reveals discipline — or reveals that the performance was simply borrowed from the market direction.
This is why, at SqSave, we have always preferred to evaluate performance over a rolling three-year horizon — and on a risk-for-risk basis against comparable peers.
Three Years Should Revert to Trend
Markets are cyclical. They rise, they fall, they recover, and over time — net of these cycles — they trend upward. The historical record is consistent on this point: the great majority of bear markets and corrections revert to trend within three years or less.
The arithmetic of compounding is unforgiving: if you fall less, you have less to climb back. A portfolio that drops 10% and recovers 11% ends marginally up. A portfolio that drops 30% needs 43% just to break even.
SqSave is Designed to Manage the Downside
The SqSave investment algorithm is built around a single, rigorously enforced principle: the cost of avoiding the worst of a drawdown is less than the cost of suffering it.
When market signals indicate elevated risk, SqSave adjusts portfolio weightings in a measured, rules-based way. It does not predict crashes. It does not move to cash on a hunch. But it does respond to changing market conditions in a way that historically reduces drawdown depth, leaving investors with more capital to participate in the eventual recovery.
Thus, SqSave may not always lead in the strongest bull years — but it is likely that, over a full three-year cycle; riding out both the gains and the losses, it will probably be superior.
The 3-Year Record: SqSave vs America's Robo-Advisors
To test our investment philosophy against a meaningful global benchmark, we compared SqSave's reference portfolio returns over calendar years 2023, 2024, and 2025 with fifteen US robo-advisors tracked by Condor Capital Wealth Management's widely-followed Robo Report — the de-facto industry benchmark for digital advisory performance in the United States.
The comparison is meaningful because it spans a full market cycle. 2022 had been a bear market for both equities and bonds. 2023 was a sharp recovery year. 2024 delivered strong returns across most asset classes. 2025 was more muted, with mid-teens equity returns in most developed markets. In aggregate, the three years tested every part of an investment process — drawdown protection, recovery capture, and steady compounding.
The leaderboard below ranks all twenty portfolios — five SqSave reference portfolio risk classes and fifteen US robo-advisors — by their three-year cumulative returns.
| Rank | Reference Portfolio1 | Equity | 3-Yr Cum. | Avg Annual | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SqSave Balanced | 40% | 57.45% | 16.37% | 16.34% |
| 2 | SqSave Very Aggressive | 90% | 53.85% | 15.45% | 15.44% |
| 3 | SoFi | 65% | 52.98% | 15.23% | 15.22% |
| 4 | SqSave Aggressive | 80% | 51.95% | 14.97% | 14.96% |
| 5 | Interactive Advisors | 78% | 48.97% | 14.26% | 14.21% |
| 6 | Wells Fargo Intuitive | 65% | 48.72% | 14.15% | 14.14% |
| 7 | Citizens Bank | 62% | 48.58% | 14.15% | 14.11% |
| 8 | Fidelity Go | 60% | 48.10% | 14.00% | 13.99% |
| 9 | SigFig | 64% | 47.74% | 13.92% | 13.89% |
| 10 | Vanguard Personal Advisor | 63% | 47.22% | 13.77% | 13.76% |
| 11 | Wealthfront (2018) | 67% | 47.14% | 13.75% | 13.74% |
| 12 | Axos Invest | 75% | 46.95% | 13.71% | 13.69% |
| 13 | Citi Wealth Builder | 66% | 46.16% | 13.51% | 13.49% |
| 14 | Empower (Personal Capital) | 73% | 45.70% | 13.39% | 13.37% |
| 15 | SqSave Growth | 60% | 45.55% | 13.36% | 13.33% |
| 16 | Betterment | 65% | 45.04% | 13.22% | 13.20% |
| 20 | SqSave Conservative | 30% | 42.96% | 12.67% | 12.65% |
Cumulative = total compounded return over 2023–2025. Average Annual = arithmetic mean of the three annual returns. CAGR = compound annual growth rate. SqSave: SGD. US robos: USD. Source: Condor Capital Q1 2026 Robo Report.
Reading the Leaderboard
Three SqSave reference portfolios occupy three of the top four positions:
SqSave Balanced (40/60) ranks #1 out of 20. A three-year cumulative return of 57.45% — exceeding every US robo-advisor on the list, including those carrying nearly double the equity weighting.
SqSave Very Aggressive (90/10) ranks #2. A cumulative 53.85% return. No directly comparable US robo exists at this risk class, but the absolute result stands on its own merit.
SqSave Aggressive (80/20) ranks #4. A cumulative 51.95%, ahead of every directly comparable US robo at the 73–78% equity band — Interactive Advisors, Axos Invest, and Empower (Personal Capital).
The single most important data point
SqSave Balanced delivered the highest 3-year compounded return of any portfolio in this 20-portfolio comparison — at only 40% equity allocation. Every US robo-advisor it outperformed carried between 50% and 78% equity. On a risk-adjusted basis, this is the standout finding of the analysis.
Comparing Apples-to-Apples
Comparing investment managers is harder than it looks. The temptation is to lump all portfolios together and rank them by absolute return. This is the wrong approach. A portfolio holding 90% equities should naturally outperform one holding 20% equities in a rising market — but that does not make the first manager better than the second. It only means they took more risk.
The professionally correct comparison is risk-for-risk: measure each portfolio only against peers carrying a similar equity / fixed income mix. This is the methodology we adopt below.
We have compared SqSave's five risk classes with fifteen US robo-advisors tracked by Condor Capital Wealth Management's widely-followed Robo Report — the de-facto industry benchmark for digital advisory performance in the United States. Portfolios are grouped into five equity bands. Within each band, the three-year cumulative return for 2023–2025 is calculated and ranked.
Band 1 — SqSave Conservative (≤30% Equity) Performs Remarkably - as well as US Robos carrying almost 3X more Risk
| # | Portfolio | Eq % | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 3-Yr Cum. | Avg Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SqSave Conservative1 | 30% | 12.90% | 14.70% | 10.40% | 42.96% | 12.67% |
All figures: calendar year total returns. SqSave: SGD. Source: Pivot Fintech Pte. Ltd.
None of the US robo-advisors tracked by Condor Capital show comparable conservative equity allocation portfolio results. The lowest-equity US robo on record — Vanguard Digital Advisor at 50% equity — sits almost double the level of equity exposure versus SqSave Conservative.
SqSave Conservative is suitable for investors prioritising capital preservation with modest equity participation.
Read on a risk-adjusted basis, SqSave Conservative's three-year compounded return of 42.96% — an average annual 12.67% with only 30% equity exposure — is remarkable. It approaches the absolute returns of US robos carrying more than double the risk (equity weight).
Band 2 — SqSave Balanced (31–55% Equity) beats Vanguard by a wide margin
| # | Portfolio | Eq % | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 3-Yr Cum. | Avg Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SqSave Balanced1 | 40% | 20.20% | 14.40% | 14.50% | 57.45% | 16.37% |
| 2 | Vanguard Digital Advisor | 50% | 15.04% | 9.83% | 13.53% | 43.44% | 12.80% |
Source: Condor Capital Q1 2026 Robo Report. SqSave: SGD. US robo: USD.
Only one US robo-advisor — Vanguard Digital Advisor — falls within this band. SqSave Balanced (40% equity) outperforms it by a substantial margin in cumulative terms (57.45% vs 43.44%, a 14.01 percentage point lead), and does so while carrying 10 percentage points less equity than Vanguard Digital. By any reasonable standard, this is a clean and decisive win.
The 2023 result is particularly notable: SqSave Balanced's 20.20% return that year exceeded every comparable US robo at every risk level — including the most aggressive portfolios carrying nearly 80% equity. This was not a single anomalous year; the subsequent two years (14.40% and 14.50%) compounded steadily on top of it.
Band 3 — SqSave Growth (56–70% Equity) rides creditably in the middle of the US crowd
| # | Portfolio | Eq % | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 3-Yr Cum. | Avg Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SoFi | 65% | 16.32% | 13.18% | 16.20% | 52.98% | 15.23% |
| 2 | Wells Fargo Intuitive | 65% | 15.53% | 12.24% | 14.69% | 48.72% | 14.15% |
| 3 | Citizens SpeciFi | 62% | 15.13% | 10.06% | 17.26% | 48.58% | 14.15% |
| 4 | Fidelity Go | 60% | 15.75% | 11.57% | 14.68% | 48.10% | 14.00% |
| 5 | SigFig | 64% | 14.21% | 10.92% | 16.62% | 47.74% | 13.92% |
| 6 | Vanguard Personal | 63% | 15.28% | 11.61% | 14.42% | 47.22% | 13.77% |
| 7 | Wealthfront (2018) | 67% | 14.98% | 12.11% | 14.15% | 47.14% | 13.75% |
| 8 | Citi Wealth Builder | 66% | 12.82% | 10.90% | 16.82% | 46.16% | 13.51% |
| 9 | SqSave Growth1 | 60% | 9.70% | 16.10% | 14.28% | 45.55% | 13.36% |
| 10 | Betterment | 65% | 13.40% | 10.08% | 16.19% | 45.04% | 13.22% |
| 11 | E*Trade Core | 67% | 13.85% | 10.55% | 14.96% | 44.69% | 13.12% |
| 12 | Ally Invest | 58% | 13.91% | 8.86% | 15.61% | 43.36% | 12.79% |
| 13 | Merrill Guided | 62% | 14.39% | 10.17% | 13.12% | 42.56% | 12.56% |
| 14 | Wealthfront (2016) | 64% | 13.33% | 10.77% | 13.54% | 42.53% | 12.55% |
| 15 | Schwab Domestic | 57% | 14.36% | 9.10% | 13.05% | 41.05% | 12.17% |
| 16 | Schwab Intelligent | 61% | 12.66% | 7.42% | 15.83% | 40.18% | 11.97% |
| 17 | Acorns | 64% | 12.81% | 9.64% | 13.30% | 40.13% | 11.92% |
Source: Condor Capital Q1 2026 Robo Report. The most populous band in the US robo universe.
In the Growth band, SqSave Growth ranks ninth of seventeen. Squarely mid-pack.
The cause is largely a single year: 2023. SqSave Growth returned 9.70% that year against a US peer median of approximately 14%. The algorithm's risk-managed posture in early 2023 — coming out of the 2022 bear market — left some upside on the table during the sharp recovery. The subsequent years performed strongly (SqSave Growth's 16.10% in 2024 outpaced every US peer at this risk level), but the 2023 drag persists in the three-year aggregate.
If not for the 2023 drag, SqSave’s 2024/2025 2-year average beats the entire pack.
Band 4 — SqSave Aggressive (71–85% Equity) - ranks #1
| # | Portfolio | Eq % | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 3-Yr Cum. | Avg Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SqSave Aggressive1 | 80% | 14.10% | 15.20% | 15.60% | 51.95% | 14.97% |
| 2 | Interactive Advisors | 78% | 13.91% | 10.21% | 18.66% | 48.97% | 14.26% |
| 3 | Axos Invest | 75% | 15.76% | 10.44% | 14.94% | 46.95% | 13.71% |
| 4 | Empower | 73% | 13.51% | 10.49% | 16.17% | 45.70% | 13.39% |
Source: Condor Capital Q1 2026 Robo Report.
In the Aggressive band — where the most direct US peers are Empower (formerly Personal Capital), Axos Invest, and Interactive Advisors — SqSave Aggressive ranks first of four.
The three-year cumulative return of 51.95% leads the band by a meaningful margin: 2.98pp ahead of Interactive Advisors, 5.00pp ahead of Axos Invest, and 6.25pp ahead of Empower. The result is consistent rather than dependent on any single year — SqSave Aggressive was the only portfolio in this band to deliver above 14% in each of the three years.
Band 5 — Very Aggressive (>85% Equity)
| # | Portfolio | Eq % | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 3-Yr Cum. | Avg Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SqSave Very Aggressive1 | 90% | 14.90% | 17.40% | 14.05% | 53.85% | 15.45% |
Source: Pivot Fintech Pte. Ltd.
As with Conservative, no comparable US robo-advisor tracked in the Condor Capital report offers a portfolio at this equity allocation. SqSave Very Aggressive did very well for investors with the longest time horizons and the highest tolerance for short-term volatility.
Its three-year cumulative return of 53.85% — and a 2024 standout year of 17.40% — demonstrates that the SqSave algorithm scales effectively to the high end of the risk spectrum.
Across All Risk Bands, SqSave Balance beats every other US robo tracked - and with lower risk exposure
Risk-for-risk comparison is the methodologically correct framework. But there is one finding from this analysis that is so striking it deserves separate attention — because it survives any comparison framework, fair or unfair.
SqSave Balanced beats every US robo-advisor at every risk band
At only 40% equity exposure, SqSave Balanced delivered a higher three-year cumulative return than the best-performing US robo-advisor at every higher equity tier — including portfolios carrying nearly double the equity weighting. This is the strongest single empirical result of this analysis.
To make this concrete, the table below shows SqSave Balanced (40% equity) against the best three-year US robo performer at each higher equity tier:
| Portfolio | Equity | 3-Yr Cumulative | SqSave Balanced Leads By |
|---|---|---|---|
| SqSave Balanced1 | 40% | 57.45% | - |
| Best at 50% equity: Vanguard Digital | 50% | 43.44% | +14.01pp |
| Best at 57-65% equity: SoFi | 65% | 52.98% | +4.47pp |
| Best at 66-70% equity: Wealthfront (2018) | 67% | 47.14% | +10.31pp |
| Best at 71-78% equity: Interactive Advisors | 78% | 48.97% | +8.48pp |
Each row shows the best-performing US robo within the indicated equity range, and the gap between SqSave Balanced's three-year cumulative return and theirs.
Read this carefully. Vanguard Digital Advisor at 50% equity returned 43.44% over three years; SqSave Balanced returned 14.01pp more, with 10pp less equity. SoFi — the strongest US robo overall in the 65% equity range — returned 52.98%; SqSave Balanced returned 4.47pp more, with 25 percentage points less equity. Interactive Advisors at 78% equity returned 48.97%; SqSave Balanced returned 8.48pp more, with 38 percentage points less equity.
This is the clearest possible demonstration of what risk-managed compounding produces. Carrying less risk, SqSave Balanced delivered higher returns. That is the definition of alpha in the strict, professional sense — and SqSave Balanced produced it across a full three-year cycle.
A Real-Time Test: March 2026
The 2023–2025 record is historical. The most recent test of SqSave's drawdown discipline is, as of this writing, in real time.
Global markets corrected sharply in March 2026. Tracked US robo-advisors across the board ended Q1 2026 with negative returns (the average Q1 2026 result for the fifteen US robos in our comparison was approximately -0.9%). SqSave portfolios also dipped — we are not exempt from market conditions, and have never claimed to be.
What followed is where drawdown discipline shows its value. Between the end of March and the end of May, SqSave reference portfolios delivered the following recoveries:
| Risk Class1 | End-Mar YTD | End-Apr YTD | End-May YTD | Mar → May Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative (20/80) | -1.71% | 3.98% | 7.72% | +9.43pp |
| Balanced (40/60) | -2.91% | 4.28% | 9.86% | +12.77pp |
| Growth (60/40) | -3.76% | 3.63% | 9.13% | +12.89pp |
| Aggressive (80/20) | -4.70% | 4.88% | 12.11% | +16.80pp |
| Very Aggressive (90/10) | -5.47% | 4.06% | 11.37% | +16.84pp |
All figures are year-to-date returns. The 'Recovery' column is the difference between end-March YTD and end-May YTD.
Every risk class returned to strongly positive YTD territory within two months. The Aggressive and Very Aggressive portfolios — which had fallen furthest in the correction — also recovered the most decisively, gaining over 16 percentage points from their March lows. This is the pattern that, repeated over multi-year horizons, produces the compounding superiority captured in the 3-year leaderboard above.
In Summary
Compared like-for-like against the leading US robo-advisors over a full three-year cycle:
SqSave Balanced ranks #1 in its band — and beats every US robo-advisor at every higher equity tier, despite carrying significantly less equity risk than any of them.
SqSave Aggressive ranks #1 in its band — outperforming Empower, Axos Invest, and Interactive Advisors on three-year cumulative return.
SqSave Conservative and SqSave Very Aggressive stand uncontested — no US robo offers a directly comparable product, filling gaps at both ends of the risk spectrum.
SqSave Growth ranks mid-pack (9 of 17) in the most competitive band. We acknowledge this honestly; the 2023 risk-managed posture cost some upside in a sharp recovery year, though the 2024–2025 performance recovered strongly.
The drawdown-discipline philosophy is validated by the March 2026 correction and recovery, in real time, exactly as the three-year historical record predicted.
We do not promise the highest return in every month, every quarter, or every year. We design our algorithms to deliver the highest compounded result over a full three-year cycle — risk for risk. Three years on, the data supports the design.
To explore your SqSave risk profile or to start investing from S$100, visit sqsave.com. Singapore-domiciled. SGD-denominated. Globally accessible. Built around an investment philosophy you can read, understand, and challenge.
Start Your SqSave Portfolio Today
All risk levels. All profitable. Your algorithm-powered portfolio is waiting.
Create LoginSincerely,
SqSave Investment Team
Important Disclaimer & Sources
SqSave portfolio performance is reported by Pivot Fintech Pte. Ltd. and is denominated in SGD. US robo-advisor performance data is sourced from Condor Capital Wealth Management's Q1 2026 Robo Report (condorcapital.com/the-robo-report) and is denominated in USD. Calendar year returns are total returns at the portfolio level for representative model portfolios at the equity allocations indicated. Risk band groupings are defined by equity allocation percentage; portfolios within a band may differ in their specific fixed-income, alternative, or geographic allocations beyond the equity / fixed-income split. Cumulative returns are calculated as (1 + R2023) × (1 + R2024) × (1 + R2025) − 1. Average annual returns are arithmetic means. Comparisons between SGD-denominated and USD-denominated returns do not adjust for FX movements; for Singapore-resident investors, USD returns would be reduced when converted to SGD over the 2024–2025 period. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investments carry risk, including the possible loss of principal. This commentary is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any investment product. Investors should consider their own circumstances and seek independent advice where appropriate.
Footnote:
1. Portfolio SqSave portfolio returns are inclusive of ETF expense ratios and net of SqSave management fees. 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.
