Where should I store my emergency fund? (F/21/International Student)

[pwife2015]

Hi, I’m an international student in Malaysia with 4,600 RM in my savings, that I saved as emergency fund. It’s sitting in a Maybank Goal Savings Plan in my Maybank account. The current interest rate is 0.20% p.a.

I’m only 21 and I can’t help but feel that I should be putting this money into a place where it can grow more.

Looking for the following options:

• higher interest savings account
• maybe an investing app but with low withdrawal fees so i can easily access the funds as well
• i’m also not opposed in investing it in crypto, buying some BTC or ETH and placing it in BlockFi or Gemini (though, i’m not sure if these apps have withdrawal fees)

(I have tried Stashaway and GoTrade)

what are your thoughts on this? should i be saving this much? or put some in investments?

 

[runswithdogs]

@pwife2015 putting it in stocks/etf/mutual fund/crypto etc will fluctuate your savings. If this money is truly emergency it should be in a safe place where your place will not fluctuate, so savings account is the way to go here. Emergency and Investing money should always be separate.

 

[pwife2015]

@runswithdogs Thanks, this makes sense.

 

[dolo]

@pwife2015 TNG Go+ 5.4% until January

 

[kourtney]

@dolo Unfortunately this is not possible for foreigners living in Malaysia.

 

[pwife2015]

@kourtney

TNG Go+ 5.4%

Yes sadly, GO+ is not available for foreigners.

 

[yhong]

@pwife2015 I'd say if it's an emergency fund it should be liquid and stable.

For now, versa or fixed deposit or touch n go go+ (usually it's about 1.4% currently it's 5% interest till Jan) or ocbc frank would be good choices. All of these are rather safe options and provide better returns than bank whilst still providing the ability to liquidate easily.

I would avoid putting emergency funds into stashaway simple(takes about a week to withdraw) stocks, crypto or anything which can be considered volatile or slow to withdraw.

If you're interested in touch n go go+ let me know I can share a referral link.

 

[pwife2015]

@yhong

ocbc frank

Thanks! but unfortunately touch n go go+ is not available for foreigners. But i'll look into the other things you mentioned. Thanks again.

 

[pharmasmruti]

@pwife2015 Open an OCBC 360 savings account. Go check their website out, follow 3 simple steps to earn 2.15% p.a. note that its a savings account, so your liquidity is the same as any bank account.

Since this is your EMERGENCY funds, they should be 100% LIQUID (aka. Accessible immediately at any time)

 

[catcox]

@pwife2015 Ocbc Frank account. 1.8%.

 

[cody778]

@catcox Yes! If you don't pay a lot of bills, this is the top choice since its liquid and doesn't have any additional requirements or lock up period.

 

[shorty2u]

@pwife2015 ASB?

 

[kourtney]

@pwife2015 Speaking as a foreigner who grew up in Malaysia and was considered an international student up until I graduated from uni, it is quite a pain to open a second bank account as it requires a letter from your educational institution to even open a first account and justification if you need more than one bank account.

My suggestion would be StashAway Simple if you want a stable place to invest/save with a little bit of growth but note that there is an approx 3-5 working day withdrawal time. Given that you have tried StashAway, you are probably familiar with this already.

Alternatively, you can also check out Huobi PTP for quick withdrawals but moving your crypto around is going to cost you gas fees and given that we can never predict when this crypto bull run will end, it might not be the best decision to look at crypto as a savings even in short term.

 

[pwife2015]

@kourtney

OCBC 360 savings account

Hi, yes it's quite a pain being an international student in Malaysia HAHA. I actually checked out Huobi recently and I like the UI. I'm not investing with my emergency fund but with some extra money I have, so yeah thanks for recommending Huobi.

If you wanna talk finance and crypto just message me!

 

[groov3ydud3]

@pwife2015 U can give it to me… i can keep for you FOC