5 Ways To Create Passive Income In Singapore
Are you thinking of saving your way to retirement, or perhaps relying on your CPF money to help fund your lifestyle in your golden years? Well, you might be in for a shock. With the minimum CPF retirement sum of just $161,000, you will only have about S$1,300 per month. Is that enough in today's world?
Even if you are not thinking of retirement yet, you might be keen in knowing how to gain financial independence as early as you can. Well, seems like you can do it with a little bit of planning, and learning how to create a passive income stream.
The basic idea of passive income is that it is money received with little or no effort required to maintain the flow of income, unlike active income where you need to work for. Since we all have limited time and resources, your income is capped. By building a passive income stream, you will be able to receive additional money on top of your active income.
Sounds too good to be true to receive money for not doing much? Not exactly, and listed below are just 5 ways you can start on your passive income journey.
Rental income is one reason why people invest in property. This is especially true in Singapore where land is scarce. While property investments are definitely not for everyone due to the large amount of capital it requires, you can also rent out a spare room you have at home.
For those with deeper pockets and can afford an investment property, your rental yield can essentially help you finance your monthly mortgage. If you are lucky, your tenant will help you fund a large part of the purchase of your home!
For those who are already trading in the stocks market, why not spend a bit more time looking at REITs? REITS in Singapore is known for providing stable returns and dividend income; in fact, the REIT sector in Singapore has an average dividend yield of 6.7 percent. However, do note that total returns on your investment in REITs include the share price of the REIT as well, so if that particular REIT isn't doing too well, it can eat into your dividend returns.
Monthly Stocks investment Plan
If you are new to investing, you may not be very comfortable putting your money into a specific REIT, but what about a more diversified portfolio? In the last few years, there has been a new type of product offering where you will be able to invest consistently in a diversified Exchange-traded fund (ETF) like the Straits Times Index, and still earn dividends from it.
Monthly investment plans are a great way for investors to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging since you will put aside a fixed amount each month to buy shares. Say if you put aside $200 a month, you may be able to buy 66 lots of the STI ETF this month at $3, but if prices fall to $2.80 next month, you will be able to buy more lots. Over a long term period, your cost actually comes out lower.
Dollar-cost averaging is ideal for passive investors and removes the difficulty of stock-picking. Some of the greatest value investors (like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett) are proponents of this investment strategy, and have the results to show for it.
Peer-to-peer(P2P) lending is a high risk investment where individuals get high returns for lending a fixed sum of money to companies who need the funds. An aggregate amount of fund is raised over an electronic platform and lent to businesses, which promise a certain percentage of interest payments at the end of the tenor.
It is high risk because these are typically startups or small companies who do not have access to bank loans, and are thus willing to pay a higher rate to investors for ready funds. Interest payments seem to be pretty lucrative, often in double digit rates but be prepared to lose your principal if the firm defaults.
An annuity is a type of life insurance policy which is usually purchased for retirement needs. The greatest benefit provided by annuities is a stream of regular monthly income payable to you upon your retirement. This regular income is payable to you until death, which can be a great supplementary income to the amount you will receive from your CPF retirement sum.
For those with little investment knowledge, this is an extremely safe way to guarantee a passive income during retirement.
So there you go; who says you need to keep working to receive an income?