My brother introduced to me this Wealthcare® service by Hugo that was just launched recently in Singapore. He mentioned that if one is risk adverse to cryptocurrencies, especially due to the recent crash, buying gold can be an alternative as it is seen to be more stable and not as volatile. I guess he was recommending this service as I seemed not so enthusiastic in cryptocurrencies anymore. That is not case for I have been real busy at work and you do need to invest quite a fair amount of time to keep up with the news and all. Nevertheless, I decided to give Hugo a try, out of curiosity and also for “diversifying” my “investments” and “supporting” my brother.
So What Is Hugo?
Hugo, a cute red little robot, is your Wealthcare® buddy who takes care of your financial wellbeing via your digital account that helps you spend, save and invest starting with gold. So how does it do that? According to their website, they provide you with insights so you can spend smarter and also provide tracking tools so you can plan accordingly to save up for your goals. Lastly, they help you to grow your wealth through one off or scheduled deposits into their wealth products (gold investment).
They are also advertising their services as “Accounts Without Compromise”. The money in your account is safeguarded within DBS Bank and your gold is insured and securely stored in LBMA-accredited Vaults. Hugo uses ID theft technology, 2FA and Biometric authentication. They are among the first to offer “numberless” Visa Debit Card, issued by a Fintech in Singapore. According to them, they have 24/7 fraud monitoring and real-time alerts for all your transactions and are covered by Visa’s Zero Liability policy in case of any unauthorized transactions on your Hugo card.
Hmm … That Sounds Interesting …
Now that got me interested. An easy way to buy/trade/invest in gold? I don’t think I have seen any services like that before in Singapore. This is new compared to Robo-investors and cryptocurrencies, and besides, who do not love gold, especially physical gold.
But let’s be clear about this, the gold that you have bought through Hugo are not stored in your possession and they have made it clear in their FAQs that while they allow you to buy and sell gold via their platform, you will not be able to take them out physically. I mean, it is a fair and valid point. You can’t exactly take 10 gram of gold out of a 1 kilogram slab of gold, just like that.
Still I like it for the fact that you can buy fractional amount of gold as compared to buying them in certain “denominations”. There are no recurring charges for the service to store the gold, which by itself is attractive enough. Currently there are no transaction fees for gold trading for the first 6 months from launch, but that might change after that. It also provides a more accessible option for small timers like me to buy gold. Of course, these are all my opinions and my perspective, you might see it differently based on your background and environment. And to me, this is more of an instrument for wealth preservation than investment. Note: Not financial advice, these are just my opinions.
Let’s Sign Up!
The signing up process is relatively straightforward. You can click on my referral link here and be directed to a sign up page.
- Enter your particulars at the referral sign up page
- Download the Hugo Save App from Google Play Store or from Apple App Store
- In the app itself, create your new Hugo account and enter your particulars
- Follow the instructions and you are done!
It is quite a hassle free process and the KYC is straightforward, you just have to take a photo of your identify card (front and back) and a selfie. There are no option to register with Singpass though, but that is fine. KYC verification took less than an hour for me and I sent a request for my Hugo card. I’m still waiting for it after a week.
What Do I Think About Hugo?
Note: Not financial advice, these are just my opinions.
This service might not be for everyone so it is important to figure out what do you want in the first place. Are you looking to preserve wealth, or to get huge returns or to go into gold trading? These are some of the questions to ask yourself first. They are also new in the market and this is something not seen before (at least to me) so it is still pretty hard to gauge if it will take off. So please do your homework, due diligence, research, whatever before making the decision. And with any investments/financial services, there is always a risk that you might lose your money.
I’m also wondering if there are provisions or any information if it is possible to transfer ownership of your account to your descendants. That would be interesting. Not a lot of robo investor service have that information out there. It’s a bit of a gray area. I might do another update a few months later once I received my Hugo card.
Please use my referral link if you are interested! You get $20 Goldback® referral signup bonus with a spending of at least $100 on your Hugo card within 45 days of signing up while I earn $10 Goldback®. Terms and conditions apply. Meanwhile, stay safe everyone!
Updates
You can check out my follow up post here – Hugo – 6 Months Later as well as my current views on gold as an investment.
I am Doufu 
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