If I'm totally new to investments, where should I park my money first?

I think before you look into the various instruments as everyone else suggested, it is more important to determine your investment goals and also take your whole financial situation(and expected future changes) into consideration.

Eg. Have you gotten appropriate protection like hospitalisation insurance, critical illness insurance covered? How long can do leave your savings to be remain invested (that means you don't need the money to spend)? Plan for retirement (can afford to take a very long investment timeframe) ? Or you want your money to remain liquid (u want to withdraw them anytime). Once you define your goals, then u can start establishing your risk appetite, then u will know what instruments will be suitable.

Hi there,

If you are investing for next 2-3 years. Then I would suggest to invest in dividend sharing stocks and REIT's. As trade war is almost over, stock market and realestate market may rise in 2019-2020.

Here I am sharing a couple of links related to undervalued dividend stocks and REITS. I would suggest you to look over there.

REITS stocks https://www.mmfsolutions.sg/blog/singapore-unde...

Undervalued High Dividend Stocks https://www.fool.sg/2018/08/16/a-look-at-some-o...

Perhaps you should monitor the market first as it is very volatile. Since you do not have any experience in investment, I would suggest you do some research into it first. You have to decide which investment instruments (such as equities, bonds, property etc) would suit your risk profile. Do not rush into investing the market. Perhaps you may want to consider Singapore Saving Bonds first.

Mm you may wish to look into any of the following if you are new in your investment journey

• Singapore Savings Bonds

• Citibank's Maxigain account (ask for waiver of the TRM fee, if possible, before opening the account). If not possible, CIMB's FastSaver for the flat 1% interest

• Fixed deposits

• ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund through POSB's Invest Saver programme

• Robo advisories (with low risk profile portfolio selected)

Beyond these, I'd suggest reading up online or via books to find out more about investing before venturing into riskier instruments. Or find a mentor to guide you - you will need to usually fork out some sum for a workshop on learning how to invest, but you will save quite a bit of time as compared to figuring out stuff on your own. Make sure that the mentor you choose has a proven track record and has a strong community behind him.

But even before starting on anything, do ensure that you have sufficient funds to tide you over for a period of time if something untoward were to happen (God forbid). This serves as your emergency funds, and parking these into a FastSaver account is a good idea.

All the best in your investment journey, and do feel free to ask further if you need help. Cheers