facebookI am 25 this year, and my freelancing job gives 5k spare cash per mth. I DCA 1.5k in STI ETF every month, and my cash is accumulating quite fast now I don't know what to do with it. Any suggestions? - Seedly

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Anonymous

18 Apr 2019

Stocks

I am 25 this year, and my freelancing job gives 5k spare cash per mth. I DCA 1.5k in STI ETF every month, and my cash is accumulating quite fast now I don't know what to do with it. Any suggestions?

When should I stop DCA in STI ETF?

Discussion (5)

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So basically you had 5k in spare cash every month, the next question is how to allocate this 5k into different portfolios. My following suggestion is based on the fact that you are relatively young (can afford to be more aggressive), typical average investors seeking average/decent returns w.r.t average risk that do not want to constantly monitor market and/or little time/desire to pick out individual companies's financial statements etc.

Here's my suggestion:

  1. Build up an emergency cash funds 3-6 months worth of expenses. ($500 per month, 10%)

This portfolio will be your "Pay-youself" fund to always ensure you had a financial safety net, on top your CPF savings.

No hard & fast rules on the number on months, dependent on one's individual circumstances. For example, if you had dependants, a monthly mortgage, low job security then the emergency cash funds could likely exceed 6 months. This cash fund could be parked in a high-interest savings account and/or Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs). Once you hit your targeted emergency cash fund amounts, you can just deploy the $500 to CPF-SA top-ups to get tax relief & earn up to 5% interest (almost risk-free).

  1. Next put your monies to work via ETFs ($1,500 each per month for STI & US-index ETFs, thats $3k in total, 60%)

The ETFs will be your "Time-in-the market" fund, always stay vested regardless of near-term market fluctuations, betting on the fact that 10/20/30 years down the road, things will eventually pay off.

You alr made the first step by DCA to STI ETF, the next step is to consider adding US-index ETF which had historically & statistically proven to be far superior in terms of growth.

"When should I stop DCA in STI ETF?" - Once again, no hard & fast rule, perhaps set an $X amount of target value for STI ETF to be in your portfolio. Eg: Once ETF reach $10k/$15k/$20k, stop buying into it and redeploy to other investments products.

  1. Lastly, invest the remaining into dividend-yield stocks ($1,500 per month for REITS etc, 30%)

This will be your "Pay-your-expense" fund, dividend income from these stocks could pay a meal/transportation/utilities bill.

Owise, you can just simply re-invest the dividend income if you had no immediate need for it. Invest in REITs with a good sponser, etc Capitaland & Mapletree, circa 4-5% dividend yield. There's plenty of information on these kind of reits in Seedly, take your time to read through.

All e best!

Great work on your freelancing income. Quite a feat at your age.

You may want to set aside an emergency fund before you go further, perhaps 6 months' worth of expenses or more. This is to help cushion any periods where you are unable to arrange for accretive projects.

For investing, if you can stomach a higher risk, consider learning how to manage an options portfolio. Returns can be upwards of 30-40%pa. Best to find a mentor to guide you on this

Hi! Great to see you’ve taken up a freelance job that pays well.

At the age of 25, I think you’re ...

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