While many of us expect to earn a decent interest return on our cash savings, global interest rates have come off their highs. Looking at our options to earn a decent return today, one of the ways is through a cash management portfolio, such as StashAway Simple.
StashAway Simple enables retail investors to invest in money market funds, which – depending on the risk you take – can potentially beat the interest rate offered by other safe investments such as T-bills, the Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) or bank fixed deposits.
Via StashAway Simple, we can monitor more aspects of our financial lives within a single investment platform. If you don’t already know, StashAway also allows us to invest in a variety of portfolios, including globally diversified portfolios, Singapore-focused portfolios, Income portfolios, and Thematic portfolios, as well as invest our SRS funds, portfolios meant for Accredited Investors and institutional-grade investments.
On its website, StashAway Simple has a projected return of 2.6% p.a. on any amount placed with them, without any lock-in periods or minimum balance. This looks higher than other no-frills, high-interest savings accounts and fixed deposits currently offered in Singapore.
We can also invest in StashAway Simple Plus, offering a yield to maturity of 3.1% – and has exposure to short-term bond funds. Another product, StashAway Simple Guaranteed can give you exposure to fixed deposits at MAS-regulated banks, and is currently offering a guaranteed return of 1.85%. Like its name suggests, this is a guaranteed return investment, unlike the other two StashAway solutions.
Despite sharing several similarities with regular savings accounts from banks, there are some key differences between StashAway’s cash management solutions, that are important to understand before we sign up.
Read Also: Complete Guide To Cash Management Accounts In Singapore
#1 StashAway Simple Is Not A Bank Savings Account
The first point we should understand is that StashAway Simple is a cash management account and not meant to be used as a savings account. Unlike a savings account where our money is deposited in a bank savings account, our funds with StashAway Simple are allocated into the LionGlobal SGD Money Market Fund (30%) and LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity Fund (70%).
The combination of these funds makes StashAway Simple a riskier investment than simply putting our cash in a conventional savings account. Nevertheless, the risk we take on is significantly lower compared to growth-oriented investments or even other fixed-income products.
StashAway Simple does not have any sales charges or require any minimum balance. Furthermore, to boost investor returns, any rebates from management fees that StashAway receives are credited back to account holders.
In short, StashAway Simple is a low-risk investment. It is not a bank savings account, and we cannot expect to withdraw our money from an ATM, nor use it to pay our everyday bills.
Similarly, StashAway Simple Plus, which pays a higher return, is more risky. Nevertheless, it is still relatively safe, as its exposure is to LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity Fund (20%), Nikko AM Shenton Short Term Bond Fund (20%) and LionGlobal Short Duration Bond Fund (60%).
We can also invest in StashAway Simple Guaranteed, which provides exposure to MAS-regulated banks. This also means it is a safer investment, and thus pays a lower but guaranteed return of 1.85% p.a.
Read Also: Best Savings Accounts In Singapore – If You Don’t Want To Keep Jumping Through Hoops
#2 StashAway Simple’s Projected Rate VS Savings Account’s Tiered Interest Rates
As explained earlier, StashAway Simple aims to deliver a projected net return of 2.85% per annum. While the structure of the projected net return is flat and easy to understand, this rate is not guaranteed and may fluctuate according to economic conditions.
| Funds | LionGlobal SGD Money Market Fund | LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity Fund | Average Percentage (taking 30:70 composition) |
| Weighted yield to maturity | 2.9% | 2.92% | 2.91% |
| Expense Ratio, charged by underlying fund manager | -0.31% | -0.43% | -0.15% (StashAway rebates fees that it receives from the fund managers. On its website, StashAway states that the underlying fund management fee, after rebates is 0.15%.) |
| StashAway Management Fee | -0.15% | -0.15% | |
| Interest Rate | 2.6% p.a. | ||
According to the latest factsheet and annual reports by the respective funds, we extracted the underlying Expense Ratio charged by the individual fund. StashAway rebates the trailer fees that it receives, which is why investors end up paying a lower Expense Ratio. However, StashAway also charges a management fee, which amounts to 0.15% – which is slightly lower than the trailer fee rebate, which is potentially around 0.24% (as we only pay an expense ratio of 0.15%).
Interest rates of regular savings accounts offered by the banks are typically still much lower. In the case of some high-interest savings accounts that report to pay a higher return, there are usually tiered interest rates that require customers to satisfy multiple criteria, such as crediting of salary, transacting using their credit cards and maintaining a monthly expenditure in the form of insurance or investments. This higher interest may seem attractive but is only practical for those who can hit the criteria specified by the bank each month.
Banks may also offer promotional rates for fixed deposits from time to time, but they are generally still slightly lower than the 2.6% offered by StashAway Simple.
We may also compare StashAway Simple’s returns to the Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB). Its annual projected 2.6% return is higher than the 1.82% return paid by the latest August 2025 SSB within the first year, as well as the 2.29% average return offered over the 10-year holding period. Currently, Treasury Bills or T-bills are paying 1.85%.
This may be logical as the SSB and T-bills are government-issued debt securities, while the StashAway Simple is invested in high-quality debt – which naturally carries slightly more risk.
We can also choose to invest in the StashAway Guaranteed or StashAway Simple Plus investments, which are paying 1.8% (guanrateed) and 3.1% (projected) respectively.
Read Also: Best Savings Accounts for Working Adults in Singapore
#3 The Use of SRS Funds in StashAway Simple
Another difference that sets StashAway Simple and StashAway Simple Plus (but not StashAway Simple Guaranteed) apart from the conventional savings account is the flexibility of channelling our Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) monies into it.
SRS plays a complementary role to one’s CPF savings, and can also be used as a tool to enjoy tax relief. However, a typical SRS account with banks only provides an interest rate of 0.05% per annum on SRS savings.
Due to the low-interest rates on uninvested SRS savings, there is a risk of it becoming eroded by inflation over time. The usual choice of many SRS account holders will be to invest the monies. But for those who would prefer to place their SRS funds into instruments with a higher yield while limiting exposure to high risk, StashAway Simple can be a good option.
Given the structure of StashAway Simple, there is no doubt that there are some risks involved. For those who want risk-free investments to grow their funds, they can consider other relatively liquid products such as fixed deposits or the Singapore Savings Bonds, where the interest on deposits is guaranteed by the banks or government.
Investing With StashAway’s Robo-Advisor Platform
If you wish to potentially earn more on your monies (by taking on slightly higher risk), you might want to look at StashAway’s robo-advisor investment solution. For DollarsAndSense readers, StashAway is giving 50% off in management fees for 6 months, for up to $50,000 in portfolio value.
Sign-up for free today at this link!
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