Singapore Savings Bond - November 2022

Applied for another 10k of Singapore Savings Bond.  The 3.47% yield was just too tempting to ignore.  What other instrument can give this yield over 10 years?  

Most other products like fixed deposit probably cannot compare with the yield and liquidity of the SSB.

Assuming one has 200k in SSB, you can expect around 6-7k in interest income every year based on a yield of 3-3.5%.

That is a reasonable sum for passive income paid out twice yearly.  And it is CAPITAL GUARANTEED. 

Bank Savings Account Interest Rates and Singapore Savings Bond

The interest rates for the flagship savings account of the 3 local banks have gone up.  As of 1 November 2022, the interest rates are as follows:

UOB One Account- 3.6%

DBS Multiplier Account- 4.1% 

OCBC 360 - 4.65%

Meanwhile, Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) 10 year average interest rate of the December tranche  = 3.47%

Which one is more attractive?

I think the SSBs are a good long term holding.  While the interest rate seems less,  you don't really have to jump through any hoops or fulfill any spend/save/salary kind of criteria to earn the higher interest rates. 

Given how the SSBs were oversubscribed in the last tranche,  I think I will opt for a 10k sum for this tranche. 

CPF and Singapore Savings Bond - Risk Free Component of Portfolio

Have been making regular voluntary contributions or top-ups to my CPF ever since I started working.  This is on top of the "mandatory" contributions and it has been tough at times to force myself to top-up especially when cashflow might be tight and there are so many other investment opportunities out there that are screaming a "Buy!".

However, the CPF really forms a solid foundation for anyone's retirement plan.  Having been inspired by other blogs in my younger days, I stuck to the habit of making regular contributions to my CPF Special Account and Medisave Account since this was earning an interest rate of 4%.  This was much higher than any fixed deposit rates out there in the past 10 years (ignoring this year of course where fixed deposit rates have climbed up).

At times, I will also refund my CPF housing loan component which I had utilised to buy my home.  This has not been the priority recently since there are other instruments such as the Singapore Savings Bonds which now provides an interest rate or return of more than 2.6%.  Thus, it makes sense to buy into these instruments using my spare cash instead of returning money to my CPF OA which only earns 2.5%.

The CPF now forms a significant amount of my portfolio as it is equivalent to the risk free or "bond-like" component of my portfolio.  I am essentially investing in a risk free asset and this should form the base of my retirement portfolio.

Building Up Retirement Funds - Two Easy Ways?

There are many ways to build up your retirement funds in Singapore. You can choose to just keep it in the bank or find other ways to make your savings grow. Well, there are actually 2 easy ways to do so that probably helps you beat the low interest paid on bank deposits.

The first way is the Singapore Savings Bond. This is basically government issued debt sold to the public every month. Minimum investment amount is $500 with a cap of $50,000. There is no penalty for cashing out early and the principal is paid at the end of 10 years. The interest paid out increases each year. Holding it to the max of 10 years will give annual average returns of 2.6%. Totally risk free since they are backed by Singapore government

The second method I can think of is to top up your CPF account or even your spouse CPF account. You can claim tax relief ( up to $7000) and you can enjoy 4 to 5% interest depending on how much you have in your CPF. Problem is that you will only be able to touch it many years later at your drawdown age when CPF Life kicks in for you.

So what do you think about the two ways I have outlined? Leave your comments below!