Should I invest in Singapore T-bills? (December 2023 to January 2024)

So, you’ve got a bit of spare cash lying around and you’re looking to invest it before you accidentally spend it on a virtual reality headset. But life is too short to burn your weekends researching the stock market.

Treasury bills, or T-bills, are perhaps your answer. They offer a low-risk way to invest your cash and introduce some diversity into your portfolio. All you do is put your money in and wait for the T-bill to reach maturity, with no monitoring the market involved.

For the risk-averse, one of the best things about T-bills is that they’re issued by the government, which is more or less bulletproof when it comes to investments.

Intrigued? Here’s a guide to buying T-bills at the end of 2023.

What are T-bills?

 T-bills are Singapore Government Securities (SGS) issued to the public as a short-term investment.

The Singapore government has an AAA credit rating, which means it’s one of the safest, most creditworthy institutions in the world. That makes T-bills very low-risk.

How do T-bills work? When you buy a T-bill, you are promised a fixed interest rate. That interest rate is the yield you make on the investment.

But T-bills are a little different from the most famous SGS of all, Singapore Savings Bonds, because of the way you get this interest. You receive a discount off the full price when you buy the T-bill. When it reaches maturity, the government buys it back from you at full price. The difference between the two prices is the interest you earn.

Sounds like a straightforward way to make a bit of cash, right? After all, you get to see upfront how much interest you can earn and when you will earn it.

However, there are some drawbacks. Unlike bonds, you don’t get paid interest periodically but have to wait until maturity to receive your yield. So it’s best to buy T-bills if you know you won’t need the cash for the entire duration of six months or one year.

Buying T-bills is also relatively troublesome. You can’t just log into your online trading account and place an order whenever you want. Buyers need to wait until auction dates before applying for the T-bill through a local ATM or Internet banking account.

The minimum bid amount of $1,000 can also be prohibitive if you’re just looking to invest a few hundred bucks.

Are T-bills still worth looking at?

2023 has been a great year for those looking to invest in T-bills. Compared to previous years, T-bills have seen a high in terms of interest, with yields crossing four per cent more than once this year.

For that, we can thank the high-interest rate environment and the US Fed’s endless rate hikes. While high-interest rates suck if you’re in debt, they also offer opportunities for investors in securities like T-bills.

Six-month T-bill

Six-month T-bills reach maturity in six months and are a good short-term option if you want to get your cash back within half a year.

Here’s some data on six-month T-bills at the latest closing levels (Dec 19, 2023):

Current T-bill

Price: 98.192

Yield: 3.77 per cent

Upcoming six-month T-bills

2023 interest rates for six-month T-bills

One-year T-bill

If you can lock up your money for a little longer, you can opt for a one-year T-bill to reap the benefits of a year’s worth of interest.

Here’s some data on one-year T-bills at the latest closing levels (Dec 19, 2023):

Current one-year T-bill

Price: 96.827

Yield: 3.76 per cent

Upcoming one-year T-bills

Announcement date	Auction date	Issue date	Maturity date
Jan 18, 2024	Jan 25, 2024	Jan 30, 2024	July 28, 2025
April 11, 2024	April 18, 2024	April 23, 2024	April 22, 2025
July 18, 2024	July 25, 2024	July 30, 2024	July 29, 2025
Oct 10, 2024	Oct 17, 2024	Oct 22, 2024	Oct 21, 2025

Historical interest rates for one-year T-bills

Best alternatives to T-bills right now

T-bills are suitable for those looking for a low-risk, short-term investment, as well as an alternative to the usual stocks to diversify their portfolios.

Honestly, the T-bill interest rates are quite attractive right now, so now is a good time to invest in them if you’ve been thinking about it. But if you’re looking for alternatives, here are a few other low-risk-, short-term ways to invest your money.

High-quality bonds

Bonds are somewhat similar to T-bills but offer more flexibility. The most well-known are Singapore Savings Bonds, issued by the government.

When you buy a bond, you receive interest paid out at regular intervals, usually every six months. However, you don’t need to wait till maturity and can liquidate the bonds whenever you want at the market price.

High dividend stocks

While not as low-risk as T-bills, high dividend shares from blue-chip companies are as stable as it gets when it comes to stocks.

Such stocks will pay out a dividend regularly and can thus be used as a source of passive income if you decide to buy and hold them for the long term. If things go your way, you will also get to benefit from capital gains when your share value increases.

Another advantage of stocks is their liquidity — if at any time you decide to sell your stocks, whether to get hold of more cash or to take advantage of favourable share prices, you can do so instantaneously on your trading platform.

Short-term endowment plans

You don’t have to worry about signing your life away to a long-term insurance plan when it comes to short-term endowment plans.

This new breed of plan lasts a short term, typically two to six years. Although there is an insurance component, the real goal of these plans is to help you grow your savings. These plans can either require one lump sum payment at the beginning or regular pay-ins.

If all goes according to plan, you should get your money back with a decent amount of interest when your plan reaches maturity.

ALSO READ: What are Singapore treasury bills and are they a good investment?