If you don’t even have a high yield savings account, forget about financial independence

UPDATE: 02 JUNE 2020: From 1 July 2020, OCBC will make changes to their 360 account due to the low interest rate environment we are currently operating in. You may find out more here.

To the people who were forwarded/tagged to read this article, a high yield savings account is one that gives you at least 1% interest. 

The idea is that you credit your salary there, you spend some money with the bank via credit card or bill payments, and they reward you for your loyalty. 

Every local bank has one – our sponsor’s offering is the OCBC 360 account.

Will such an account make you rich? Absolutely not. 

Your cookie-cutter savings account gives you maybe 0.05%, which is absolutely miserable. You can’t even beat inflation. 

By comparison, the OCBC 360 account will allow you to easily get an interest rate of (1.25%) with relatively little effort (you may theoretically be able to achieve up to (2.15%) in effective interest rate, if you jump through more hoops). 

Is that realistically a big deal? 

We’re going to say no.

Especially if you’re fresh out of uni and don’t have a lot of money. For reference, you will only be able to earn $10.62 per month in interest if you:

1. increased your savings from $14,000 to $15,000
2. Credited your salary 

That’s about a Netflix subscription (for two screens) every month. So yes, you do get more money compared to your regular account, but you won’t get rich. 

For wealth accumulation, you should look into investing your money into the stock market, a property, starting a business, or our personal favourite earning more money. 

That said, high yield savings accounts are a symbolic step towards financial freedom 

I’ve done a lot of things in my attempt to attain financial freedom. Some of them were incredibly silly – eating the cheapest food just to save a few dollars. Others like working four jobs at the same time, were lucrative but also extremely taxing. 

In the grand scheme of things, setting up a high yield savings account – any account, not just the OCBC 360 – is the easiest and one of the first things I did. 

Apart from being able to set up one quickly online…

• There’s literally no risk, unlike investing in the stock market 
• You don’t even need money to start one. 
• There’s no monitoring involved 
• It has virtually no impact on your lifestyle 

Literally, the only thing stopping people are:

• 5-10 minutes of their time online
• The social awkwardness of approaching their HR department to change their salary crediting details. 

If you find that challenging, wait till you need to do the bigger and harder things – whether it’s seriously cutting your expenses, negotiating for a pay raise, or even looking for new streams of income. 

How should I use this account?

Here’s how I use my OCBC 360 account. 

It’s where I keep my emergency funds as well my financial warchest in the event of an investment opportunity. 

When I was in my twenties, the amount there was supposed to last me six months, but as I grew older and started preparing to take on more financial responsibilities (renting, a pet cat, etc), I have slowly increased my holding power to be more substantial. 

The rest of my money? 

I invest it because it’s not wise to put too much money in this bank account (or similar product such as the Singapore Savings Bonds or a fixed deposit), especially when you’re young.  

Personally, I’d do an aggressive 80/20 split – 80% investments, 20% cash. That said, many people would be more comfortable with a 60/40 split. Or 40/60, if they’re more conservative.

Some investments I’ve made with my cash :

What happens to the money in the bank account?

The money in my 360 Account? It’s highly accessible, is not exposed to any risk and generates an acceptable interest, about $50 a month. 

To do this, I:

• Keep $55,000 in my bank account and try to increase it slowly every month
• Credit my salary into the account. (Salary Bonus)
• Increase my bank balance from the previous month (Step Up bonus)

$50 isn’t a lot of money, but it more than covers my transport bill every month. 

Not too shabby if you ask me for something that needs zero attention. 

Why OCBC 360?

I gotta be honest with you. As mentioned in this post, the reason why I’ve used the OCBC 360 account for five years now isn’t because it’s consistently the best bank account. 

After all, the ‘high savings account’ game is quite a competitive space, and banks frequently try to one up each other. Even if OCBC was the best today, it might not be, say, 1 year from now – things are always changing – it is expected ALL banks will be reducing their interest rates on their high yield savings account.

I’ve stuck with it mostly because:

•  it was the most attractive account when I first signed up in 2014 (also because it was Singapore’s first ever high savings account)
•  The account has actually been revised over the years to remain competitive, so it’s not like OCBC has been slacking around, either.
• I don’t believe in switching from bank account to bank account to earn a small amount of interest. That’s a lot of effort for little returns. And also laughable, please don’t do that.

Like we said, this article isn’t about getting you to sign up specifically for the 360 account (though it is certainly worth your consideration) but more of getting you to sign up for a high yield savings account.

If you’re 22, start now. If you’re 40, start now. Pick any account, any will do. 

But of course, if you pick OCBC 360, our sponsor will be very, very happy. 

Stay woke, Salaryman. 

Message from OCBC 360, our sponsor:

Get a S$100 Dairy Farm Group e-voucher when you open a 360 Account online as your first OCBC account. You must also credit your salary of at least S$2,000 to the account. Insured up to S$75,000 by SDIC.

Promotion ends on 31 May 2020. T&Cs Apply.

Big disclaimer from OCBC: Any opinions or views of third parties expressed in this article are those of the third parties identified, and not those of OCBC Group. No representation or warranty whatsoever (including without limitation any representation or warranty as to accuracy, usefulness, adequacy, timeliness or completeness) in respect of any information (including without limitation any statement, figures, opinion, view or estimate) provided in this article is given by OCBC Bank and it should not be relied upon as such. OCBC Bank shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage whatsoever arising directly or indirectly howsoever in connection with or as a result of any person acting on any information provided in this article.

Liked it? Take a second to support thewokesalaryman on Patreon!