Hi Kin Lian,
My thanks for all your contributions to financial education for your readers. May I ask your opinion on whether the NTUC Money Market Fund is safe, in view of the subprime problems please?
REPLY
I have checked the investments of this fund.
It is safe because the fund is invested in very short-term papers, average less than 6 months, mainly in interbank deposits with banks licensed to operate in Singapore. There is no exposure to subprime risk.
Personally, I have a significant investment in this fund.
For liquidity or some people call it cash back, this is the best place to park. You can earn as high as 3.5%. It is super safe. From this account you can draw to invest in other instruments if you are looking for higher return. In this way you can enjoy LIQUIDITY, FLEXIBILITY, INVESTMENT AND PROTECTION using this account.Does this sound familiar to you? There is a product from NTUC that claims having these features but of course,not comparable to putting into this money market account.
ReplyDeleteOne more great benefit of money market is NO lock in and options are not interlocked but seperate.
NTUC flexicash can return up to 3.5%.
ReplyDeleteFor those 'kiasu' investors this is the best. It is better than endowment
if you are not interested in insurance because it is liquid and no penalty, no lock in.
I suggest you purchase Lion Cap SGD money mkt fund through FSM, you don't need to pay upfront $20 charge, and can withdrawl easily online. I do think it is more flexible and gives better return than ntuc money mkt fund.
ReplyDeleteI want to ask Mr. Tan's opinion on investing through fundsupermart. How should we contruct our portofolio and so on. Coz to me, it is more flexible and ppl have more choice than investing through NTUC website. It seems NTUC online system is not designed so user-friendly.
Eg. cannot switch fund easily
cannot apply and cancel RSP easily.
If you are investing savvy you don't need an adviser. You don't have to pay advisory fee.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is quite true some of these options you mentioned are not available from NTUC but
most of the times you don't use them or not encouraged to use unless absolutely necessary.If you are not careful using them may damage the growth of your investment.
Constructing a portfolio can be easy if you know how but it must depend on your needs. Unless your parameters are known structuring cannot be done.
Mr. 11.53am, I know the product you are alluding. It is the REVOSAVE from NTUC.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right to say that using NTUC flexicash is a much better option than revosave to enjoy those benefits you mentioned. ie Absolute liquidity, greater flexibility, investing with more return and higher protection. It is puzzling why customers cannot see all these. Maybe insurance agents don't want them to know or don't want to show them.
On second thought, if insurance agents tell the customers about them they will have no or low commission to earn. I guess this must be the reason. It is conflict of interest, isn't it?
I hope those who bought revosave will wake up to realise that they have been taken a ride. For these people it is better to cut losses and free themselves now than to drag on and to be locked up for long term.
ReplyDeleteYou get nothing better than investing
in a money market which may be low but at least 3.5%. It is now or never.