What to do with my money from SAYS in NS?

Hi guys, I'm about to ORD and I have saved closed to $12k in NS. I have been diligently putting my money on SAYS posb scheme. I believe I will take back about $400+ as a cash gift. I also set aside $1,000 in StashAway which is earning a decent amount. Should I put $12k into StashAway or diversify my portfolio?

I'm not a high risk taker, and I hope I can get some advise on how I can maximize my earnings from the savings. Thanks in advance.

Discussion (2)

What are your thoughts?

Learn how to style your text

Thomas Koo

09 Jul 2019

Hi Colin,

Congrats, ORd coming sooonn...

I suggest before you start investing, do read up on available investment methods and tools.

After that, consider what you have now and how much you can risk it (I mean losing ALL of it).

Then, select the investment tools and risk/return expectation align with your investing capital and risk appetite.

As a rule of thumb, high return=high risk, vice versa.

All the best !

Save

Tay_WenHao

06 Jul 2019

Hey, first of all, congrats on your upcoming ORD! Hahas I still have 1 more year to go.

Before I start answering the question, I think its important for you to state whats your next milestone after ORD. Further studies in university? Start working to gain experience? Or any other plans you have in mind. Also, will you be using this $12k anytime soon? E.g if you are going to university, will you be using this $12k for school fees/living expenses or will you be taking a education loan? It's important to know how long you will be putting this money aside for before we can recommend the best for you.

Assuming you wont be using this $12k any time soon, I would first suggest you to put aside maybe $5000 in a high interest rate bank/SSB* for emergency funds. Then for the remaining $7k you can invest in REITS, blue chip stocks or even further top up your StashAway. Like you have mentioned, it's good to diversify your portfolio. So I would say maybe $3000 in REITS (2 - 3 counter), then another $3000 in blue chip stocks (2 - 3 counter) and the last $1000 to topup your stashaway to $2000. I personally feel that REITS and blue chip stocks should be quite stable and low risks. Just make sure you do your own due diligence and invest in a strong and stable company.

*Note: For this coming month SSB is dropping to about 1.68% which is quite low as compared to other high interest bank accounts (DBS Multiplier, UOB One Account, OCBC 365). But it also depends if you can hit the requirements to get the higher interest so just do your research and see which one gives you more interest. It's important to keep the emergency funds incase anything happens and you really need the money.

Save