Which Monthly Investment Plan Is Suitable For You?

Want to start investing but don’t know where to start? For as little as $100 a month you can start building your portfolio of blue chip stocks. We tend to incur high commission costs when buying stocks in small units. Hence these investment plans aim to resolve that issue.

Many of our local financial institutions offer month investment plans for those that wish to invest a relatively small sum each month. These plans are an affordable and simple way to invest and they include:

• OCBC Blue Chip Investment Plan (BCIP)
• Maybank Kim Eng Monthly Investment Plan
• POSB Invest Saver
• Phillip Share Builder Plan

These monthly investment plans focus on dollar-cost averaging. With dollar-cost averaging, there is no need to worry about market timing. The fixed amount you invest each month will buy you more units of stocks/ETFs when the market price is low, and less units when the market price is high. This helps you reduce your risk of market timing.

We look at which monthly investment plan is suitable for you based on the amount you wish to invest each month.

	Share Counters	Fees
OCBC Blue Chip Investment Plan (BCIP)	19 Share counters which are components of the STI Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF	0.30% of the total investment amount or $5 per counter, whichever is higher.
Maybank Kim Eng Monthly Investment Plan	>230 stocks across 5 markets ETFs: - Nikko AM STI ETF 100 - SPDR STI ETF - REITs	<$1000 invested: 1% sales charge >$1000 invested:0.18% sales charge (subject to minimum of $10)
POSB Invest Saver	- ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund - Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF	0.5% - 1% sales charge per transaction
Phillip Share Builder Plan	29 counters available	<$1000 invested: (≤2 Counters) $6 charge (≥3 Counters) $10 charge (>$1000 invested): 0.2% or $10, whichever is higher

Suitable Monthly Investment Plan

*Note: Remember to factor in the number of counters you’re looking to invest in

$100-$500: Maybank Kim Eng / POSB Invest Saver

For less than $1000 invested, both Maybank Kim Eng Monthly Investment Plan and POSB Invest Saver have a standard 1% sales charge. This equates to $1 (the minimum) for a $100 monthly investment.

$500-$1000: Phillip Share Builder Plan / OCBC BCIP

The Philip Share Builder Plan charges $6 for 2 or fewer share counters invested in, equivalent to the charges under Maybank/POSB for $600 invested. A monthly investment between $600 to $1000 would thus be more worth it under the Phillip Share Builder Plan.

OCBC BCIP charges $5 per counter. However, if you are investing in 2 counters, charges would still be less under the Phillip Share Builder Plan.

$1000 & above: OCBC BCIP/ Phillip Share Builder Plan / Maybank Kim Eng

By investing $1000 a month, $5 is charged for each counter, which is equivalent to 0.5% charge. The charge of 0.3% of total investment amount would only be more than $5 per counter if you invest more than $1700 a month.

With more counters invested in, the Phillip Share Builder Plan would be a better option.

Read Also: Invest In Stocks Using A Monthly Investment Plan

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