Where to Stash (Dash) your cash and Grow Money (EasyEarn)

Stashing Your Cash

In my earlier posts, I talked about the need for an emergency fund and other than Singlife, which caps the 2.5% p.a. for the first S$10k. No other financial institutions have been able to match this super high interest yield for a pretty risk free approach .(Given that Singlife is under SDIC so the first S$75k is covered and safe) In recent months, we have seen some insurtech or alternative ways to put your money and entice people with relatively decent interest rates for your cash/emergency funds.

Emergency Funds

To recap, your emergency funds should have some level of liquidity so that you can utilise when necessary and not be penalised for doing so. This is by far my personal first rule. It is extremely interesting and exciting to see what might happen to the digital banking sector where there is a mixed bag of consortium lining up to be licensed to offer financial services. It looks like it is going to be something similar to what these insurtech is offering or even more innovation. (e.g. bundled products, higher interest rates or even offering curated financial products, robo-advisors and payment channels) It does seems exciting to see what new innovation these services can offer and retail customers will benefit from this digital drive.

Dash EasyEarn

Dash Easy Earn is a collaborative work between Dash (Singtel payment service) and Easy Earn (Tiq – An Insurance arm of Etiqa and a subsidiary of Maybank)

Let’s go for the Pros first:

a. Flexible no lock-in period hence no penalties for cancelling the plan.

b. First year interest rates stands at 2% p.a. (So this part is locked in and low interest rate environment is set to stay)

c. Relatively low barrier to entry. With S$2k minimally as maintenance amount that you keep, you get the interest accrued on a daily basis.

d. Capital Guaranteed.

e. Interest earned can be transfer to Dash Payment Service with no extra charge and they have a suite of deals and payments which you can use to pay your bills with. There is a $2 cashback for your first Singtel Dash transaction! Sign up with the referral code DASH-RYJKN or tap on this link https://appserver.dash.com.sg:443/mgm?DASH-RYJKN now

f. You can top up anytime to this account.

g. 105% of the account value is the sum assured should something happen to you.

Now for the Cons:

a. You need to download and register for yet another app. This is the Singtel Dash App. I mean, I really hate Singtel but I will not say no to free money.

b. You have to remember to maintain at lease S$2k in the EasyEarn Account.

c. 2% p.a. only applies for the first year and I believe that it will drop to 1.5 % p.a. thereafter. (From the terms and conditions: *Guaranteed 1.5% p.a. + 0.5% p.a. bonus for first policy year, available on a first come, first served basis) – Seems like there is sort of a cap to this.

d. There is a maximum amount to this. Once you have Topped Up to S$20k, that is the cap for every individual account. So there is this element of troublesome to remember and track for a 2% p.a. but if it suits you, then by all means go ahead.

e. Here is the key part to this which you will not hear it from Dash themselves. For any transaction that you transfer out via PayNow back to your own transact or savings account, there is a payment fee of S$0.70 per transaction. This is free if you transfer to Dash payment as described above for Pros point (e).

Seriously

To some, the S$0.01 is money which they refuse to let go of but to others, not so much of a great deal. Don’t be penny wise pound foolish or you will never see the bigger picture. You will not gain anything by spending time and energy on pinching 1 cent. I personally know 8 out of 10 people does it and it annoys the hell out of me. If you have time to pinch 1 cent, I would rather you take that time to find ways to make $10 instead of ruining your own mood, wasting your time and fussing over the small things. I don’t get it and I still don’t today.

The User Interface

Here is how the screen looks like on the Dash EasyEarn App. You can see the Grow Money (New) in the Dash App which you can access and see your funds and interest. Do note that the interest are not accumulative though so it means that whatever you have in excess of S$20k earns no interest.

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When you log in to EasyEarn, that is how the app looks like below.

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Conclusion

Before I end off, I saw an interesting product which is on similar terms as Dash EasyEarn. They are from Tiq Insurance – meaning GIGANTIA but this works in their own Tiq App. (First year 1% + 1% p.a.) I’m not too sure why they have something similar to Dash EasyEarn. There can be a variety of reason. It could be that they have extra tranche of funds to offer customers or it could be that this is a longevity version of their product as compared to having inflexible Dash systems. I would explore Tiq option as well but let’s see what kind of proposition it makes to consumers.

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Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. This is just a tool and exploration to find out cash solutions, interest rates as well as a market survey. It is never too much to learn and know more about.

This picture image was taken off Singtel Dash and EasyEarn for illustration purpose only.

 

Wellnex & My-Insurer Platform

Something interesting came in my way last week. I managed to speak with the General Manager of Wellnex (Link here if you are interested to find out – https://www.wellnex-singapore.com/) and My-insurer. (Link here – https://www.my-insurer.net/) They are in the field of Insurtech field – Insurance Technology. (Something that works differently as compared to the traditional agents who sells you an insurance) I’ll say that they are more of a 99.co or property guru in Insurance style but with a tad more zest as all interactions and details are done digitally so it is as good as meeting the customer face to face. Given current Covid situation, I’m not sure if I want to meet anyone face to face for a 2-3 hour chat about personal finance.

It isn’t a sponsored post. I’m very strict with the way things are being done regarding a sponsored post. As the way it is, I’m happy to write and type whatever my views are and trash whatever I find is trashy. In any case, my-insurer has a separate wellnex platform – which is more of a deals, news, more information kind of portal where businesses and writers can create and post articles.

The Wellnex Interface

In terms of user-interface, it is simple – no frills but also nothing fancy. The whole idea is to create content, display them out and get people to read them. Hopefully, some people actually think that my content is worth reading. I am a firm believer of things taking time to grow organically. Spending marketing dollars on stuff is what companies who have cash to burn does. Usually it comes with a price, there is always a catch or ROI to it – Then the marketing dollars will eventually be reduced or some others suckered into buying into it and spending even more marketing dollars.

Data Trustmark

Sometime last week, i received an email from them stating that they have achieved the Trust-mark for Data Protection so you can be sure that there is a standard or ISO for dealing and protection the data that you store with them. I’ll say that is a good job considering that they hold key to agents and customer data.

What I really do like about them is that, they have no requirement for me to have at least one post per week or anything of that sort. There isn’t a fee that they pay to me or I need to pay them for using their application to post articles as they wish to stay neutral and free from conflict of interest. That is respectable for a business who work on that ethics. Not many companies are true to what they preach.

Help one another / Refer a good deal

If you own a company or wish to share some deals, do reach out to these folks out there. Perhaps, they can add more marketing value for space or reach or impressions as the marketing guys call it. After all, the idea is to get what you have out there so people know and talks about it.

The whole idea that I wish to do is to create a space where people enjoy reading articles about finance. Perhaps, get them excited about finding out what is out there. What is the current trend? Sometimes, even finding a good deal or good idea will come back. Though I did not start out as early as so many other bloggers did, it is never too late.

Eventually, finding out and working together as online bloggers is something I wish to build in the community. I started out reading financial blogs for many years. In the process, I procrastinated about building one as it takes up too much time. However, the circuit breaker forced me to take on something that I have put off for many years. I hope I will grow my project to a sizable one in the near future.

Disclaimer

These are just solely opinions of mine. Different people have different needs, requirement, financial situation and views. For me, this is what I would do if I would like to build my blog. The main aim to to get more viewership and subscribers to keep the lights running.

If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes here at https://atomic-temporary-178675883.wpcomstaging.com/contact/ for the services.

The pictures were taken from Wellnex website for this article.