The effective interest rate for February 2020 Singapore Savings Bonds (GX20020V) is 1.75% if you held it for 10 years. This is a slight decrease as compared to 1.76% for January 2020 issue of the Singapore Savings Bonds. The minimum amount you can purchase for Singapore Savings Bonds is S$500. If you decide to hold and sell it for 1 year, the effective interest rate is 1.54% which is worst than what fixed deposits can offer.
On 1st January 2020, DBS Bank has notified that the dividends from CDP will no longer qualify under the investment category for DBS Multiplier Account. This means that the reason for purchasing Singapore Savings Bonds for the purpose of additional interest for DBS Multiplier Account is no longer valid.
For me, I will continue to purchase Singapore Savings Bonds for the purpose of achieving my goal of purchasing 8K of Singapore Savings Bonds in 2020. Over 10 years, the effective interest rates still beat the interest rate from the traditional savings account. Moreover, the minimum amount for each purchase is S$500 which means you can make multiple small purchases over a period of time instead of a lump sum.
Tracking Singapore Savings Bonds via Stocks Café
My favorite website, Stocks Café has introduced a new feature to allow adding of Singapore Savings Bonds into your portfolio. If you didn’t know, I signed up as a Friend of Stocks Café as my most favorite feature of Stocks Café is the automated tracking of dividends payout.
This is the third year that I continue to use Stocks Café to track my dividends.
Tracking Singapore Savings Bonds via My Savings Bonds Portal
MAS has launched My Savings Bonds Portal where you can track your Singapore Savings Bonds purchases separately from your stock purchases. I have done up a simple guide here. (Read more: Guide to My Savings Bonds Portal)