Optimize has now broadened its reach thanks to a new partnership between Euroconsumers Invest, Optimize Investment Partners, and SAKS. Its offer is now available through the SAKS app, available for Web, iOS, and Android, from as little as € 100.
This represents the opportunity for investors to have a part of their portfolio in foreign currency, adding more diversification and strengthening their long-term saving capabilities.
This marks a new phase in the internationalization of Euroconsumers Invest advisory service, which is now present outside Europe for the first time by partnering with SAKS.
We invited Pedro Lino, Optimize Investment Partners CEO, Luiz Bacellar, SAKS’ CEO, and Pedro Moreira, Board Member and Responsible for the Strategy and International Growth of Euroconsumers Invest (ECi), to answer some questions about this new possibility.
Pedro Lino
“We offer a long-term alternative to low-yielding deposit accounts”
Euroconsumers Invest (ECI): What is the general investment strategy used by Optimize?
Pedro Lino (PL): He have multiple funds with different strategies. When managing pension funds, retirement funds, alternative funds and UCITS funds we have a broad perspective about the world economy. Our main strategy consists in investing in various asset classes, including equities, bonds, ETFs, funds and other securities, through a diversification model that includes, choosing countries, sectors, and currencies, adapting the strategy of the fund to its investment policy.
The goal is to track the growth of the global economy and provide investors with long-term alternatives to low-yielding deposit accounts and capital-guaranteed products, even after the interest rate increases by Central Banks. For this endeavor, we also count on the strategy of Euroconsumers Invest analysts for some of our investments, where their expertise is fundamental.
ECI: How do you evaluate the reach of Optimize’s funds?
PL: We are well known in Portugal as one of the few and last independent asset management company, but we are now focused on building a structure for broader and international distribution of our funds. We started with Spain, Belgium and Italy, and we are very enthusiastic about having our offer available through the SAKS app.
ECI: Why investors should have Optimize funds in their portfolio?
PL: Investors should include Optimize funds in their portfolio as they provide diversification, risk management, and are run by professional experts. These funds offer a hassle-free way to access a well-rounded mix of assets, like, stocks, bonds and ETFs, decreasing the volatility investors feel when they are investing in financial markets.
Cost efficiency, liquidity, and track record of consistent performance are additional characteristics of Optimize funds that offer an attractive option for investors seeking a hands-off approach to achieving their financial goals.
Additionally, it's worth noting that Optimize funds have earned recognition through several awards from Morningstar and other reputable institutions in the past, further validating their appeal to investors.
Luiz Bacellar
“We must take a proactive approach to ensure the future quality of life”
ECI: What is the biggest challenge for the Latin American population regarding financially sustainable maturity and aging?
Luiz Bacellar (LB): There has been a marked aging trend in the Latin American population in recent years. This jeopardizes the countries' current public pension models, possibly leading to more restrictive retirement policies. Therefore, current generations must take a proactive approach to ensuring their future quality of life.
This means that they need to establish their financial reserves for old age, guaranteeing the continuity of their income when expenses such as health care tend to increase.
ECI: How can SAKS help people achieve a more secure and comfortable financial future?
LB: We bring the leading role in the financial future to people. Through our private pension plans offer and qualified investments managed by leading international market players and advised by global financial experts, as Optimize and Euroconsumers Invest, we offer diversification and the possibility of wealth creation.
Hence you don't have to be a financial expert to be able to invest. Through our platform, investors can assemble and monitor their portfolio, always considering their profile and investment possibilities. At SAKS, customers are in the driver's seat of their savings.
ECI: In this context, how important is it for investors to have access to international funds?
LB: The main advantage is asset diversification. Why? Because in Latin America we constantly live in scenarios of fiscal and political instability, and it is important to prepare a solid and safe financial future. International portfolios and Funds, in dollars or euros that are solid foreign currencies, don't necessarily react to the same stimuli as the funds in local currencies. Also, a portfolio made up of assets of different natures is a protection for the investor, who will be less exposed to the variations of a single market.
ECI: How can investors include Optimize Investment funds in their portfolio?
LB: The first step is to open an account with SAKS at hellosaks.com or use the apps iOS or Android. After that, click "Investir" and check out our international offer.
Pedro Moreira
“The fund allows greater diversification of investments”
ECI: What role does Euroconsumers Invest play in this partnership with Optimize and SAKS?
Pedro Moreira (PM): Optimize Investment Partners, as our client, are the Investment Manager for Optimize Invest Selection, meaning that Euroconsumers Invest acts as an Adviser for the portfolio and the assets of the fund.
In this role, ECI uses a top-down approach to define a shared asset universe based on investable markets. This universe is then used to determine an efficient frontier, which guarantees diversification using maximal weights for each asset.
We consider different inputs, such as expected returns, risks, and currencies, for each type of asset/market. The methodology is based on value at risk (VaR), which measures the maximum loss expected over a specific period with a high confidence level.
Based on the inputs and the VaR methodology, ECI recurrently produces asset allocations (strategic or tactical) and delivers recommendations for the different financial instruments to be in the fund, aligned with its policy and objectives.
ECI: It is the first Euroconsumers Invest project involving a non-European country. How does this fit into Euroconsumers Invest’s growth and international expansion strategy?
PM: The fact that Euroconsumers Invest's advice reaches Latin America is a source of great satisfaction and is 100% aligned with our mission.
We know that there is a global problem of financial literacy, in the different domains of the financial world and investment knowledge is one of them. By providing a product that allows greater diversification of investments, we intend to contribute to better solutions.
ECi's expansion is the result of two combined axes: one direct, with a presence in the market - the start of activity of our branch in Belgium in 2023, is a good example of this; another indirect one, which is the availability of our clients' products, as is the case now with the Optimize funds, as a result of the SAKS/Optimize partnership.
ECI: How can the partnership between Euroconsumers Invest, Optimize, and SAKS benefit Latin American investors?
PM: We have been developing projects with Optimize for some time. Like Euroconsumers Invest, Optimize is a Portuguese-based company with a vision of global growth that wants to take the best investment solutions beyond its borders, as we do now in five European countries.
SAKS brings an essential technological and innovation component, as well as in-depth know-how about the financial behavior of Latin American investors. Their approach to making investments easier and accessible to everyone is critical to increase saving rates.
Combined with our expertise in investment advice, investors in Latin America will have access to an excellent option for saving more wisely and ensuring a more comfortable financial maturity.
About SAKS
SAKS is a Savetech focused on simplifying savings for everybody, everywhere. SAKS believes that everybody should have simple ways to build wealth and plan for their financial future and their retirement.
Based in Brazil and Uruguay, SAKS focuses on the Latin American market, offering investment funds (private pension plans) and access to the global investment markets through an easy and intuitive App that disrupts the Status Quo in a market dominated by big banks.
This allows users to broaden and diversify the scope of their investments according to their needs, through technology, data safety, secure market access, and always keeping a great care for the wellbeing of the customers.
About the SICAV - Optimize IP Invest Selection
The SICAV - Optimize IP Invest Selection is a no-fee fund with no charges for subscription or redemption. There is also no penalty for daily quotations. The fund's primary goal is to provide investors with an alternative to low-risk deposits. It is available in Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain and now in Latina America.
Euroconsumers Invest works with all stakeholders in the Financial Market by enhancing the Financial Literacy of all investment products available to businesses and consumers in Europe, Latin America and the Rest of the World. ECI work with all entities and organizations that want to contribute to a more sustainable financial market and empower all citizens.