I am a low risk investor and usually put my funds in FD.. FD rate is now very low and i am stuck as how to maximise my funds or use it to get better returns. Please advise.?

You can invest in STI ETF now, as their dividend yield is now around 4% as compare to last year only 3%. REITs also a better option if you want to get better yield around 5%-7%. I would recommend industrial REITs as they are not very affected by the pandemics.

Hi Angela, the answer will depend on what is the amount of deposits you are intending to roll and how many accounts you are willing to open to optimize.

In my view, for deposits <$15k and you only want to choose one account, the Singlife Account is preferred because it offers the highest blended interest rate at 2.5% for first $10k, and 1% for next $90k. This means the blended interest rate will be over 2% for deposit amounts of less than $15k. In addition, you are able to transfer funds to/fro your bank account via the Singlife app at no cost and you can also use the free Singlife Visa Debit Card for any ad-hoc expenditure.

If you have more savings, I would next opt for ELASTIQ. The 1.8% p.a interest rate is guaranteed over the first 3 years and will result in higher returns compared to what is being offered by other options like Singtel Dash EasyEarn or ETIQA GIGANTIQ. The maximum policy size of $50k also makes it more flexible compared to Singtel Dash EasyEarn.

You can view the below article, which provides more details on the above-mentioned and also compiles the updated yields/interest rates across Cash Management Accounts by brokers/Robo-Advisors, Insurance Savings Accounts and Short-term Endowments.

https://theinvestquest.com/best-savings-and-fix...​​​

Firstly, you have to consider how much funds do you have for investments. Those are the monies that you can afford not to touch for a longer period of time. With that in mind, you can start thinking of what investments to make. However, as you are more risk adverse, one good way is to do dollar cost averaging into indexes eg STI ETF. You can do it via FSMone, their commission is min $1 a month if you are on their regular savings plan. If not, you can consider robo-advisors, put in money monthly and they will do the investments for you.

For monies that you may need to touch in the near future, one good place to put at this point in time is Singlife. It allows liquidity as you can withdraw your money anytime. You can put $10k into Singlife and it will earn up to 2.5% interest for the 1st $10k. Subsequent amounts after $10k will only earn 1% interest. It has been great for me so far, I can see the interest acrruing on a daily basis. It is fuss free and risk free in the sense (unless Singlife goes bust i guess?) but for now, it is good enough for me to earn a higher than normal interest rate rather than I put it in the banks.

Good luck!​​​

What is the reason for putting into FD and reinvesting it yearly/ monthly?

Do you foresee you need cash urgently at that point in time?

If you are able to delay your payout by perhaps having a strategy, (eg. Keep 50% and leave 50% into something medium to long term, your overall returns would be better even if you are a conservative investor.