Where should you invest your first $1,000?

Unsure about where to start? Learn from these money experts and financially savvy women, who give us the low-down on what they did with their first $1,000.

- Karishma Tulsidas

Did you know that women outperform men when it comes to investment returns? According to a 10-year study by international financial consultant firm Fidelity, they make 0.4% more on average than their male counterparts.

Still, some women are hesitant to take that first step: They believe that they lack the financial knowledge to dip their toes in the water. When Her World conducted the What Women Want Financial Literacy survey in 2023, the results showed that more than 50% of respondents stated that their financial knowledge was poor to average.

But as the adage goes, Rome was not built in a day. Taking baby steps can sometimes be all the push we need to help us build our financial knowledge and confidence.

We turn to three financial experts and three savvy women for inspiration on how to grow your $1,000.

THE EXPERTS

WENDY WONG, associate director of Finexis Advisory, a Singapore-based financial advisory firm

Can you suggest an investment strategy for the first $1,000?

I would use the three buckets of investment strategy concepts for my first $1,000, according to my needs and risk profile.

First bucket: I would set aside 25% ($250) for short-term needs, usually between a period of one to five years, to provide for short-term goals like a holiday. The money would usually be in a savings account, which provides negligible returns, eg up to 1% per annum, but is easy to access for convenience.

Second bucket: I would set aside another 25% ($250) for medium-term needs, usually between a time frame of six to 10 years, to provide for bigger purchases like a car, a home, or other bigger financial milestones in life. Instruments like money markets can give returns of about 3% per annum. So while we accumulate our savings for bigger purchases, there are some returns for this bucket to aid our efforts as well.