SG Truth

In partnership with

Arigato, dear investor,

Last week’s SG investing workshop was such a meaningful session — thank you to everyone who joined! 🙏

We explored why the Singapore market can be a great place to diversify your portfolio, and I shared 8 key reasons supporting that view — from our healthy GDP growth, sustainable population increase (thanks to steady inflows of foreign talent), low unemployment rate, to the government’s ambitious S$5 billion Market Development Programme (EQDP) that aims to boost investments in local stocks.

Under this programme, S$1.1 billion has already been allocated to the first batch of asset managers to invest in local equities.

Personally, I believe the Straits Times Index (STI) will benefit from these tailwinds — especially for investors who prefer to keep things simple and invest passively without picking individual stocks.

🌱 Two simple ways to invest in the STI Index

We went through two ETFs that track the STI:

• G3B – Amova Singapore STI ETF (formerly Nikko AM STI ETF)

• ES3 – SPDR Straits Times Index ETF

Both are solid choices for long-term investors.
But after digging deeper, I personally prefer G3B — not only does it have a lower expense ratio, but its tracking error (the difference between the ETF and the STI index) is also smaller.

That means G3B tracks the STI more closely, leading to slightly better long-term performance.

Here’s the detailed comparison between these 2 ETFs: 👇

And to make things more relatable — if you had invested S$10,000, based on the published 1-, 3-, and 5-year historical returns (net of fees, with dividends reinvested), the difference really adds up over time.

Even though the difference might look small, it can compound meaningfully in the long run!

💸 How to invest at the lowest cost

Both G3B and ES3 can be purchased through PhillipCapital’s Cash Plus account, which currently offers one of the lowest fees in town — just 0.08% per trade, with no minimum commission!

That means if you buy S$100 worth of STI ETFs, your trading cost is only S$0.08 — yes, seriously! 😄

If your accoutn is over $30,000, the fees become even lesser!

This is a lot chepaer compared to other brokers that charge a minimum fee of S$0.99 per trade, no matter how small your investment. Ouch!!

So if you want to save more money on commissions while starting your SG investing journey, you can open your PhillipCapital’s Cash Plus account by clicking here 👈️ 

P.S. You’ll even earn free shares like Nvidia and Palantir too:

🧐 What about the Amundi STI Fund on Endowus?

Some of you mentioned that Endowus offers an Amundi STI Fund with a 0.15% expense ratio.

That’s true — but remember, Endowus also charges an additional 0.3% platform fee per year. So the total cost becomes 0.45%, which is actually higher than G3B or ES3.

🌍 My broader strategy

While I like the idea of having some exposure to the Singapore market for stability and dividends, it still makes up only a small portion of my overall portfolio.

For my CPF and SRS investments, I personally prefer investing in the US market for higher long-term growth — and over the past 4 years, that strategy has given me around 51.27% total return.

If you’d like to learn how I invest my CPF/SRS funds (and how you can do it too), check out my 7 Investing Course Bundle, where I break everything down step-by-step:

It’ll truly be one of the best investments you make — investing in yourself and taking action toward financial freedom!

Meanwhile, check out this 👇️ 

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Arigato!

Chloe
Arigato Investor

Just a quick heads-up 🌸 Except for Instagram, where I may reply if you comment on my posts, I’ll never initiate a private message to you on any platform. So if you ever get a DM from someone claiming to be “Chloe” or “The Arigato Investor” on Telegram or TikTok — please know that’s not me. It’s a scammer impersonating my account. Stay safe and always double-check 💛

The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Readers should seek their own independent financial advice before making any investment decisions. Please note that the opinions expressed in this newsletter are Chloe's own and do not represent the views of any organization. Always perform your own research and due diligence before investing. 💛

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