Hi again! Female in her 20s. I have SGD1000 cash with me right now and not sure where to put this money in.

[mindygail]

I withdrew $1K from the Singapore atm (UOB) as I don't live there anymore. I brought the money with me to Msia and Dad advise me to convert and invest but I am not sure.

Context: I used to live and work in Singapore. I still have my bank account there but it is inactive atm xD

I have been thinking of converting the money into MYR but I still appreciate SGD values. Should I convert the money to MYR and invest them in local or is there any investment platform in SG with higher rates? I'm not very familiar with SG system yet but will do my homework more about it.

Edit: Like I just want to leave the money there untouched and let it grow slowly. It just feels unsafe rn having the cash with me.

I apologize for the long message and thank you for reading!

 

[kirutu3]

@mindygail IMHO, if you don't need the money urgently, just keep the SGD1000 safely under your bed or something. Just in case you ever go back to SG for holiday. If you still have a bank account in SG, by all means deposit it.

End of the day, depends on your current situation.

With rm3000/sgd1000, the measly 1 or 2% from whatever interest difference is almost negligible. Purely my opinion.

Happy long weekend!

 

[volunteergal]

@mindygail To keep your UOB bank account alive in Singapore, last I know you need at least SGD 500 in it. Otherwise, there will be yearly charges.

You are just 20s. You never know later will you back to SG to work or otherwise. Better to keep your SGD in the bank account.

 

[mindygail]

@volunteergal Oh noo. thank you. I’ll think about it

 

[notly1988]

@mindygail Sgd1000 isnt a lot. You probably won't lose much in exchange rate either way. Convert for use here since you're here. Do NOT give up Ur Singapore account. Keep it active by doing small transactions every once in a while.

 

[josh437781]

@mindygail Will you be going back to SG to work? I always keeps at least my last month salary in the bank in case I will go back to work in Singapore

 

[nc6041]

@mindygail Keep it in sgd more worth it

 

[kimberl321]

@mindygail I kept my sgd (side hustle earnings) locked in my Wise account despite no interest..Just betting on the currency strengthening. Based on history, SGD has been appreciating & will continue to appreciate vs MYR.

 

[stand4watsright]

@mindygail Take it to genting highlands

 

[andrea0601]

@mindygail myr will continue to dump perpetually against every single currency until the end of humanity because smart people know better places to invest at.

 

[mattmanticus]

@andrea0601 Myr is currently all time high to yen and has appreciated against Aud quite abit .

 

[andrea0601]

@mattmanticus the only currency that matters is the dollar and euro, yen is imploding from boj's unsustainable monetary policy, so obviously its gonna be weak.

compare myr to some similar economies in SEA, myr is the weakest.

 

[mattmanticus]

@andrea0601 i never said MYR was strong, im just pointing out myr does appreciate against countries near us. and Considering Australia is one of the most pupular study destination, and Japan is one of Malaysia's fav holiday destinations, its important

5 years ago, my business, took out yen denominated loans for investment purposes, now with the strength of the myr vs yen, we are clearing the debt and savings are substantial

Same with AUD, im planning to send my kids, so during covid when aud dropped to ATL of 2.55 to MYR, i bought 10 year bonds @ 5-6%

We can either complain and moan all day about the weakness of the MYR vs other currencies, or do something about it.

 

[andrea0601]

@mattmanticus The main point is im saying Malaysia is a terrible place to invest in due to the best kind yields having insane fees. Malaysian government bonds and treasuries are yielding 4% yet it is inaccessible to retail. Your alternative is a fixed income bank account which is HALF that yield. Banks are stealing 50% of what you can get.

KLSE is literally down only. This is why the myr dumps constantly. Why would any wealthy individual or financially literate person keep their money in Malaysia? The best companies to invest in are overseas tech monopolies.

The Malaysian population has no idea how much they are being shafted here. Post wsj article about the 1mbd scandal MYR never recovered that 25% drop against the dollar. Anyone shorting MYR was instantly 25% richer. Paired with stagnant wages and increasing price levels Malaysia is quite a dumpster country to earn a living in.

 

[mattmanticus]

@andrea0601 thats fine, i cant change your mind, but my covid porfolio which was started in end of 2019 is curretnly at 7.9% dividen yield with total returns of above 11% over last 3 years, so im pretty happy with KLSE.

No capital gains tax, Single tier dividen tax, blue chips and REITS all yielding above 5%, and the best part is, super low PE for everything.

Insane fees for high yields in KLSE? im not sure what you are referring to, take a look at Amfirst, Harrison, RHB, Maybank, DKSH,YTLPower just to name a few

Harrison was rm3 in 2020, when i went in big, its now rm9.20, with 50sen dividen incoming

YTLpower was 60sen in 2022, its 1.15 now, with incoming dividen

Not everyone hates Malaysia, i dont plan on going anywhere, so i put my money where my mouth is. I have no intrest in investing in US, i think the US market is even more of a dumpster fire waiting to implode.

 

[andrea0601]

@mattmanticus hi there how's your strategy doing compared to holding the US index? YTL was a good play

 

[mattmanticus]

@andrea0601 depends on the time frame, but my CAGR is 14.6% over the last 5 years, (up from 11% 4 months ago in my previous post) which would have beaten the S&P 500 (with the caveat that I actively manage my fund, vs passive investing in index fund)

Would have been even better if i had more funds to go in after the silicon valley debacle in Q1 2023

YTL 85sen -> 1.45

YTL power 80sen -> 2

Tenaga 8.95 -> 9.85

Genting 3.99 -> 4.35

Bauto 1.99 -> 2.25

Just to name a few bluechips that have recovered. and after all that gain (ytl power at 200%) KLSE index is still at the covid low, we havnt recovered yet....we still have a long way to go in terms of recovery

But im not blindly pro Malaysia, 1/3 of my funds is overseas, mostly in HKX, SGX and AUD denominated long term bonds

But i just like investing in Malaysia cos the last few years a blind monkey could make money

 

[polygon]

@andrea0601 Invest in sg, done

 

[polygon]

@mindygail just invest it, for long term

 

[jackline]

@mindygail give me for duit raya