Hi! I am currently a student and I have around 30k savings. What should I do with it? I tried reading some of the articles but there's just too many types of investment. What would you recommend for a beginner?

Dear Jiaqi,

Well done and those precious savings need great advice, access to good products and you need to invest in a low cost manner - as cost and fees are one of the biggest reaons why people struggle with their investments. There are several options to go it alone and do DIY or try out various online and offline platforms. Some great books to get you going. Such as The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle(founder of Vanguard) & Unconventional Success by David Swenson(CIO of Yale Endowment). Please also take a look at this article I wrote. https://endowus.com/insights/true-giants-of-the-investment-world-buffett-templeton-booth-bogle-swensen-5eaf2babf6/

I would ask you to try out Endowus, the most sophisticated wholly digital independent financial advisor in Singapore. Which means we are lowest cost at providing the most sophisticated advice that is available and we are independent so we are not paid off by any other financial product peddler or owned by any big financial institution. You can see here https://www.endowus.com We provide sophisticated institutional services that is similar to the way institutional investors would do it, like sovereign wealth fund (think GIC) or Yale/Harvard Endowments who have some of the best long term investment track records. We also have been contributing and doing our part to financial education and have a regular write up that is approachable and relatable yet focuses on the most important key facets of investing as an individual. Here - https://endowus.com/insights/ Check out the content there and reach out to us if you need any help.

I was previously the CEO & Chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Investment Mgt and have 25 years experience and I have together with my partners created Endowus to provide the kind of service that I would want myself and for my friends. So try it out and let me know your thoughts. We are rolling out our services in coming months but we have a simple core portfolio solution that is suitable for 95% of Singaporean individual investors. Tax-efficient, SGD-denominated(so no FX risk) and cost effective as well to a fraction of the industry average costs. Please do more research and enjoy the learning process.

If you want to learn more about what Roboadvisors do as some have suggested to you here, (and also why Endowus is different!) then take a look at this article as well. I wrote it in The Edge a little while back and it will help you understand the whole landscape much better. https://cdn.endowus.com/press/TheEdge%202019-03-08%20-%20Are%20robo-advisors%20doing%20what%20they%20say.pdf

Happy investing!

All the Best,

Sam

If this savings is "sleeping money," something you're not going to touch in the next 10-20 years, then perhaps you can consider doing equity based unit trusts. Basically you put your money with a fundhouse (along with other investors) where a professional investment manager helps allocate your money in their own designed diversified portfolio. Alternatively, bond unit trusts provides you with a dividend rate which you can reinvest to grow your money too. Of course you can find out more information by speaking to your banker. If you buy into the idea that people make mistakes and robot algorithms dont, then you can consider robo advisors such as stashaway. Based on your risk profile, they'll build a portfolio for yourself. But take note that such investments have the possibility of losing your capital.

If you don't want to talk about losing your 30k anytime soon or you are unable to ride out the highs and lows, then you can consider putting your money in Standard Chartered bonus saver @ 1% guaranteed interest up to 26 years. Alternatively, Singlife provides you with a 2.5% non guaranteed interest; but at least your capital is guaranteed. Finally, you can put it in Fixed deposits of 1 year durations. ​​​