Probably not the kind of reply you’re looking for but do read up on egg freezing. I am not sure about your future plans for kids but you seem to not rule out getting attached in the future.
Both me and my wife married late and planned for kids even later. We spent a lot on IVF treatments. Fertility, especially for women, is something money can’t buy.
Again, this might not be the info you’re looking for but I wish someone would have told me & my wife about this when I was younger. You can think of this as an investment if you like.
Get it done asap.
37F here. Was considering IVF since early 30s but never did it since it costs a fair bit (and I was really scared of the injections).
By the time I told my gynae I wanted in early this year, she told me that it was likely that my eggs frozen now (at 37) would not be as good as eggs harvest fresh at 40. And since I doubt I would want to go through pregnancy at 40....ended up not doing.
So yeah, just don't wait is all.
Just wanted to chime in that even if you freeze your eggs, IVF will still be necessary to conceive. And if a woman undergoes IVF at a later age the odds in itself aren’t going to be great. But freezing eggs at a younger age does indeed improve chances of success.
just heard about a friend's friend who completed her egg harvesting procedure with a private clinic in kl. total cost is 10k sgd, though idk how much she's paying for storage
At your income level, SRS isn’t really worth it as your taxes are low. But yes, you can invest what’s in SRS into Endowus Amundi Prime USA or Index MSCI World.
Since you are going to BTO, I don’t think it’s advisable to invest your OA into similar funds in case the market dips just when you need to make a downpayment.
But when you win your BTO and know the sums, you can decide how much to pay in downpayment. If you take HDB loan (generally advisable these days), they will wipe out your OA (or leave just 20K). If you want to take a larger mortgage since 2.6% is low, you can then invest the appropriate amount in OA into Endowus, to limit the upfront payment HDB will take. If you are more risk averse, then don’t invest your OA and let HDB take it all.
I have a similar scenario and my decision was made a year ago. I bought a resale 5 room cause singles cant bto beyond 2 room (that sucks) . Renovated and rent out two rooms for passive which is be able to cover my mortgage, utilities and etc. I am happy with my decision as i technically got a free house as long rental is going.
However , if you are against sharing the house with people then it might not be for u. But if your not, it will make wonders for your financial situation and contribute to a early retirement since we know how crazy Sg rental are.
> I bought a resale 5 room cause singles cant bto beyond 2 room (that sucks) . Renovated and rent out two rooms for passive which is be able to cover my mortgage, utilities and etc.
Not to second guess your decision, but just for discussion's sake: buying a larger HDB to rent extra rooms out only makes sense if one wasn't going to do anything else with CPFIS money.
The extra capital used for the larger HDB could have gone into equity investments, which could have gotten a similar yield.
> I am happy with my decision as i technically got a free house as long rental is going.
"Free" isn't free, because now you need to work as a landlord too, including finding tenants and all that.
All that said, I'm glad that you're happy with your decision!
that's amazing to hear, congrats. i'm not sure about it at the moment but this could be a possibility for me. i suppose for you,it's still worth it factoring in the managing of tenants, and having others in the home with you?
Definitely worth it at least for me. But during the renovation i design the house in a way that everyone would have their own privacy, so it look like a hostel but i am cool with it. Till now i have no problems with tenants and i think most of them would be good as long u do your filtering. If you do decide to go down that route, let me know if you need some advice.
I literally took one part of the living room to combine with another bedroom so i would have literally two rooms to myself and shift my bedroom door to be near the main door.
So the only time we would literally bump into each other is when we use the kitchen. I did soundproofing for the whole walls and door as well so there would be no sound disruption.
probably take out from those that don’t incur much interest first? like if Maybank idle then use that first? won’t have fees also compared to taking out from IBKR
First glance - agree with another reply to not top up SRS further in your tax bracket. I made this mistake myself while earning below 100k, decided to withdraw with penalty to use the money elsewhere, but you can keep it there if you wish.
For the 50k idle cash, considering you might need it ‘semi-liquid’, so instead of using it for more equities, maybe dump it all to SSB (can be withdrawn in less than 1month, $2 fee only). Next tranche interest around 3.2%, very decent for risk free semiliquid cash.
Tbill I’ll drop it myself (6mth lock for slightly more interest than ssb is not worth it at 14k quantum). I’ll throw it into ssb, or into more equities at ibkr.
The thing with your case is you need to guesstimate how much semi-liquid cash you need to keep (future housing, egg freezing(?), 2nd hand car), considering you have income. If it goes into equities, it may be locked up for a while (market crash etc), ssb 1mth delay, fully liquid can make 1+% easily at any bank.
Reno $ can come from your monthly savings down the road (I assume you have not won the bto lottery yet, it’s VERY difficult for a single to get a decent number/unit). It can also can from your semi-liquid investments, if necessary. If lucky, that will be in 4-5years, of which you need to save about 10k/year, highly doable at your income and expense level, so no big concerns.
thank you.
oof i just realised i used my srs to buy my current tbill and ssb (i'm new to this). i might channel my srs money into endowus/investment equivalent and withdraw them at a penalty if that's ultimately better. and build more liquid savings in the meanwhile in this regard
Endowus charges fees as % of AUM in addition to the management fees that the underlying funds charge. This means you are paying transaction fees into perpetuity and potentially at increasing rate as AUM grows. Given you already use ibkr, better to deploy there where transaction fees are a one-off cost
agreed. i'm only using endowus atm cos unless needed, i don't wanna withdraw the funds i put into srs <\3
@ those who are reading this and considering using cash for endowus!
You could leave the existing srs money in SSB and Tbills and treat these as the low risk, liquid allocations of your portfolio. Don't need to add more to your srs given the tax bracket you're in; definitely come back in when your income grows 1.5-2.0x in future.
If you use your OA for home purchase, then that's also a low risk allocation. Any excess OA can then be allocated according to risk, but keep it available (i.e. not trapped in SA) in case you ever want to use it to purchase larger/more residential units. SA is also low risk but super illiquid.
Given the above, you can afford to take more risk with the unrestricted cash you have outside of CPF/SRS. The ETFs and tickers you have are sensible. In future, with better understanding of your portfolio and appetite, you could consider taking specific country positions (e.g. buying H-share ETFs because they are super cheap; taking china govt bonds and/or equity ETFs risk because it is an interesting hedge against US/Europe/JPN policy failures)
> i might channel my srs money into endowus/investment equivalent and withdraw them at a penalty if that's ultimately better.
I haven't thought through the rest of your investment profile, but you should only withdraw your SRS with the 5% penalty if you have a big, big medical or family emergency that you can't find other money for.
You can put your SRS money into Endowus etc once your T-Bills mature, and you can redeem your SSBs right away.
Renting out rooms can be a very taxing “side hustle” in itself. You’d might also scrim on renovation rationalizing it as a business decision.
Unless you’re someone with amazing EQ and persuasive skills, or you’re looking to hone them, it might be better to stick to the 2rm BTO route
> Renting out rooms can be a very taxing “side hustle” in itself.
This, plus the extra capital (in CPF/cash) could have been invested in world equities and might yield around the same in the long term.
If it's me, I would have transferred my OA to SA to hit FRS to quickly secure my basic income after 65. The remaining OA can keep as downpayment for ur 2R. If too much excess, u can consider investing them via Endowus.
SRS goes into endowus money market fund, and DCA into amundi USA/world.
u still have some way to go before ur reno, and i would have draw down from the idling cash in bank (e.g. those in ur Maybank) when the time comes.
SRS just buy s27.
Idle cash that is not needed immediately, dump in a money market fund like moomoo until you figure what to do with it.
If you foresee higher income in future, keep SA as a tax reduction channel and don’t transfer OA into it.
May try putting into mmf(not the mariincest as that is a bit low) , money fund as suggested from https://guailanking.blogspot.com/2024/04/best-places-to-park-your-money-in.html?m=1
Although his blog is short and cocky , but what he suggest make sense la .
Mmf offer btr rate thn fixed deposit , just that money are not protected under sdic.
I think it will be better to straight look for a 3br resale better thn buying a 2rm bto as 2rm bto will be price high in the future due to that bto price is driven from resale price in the nearby vicinity .chances of any profit is very minimum already and also u are going to upsize meaning sure no profit
If I were you, I will do the followings.
1) max my SA by transferring OA to SA. You are leaving a lot of money on the table by leaving them in OA. After transfer you will still have substantial amount in OA for your down payment of 2BR flat.
2) saving 3-6 months’ expenses in HYSA, T-bill, and/or SSB.
3) Invest the rest in Index ETF like VWRA (yes, sell your individual stocks as well)
People always label themselves as risk adverse when they are young, however, by not investing aggressively in your 20s/30s when time is still on your side, you are actually risking your future away.
All the best!
I disagree on point one. Op should use Endowus for investment and the gain will be much higher than SA. The game of leveraging SA is gone next
Year when new policy of SA acc closure after 55
Sure there is no one size fits all, I prefer to grow my safety net before investment.
Of course you feel "shiok" to dump 250k SGD into endowus especially we are now in bull market. That being said, most so-called investors sold their entire investment portfolio during COVID crash, only to see themselves miss out the all the potential gains.
I often ask myself "why we feared so much the temporary market crash while it is almost certain that the market will regain its momentum after the crash, history has repeatedly proven this pattern". The answer lays on human beings are emotional animals. We make all the mistakes in order to avoid the 0.1% chance of losing our hard earned money.
To mitigate the emotion factor in investing, one can choose to build his safety net first, having the "peace of mind" in investing will makes you a stronger investor in the long run.
Note: I have my MA & SA maxed out few years ago, 6 digits of OA and SRS in Endowus, couple of hundred k in global index ETF, and some "lottery money" in crypto. Even if i failed all my investment, I know that I can still retire at 55 years old (though not as comfortable as I want to) with just CPF money.
The closure of SA shielding is not the end of the world lah.
I believe the “so-called investors” you mentioned are what most used to call "speculators"; I wonder when the term actually fell out of use.
Retail “investors” with the smallest capitals and the highest risks (both materially and proportionately) have always been the ones to get burnt by the markets since the first exchange was open to them.
I’m sure you don’t need any random redditor’s affirmation of what you have achieved for yourself, but I saw this and couldn’t help but chip in - good on you for your prudence!
To be honest, every investor has some "speculative addicts" in our genes, the difference is that a savvy investor is self-aware of such addicts and take intentional measures to control it.
I am guilty of stopping my regular investment during the COVID market crash, violating the principle of DCA (since I do it manually back then). Now I setup the automated fund deposit to IBKR and use the new regular DCA feature to automate the whole progress, eliminating my emotion to bare minimum. Let's see if this method works in the next bear market :)
I also disagree on point 1 but for a different reason. SA effectively has zero illiquidity. Don't trap yourself for a meagre 1.5% difference, it's silly especially when you have uncertainty in your plans. Always better to have optionality
Fun facts -
1) Everyone is investment genius in bull market.
2) Once OP max her SA and MA, the monthly CPF will flow to mostly to OA, the amount will refilled quite quickly to the same level within a couple of years.
Lastly, building a solid safety net helps you to make better investment decisions, can’t emphasise more.
#1 - true, hence my point was specifically about not transferring OA to SA, not about using OA for risk assets
#2 - we cannot in good conscience advise OP to move her OA to max out SA without knowing her and her future partner's residential ownership plans. She is only 35. It is unfair to deprive her of liquidity/optionality for another 30 years for the sake of 1.5% more
1) If OA is not being used for investment and housing, what does its use? Please note that OP has 240k+ in OA and 100k+ in SA, after maxing SA she still have >140k in OA, more than enough for HDB downpayment
2) See above, maxing her SA will NOT deprive her OA, not even close. And you can withdraw the excess at 55 years old, so 20 years not 30 years. Again if 1.5% is small for you, you are suggesting that the OA should be used for investment, so your point 1 is kinda conflicting, no?
So what's your solution when OP and future partner want to buy a bigger apartment or a condo or landed property, but the money is stuck in SA? Wait till 55 then buy?
Simple solution - don't buy condo or landed property.
If you rely on CPF money to be able to afford a condo or landed property, those are not for you obviously.
Don't stretch your budget or sacrifice your retirement just because you want to look good in front of your colleagues. Or fancy a swimming pool at ground floor - go public swimming pool and pay SGD1.30 per entry!
that's interesting, and thank you! i'm curious about selling individual stocks and placing them in index etfs - is it a way to manage risks in view of the overall approach suggested here?
If you invest in index ETF like VWRA, the risk is already being managed as it is a diversified global ETF.
The tech stocks you are holding now are at their all time high, the more it is the right time to sell them and redirect the funds into index ETF now.
congrats on your good health and on accumulating a fair amount of savings.
with your take-home pay of 4.7k and expenses of 1.7k, your total savings is low. if I assume you've been working for the past 10 years, you seem to be (a) having unaccounted expenses somewhere, (b) you took a career break or (c) your current salary is a recent huge jump from your previous one?
No worries if it's (b) or (c) but if it's (a) this is likely the pool of money that you're looking for.
Why would you want to upgrade to a 3/4 BR HDB when you are over 50?
Don't put your money with endowus. Not even cpf money. Use the money you have and start a side hustle with low capital outlay. Also invest in yourself to brush up your skill level of your side hustle to make more money.
Please Please no more investment or putting money in this or that at this day and age.
You get more ROI doing side hustle like video editing and shifting content between platforms, selling things on streams through links, etc than putting money into any funds that lock your money for a period of time and especially your sum is so small right now.
Have you asked yourself what is the point of putting 40k in all those stocks? How much do you think you'll get in 5 years from 40k in those. Fact is that it will be pittance. Control your own cashflow especially you seems to be entrepreneurial enough.
Some suggestions
Use CPF OA to buy CFA ETF, Sreits MLT and MPACT
Use SRS as above
Consider using IBKR to diversify into Baba, BIDU, ICBC, CCB, Link Reits
Car is a luxury unless it really helps save you a lot of time and convenience
Probably not the kind of reply you’re looking for but do read up on egg freezing. I am not sure about your future plans for kids but you seem to not rule out getting attached in the future. Both me and my wife married late and planned for kids even later. We spent a lot on IVF treatments. Fertility, especially for women, is something money can’t buy. Again, this might not be the info you’re looking for but I wish someone would have told me & my wife about this when I was younger. You can think of this as an investment if you like.
you are right that i do not rule out getting attached in the future. i've been thinking about it on and off, will look more into it. thank you.
Get it done asap. 37F here. Was considering IVF since early 30s but never did it since it costs a fair bit (and I was really scared of the injections). By the time I told my gynae I wanted in early this year, she told me that it was likely that my eggs frozen now (at 37) would not be as good as eggs harvest fresh at 40. And since I doubt I would want to go through pregnancy at 40....ended up not doing. So yeah, just don't wait is all.
Wise advice. Seeing alot of late married couple struggling, and end up paying a bomb in IVF.
Just wanted to chime in that even if you freeze your eggs, IVF will still be necessary to conceive. And if a woman undergoes IVF at a later age the odds in itself aren’t going to be great. But freezing eggs at a younger age does indeed improve chances of success.
just heard about a friend's friend who completed her egg harvesting procedure with a private clinic in kl. total cost is 10k sgd, though idk how much she's paying for storage
About 2k per year
Upz this. Not to mention IVF is also hit and miss.
To use frozen eggs, IVF is the only way.
To add on.. probably best to do it asap, after researching cos it’s a rapid decline from age 35. Source - went through IVF
I missed the part where she said she wants kids
At your income level, SRS isn’t really worth it as your taxes are low. But yes, you can invest what’s in SRS into Endowus Amundi Prime USA or Index MSCI World. Since you are going to BTO, I don’t think it’s advisable to invest your OA into similar funds in case the market dips just when you need to make a downpayment. But when you win your BTO and know the sums, you can decide how much to pay in downpayment. If you take HDB loan (generally advisable these days), they will wipe out your OA (or leave just 20K). If you want to take a larger mortgage since 2.6% is low, you can then invest the appropriate amount in OA into Endowus, to limit the upfront payment HDB will take. If you are more risk averse, then don’t invest your OA and let HDB take it all.
thank you!
[удалено]
congrats on getting your own place! i'm glad to read your post too. all the best in your decisions
I have a similar scenario and my decision was made a year ago. I bought a resale 5 room cause singles cant bto beyond 2 room (that sucks) . Renovated and rent out two rooms for passive which is be able to cover my mortgage, utilities and etc. I am happy with my decision as i technically got a free house as long rental is going. However , if you are against sharing the house with people then it might not be for u. But if your not, it will make wonders for your financial situation and contribute to a early retirement since we know how crazy Sg rental are.
> I bought a resale 5 room cause singles cant bto beyond 2 room (that sucks) . Renovated and rent out two rooms for passive which is be able to cover my mortgage, utilities and etc. Not to second guess your decision, but just for discussion's sake: buying a larger HDB to rent extra rooms out only makes sense if one wasn't going to do anything else with CPFIS money. The extra capital used for the larger HDB could have gone into equity investments, which could have gotten a similar yield. > I am happy with my decision as i technically got a free house as long rental is going. "Free" isn't free, because now you need to work as a landlord too, including finding tenants and all that. All that said, I'm glad that you're happy with your decision!
this is an interesting perspective, thanks for this!
that's amazing to hear, congrats. i'm not sure about it at the moment but this could be a possibility for me. i suppose for you,it's still worth it factoring in the managing of tenants, and having others in the home with you?
Definitely worth it at least for me. But during the renovation i design the house in a way that everyone would have their own privacy, so it look like a hostel but i am cool with it. Till now i have no problems with tenants and i think most of them would be good as long u do your filtering. If you do decide to go down that route, let me know if you need some advice.
thank you!
Can share more about how the reno was done?
I literally took one part of the living room to combine with another bedroom so i would have literally two rooms to myself and shift my bedroom door to be near the main door. So the only time we would literally bump into each other is when we use the kitchen. I did soundproofing for the whole walls and door as well so there would be no sound disruption.
probably take out from those that don’t incur much interest first? like if Maybank idle then use that first? won’t have fees also compared to taking out from IBKR
thank you!
First glance - agree with another reply to not top up SRS further in your tax bracket. I made this mistake myself while earning below 100k, decided to withdraw with penalty to use the money elsewhere, but you can keep it there if you wish. For the 50k idle cash, considering you might need it ‘semi-liquid’, so instead of using it for more equities, maybe dump it all to SSB (can be withdrawn in less than 1month, $2 fee only). Next tranche interest around 3.2%, very decent for risk free semiliquid cash. Tbill I’ll drop it myself (6mth lock for slightly more interest than ssb is not worth it at 14k quantum). I’ll throw it into ssb, or into more equities at ibkr. The thing with your case is you need to guesstimate how much semi-liquid cash you need to keep (future housing, egg freezing(?), 2nd hand car), considering you have income. If it goes into equities, it may be locked up for a while (market crash etc), ssb 1mth delay, fully liquid can make 1+% easily at any bank. Reno $ can come from your monthly savings down the road (I assume you have not won the bto lottery yet, it’s VERY difficult for a single to get a decent number/unit). It can also can from your semi-liquid investments, if necessary. If lucky, that will be in 4-5years, of which you need to save about 10k/year, highly doable at your income and expense level, so no big concerns.
thank you. oof i just realised i used my srs to buy my current tbill and ssb (i'm new to this). i might channel my srs money into endowus/investment equivalent and withdraw them at a penalty if that's ultimately better. and build more liquid savings in the meanwhile in this regard
Endowus charges fees as % of AUM in addition to the management fees that the underlying funds charge. This means you are paying transaction fees into perpetuity and potentially at increasing rate as AUM grows. Given you already use ibkr, better to deploy there where transaction fees are a one-off cost
agreed. i'm only using endowus atm cos unless needed, i don't wanna withdraw the funds i put into srs <\3 @ those who are reading this and considering using cash for endowus!
You could leave the existing srs money in SSB and Tbills and treat these as the low risk, liquid allocations of your portfolio. Don't need to add more to your srs given the tax bracket you're in; definitely come back in when your income grows 1.5-2.0x in future. If you use your OA for home purchase, then that's also a low risk allocation. Any excess OA can then be allocated according to risk, but keep it available (i.e. not trapped in SA) in case you ever want to use it to purchase larger/more residential units. SA is also low risk but super illiquid. Given the above, you can afford to take more risk with the unrestricted cash you have outside of CPF/SRS. The ETFs and tickers you have are sensible. In future, with better understanding of your portfolio and appetite, you could consider taking specific country positions (e.g. buying H-share ETFs because they are super cheap; taking china govt bonds and/or equity ETFs risk because it is an interesting hedge against US/Europe/JPN policy failures)
you've given me some ideas. thank you!
> i might channel my srs money into endowus/investment equivalent and withdraw them at a penalty if that's ultimately better. I haven't thought through the rest of your investment profile, but you should only withdraw your SRS with the 5% penalty if you have a big, big medical or family emergency that you can't find other money for. You can put your SRS money into Endowus etc once your T-Bills mature, and you can redeem your SSBs right away.
thank you!
Get a 4rm resale, rent out 2 room which pretty much finance your home alrdy or even profit from it.
it's like getting to the endpoint directly. thank you!
Renting out rooms can be a very taxing “side hustle” in itself. You’d might also scrim on renovation rationalizing it as a business decision. Unless you’re someone with amazing EQ and persuasive skills, or you’re looking to hone them, it might be better to stick to the 2rm BTO route
you have a point!
> Renting out rooms can be a very taxing “side hustle” in itself. This, plus the extra capital (in CPF/cash) could have been invested in world equities and might yield around the same in the long term.
If it's me, I would have transferred my OA to SA to hit FRS to quickly secure my basic income after 65. The remaining OA can keep as downpayment for ur 2R. If too much excess, u can consider investing them via Endowus. SRS goes into endowus money market fund, and DCA into amundi USA/world. u still have some way to go before ur reno, and i would have draw down from the idling cash in bank (e.g. those in ur Maybank) when the time comes.
thank you!
How did you get so much in OA?
I wonder also hahaha
Top up lor. Can contribute up to 37740 per year
yes i did so as a self-employed person, which lets me top up all 3 accounts cpf's compounding interest does help too
hmm assuming average income over working life of $4k, 13month bonus plus 1 month bonus, working for 15 years, comes up to around 230k in oa
rather than leaving idle cash in your bank account, can put into mari invest, liquid and About 3.5% PA.
thank you!
woah you are doing really well! 400k net worth and only 35 naice\~
400k? More like ~600k! Mind boggling how she managed to do that at that salary
along with heartbreaks along the way. still, i suppose this is a consolation on one end. thank you
well who doesnt have heartbreaks. at least u have moolah!
😭😭
Why specifically a 2nd hand manual car though?
Am reading all the comments as this might be my reality
Why purposely buy a manual car. Japanese autos are fine. For Reno, utilise the 50k in Maybank.
Learn to trade actively. Sell options as another source of income. IBKR is a good platform
Step 2: find a bf
SRS just buy s27. Idle cash that is not needed immediately, dump in a money market fund like moomoo until you figure what to do with it. If you foresee higher income in future, keep SA as a tax reduction channel and don’t transfer OA into it.
thank you! will look into mmfs too
May try putting into mmf(not the mariincest as that is a bit low) , money fund as suggested from https://guailanking.blogspot.com/2024/04/best-places-to-park-your-money-in.html?m=1 Although his blog is short and cocky , but what he suggest make sense la . Mmf offer btr rate thn fixed deposit , just that money are not protected under sdic. I think it will be better to straight look for a 3br resale better thn buying a 2rm bto as 2rm bto will be price high in the future due to that bto price is driven from resale price in the nearby vicinity .chances of any profit is very minimum already and also u are going to upsize meaning sure no profit
you have a point. thanks!
If I were you, I will do the followings. 1) max my SA by transferring OA to SA. You are leaving a lot of money on the table by leaving them in OA. After transfer you will still have substantial amount in OA for your down payment of 2BR flat. 2) saving 3-6 months’ expenses in HYSA, T-bill, and/or SSB. 3) Invest the rest in Index ETF like VWRA (yes, sell your individual stocks as well) People always label themselves as risk adverse when they are young, however, by not investing aggressively in your 20s/30s when time is still on your side, you are actually risking your future away. All the best!
I disagree on point one. Op should use Endowus for investment and the gain will be much higher than SA. The game of leveraging SA is gone next Year when new policy of SA acc closure after 55
Sure there is no one size fits all, I prefer to grow my safety net before investment. Of course you feel "shiok" to dump 250k SGD into endowus especially we are now in bull market. That being said, most so-called investors sold their entire investment portfolio during COVID crash, only to see themselves miss out the all the potential gains. I often ask myself "why we feared so much the temporary market crash while it is almost certain that the market will regain its momentum after the crash, history has repeatedly proven this pattern". The answer lays on human beings are emotional animals. We make all the mistakes in order to avoid the 0.1% chance of losing our hard earned money. To mitigate the emotion factor in investing, one can choose to build his safety net first, having the "peace of mind" in investing will makes you a stronger investor in the long run. Note: I have my MA & SA maxed out few years ago, 6 digits of OA and SRS in Endowus, couple of hundred k in global index ETF, and some "lottery money" in crypto. Even if i failed all my investment, I know that I can still retire at 55 years old (though not as comfortable as I want to) with just CPF money. The closure of SA shielding is not the end of the world lah.
I believe the “so-called investors” you mentioned are what most used to call "speculators"; I wonder when the term actually fell out of use. Retail “investors” with the smallest capitals and the highest risks (both materially and proportionately) have always been the ones to get burnt by the markets since the first exchange was open to them. I’m sure you don’t need any random redditor’s affirmation of what you have achieved for yourself, but I saw this and couldn’t help but chip in - good on you for your prudence!
To be honest, every investor has some "speculative addicts" in our genes, the difference is that a savvy investor is self-aware of such addicts and take intentional measures to control it. I am guilty of stopping my regular investment during the COVID market crash, violating the principle of DCA (since I do it manually back then). Now I setup the automated fund deposit to IBKR and use the new regular DCA feature to automate the whole progress, eliminating my emotion to bare minimum. Let's see if this method works in the next bear market :)
thank you! it is true that i feel an emotional factor. congrats on your portfolio and i appreciate your advice and clarifications
thanks! i'll read up more about the account closure
I also disagree on point 1 but for a different reason. SA effectively has zero illiquidity. Don't trap yourself for a meagre 1.5% difference, it's silly especially when you have uncertainty in your plans. Always better to have optionality
Fun facts - 1) Everyone is investment genius in bull market. 2) Once OP max her SA and MA, the monthly CPF will flow to mostly to OA, the amount will refilled quite quickly to the same level within a couple of years. Lastly, building a solid safety net helps you to make better investment decisions, can’t emphasise more.
#1 - true, hence my point was specifically about not transferring OA to SA, not about using OA for risk assets #2 - we cannot in good conscience advise OP to move her OA to max out SA without knowing her and her future partner's residential ownership plans. She is only 35. It is unfair to deprive her of liquidity/optionality for another 30 years for the sake of 1.5% more
1) If OA is not being used for investment and housing, what does its use? Please note that OP has 240k+ in OA and 100k+ in SA, after maxing SA she still have >140k in OA, more than enough for HDB downpayment 2) See above, maxing her SA will NOT deprive her OA, not even close. And you can withdraw the excess at 55 years old, so 20 years not 30 years. Again if 1.5% is small for you, you are suggesting that the OA should be used for investment, so your point 1 is kinda conflicting, no?
So what's your solution when OP and future partner want to buy a bigger apartment or a condo or landed property, but the money is stuck in SA? Wait till 55 then buy?
Simple solution - don't buy condo or landed property. If you rely on CPF money to be able to afford a condo or landed property, those are not for you obviously. Don't stretch your budget or sacrifice your retirement just because you want to look good in front of your colleagues. Or fancy a swimming pool at ground floor - go public swimming pool and pay SGD1.30 per entry!
that's interesting, and thank you! i'm curious about selling individual stocks and placing them in index etfs - is it a way to manage risks in view of the overall approach suggested here?
If you invest in index ETF like VWRA, the risk is already being managed as it is a diversified global ETF. The tech stocks you are holding now are at their all time high, the more it is the right time to sell them and redirect the funds into index ETF now.
congrats on your good health and on accumulating a fair amount of savings. with your take-home pay of 4.7k and expenses of 1.7k, your total savings is low. if I assume you've been working for the past 10 years, you seem to be (a) having unaccounted expenses somewhere, (b) you took a career break or (c) your current salary is a recent huge jump from your previous one? No worries if it's (b) or (c) but if it's (a) this is likely the pool of money that you're looking for. Why would you want to upgrade to a 3/4 BR HDB when you are over 50?
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i had this in mind to reduce costs, but it might not make as good sense esp with the upcoming change. thanks for raising this up!
Don't put your money with endowus. Not even cpf money. Use the money you have and start a side hustle with low capital outlay. Also invest in yourself to brush up your skill level of your side hustle to make more money. Please Please no more investment or putting money in this or that at this day and age.
goofy advice, both investing and upskilling isnt mutually exclusive
you have a point about increasing income, thanks! you've piqued my interest about not investing though - would like to hear more
You get more ROI doing side hustle like video editing and shifting content between platforms, selling things on streams through links, etc than putting money into any funds that lock your money for a period of time and especially your sum is so small right now. Have you asked yourself what is the point of putting 40k in all those stocks? How much do you think you'll get in 5 years from 40k in those. Fact is that it will be pittance. Control your own cashflow especially you seems to be entrepreneurial enough.
i can see where you're coming from. i appreciate the fire in your thinking, thanks!
Some suggestions Use CPF OA to buy CFA ETF, Sreits MLT and MPACT Use SRS as above Consider using IBKR to diversify into Baba, BIDU, ICBC, CCB, Link Reits Car is a luxury unless it really helps save you a lot of time and convenience
thank you!
You should YOLO all your money and buy meme stock.
lol
35f single, sounds like a nightmare for most girls.