Unlocking Your SRS Potential: Kenny Loh on Tax Relief, the 0.05% Trap and Where to Put Your SRS Mone

Speaker: @Kenny_Loh (Wealth Advisory Director, S-REIT Specialist & SGX Academy Trainer)
Live Date: September 29, 2026 (Review Live >>)

In this livestream, Kenny Loh walked viewers through how to use the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) to cut their tax bill. He covered how the relief works and how to read your Notice of Assessment. He also explained why leaving SRS cash at 0.05% quietly costs you, where SRS money can actually be invested, and how SRS fits into a layered retirement income plan.

Want a deeper dive? We broke this session down into 4 full recap articles, each covering a different piece of the SRS puzzle>

• Live Recap 1: SRS 101 — What It Is, Who Can Use It, and Where Singapore's $23.9bn Actually Goes

• Live Recap 2: The 0.05% Problem — What Idle SRS Cash Really Costs You

• Live Recap 3: How SRS Cuts Your Tax Bill — Two Worked Examples

• Live Recap 4: Putting SRS Money to Work — ETFs, REITs, Insurance and Retirement Income

🐯💬 Join the discussion: Share your market view or questions below. Every useful and thoughtful comment will receive Tiger Coins!

🎯 5 Key Takeaways

• SRS contributions must reach your SRS account by Dec 31 on a working day to count towards YA2027, and they earn dollar-for-dollar tax relief, subject to the overall $80,000 personal relief cap.

• In Kenny's citizen/PR example ($165,000 income), contributing the full $15,300 cuts tax by about $1,908 a year, and his foreigner example ($570,000 income, $35,700 cap) saves more than $8,000 a year, because higher brackets make each dollar of relief worth more.

• Idle SRS cash earns just 0.05%. On $100,000 over 20 years, that's about $101,005, versus $219,112 at an illustrative 4% and $466,096 at 8% — yet roughly 21% of Singapore's SRS money sits in cash.

• SRS funds can be invested in SGX-listed stocks, bonds, ETFs and REITs, with unit trusts as the route to overseas markets. Insurance products such as annuities and endowments are another option.

• SRS is a "soft lock". Early withdrawals face a 5% penalty plus tax on the full amount, so Kenny stressed that how much to contribute depends on your cash flow, and that SRS is not an emergency fund.

🏦 Why Dec 31 Matters: How SRS Relief Works

Kenny's IRAS example follows Mr Tan, who puts $12,000 into SRS. His operator reports it to IRAS automatically, and $12,000 of relief appears in the following Year of Assessment. Kenny's practical warnings: the money has to arrive by Dec 31 (weekends and holidays don't count), operator cut-off dates vary, and once your total reliefs reach the $80,000 cap, an extra SRS contribution won't lower your tax any further.

Discussion: Have you checked your latest Notice of Assessment to see how much relief you're already claiming?

🧮 The Numbers: A $1,908 Saving on $165,000

Kenny walked through the maths using a real-style NOA. A $15,300 contribution lifts total reliefs from $40,760 to $56,060 and cuts chargeable income from $124,240 to $108,940, pulling part of the income out of the 15% bracket and into 11.5%. Over 10 years, that adds up to roughly $19,000.

His framing of the trade-off: to save around $1,900 a year, you lock up $15,300 for retirement, but that money is still yours. The tax you'd otherwise pay is gone for good. He also said you don't have to contribute the maximum. The right amount depends on your cash flow.

📉 The 0.05% Problem

Kenny called the low interest rate one of SRS's biggest limitations. On $100,000 over 20 years, the slide compares 0.05% ($101,005), 4% ($219,112) and 8% ($466,096). These are illustrations, not forecasts, and higher returns come with higher risk. He added that food inflation in Singapore is currently 2.2%, so his rule of thumb is to aim at least to beat inflation.

📈 What Can SRS Actually Buy?

SRS funds can go into SGX-listed stocks, bonds, ETFs and REITs. To get started, open an SRS account with $DBS(D05.SI)$/POSB, $UOB(U11.SI)$ or $OCBC Bank(O39.SI)$, link it to your trading account, then select SRS when placing the trade. Kenny began with the objective, risk profile and time horizon, and only then the product, a step he said many people skip.

He showed two of the most-held SRS ETFs as information, not recommendations. [$$SPDR Straits Times Index ETF(ES3$$] has returned 8.68% annualised since its 2002 inception, though the three local banks make up about 59% of the fund. [$$ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund(A35$$] has returned 2.33% since inception, mainly from Singapore government bonds.

🏢 Dividend Stocks and S-REITs

Kenny flagged S-REITs as a sector worth researching, pointing to a 6.2% sector yield and a price-to-NAV of about 0.77, versus roughly 0.80 at the COVID low (as of Sep 27, 2026). His caution: not all REITs are equal, so check gearing, interest costs, occupancy, lease expiry and interest cover before deciding.

He also raised two SRS-specific points. Dividends flow back into your SRS account and can't be withdrawn before retirement age, so SRS suits growth and regular investing better than income needs. And with individual stocks, a rights issue can dilute you if there's no spare SRS cash to subscribe.

🛡️ Insurance and the Retirement Income Ladder

For lower volatility, Kenny walked through the insurance route: investment-linked policies (non-guaranteed), endowments (guaranteed lump sum) and annuities (regular payouts). He cited 2–3% as a conservative range for endowments and annuities, and noted that lock-in periods apply and not every product accepts SRS. "There's no apple-to-apple comparison," so define the features you need first.

His illustrative retirement portfolio has four layers, totalling $5,100 a month:

• Level 1: CPF Life, guaranteed ($1,600)

• Level 2: private annuities, guaranteed ($1,000)

• Level 3: dividend portfolio of REITs, stocks and bonds ($2,000)

• Level 4: alternative investments ($500)

SRS can fund Levels 2 and 3.

🙋 Q&A Highlights

• How is a retirement-age withdrawal taxed?
  Using a $40,000 withdrawal as an illustration, only 50% ($20,000) is taxable. Kenny urged planning withdrawals in advance and pointed viewers to IRAS for special cases, since he doesn't advise on tax.

• Can I set a limit price on unit trusts?
  No. They're priced at the day's closing price.

• How do SRS and CPF fit together?
  CPF Life is the first, guaranteed layer, and SRS helps build the layers above it.

• Can I invest SRS in gold or US tech?
  Via a gold ETF, or via unit trusts for US exposure.

• Can I withdraw shares instead of cash?
  Kenny believes in-kind transfers are possible but advised checking with your bank and broker first.

💬 Words from Kenny Loh

"Understand your own objective first, before you choose the right product for you."
"This is a golden goose. You cannot let your golden goose die."
"There's no apple-to-apple comparison. There's always apple to orange or apple to durian."
"If you never contribute to SRS, this $1,900 is an expense you pay to IRAS, and it's forever gone."

Closing Takeaway

Kenny's message wasn't that everyone should max out SRS. It was that the decision should be deliberate. Estimate your reliefs and your tax, decide how much cash you can genuinely lock away, then choose a product that fits your goals instead of leaving the money idle at 0.05%. Esther's four wrap-up points: contribute by Dec 31 to optimise your YA2027 tax, don't let SRS sit at 0.05%, weigh the soft lock and withdrawal rules against your cash flow, and remember the opportunity cost of not contributing is real.

Post-Event Resources

Viewers can follow Kenny Loh on Tiger Community at [@Kenny_Loh] and [@REITsavvy], or on YouTube (Kenny Loh Financial Wisdom, @KennyLohFinancialWisdom). The full livestream replay is available on the Tiger Trade app.

🐯 Your Turn: Join the Discussion

Share your view on one of these questions:

• If you had $100,000 in SRS for the next 10+ years, would you keep it in cash, go for ETFs, stocks/REITs, or a diversified mix?

• Is a roughly $1,900 yearly tax saving enough to justify locking up $15,300 until retirement?

• Which layer of the retirement income ladder do you think most people underestimate?

🎁 Every useful, thoughtful, and well-explained comment will receive Tiger Coins!

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