Beltone to launch wealth management app targeting a broader investor base

Wealth management is no longer just for the wealthy. As digital platforms lower barriers to investing, Beltone is preparing to launch a wealth management app that will ask users to complete detailed questionnaires covering their risk appetite, investment goals, and liquidity needs before helping them build an appropriate investment portfolio.

The launch comes as more people gain access to investment products and advisory services, shifting the conversation from picking individual products to building portfolios tailored to different life stages. EnterpriseAM sat down with Beltone CEO for Local and Regional Markets Khalil El Bawab to discuss how investment strategies should evolve from the wealth accumulation years through retirement, the most common mistakes investors make, and why retirees still need some exposure to growth assets.

Wealth management goes mainstream

Asset allocation should evolve with age. For investors in their twenties and thirties, El Bawab favors a growth-oriented allocation with around 60% invested in small- and mid-cap exposure through an EGX70 tracker and 40% in actively managed equity funds. For investors in their forties and fifties, he prefers roughly 30% in small- and mid-cap equities, 40% in lower-volatility equity exposure, and 30% in fixed income. “The higher your age, the lower your exposure to equities and the higher your exposure to fixed income,” he says.

The wealth management industry is increasingly targeting retail investors rather than focusing exclusively on wealthy clients. “Historically advisory has been for the high-net-worth ultra-high-net-worth clients,” El Bawab notes. “Our goal is to democratize advisory.”

The opportunity is growing rapidly. New entrants to capital markets surpassed 300k during the first five months of the year, while the mutual fund industry grew from EGP 156 bn at the end of 2024 to around EGP 411 bn by 1Q 2026, El Bawab notes. Digital onboarding, fintech licenses, and instant payment infrastructure have dramatically reduced barriers to entry and made investing more accessible.

Beltone's upcoming wealth management app forms part of that shift. The platform will ask users to answer questions about their risk appetite, goals, and liquidity needs before helping them determine an appropriate investment structure. Users will also be able to access portfolio valuations and customized reporting tools.

“The call to action now is a press of a button,” El Bawab says. As investing becomes more accessible, the focus is shifting from buying individual products to building portfolios that evolve alongside investors throughout their lives.

Retirement changes the objective

Retirement changes what a portfolio is designed to do. Younger investors focus on building wealth, while retirees need income, capital preservation, liquidity, and protection against inflation. As life expectancy rises and retirement periods grow longer, investors may spend decades outside the workforce. “I wouldn't suggest 100% in fixed income because you're not protected for inflation,” El Bawab explains.

“55 is different from 60 and 65,” El Bawab notes. Investors approaching retirement can generally maintain greater exposure to growth assets, while retirees tend to prioritize income and capital preservation. Under Egypt's phased increase in the retirement age, retirement will gradually rise from 61 for those born in 1971 to 65 for those born in 1975 and later.

His preferred framework combines income generation with inflation protection. For investors approaching retirement, El Bawab suggests allocating roughly 70% to fixed income, 10-15% to inflation hedges such as gold, and 10-20% to growth investments. Once investors retire, he favors increasing fixed-income exposure to around 80-85% while maintaining some exposure to lower-volatility equities.

Not all inflation hedges serve the same purpose. “Gold and silver are medium- to long-term investments... it's not income generating,” El Bawab adds. Retirees therefore need exposure to income-producing assets such as fixed income and dividend-paying equities.

Why growth still matters

Moving into retirement does not mean abandoning growth assets altogether. According to El Bawab, treasury bills generated returns of around 270% over the past decade, compared with roughly 1,100% for the EGX100 and approximately 2,000% for gold. While past performance does not guarantee future returns, the figures illustrate why retirees still need some exposure to assets capable of outpacing inflation.

“There is no one product that fits all. There is no one product that fits all your needs,” El Bawab says. Investors often have multiple objectives at the same time. “You can be saving to buy a mobile phone while also having an investment plan for your retirement,” he says. That is why wealth management increasingly focuses on asset allocation rather than product selection.

The biggest mistakes

Concentrating too much wealth in a single asset is one of the most common mistakes retirees make. “The biggest mistake is putting everything into one illiquid asset. Like real estate,” he notes.

“Real estate has proven over the years to be a great inflation protection. But at the end of the day it's illiquid,” he argues. Retirees facing healthcare costs or other unexpected expenses need liquidity alongside inflation protection.

Holding excessive cash creates the opposite problem. Inflation steadily erodes purchasing power if money sits idle. “Liquidity has a price,” he adds. “You need to diversify at every age. That's a rule of thumb for all seasons and all ages.”

Invest first and spend later

“My number one advice is start spending after you invest and save. Invest first, save first, and then spend,” El Bawab says. “Everybody makes the mistake of saving and investing the leftover of their income.” Building wealth is a journey. Ideally this journey is planned or targeted from a very young age,” he argues.

The impact of starting early can be dramatic. According to El Bawab, someone investing EGP 1k a month over the past 15 years would have contributed around EGP 180k in total. That amount would have grown to roughly EGP 635k in treasury bills, EGP 780k in the EGX30, EGP 1.46 mn in the EGX100, and about EGP 2.1 mn in local gold.

Those figures highlight the value of time. “Every single one of us is at a different age bracket, different investment goals, different needs, different risk profiles and different liquidity needs,” he notes. The objective is not to maximize returns at all costs, but to build portfolios that reflect individual circumstances.