The 5 Best ETFs To Invest Your SRS Money In 2026

Picking the wrong fund to invest your SRS money  can quietly cost you a few thousand dollars over   the long term. So in this video, I want to  show you the cheapest way to invest your   SRS money across every major category, from  the S&P 500, to global, growth, dividends   and Singapore. For each one, I'll cover the best  fund you can actually buy, and where to buy it. So, let's not waste any time and let's  start with the first category, the S&P 500. For this category, my top pick would be  CSPX, the iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF,   which is available on StashAway's ETF Explorer. Just like any other S&P 500  ETF, CSPX holds the top 500   companies listed in the US. So it has  Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and so on. CSPX has a very low expense ratio of 0.07%. And  because it is an Ireland Domiciled ETF, it only   has a 15% dividend withholding tax, as compared  to every other fund on this list, which is at 30%. So, when you add up both the expense  ratio and the dividend withholding tax,   the fee that you have to pay every year on this  fund would come out to around 0.234%. This is   way cheaper than all the other funds, where  the annual fees can add up to 0.35% or more. Meanwhile, StashAway ETF Explorer itself doesn't  charge recurring platform fee, and dividends get   reinvested free of charge. Though, you do need  to pay a flat USD 1 fee for every trade you make,   plus there's a 0.32% currency spread. However,  even after adding these one time fees to the   annual cost, it still comes out cheaper  as compared to investing in other funds. Oh yeah, and speaking of StashAway, they're  currently running a National Day campaign,   where you get to enjoy a 6.2% per annum yield  to maturity on your cash, and SGD 61 worth of   ETF rebates when you invest in Simple Plus or  any SGX-listed ETF Explorer portfolio by 11   September 2026. So if you are interested,  you can sign up via my link down below. Next, while the S&P500 is great, the truth is  that nobody actually knows which country might   do well next. So if you would rather not put all  your funds in the US basket, you could invest in   the entire world instead. Because, you'll always  pick the winner, if you are picking all of them. For global, my pick would be ISAC, the iShares  MSCI ACWI UCITS ETF, which is also available on   StashAway ETF Explorer. This ETF holds over 1,600  companies across developed and emerging market. It has an expense ratio of 0.2%, and  again, because it's domiciled in Ireland,   it only has a 15% dividend withholding tax,  thereby letting you keep more of your dividends. So, when you add up the expense ratio, the  withholding tax and that one time currency   spread, a SGD 100,000 investment  in ISAC over 10 years would cost   you around SGD 3,730. That's way cheaper as  compared to investing in the other 2 funds. However, if you feel that both the S&P 500 and  the global fund aren't aggressive enough for you,   and you want even more growth, then the cheapest  growth fund your SRS can invest in would be QQQ,   which again, is available  on StashAway ETF Explorer. QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100, which is the 100  biggest non-financial companies listed on the   Nasdaq. It has a 0.18% expense ratio, and  because this ETF is registered in the US,   your dividends get taxed at 30%. But  that would barely cost you anything,   since these growth companies pay  almost no dividends to begin with. When you add up the expense ratio,  the dividend withholding tax,   and the FX spread, SGD 100,000 over  10 years in QQQ would only come out   to around SGD 3,650. This is over 4 times  cheaper as compared to the other 2 funds. Though, this isn't really a 1 to 1 comparison,  since the other 2 funds are actively managed,   meaning a human is picking the stocks, and  they aren't trying to do the same thing either. While QQQ tracks the 100 biggest  companies on the Nasdaq exchange,   UOBAM United Global Quality Growth is a  fund that focuses on quality companies   from not just the US, but all over  the world. Meanwhile the Franklin US   Opportunities fund picks US companies that  it thinks can grow in a sustainable way. Though, despite the active management of both  funds, neither of them has gone very far over   the past 5 years. Franklin is only up around 20%,  while the UOBAM fund is actually slightly down,   despite the past 5 years being one of the  strongest bull markets we have ever seen. In short, if you've got a bigger risk  appetite and you want a growth tilt,   QQQ is the cheapest fund that  you can invest your SRS in. Next up, if you like having some income  coming in every few months, then this is   the dividend category. Here you've actually got  5 funds to pick from. The cheapest one is VYM,   the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, which  is available on StashAway ETF Explorer. VYM holds 605 US companies that pay above  average dividends, and it yields around 2.4%.   Its expense ratio is only 0.04%, which is the  cheapest fund in this entire video. But because   this ETF is registered in the US, 30% of every  dividend gets taken before it even reaches you. And that's huge. On a 2.4% yield,  the tax works out to 0.72% a year,   so when you add up the fees, investing  SGD 100,000 over 10 years would cost   you around SGD 7,920, with around 90% of  that being the dividend withholding tax. Though, this fee pales in comparison to  the other 4 funds. Because the 4 funds   are actively managed unit trusts listed on  Endowus, they not only have an incredibly   high fund level fee of anywhere between  0.8% to 1.16%, but they also come with   the 0.3% platform fee which Endowus charge, in  addition to the 30% dividend withholding tax. Looking at their performance, VYM  and Allspring are basically neck   and neck at the top, while the other  3 trail behind. Which is interesting,   because Allspring is a global  fund, and not a pure US one. Nevertheless, if you are looking for the  cheapest dividend paying fund to invest in,   it's VYM, but just note that you're  handing 30% of that dividend to Uncle Sam. Last but not least, if you would like some  exposure to our home market, Singapore,   then the 2 cheapest funds would be the 2 Amova  STI ETFs. GAB is the accumulating version,   where it automatically reinvests the  dividends for you, while G3B pays them out. Both of them track the Straits Times Index,   which holds the top 30 companies in  Singapore, like DBS, OCBC and Singtel. They have the lowest 0.24% expense ratio,   as compared to ES3, or the SPDR STI ETF which  has a slightly higher expense ratio of 0.28%. And because the funds are domiciled in Singapore,   there's no dividend withholding tax to worry  about. On SGD 100,000 invested over 10 years,   after taking into account the expense ratio,  both GAB and G3B would cost you SGD 2,400. All 3 funds are available on both FSMOne  and POEMS. FSMOne charges a flat SGD 3.80   for every SGX ETF trade, no  matter how big the order is,   while POEMS charges 0.08% of whatever  you're buying, with no minimum. Because of that, if you are  investing less than SGD 4,750,   POEMS is cheaper. But anything above it,  FSMOne would end up as the cheaper broker. However with that being said, FSMOne  has an ongoing promo where if you use   their Regular Savings Plan to invest,  you'll get to enjoy 0 fee. This makes   FSMOne the cheapest platform to use. Sign  up link down below if you are interested. So there you have it, these are the  cheapest funds you can buy with SRS   in every category. Now if you're not sure  where to start, here's how I'd think about it. If you want just one fund and never want to think  about it ever again, ISAC lets you invest in the   entire world, where you'll always be investing  in the winners no matter who comes out ahead. Otherwise, if you believe that the US will  continue doing well over the long term,   then you could go with CSPX  via StashAway ETF Explorer. But if you've got a bigger risk appetite,  and you can stomach the bigger swings,   QQQ would give you exposure to the  fastest growing companies in the US. And if you want dividends instead,   VYM would give you exposure to the high  dividend paying companies in the US. And lastly, if you just want  some Singapore exposure,   GAB or G3B would be the cheapest fund to go for. Anyway, that's all for this video. Hope you found   it useful. Like, share, and subscribe as  I'll be posting new videos every week.