My thoughts on Singlife 2.5% Insurance Savings Account

A friend on telegram introduced this insurance savings account to me. I have used it for three days and here are my thoughts. This post is not sponsored, just my own personal opinion.

Singlife Account is an insurance savings plan that credits interest and offers flexibility to make top ups and withdrawals with no lock in and charges. It is a savings plan where you can fund your account and start earning approximately 2.5% pa interest for the first $10k and 1% pa for the next $90k.

Singlife is one of the emerging 50 on the Fintech100 list, They make everything from opening and registering an account, to topping up cash easy. All using their app at extremely fast and streamline ways. It took me less than 10 mins to get everything done.

It feels like a normal savings account, you can FAST in and FAST out anytime and the cash is custodised by DBS. If you have any queries, they have a whatsapp number for you to text your questions to.

I messaged Singlife to check on the applicable caps for the SDIC guarantee and this is what they say, "The capital or funds that you fund into your Singlife account is guaranteed by SDIC up to $75k". The company is also licensed by MAS. So like any SDIC insured savings account in Singapore, this is pretty safe if you keep your money in it below $75k. For me I max it at $10k only, to get the 2.5%(thereabout) interest. Do note the 2.5% is not guaranteed and it could be slightly lower.

As you can see, I have used it for three days now. I recorded a 67cts for the day I transferred in $10k that means the annualized rate is around 2.45% pa. (67cts x 365)/10,000. Interest is recorded on a daily basis but the cash interest will only be credited by the end of the month. So you can roughly check how much you are getting per day.

A few negative so far. I notice that once you added the bank account to FAST out to, you cannot remove or edit it anymore. When you FAST out your cash to your other bank account, the wait is about a few minutes long, not immediate.

I feel saving accounts are better alternative to retail bonds because you get accrued interest on a daily basis. This means you can use the money anytime without the fear of capital or interest loss. Even comparing to SSB it is better, as SSB starts off at a very low base(0.57% currently) and moves up slowly every year. You also need to wait till month end in order take out your money.

With the current low interest rate environment, there are still avenues for you to park your cash. I recently wrote about BOC smartsaver 3.55% which you can read it here. My list of preferred savings accounts in descending priority are:

BOC smartsaver 3.55% $60k (with hurdle)
Singlife 2.5% $10k (no hurdle)
CIMB Fastsaver 1.26% $100k  (no hurdle)

All three cash value can be doubled if you ask your wife to open as well.