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Anonymous

11 Jan 2022

Saving Hacks

Should I start using tax saving techniques?

Hi all, I'm a fresh University graduate, about to start at a job that offers 5.7k salary with year end bonus. Should I try to some tax saving techniques like RSTU, MA or SRS topup? I am also planning to do some investments with Endowus, should I start immediately or save up a small pot of emergency funds first? I currently only have 2k in emergency savings account.

Discussion (12)

What are your thoughts?

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I recommend to save your pot of emergency funds first. All tax savings techniques are either irreversible or will incur early withdrawals penalty. Having at least 10-30k in cash will tide you through any unexpected 'emergency'.

Welcome to the adult world!

Most of the points that you've mentioned are quite related to CPF - which means you don't have to decide now. Things like topping up CPF and SRS can be done closer to the end of the year after you've gotten a better sense of things. This will help because you'll have a better sense of what your final income for the year is, and will be better able to understand your tax liabilities as well as what you would really be saving.

To give you a clearer illustration, let's use some numbers:

Your annual may come up to approx $80K after bonuses. At this number, you will be liable for $3350 income tax - with half that income amount incurring a 7% tax rate.

In real terms, this means; if you were able to use various techniques and put in $40K worth into things like CPF, SRS, or similar, your tax liability will now be $2800, giving you a savings of $550 in taxes.

What you really have to ask yourself is this: Are you that determined to save $550 that you are willing to put in $40K? You may not be planning to put that much, so even halving it to $20K will save you $275.

From another angle: Given that CPF, SRS, and most of the other options will lock your money in for the next 40+ years, are you willing to exchange $20K of liquidity for $275?

Tax savings - especially in a country like Singapore where taxes are really negligible (comparatively!) at the lower level - are not always that worth it. I personally wouldn't do it if I were in your life stage.

100%, save up emergency funds first. When you get on a flight, the best thing to have is an excellent pilot, but the next best thing is a parachute. After that, your pilot is free to pull off any aerial stunts he wants (i.e. you can make investments at will and not be caught out without means if things go tragically wrong).

There are many articles on the internet with recommendations on "how much is enough" for emergency funds, so I won't go into it here. Decide on what level you're comfortable with, and then go from there.

Good luck!!

Good to learn more about it and understand what tax savings you can qualify. You can also search IRA...

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