Had query earlier - https://seedly.sg/questions/any-thoughts-about-stashaway-simple-looks-like-risk-free-1-9-p-a Also I am trying out their service and put review in link below. Will be updating review as get further experience with their product. https://seedly.sg/reviews/robo-advisors/stashaway?rid=7583

Its possible but really depends on having a very decent salary, high savings and taking on a lot of risk. Given all the hardships, and instability due volatility, it is (at least to me) unclear whether the happiness from having a million bucks at age 30 is higher than actually spending (some of it) in 20s in a more carefree manner.

Just on the piece about flight exclusions - do note that redemption flights are based on specific booking classes which are subject to inventory control (basically airline will release more if they can't sell seats otherwise) So don't expect easy to redeem a flight at peak time (eg around christmas) - it isn't an explict exclusion as generally airlines would at least release a couple of redemption seats but given demand, it won't be easy to grab.

A few different choices/comparatives on at-call deposit accounts in this link https://seedly.sg/questions/citibank-maxigain-change-tnc Commentary on Stashaway Simple below https://seedly.sg/questions/any-thoughts-about-stashaway-simple-looks-like-risk-free-1-9-p-a

Mixed feelings about this one On the plus side - I think genuinely likely you can get 1.7% or so from this which is a very decent return on a on call deposit. The minus side - I am a bit upset with the lack of disclosure; there is a management charge with trail rebate - so obviously they are putting the underlying into something; but it isn't clear what that sometime is. There is a few throwaway comments about risk but no proper fund fact sheets. Also given that Stashaway is the latest fintech/robo wave - I'd say this looks like an instrument to draw people into their underyling product rather than a long term offering. Tldr - good topline return, take advantage it while you can but it isn't a risk free.

@OP - the seedly search is a bit hit-and-miss (and no real way to star/tag posts as well) but the change in Citi was mentioned a few weeks ago (see link below). I've confirmed the change with a Citi RM - apparently there is A LOT of customer pushback with the change. https://seedly.sg/questions/should-i-put-200k-in-citi-gain-max-account-even-though-the-guaranteed-in-case-the-bank-fails-is-about-70k-only In terms of alternatives, it looks tough to match what Citi was offering (which is maybe why they withdrew it hahaha) - but there is some interest new-age type of savings vechicles - check out Etiqa Elastiq / SingLife Endowment / Singapura Finance Vivid. All of those have something slightly different from a standard bank acccount but still covered under SDIC g'tee and using above market interest rates to attract customers.

If you mean hedging against the risk of floating interest rates moving against you - yes it is possible to enter into swap arrangements to change the floating interest rate into a fixed interest rate. These instruments would generally only be available to institutional investors.

A natural hedge is where you can neutralize (hedge) a risk through arranging an (investment/business) in a certain way instead of resorting to financial instruments. Eg. a mobile phone manufacturer has operations in China and exposed to FX risk on cost of production. By selling some of the output to China market then proceeds can cover cost of production and hence naturally hedge the FX risk.

Hedge funds are just one particular type of managed fund / unit trust. While there is no standard definition of hedge funds, they are characterised by use of complicated strategies involving leverage (borrowing), derivatives and short positions. Given the relative complexity of underlying investment approach, hedge funds are all custom and not suitable for general public (and hence need AI status to invest). As an asset class they were exceptionally hot in the 80s/90s but as time has passed markets have become more efficient and previous strategies no longer provide outperfomance. Warren Buffett famously made a bet in 2008 that certain set of hedge funds well known at the time would not outperform S&P500. It wasn't even close. By 2015, one of the hedge fund guys was leaving industry but the gap was so large, both sides agreed the hedge funds couldn't catch up and didn't bother with an adjustment for the leaving fund. Since then not much has changed, look on Bloomberg and you will see from time to time a hedge fund complain about the rise of algo/quant trading making life really tough for them. The tldr - not for average investor and no big outperformance you are missing out on.

Other answers focus on index vs stocks but I want to touch on S&P500 vs other indicies. Things do go in cycles and while S&P500 getting a lot of airtime recently due to record highs and 10 years of outstanding performance. However, it wasn't always like this, a historical recap: pre subprime crisis (so 2007 and before) - US market was steady but not outstanding. At that time the hot area was the so-called BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Amazing marketing aside, they did have an amazing record and were a particular subset of emerging markets which were all providing the same strong returns you see from S&P500 (US Market) in last 10 years. Since the crisis; emerging markets have been so-so; pockets of strong performance but nothing sustained. My point is - Indexing has strong theorectical basis but then choice of index is still up for consideration. Who knows how long the latest tech boom may last; maybe can consider world wide index tracker (eg VT) for long term portfolio