Hey, investors in Singapore. Inflation has shrunk your money!

The inflation rate in Singapore was last reported at 5.5 percent in January of 2011. From 1962 until 2010, the average inflation rate in Singapore was 2.73 percent reaching an historical high of 34.00 percent in March of 1974 and a record low of -3.10 percent in September of 1976. Inflation rate refers to a general rise in prices measured against a standard level of purchasing power. The most well known measures of Inflation are the CPI which measures consumer prices, and the GDP deflator, which measures inflation in the whole of the domestic economy.

If the inflation rate in Singapore continues to remain high e.g. 5.5%, for the rest of 2011, it is going to be a huge investing challenge for me to beat it as not all my money are into inflation-fighting capable type of returns.

Assuming inflation rate in 2011 is 5.5%

• Money in CPF OA earning returns of 2.5% (negative returns after inflation is -3.0%)
• Money in Bank FD earning returns of 0.5% (negative returns after inflation is -5.0%)

I have calculated that the Total Returns on my current portfolio value as on 6 Mar 2011 must be at least 14% in order for me to offset the negative returns in CPF OA and bank FD to match the inflation rate of 5.5% this year. This can be a challenging task in the side way trading stock market.