Can You Really Save for Retirement, Housing, and Your Kids’ Education Through Passive Investing?

Most of us wish we had the time to study the economy, actively invest, and grow our savings. But let’s face it—by the time we drag ourselves home after a long day, we don’t have the time or energy to stare at charts.

So that begs the question. How do we save up for retirement, our kids’ education, and all our other goals? Don’t worry; we’re here to show you a powerful way to build wealth for the future—without needing any expertise in investing.

Tap Into the Power of Passive Investing

One easy method to grow your savings hassle-free is passive investing. You may think passive investing won’t reap generous returns, but if you had invested in the S&P 500 from 27 March 2023 and held it to 26 March 2024 (1 year), you would have made a whopping 30.82% on your investment. 

But that’s easier said than done, especially when you may have to hold your investment positions—and your nerves!—through periods of prolonged drawdown. Let’s explore a scenario below.

From the chart above, you can see that the S&P 500 dipped sometime around Feb 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and dropped even further throughout 2022. Even throughout 2023, it never recovered to its previous high until the later part of the year where it has been on the uptrend till now.

Would you have been able to hold your positions as they went through that drawdown? Or would you have sold everything and taken a loss, only to see the market recover? Not so easy, is it? These are scenarios you could face if you invest without a plan or a goal.

Before You Start Investing, Outline Your Goals

Investing without a goal is like going to the gym without any targets—you’ll be unsure of what to do and won’t have a solid way to track your progress.

So start thinking about what goals you want to achieve with your investments.

What are you working towards? Do you want to buy your first house? Would that be a BTO, resale HDB flat, or condo? Perhaps you have young children and want to save for their education. Or how much do you need to save now for a comfortable retirement?

And more importantly, how much should you invest, and what should you invest in?

While this may seem like a lot of work—and it is because you need to set aside some time if you want to do this properly—you can make it easier with Maybank’s newly released service, Goal-Based Investment (GBI).

Maybank Goal-Based Investment (GBI) in a Nutshell

Maybank GBI is a newly released service on Maybank2u Online Banking and the Maybank2u SG (Lite) app. Through GBI, you can start investing from just S$200—which is one of the lowest minimum investment amounts in unit trusts among banks in Singapore.

Here’s how GBI works: 

You first choose from a list of goals that you want to achieve, whether it’s retirement, education, growing your wealth, or income generation.

Next, input your personal information, such as your age, desired retirement income, CPF payout, and current savings, followed by your investment horizon. Lastly, complete a risk profile questionnaire to determine your willingness and capacity to take investment risk.

This is the part that gets interesting. Based on all the information you’ve provided, Maybank GBI will simulate:

1. The target amounts for each of your goals, and
2. How much you need to invest per month to reach your goals on time

Based on your risk profile, you can then zoom into the most suitable unit trusts professionally curated for you.

But remember, GBI is just a guide to simplify your investment planning journey. The choice of funds to invest in is still up to you. 

Once you’ve selected the fund you want to invest in, you can allocate an initial investment amount for each fund. After that, you can choose to set up regular, automated top-ups, known as a Regular Subscription Plan.

Once that’s set up, you won’t have to worry about choosing the right asset classes for your investment or constantly tracking the market.

But it’s still good to monitor your investments once in a while. With a single tap of a button, you can get an overview of your investments and, more importantly, see if you’re on track to achieve your goals.

Of course, you can also adjust your contributions to increase your investment amount if you want to reach your investment goal faster or if, for some reason, you need to reduce your investment for the month. 

Why Should We Consider Investing in Unit Trusts?

If you’re clueless about investing and the economy, professionals can help manage your investments, such as unit trusts. A unit trust is a fund where a group of investors (like you) pool their money, and a fund manager is responsible for managing it. The fund manager then buys stocks, bonds, securities or even cash—whatever he thinks will best achieve the fund’s goals. For more information, read our guide to unit trusts in Singapore.

Passively Invest Your Way to Achieving Your Goals

With GBI on Maybank2u Online Banking and the Maybank2u SG (Lite) app, you have all the tools to start achieving your investment goals with minimal effort. 

Once you’ve settled on an investment plan that suits your risk appetite, you can set this one worry aside, knowing that each month, you’re moving one step closer to achieving your goals.

Ready to Start Investing?

With as little as S$200, you can get started on your investment journey. Utilise Maybank Goal-Based Investment (GBI) to help you plan and work towards achieving your goals. 

What’s more, there is a 0% sales charge* from 22 April to 30 June 2024 for up to the first S$2,000 invested.

*Terms and conditions apply.

All images featured in this article are for illustration purposes.

This advertisement has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The contents above do not constitute a recommendation to invest in any unit trust products. Find out more about tailored funds for your investment needs via Maybank Goal-Based Investment.