I have 100k to invest, I’m thinking of placing it into something very safe with returns generating 4-5% annually. Where should I place my funds?

No risk, No gain. If there's something very safe that initially generate 4-5%, it would have been bid up by risk-advserse investors, reducing its yield subsequently

Hi anon,

There is nothing in the market that can give 4%-5% safely. Even CPF can only give 4% on the SA and MA monies, and there are restrictions on flexibility.

To get 4%-5%, you will have to take on risk. Bond funds, blue chips, etc can give such yields but you have to take on the full ups and downs of the market. As you are already invested in stocks, you already have such exposure.

If you truly want no risk, you will have to look at short term endowments and FDs. You could get around 2% risk-free on a short term endowment, but with a lock in of around 3 years. It's probably the only option you can get right now in this market.

Readylifeincome does give you a guranteed 0.95% of your sum assured for life. The plan is geared more toward building and increasing the death benefit and maturity benefits towards the end of the policy, which is why the guaranteed payout is not that good. I suppose you are past the free look period already, else you are allowed to free-look, take back your premiums and evaluate your options on similar plans with better yields.