Ah, so a generous investment horizon in front of you.
Interest rates are usually closely correlated with depreciation. So there’s often little point earning just say 10% on Indon Rupees*, vs 2% on S$, when the Indon Rupee is going to devalue 8%+ vs the S$ over that period of time. That was why I was asking about how the Indian Rupee performs against the S$, as I have no idea, but 10%+ returns usually suggest a pretty ailing economy and hence currency.
If you think the Indian Rupee likely won’t depreciate more, then it might follow that interest rates will soon come down. India might be your ‘base currency’ but you could consider investing in something that depreciates less. So that when you choose to repatriate those funds they’re worth relatively more. Yes SG has terrible deposit rates. The currency is micro-managed, i.e. it’s value vs major trading partners is specifically managed, and there is little or no competition between deposit taking institutions (banks) etc to offer better deals. Most people don’t even save for their own retirement here (outside of CPF), so I suppose that’s one result... maybe you could call it a policy of 'actively managed depreciation'.
I got burned in the stock-market in 1999/2000, despite being diversified/lower-risk. But my
property got knocked too, well, everything did I think ... they say not to expect such events more than once in a generation... we'll see. The markets do correct over time. Selling up is the reflex action, but down the line with 20/20 hindsight it’s usually the precisely wrong thing to have done. There’s an adage... something like ‘fill your boots (i.e. BUY!) when others are flinging themselves out of windows, and the very idea of buying seems completely insane’. In some respects it’s counter-intuitive... but just consider it a bit more and you’ll see the logic of it (it takes some balls though buying into a market that’s just tanked, and *could* do the same again tomorrow – I suppose that's the point, grab the chance, the income stream, and forget about the possible capital value tomorrow).
There’s ‘always another crash looming’, that's what makes all of this such fun lol. But people will always need toilet paper, petrol, to read a newspaper, have a bank account, use laundry detergent, light their homes, and buy a bottle of Coke etc*100. Year in year out.
* I'm using that as an example, as you see the silly newspaper ads offering '***10%/15%!!! 12 month fixed deposits on IDR!!!!!***' which completely ignores the fact that the currency is going to debauch itself by about that much over the same period as well. So putting your funds into some no-name dog of a bank into a crappy currency really won't earn you much at all...
