Are they still alive? I recall they had a trading halt in early Dec last year pending announcement of results of MAS investigation. 5k into films sounds really risky.

Another option depending on timing - for Revolut; the limit is on rolling 30 days basis; you can change an amount now and provided the next billing after your op is 30 days later you should be able to squeeze in the 10k total within the limits.

It's free so if you have time it doesn't hurt to poke around. Agree with other poster, 15 minutes is an impossible promise for a thorough job, but at least you learn steps and thought process involved.

OP: how did it go? Did you switch, any happy outcome to share.

This does sound a bit concerning doesn't it!!!! My totally "just guessing" conjecture is that they are having some issues with MAS and rather than digging a deeper hole; they have stopped signup/deposits for a while to sort out mess (this is just a guess based on the information Nov 28th). Money should be safe if there isn't gross fraud (if there was MAS/the cops would have rolled in by now) but might be a while before they get back to compliance and normal ops

18 Nov - furter updates So far just on onboarding experience (will continue to update review as it plays out). - Singapura Finance use MyInfo which is great and it helps on the filling out of info but the digital transformation is only half-hearted. In contrast with some other modern financial institutions (SingLife / Etiqa) where they do the whole process (all the way to policy issuance) online/instantly - here after you click submit Singapura Finance gives you... - "Please send us a photo of your signature" Its cool that I don't have to go to branch. It is kind of dumb I am signing a piece of paper and taking a picture of it.... - (Side note: their email asking for the signature photo gets blocked by Gmail spam filters!!!! Dont know who to blame more Singapura Finance or Gmail for this one) - Biggest Back-to-non-digital-world - after doing the MyInfo / sending photo of signature... End up with "Thanks for your application - we will update in our system... it takes 3-5 days" and "Your application is subject to approval". So. Waiting. Lets see how long it takes from today (Nov 7th) to finalize. Yippie SG Digital. - Nov 11 - Got email account has been approved; need to fund account before proceed. PayNow details supplied (FinTech pass) but TAT for crediting to Vivid account is 2 days (!?!) - only then will get card sent out. Downloaded app as well but no real functionality until account going. - Nov 13 - deposit recognized within TAT; got message that physical card on the way (7-14 days). Checking of balance is via SMS (!). As mentioned elsewhere, definitely a mix of old/new technologies. - Nov 14 - card arrived! Overnight turnaround is much better than the 7-14 stated. Also tried funding wallet via app - they say one day but it is actually instant! Fairly efficient. Online payments work fine. Trying out physical card tomorrow. - Nov 15 - physical card works fine (tried contactless - tap; no issues at all). Did further deposits by PayNow; worked fine with 1 day TAT. Checking with CS on how to do withdrawals; will be testing that early next week to complete the package on capabilities. - Nov 18 - CS got back to me with a call (+1 for human touch service and good TAT). Again with theme of old-with-new withdrawals cannot be done electronically so need to physically visit a branch (!!!) seems a bit amazing in this day-and-age this still exists (heck late 90s could do early stage internet banking). 7 branches islandwide, up to 2k cash ok. Above that based on availability or take a bank check. Seem a bit of a not-friendly process - Nov 30 - Looks like the monthly statements are a bit broken; you have to order manually and actually can't get a complete month statement automatically (sent message to CS about this - will update with reply) - Jan 6 - realised a big drawback; can only transfer $500 per day from Vivid to the prepaid card. If spending on a bigger item (laptop; air tickets; hotels) then you need to go through hassle over a few days to fund account. Complained to SPF about this - they said target audience of product was for underbanked younger customers who wouldn't normally be able to get a credit card and hence the daily limit was there for own protection and could not be adjusted on account-by-account basis. That's it with the feature testing - tldr; very old school in many ways but with a few areas of tech advances; use only if you find the 1.3% interest rate attractive enough to overcome admin hassle. Older review on product features below. ==== Been poking around this space lately and had an anon raise question about FlexM recently. On impulse, I tried out to see how their offering compares, unfortunately, got limited bandwidith so can't run through whole process on this one. Did a bit of desktop research and impressions below. Would love to hear from anyone who actually tried out whole process. 1. Interest - great they are offering it; first in market on that side, headline of 1.3% is great which they say no complex qualifying conditions (probably hinting at DBS Multiplier) but the interest is "up to" 1.3% coz that only applies for balances 10k - 20k. Below 10k is 1.05% and above 20k is measly 0.25% It's a bit selective to compare this way since the balance is a qualification requirement. 2. Fees - very poor disclosure here - the pointer to comprehesive fee table is found in FAQ answer about ATM usage. Be careful! There is a few gotchas - a rather heavy early termination fee (total 55 bucks if you got the physical card) and need to maintain balance of $200. 3. Dynamic CVC - good they offer it, great for security, but a double edged sword since need to go to website/app every time using card online which is a hassle. Interesting this is the same USP as the other provider asked about recently (FlexM) and after poking around realised that it is the same FinTech providing the backend services so likely leveraging the existing IT infrastructure. Overall, worth a looking into if you are going to be putting a significant balance in the system due to interest provided. Just be careful of the fees.

Transferwise. They have us bank details so you can ACH to them and then use their system to SG and FAST for last mile to your own bank account

A totally based on my gut and no specific research to back it - but perhaps the following as rough guides: 3-4% pa for relatively safe return - not too much downside risk - I suppose this is what you want if you are looking for financial independence. 5-6% a safe-but-not-too-safe level for long term growth projections - usually ok with a once-in-a-while down year but nothing too severe 7% for long term projection with regular ups and downs and once in a while correction (-10%). Suitable for long term planning based on a mix of safe/growth assets. anything higher - can be anything in terms of downside risk (eg I use 10% hurdle benchmark for my speculative investments; but also expect they could explode and I walk away with half my capital....)

CPF interest is calculated monthly, so financially there isn't a case for favouring one or the other (this assumes you are putting the funds to work outside of CPF earning the same return, so as per other post - need to be confident can have same rate of return)

There is exposure to overseas assets and using providers in other juridictions. Former is common and generally accepted as increasing diversification - you can get from providers here - eg POEMS has a quite extensive choice of markets. The latter is a unusual. Singapore has a very safe / predictable legal system - it is hard to see providers in other countries offering any meaningful advantage.