Doubling your money in 10 years sounds ambitious.
But for Singapore investors, it has already happened with one of the simplest investments available on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
A S$10,000 investment in the SPDR Straits Times Index ETF (SGX: ES3) would have grown to around S$26,220 over the past decade, including dividends.
No stock picking. No trading. No lucky bet on the next NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA).
Just Singapore’s blue-chip index, dividends reinvested, and time.
That may surprise investors who think the Singapore market is boring, slow, or only useful for dividends. Yet over the past 10 years, the humble STI ETF delivered a result many investors might have been happy to achieve from individual stock picking.
The lesson is not that the next 10 years will look exactly like the last 10.
The lesson is that wealth-building does not always look exciting while it is happening.
Month by month, dividend by dividend, year by year, the result can look ordinary.. until one day, it is not.
What is the SPDR STI ETF?
The SPDR STI ETF aims to track the performance of the Straits Times Index, Singapore’s benchmark stock market index. It does this by investing substantially all its assets in the shares that make up the index, in broadly similar weightings.
In plain English, buying the STI ETF gives investors exposure to a basket of Singapore’s largest listed companies through a single investment.
Instead of choosing between DBS Group Holdings (SGX: D05), OCBC (SGX: O39), UOB (SGX: U11), Singtel (SGX: Z74), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), or various REITs, investors can own a broad slice of corporate Singapore.
The ETF is also accessible. It has a board lot size of one share, pays distributions semi-annually at the manager’s discretion, and has an expense ratio of 0.28%.
Can the STI ETF double your money in 10 years?
Over the past decade, yes.
From May 2016 to May 2026, a S$10,000 investment in ES3 grew to around S$26,220, including dividends.
That is a total return of 162.2%, or about 10.1% a year. Put another way, every S$1 invested became about S$2.62.
The official ES3 factsheet tells a similar story. As of 30 April 2026, the fund’s 10-year annualised return was 9.59%, calculated net of fees, in Singapore dollar terms, on a NAV-to-NAV basis with distributions reinvested. The STI index returned 10.17% over the same period.
That is the power of compounding.
A 10% annual return may not sound dramatic in any single year. But when gains build on earlier gains, the outcome becomes much more powerful over time.
What happens if you invest S$500 a month into the STI ETF?
Not everyone begins investing with a neat S$10,000 lump sum.
Most people start with a salary, a monthly budget, and whatever they can set aside after bills, groceries, school fees, insurance, and life.
Based on the STI ETF’s historical data, I calculated what would have happened if an investor had put S$500 into it every month from June 2016 to May 2026, with dividends reinvested.
The assumptions are simple: S$500 invested at the start of each month, dividends reinvested when paid, and no brokerage fees or bid-ask spreads.
Over 10 years, the investor would have put in S$60,000.
By 21 May 2026, that portfolio would have grown to around S$115,000.
That is a gain of about S$55,000, or roughly 92% on the capital invested. The money-weighted annualised return works out to around 12.6% per year.
You did not need to know when interest rates would peak, when inflation would fall, or when bank shares would rally.
You simply needed to keep investing.
Regular investing removes the pressure of trying to time the market perfectly. Some months, S$500 buys fewer units. Other months, when prices are lower, the same S$500 buys more.
Does the STI ETF pay dividends?
Yes. And dividends matter.
The STI ETF pays distributions semi-annually, at the manager’s discretion. Recent distribution data showed payments of S$0.091 per unit in February 2025, S$0.089 in August 2025, and S$0.085 in February 2026.
Based on the latest data, the ETF’s distribution yield stood at around 3.39%.
An investor can spend the dividends. But for investors still building wealth, reinvesting those dividends can make a big difference.
Reinvested dividends buy more units. Those extra units can receive more dividends in future. Over time, that creates a compounding loop.
It is not flashy. But it works quietly in the background.
Why not just keep the money in cash or Singapore Savings Bonds?
Cash and Singapore Savings Bonds have their place.
The latest Singapore Savings Bond data showed a 10-year average return of 2.11% per year. That is useful for investors who want safety, liquidity, and capital preservation.
But the trade-off is growth. At 2.11% a year, money grows slowly.
Inflation is another reason investors should think carefully about holding too much cash for too long.
MAS noted that core inflation held steady at 1.2% year on year in January and February 2026. It also raised its forecast for both MAS Core Inflation and CPI-All Items inflation to 1.5% to 2.5%, from 1.0% to 2.0% previously.
Cash and Singapore Savings Bonds can still play useful roles. But for long-term wealth building, investors may need assets that have the potential to grow faster than inflation.
Over the past decade, the STI ETF did that.
Is the STI ETF risk-free?
The short answer is no.
The STI ETF owns Singapore blue-chip stocks, but the exposure is not evenly spread.
As of the latest factsheet, Financials made up 54.91% of the index. Real Estate accounted for 15.31%, while Industrials made up 10.40%.
The top three holdings were DBS, OCBC, and UOB, which together accounted for just over half of the ETF’s top holdings table.
That has been helpful in recent years as the banks benefited from strong earnings, higher dividends, and share price gains.
But concentration cuts both ways. If the banks struggle, the STI ETF is likely to feel the impact.
Investors should also remember that ETFs trade like stocks. Their prices can rise and fall, and diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against losses.
Get Smart: Simple Can Still Be Powerful
Doubling your money in 10 years is not easy.
But as the STI ETF has shown, it may be more achievable than many investors think.
Over the past decade, a simple investment in the SPDR STI ETF did more than double once dividends were included.
A regular S$500 monthly investment also produced a strong result, turning S$60,000 of total contributions into around S$115,000 over 10 years, based on NAV data and reinvested dividends.
There are no guarantees that the next 10 years will deliver the same outcome.
Share prices can fall. Dividends can change. The STI ETF is heavily weighted towards Singapore banks. Future returns may be lower.
But the lesson remains useful.
You do not always need complexity to build wealth.
A low-cost ETF, regular investing, reinvested dividends, and a long enough time horizon can go a surprisingly long way.
Sometimes, the path to doubling your money is not about doing something brilliant.
It is about doing something sensible and giving it enough time to work.
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Disclosure: Joanna Sng owns shares of the STI ETF, DBS, OCBC, UOB, Singapore Exchange, and NVIDIA.
