Readers of this blog might recall that I’m not a big fan of jumping through various hoops for a higher interest on my bank accounts, and I frequently bash UOB on my tweets as well.

This is because the rules of the game will always keep changing in the direction that is not in our favour. and no one likes being a sucker.

It feels like we have been stuck in a low interest rate environment for the longest time, and it take a little bit of curiosity to seek out the better yielding options out there.

This table below has captured the various ways that I’m putting my idle cash to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – my poor dollars aren’t getting any rest at all.

Product / Platform	Category	Projected %	Remarks
Singlife	Insurance Savings Plan	1.0%	SGD | First $10000
Singtel Dash PET	Insurance Savings Plan	1.5%	SGD | First $10000
Singapore Savings Bonds	Singapore Savings Bonds	1.79%	SGD | Feb 2022
MoneyOwl – WiseSaver	Robo-Advisor	0.45%	SGD
Endowus – Cash Smart	Robo-Advisor	0.7% to 2.2%	SGD
Syfe – Cash+	Robo-Advisor	1.2%	SGD
Crypto.com	Crypto – Custodian	12%	USD | 3-month Term
Nexo	Crypto – Custodian	10%	USD
BlockFi	Crypto – Custodian	7%	USD
Celsius	Crypto – Custodian	7%	USD
FTX Earn	Crypto – Custodian	8%	USD
Curve Finance	Crypto – DeFi	5% to 20%	USD | Various Chains

Insurance Savings Plans

Insurance savings plans have been around for quite some time and it felt like they really gained traction when they embraced the idea of a mobile-first design and made the idea of it slightly more trendy.

More than just a plain vanilla savings plan, insurance savings plans provide some form of coverage (death etc) and most importantly, doles out a rather significant rate of return when compared to banks.

Back in 2020, I wrote about my experience with Singlife and I have held on to the account till this date. Capital-guaranteed, liquid enough for fast withdrawal and decent forex rates for online purchases have made it an awesome alternative to a savings account.

Because only the first $10,000 in my Singlife will earn 1% p.a. returns (the rest will get 0.5% p.a.), I added Singtel Dash PET to my arsenal early this year to get 1.5% p.a. for the first $10,000.

I guess my blog post will come soon?

Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs)

SSBs is yet another option for me to get higher yield compared to traditional options.

Kyith from Investment Moats has a handy series of blog posts tracking the SSBs’ yield – a picture speaks a thousand words.

Robo-advisors Cash Management

The entrance of robo-advisors opened up yet another doorway to a brand new opportunity.

Money market funds and fixed income funds. While these funds have always been available to retail investors, robo-advisors simply made it easier for me to invest in them.

I have invested money into my cash portfolios with Endowus – Cash Smart ($10,000), Syfe Cash+ ($10,000) and MoneyOwl WiseSaver ($5,000). No blog post for MoneyOwl yet but I do have a screenshot!

Although some people think that these robo-advisors options may be “lower risk”, do take note that volatility is an important factor that can result in the portfolio value temporarily dipping below the invested amount, which was what happened in my case.

Crypto – Custodian Platforms

Time and again, I have mentioned that the current state of crypto isn’t suitable for the general population, and I still stick to my views. As always, I don’t like talking about specific tokens so the focus is going to be only on stablecoins.

It is no surprise that custodian platforms have flourished by satisfying the demand of this group of users who wish to partake in the gains of the crypto industry, and yet have no desire to self-custody.

I have personally used services like Crypto.com, BlockFi, and Nexo to generate passive income in excess of 10% effortlessly on my idle USD stablecoins. I tend to move funds between these platforms to take advantage of promotional rewards for fund deposits, when available.

To be fair, most of these platform have had their fair share of “booboos” and it would be difficult to identify one that has a clean slate, although none of these incidents were at the expense of their customers like me. Some examples include –

• Celsius Network confirms it lost money in the BadgerDAO DeFi hack
• Crypto.com Finally Admits It Lost $30 Million in Hack
• BlockFi Mistakenly Deposits Outsized Bitcoin Payments

No doubt, the higher returns do comes with a higher set of risks – and this is one important consideration that I would have to keep in mind.

In general, yield from these platforms comes from demand for leverage – higher yield for stablecoins stems from a bullish market whereas higher yield for BTC/ETH etc could signal a bearish outlook. Nevertheless, I’m dumb-dumb so don’t assume I know what I’m talking about.

Apart from crypto-borrowing and lending platforms, exchanges such as FTX also offer good opportunities to earn returns by lending out my idle funds from time to time.

Crypto – Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Decentralized finance has a significant barrier-to-entry – it requires self-custody (my 2019 MetaMask blog post is here) and basic technical competency in order to navigate the space. Nevertheless, consider these platforms I’m using simply as some ideas to explore. Nothing in crypto is constant, and I expect myself to utilize newer options as soon as market condition changes.

On Ethereum and various blockchains, I use Curve to provide liquidity for stablecoins and earn around 5% to 20% stablecoins depending on the chain I’m on and market prices. A decent trade-off between risk and rewards, I feel.

More exotic options (like the ones mentioned in this blog post by My 15 HWW) have been left out of this blog post but I’m free to chat on Discord if anyone is keen to learn more.

Never-ending Task

With a big number to utilize, I have chosen to deploy my idle, liquid funds across a variety of products and services to farm any extra yield that I can find.

They have different characteristics when it comes to risk, volatility, ease of withdrawal etc and my idea was build up some sort of balance in terms of exposure.

Needless to say, this is a never-ending task and I’d have to monitor the situation from time to time in order to move funds around when necessary.

The table I have above? It ain’t the complete list but it’s a pretty comprehensive one considering what I’m using.

Where are you putting your funds for some juicy yield? Share them with me as I’m always interested in learning more!

Disclaimer

The information provided on this website is a reflection of my personal experience, and does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the website’s content as such.

This is a gentle reminder that the trading of crypto (or digital payment tokens) is highly risky and not suitable for the general public. Conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.