The effective interest rate for August 2020 Singapore Savings Bonds (SBAUG20 GX20080E) is 0.93% if you held it for 10 years. As you can see from the chart above, the interest rate has been on the decline but recovered slightly this month. The COVID-19 pandemic that started in March 2020 had caused the interest rates to fall dramatically across fixed deposits and savings accounts.
The minimum amount you can purchase is S$500. If you decide to hold and sell the current issue (SBAUG20 GX20080E) after 1 year, the effective interest rate is 0.27%.
Unhappy with the interest rates offered by Singapore Savings Bonds? There are alternative financial instruments out there that offer higher interest rates. They are short term endowment plans such as NTUC Income Gro Capital Ease, Tiq 3 Year Endowment Plan and China Taiping i-Save Plan which offers an interest rate of 1.85%, 2.10% p.a. and 2.13% p.a. respectively.
The latest attractive financial instrument that I have signed up for is Singlife Account that offers you an attractive interest rate of 2.5% p.a. Singlife Account is an insurance savings plan. There is no lock in period, no monthly fees and you can withdraw your money anytime.
Tracking Singapore Savings Bonds via Stocks Café
My favorite website, Stocks Café has allows 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)
