BEST Places To Park Your Money In Singapore 2024? You are all wrong

came back just so say that sinkie finfluenzas are really pathetic

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RyUQMy-_WE&

kelvin learns investing

i watch many different sinkie yewtube finfluenzas talk about this every other month to get easy views, once some banks change rates

they all are wrong

the end game high level answer is wise interest

it is a "bank account" that *can invest all your cash into money market funds

but since it works like a bank account, there is no liquidity downtime

the catch here is that wise charges a 0.25% fee on top of the mmf fund manager fee, but is it worth it?

you get cash-like liquidity with mmf like returns, i think the answer is very obvious

you might think that wise has a balance limit, which is correct, if you hold plain cash only

if you opt in for interests, your balance becomes unlimited

i hold 6 digits in wise

i said "bank account" because its not really a bank account. it is not covered under SDIC and it is only a MPI, rather than a bank, by MAS classification

dont waste your time with all the different bank accounts with limits and gimmicks, unless they are things you already do and just fits into your workflow

 

i share this wise lobang because i think innovative companies like this deserve to earn from your balances more than other institutions

but its probably the best solution that you've never heard of

it is a bit disgusting how finfluenzas dont talk about this

they only know how to talk about things with affiliate codes

if you want something with minimal fees / max returns and don't mind a bit of liquidity downtime, any of the cash managemenet accounts by any of the brokers that just dump into money market funds can work

if you want to lock up your cash for long term, you are stupid

the point of cash is liquidity, and if you give up liquidity, you are an idiot

fixed deposits and tbills are for financially illiterate people

 

do not look for better instruments with zero drawdowns

become a better investor that is okay with drawdowns

 

a famous person once said

life is all risk, and then you die

blogging semi retirement

i am old and suffering from burn out

on reflection, my points are all about the same one

dont hold non US stocks

dont hold currency that isnt USD

cryptocurrencies are not currencies, so hold bitcoin is ok

investing is small part the investment, large part the investor

passive income is a drug that will make you feel good but keep you poor

i will make posts to the blog less

it was a good run for the past few months

i dont know how the mentors i look up to can do this for years and years lol

tracking my passive income

i read this blog post

https://apenquotes.wordpress.com/2024/04/09/tracking-my-passive-income/ 

so i went to find my "passive income"

bank account interests + money market funds = $10,000 per month

zero REITs

zero dividend stocks

zero investment linked insurance

zero t-bills

no count CPF

no options selling

work backwords, i think you can make educated guess the cash base amount

it is not that i humji want to hold cash

but liquidity is important when all other positions are maximum risk

my most sincere advice is not fall for passive income mindset

 

if you have access to a lot of liquidity on demand, you do not need to match inflow and outflow

you can, if you want to

but i am here to remind you, that you do NOT need to

 

when this light bulb can flick on for you

you will become a much more profitable investor

some people will see $10K a month and go "wa, like that can retire"

but those same people will never have what it takes to build up to a base that can provide $10K a month

my expenses are way more than $10K a month

what do i spend my money on?

enjoying life

no point spending all your time and effort earning money

but also not using the money to truly enjoy life

if your goal is to die with a big net worth, i wish you all the best

my goal is to die happy and fulfilled

money is just a tool to help me achieve that, and a fun game to play since i am so good at it

do you know which 4mpd credit card elon musk uses

did you know

elon musk got to where he is by optimizing his spending on 4mpd credit cards and maximizing interest rates on bank accounts, brokerage and credit card sign up promotions?

saw a finfluenza talk about tracking expenses and credit card spending

thought to myself, how do i track my expenses?

do i use a budget tracking app?

do i use excel or google sheets?

do i use my own custom notes app?

actually, i dont even track my expenses

i only do 2 things

1. skim through my credit card statement for any weird charges

(99% of the time it is because the parent company name is different from the "store" name)

2. make sure that the linked bank account has enough balance to auto deduct

i used to religiously track my expenses. i later realized it is MEANINGLESS

if you are a proper functioning adult it just gives yourself wayang pointless work

you FEEL like you are improving your situation since you are doing something

but actually, this is just digging holes and filling it back up

your monthly breakdown of starbucks expenses goes from $123.45 to $234.56 between months

okay, now you know, then what?

no starbucks?

cai png only?

congratulations, welcome to my blog

the extreme case it helps is to discover stupid spending habits

you track your monthly expenses and suddenly discover you spent $10k last month at siam diu

but the solution is not tracking your expenses better

the solution is fixing your stupidity

i want to bring this up cos this is a widespread mental illness in asia

you can "save" to prevent yourself from being broke

but you cannot "save" and become rich

you can save and become comfortably poor

but you will never be truly financially rich

(you can always be rich in other things, like happiness and relationships etc etc etc)

after doing very basic common sense things regarding expense management

the real solution to money problems is to make more money

who do you know that has "save" themselves into being financially rich?

the answer is nobody

if you think you know somebody, you are wrong. they are just comfortably poor, not rich

every financially rich person has an abundance mindset and works on domain expansion

they are not afraid to invest and spend money on things that will bring them greater utility

yes, they can scrub the toilet themselves and save money

or they can spend money and outsource this menial labor and do better things with their time

so yes, elon musk got to where he is by optimizing his spending on 4mpd credit cards and maximizing interest rates on bank accounts, brokerage and credit card sign up promotions

he spends using his UOB lady card (first $2000), DBS womans world (first $1500), HSBC revolution ($1000) and of course the amaze + Citi rewards combo ($1000)

of course, he checks the MCC before spending and since he tracks everything, he puts excess spending on his general spending card

if you want to be rich like him, i strongly suggest you to do the same

the CORRECT way to think about MMFs

https://www.turtleinvestor.net/mari-invest-negative-returns/

turtle wrote a good piece

most important is the table of the returns distribution

2.6% of the time the fund loses money

12.4% of the time the fund is flat

85% of the time the fund is up

what are savings accounts at banks?

it is the bank accepting the above returns distribution

paying you a fixed % because you are humji

and pocketing the difference as their profit

or if you are a fancy pro investor

net interest margin

most retail bank products are basically this

you want a 1 year FD with a bank?

DBS offers 3.2%, because 1 year SGS is 3.45%

you want a 6 mth FD with a bank?

ICBC offers 3.35%
RHB and SCB 3.2%
UOB and OCBC 2.9%

why? because 6 mth SGS is 3.75%

check yourself

https://eservices.mas.gov.sg/statistics/fdanet/BenchmarkPricesAndYields.aspx

actually, bad examples because FDs are stupid and banks suck

but just an example to show that ppl okay with volatility can sell stability to suckers at a profit

there is nothing wrong to want stability

just know that you WILL pay $$$$$ for it

maybe embrace that life is not a straight up only line

it is unnatural and weird to be a straight up only line

you do not need investments that go up in a straight line

you just need to be a better investor that is not humji when prices go down temporarily

investing is an already SOLVED 2 body problem

 

1st body - investments

2nd body - investor

finfluenzas and regular people are obsessed with finding out the "best" investment "for 2024", "for passive income", "if the FED cuts interest rates"

and all sorts of lanjiao conditions and qualifiers

 

and they either completely miss, or place a very minor emphasis on the investor

 

the investor, their skill and their mentality probably accounts for 80% of the outcome

 

you think the shoes and jersey affects the outcome of a soccer match?

you think the type of 2B pencil affects results on MCQ OAS tests?

 

there are things that matter

and there are a lot of things that dont matter

 

give a good investor a restricted universe of 3 investment vehicles and watch them outperform against "professionals" with "decades of experience" in any of those same 3 investment vehicles operating under the same constraints

you could wake up tomorrow and be fully all-in into the best performing asset of 2024, and have the knowledge that you would make a lot of money by selling it all on 31 dec 2024

and yet, you would still fuck it up in the long term because:

 

its not about the investments

its about the investor

 

thats the difference between one-off lucky people, and perpetually "lucky" investors

sinkies are at a perpetual disadvantage to americans

it is not just sinkies

it is every country in the world that is not USA

the biggest advantage is the USD

the 2nd is american products

USD denominated means that americans are the only people that do not need to have FX friction in and out of investments - ever

they do not need to find out what is the cheapest way to convert large amounts of currency, because they just dont

next is american products, which are just simply built different, built better

american ETFs are always the cheapest

ofc, considering div tax + IHT, you dont want your ETFs to be US domiciled

if you are poor, dont worry about the above statement, continue your VOO DCA

if you are rich, you'd realize that although TER is higher for non-US domicile, after factoring in the better tax treatment + IHT exemption, you are significantly better off

but US ETFs are just way more liquid than non-US ETFs

 

then theres wealthfront, betterment, robinhood, apple card 4.5% savings account + 2% unlimited cashback

what do we have? tigerbrokers, syfe, moomoo? LOL

to be honest, i dont blame such brokers / fintech companies

sinkies damn kiam sup about money, the market is tiny and having to deal with SGD FX is such huge friction, it eats away at the attractability of whatever benefits they can offer

and the mix of the above both factors contribute to liquidity

the world is shifting away from non-liquidity, if you realize

products are better simply because they are more liquid, and that ofc makes sense

being denominated in USD makes USD denominated products accessible not just to americans, but to any other person globally, because there is no aversion for ultra rich people to hold/transact in USD compared to their local currency, all these increase the liquidity of USD products

actually, i would think in almost all cases, every billionaire in the world denominates in USD

probably centi millionaires as well

only the deca millionaires and below have some obsession with local currency milestones, which is why they are only best in the local ladder ranks, but low on the global ladder ranks

best is singapore, jb and some say batam?

you need to dream bigger my friend

the world is your oyster omelette

rich people think in USD

and while the USD has lost purchasing power over the years

95% other currencies has lost even more

perhaps this is the one the few benefits of being sinkie, since the sinkie currency has outperformed USD on longer time frames

would that continue in the future?

i think not, or just marginally

when you realize that all americans have access to 4% money market funds with no FX fees and 250K FDIC bank insurance and access to tons of financial tools

it becomes apparently very quickly that the rate of return you need to beat is 4% a year, in USD terms, since that is their "risk-free" rate , just to keep up with everyone else

but there is a silver lining

objectively speaking, in the whole wide world

being tax resident of singapore probably puts you at the top 1% of the world population in terms of financial opportunity

while americans have the USD + access advantage, they are at a massive disadvantage after you factor in taxes

other than singapore, there is a handful of places in the world that allows you to grow wealth as close as possible to maximum speed

if you wonder why money all over the world is moving into singapore to set up family offices, that is the answer right there