How and where to Invest money in Singapore for beginners

Singaporeans have varying aspirations. Some dream to be rich, others dream to have a free and easy lifestyle. Whatever your dream is, having wealth helps to achieve what you want. In discussing about wealth accumulation, many Singaporeans see investment as a good way to earn additional returns. However, many beginners are often stumped by the huge selection of investment vehicles and contradicting investment advice. In light of this, it is not easy to know how and where to invest your money in Singapore.

This is a common question that many Singaporeans have. Those who are risk adverse will place their savings in fixed deposits with Banks, even though the interest earned is less than 0.5%. With SGD 10,000, an annualised yield of 0.5% will amount to about $50 Dollars. If you have SGD 10 thousand dollars in savings, do you find a SGD 50 dollars in returns to be meaningful? .

Many Singaporeans inherently understand the idea of meaningful return. To some, a meaningful return is a double digit return on equity or interest/dividend. Or perhaps, there is no upper bound to how much return they desire. This means that the higher the return, the more meaningful it is. However, how about the possibility of loss? What if the investment does not work in your favor.

Hence, it is also important to look at capital protection. Just as we seek to achieve the highest possible return, we must also do so in safe strategic ways. Yet, there are many ways we can achieve this safety. Some may look for less risky assets, believing in only Investment Grade Credits and Government Bills. Others may believe in building that safety within their investment technique by having a margin of safety when deciding on an investment. With so many ways to increase the possibility of capital preservation, which way should you use and why? 

The best Investment to make money is not in any REIT, Stock or Investment vehicle. As Lee Kuan Yew famously said “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”, it is important to learn how to make your own investment decisions without heavy reliance of other people’s opinions or advice. By learning how to make investment decisions, one is not only better equipped to capitalise on investing opportunities but will also be able to understand better the world around them. 

The best investment to make money is none other than an investment in yourselfand your ability to understand the world around you.