Investments

Agreed with Maisul, US stocks have higher volatility. If you can't stomach 4% paper loss , how are you going to stomach even 10% paper loss ? No such thing as quick growth in investments unless you do your own active trading to try to buy low, sell high :) which is why people always advocate at least 5 years in the market to ride out waves

To be very honest, I am tempted too, even up till now. There are plans with up to 200% bonus (highest I've seen). Human connection > robo anytime. Somemore "Free" money leh. Boost your gains if markets going up or cushions your losses if the reverse happens. In terms of fees, are you sure the only fees you are paying is this 2.5%? Whatever funds you choose to invest in, they have their own fees which anyone who buys into will have to pay for. So on this, you are already losing out to those who buy directly through their brokers. Did you check for Any other admin/ maintenance fee? You also need to be aware that these fees also compounds. Any withdrawal/ top up fees? Premium holiday will still deduct fees from your accumulated units to maintain your account. However, if you really think about it, when you invest, the plan is to buy into something (stocks, bonds, ETFs etc), hold long term for compound interest to work. For ILPs, the break even year is ~year 15, and that's on assumption an 8% p.a. returns on your investments, after accounting for all the fees, you haven't even profit! If you want to profit, you need to hold onto your plan even longer. By then, will your agent still be around to continue servicing you, to advise to switch to another fund, if required? You still need to do your own research. After spending time looking at the suggested options from your advisor, Are you just going to agree with your agent? If you lose money, are you going to then blame your agent or take accountability for your choice? Remember, past performance do not guarantee future performance. Markets move up and down. Fees are guaranteed whether or not your investments gain or lose. If your units are insufficient to pay for these fees, your account will automatically close and you essentially have lost all your investments (I think. Pls check) Actually what really stopped me from buying the ILP from my agent is because one only contacts me when there are promos for insurance to buy but did not really explain in depth the policies hence I always end up canceling it but I can't lose contact because my health insurance is there lol. My other agent actually told me there are cheaper options out there so ILP is really for those who are able to service and hold onto the plan long term but likewise, she is unable to guarantee returns although she kept saying is possible. But anything is possible right? :) So I looked into robos as their fees are smaller, smaller minimum amount, and no lock in period. This gives me time to do my research and eventually deciding on passively investing in ETFs aside from my robos (but disclaimer, I haven't started on ETFs yet haha) Anyway recently there are other questions by others in Seedly regarding ILPs. Do read through their replies (from agents themselves and other folks like me :)) before committing to this ILP. All the best in your decision!

I am planning to shift to lower-cost roboadvisors such as Autowealth (0.5%+$18 vs 0.8%) or Syfe (0.6% vs 0.8%). In my response here: https://seedly.sg/questions/why-stashaway-when-it-is-sooo-expensive, I outlined possible avenues you can utilize for investing depending on your investment amount and investment knowledge.

Alternatively you can buy physical gold

Https://www.autowealth.sg/clientpdf/nvjxjcsdjaosj284972347_AWfactSheet.pdf

Hey there! Well, honestly it takes time, it's great that you are building up your investing knowledge, keep it up! As a start, you can consider POSB Invest Saver Regular Savings Plan, where they will buy in to STI ETF/ABF Bonds every month based on the amount you allocated. Then, maximize your bank account through DBS Multiplier, UOB One, SC Jumpstart etc.. That's another way to let your money grow. And last, see how you can further gain more cash - for me I gave tuition in addition to my full time job. I too had little cash in the beginning so I have to work hard to generate more to invest.

Q&A Can I make SRS contributions in the form of investments (i.e. transfer investments into my SRS account)? No. All SRS contributions must be made in casg.

Hi there. Firstly, we have to understand that the above accounts are not bank accounts or fixed deposits, but are insurance savings plans structured similarly to a bank account. Therefore, there may be liquidity issues (e.g. lock up periods, needing to transfer to another bank account before being to able to withdraw) Secondly, the “interest rate” is not guaranteed (Singlife’s 2.5% is not as they have stated) or guaranteed only for some time period (only for 1 year for some plans). Of course, bank account interest rates also change regularly with market rates. Thirdly, those are insured under the Policy Owners’ Protection Scheme and not under Deposit Insurance Scheme for all other bank accounts. Terms and conditions for insurance of amount deposited would of course be different (e.g. amount protected differs with $100k under PPF vs $75k under DI)

Hi Anon, POSB Invest Saver allows you to invest in 4 ETFs and lots of other funds. For robo-advisors like Syfe, you will invest in a variety of bond and stock ETFs. Usually, you will be given a questionnaire to determine your risk profile, and the robo-advisor will suggest to you a portfolio based on your risk profile. POSB Invest Saver allows you to invest in a single ETF, while robo-advisors allow you to invest in a variety of ETFs. This would mean that robo-advisors are usually more diversified as your money is spread across many different investment products compared to a single ETF. However, I would suggest to read up on the things that the robo invests for you, to see if you are comfortable with investing in such products. If you'd like to find out more about robo-advisors, you can check out my robo-advisor guide.

Hello! In my opinion, there is no easy solution to this problem. It will be almost impossible for him to meet the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) now. Although you could top up to his SA to meet the BRS but you would need a big sum of money. As far as I know, if he did not manage to meet the BRS, his payout would be pro-rated. Alternatively, you can help him to source for additional income streams so that it can help with his retirement. 1) Downgrade your house. It is not an easy option but have a chat with him. House isn't an asset if it doesn't generate income. By downgrading the house part of the $$ would be pumped back into the OA which can help him to meet the BRS. 2) Rent out one of the room. 3) Buy a annuity plan. An annuity plan is a special type of endowment that provide periodic payouts very much like CPFLife. Such plan would be of great help as it can provide guaranteed monthly payout once your father retired. (if you wish to learn more about this. Feel free to pm me.) Personally, my father is a similar situation as your father except he is 61 now, has no savings, and forced to retire due to parkinson disease. I'm a financial advisor (but im still in uni) and my brother is working now. So what we are doing now is to split the cost of my father retirement together. It is definitely not easy to be in the sandwich generation but let's us do our proper financial planning to break this cycle of relying the next generation for retirement =).