Is It Good to Store Our Money in GO+ by Touch 'n Go?

This week let’s talk about a more specific topic, GO+ by Touch ‘n Go - in particular the question, is it good to store our money in GO+?

The short answer is yes, at this time of writing in July 2023, it is a decent choice. Why though? Let’s take a look.

The first thing we’ll look at is the return. Currently GO+ is giving an annual return of about 3.40 - 3.50%. It fluctuates daily, but has been hovering around there. This is in line with similar cash storage solutions such as money market funds (which GO+ uses) and is in fact better than Fixed Deposit. Major banks like Maybank and CIMB only reach around 3.00% annual return when you lock-in your money for 5 years or more. So in terms of returns, GO+ works well.

Next we’ll look at safety. After all, one of the most important needs when it comes to storing cash is keeping it safe. GO+ puts the money in the Principal e-Cash Fund, which as mentioned earlier, is a money market fund. These types of funds usually make their returns by lending out their liquidity to large institutions for short periods of time. The advantage is that they can provide better returns than Fixed Deposits.

On the other hand, the downside is that since they are technically a type of investment fund, they are not covered by Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia (PIDM). In the case of GO+ however, I wouldn’t worry too much about this. Principal is a well-established fund house and it would be extremely shocking if they went bust.

Our third evaluation point is liquidity. Being a function of the Touch ‘n Go eWallet, your money in GO+ is basically fully liquid. You can withdraw or spend it without worrying about losing accumulated returns, unlike Fixed Deposit where early withdrawal will forfeit your interest gains. The addition of JomPay functionality to the TnG eWallet makes things even more appealing, as you can pay many bills directly without having to leave the interface.

In terms of downsides to GO+, I can see three. Firstly it is the non-coverage by PIDM as mentioned earlier. Second is that GO+ does not allow further deposits after reaching RM9,500 in stored value.This means it does not work if you are saving up for big expenses such as a house downpayment, for example. Finally, the disadvantage of high liquidity is that it may tempt us to spend the money. This is especially bad for someone who has difficulty controlling expenses. You wouldn’t want to lose progress on saving for an emergency fund, would you?

Overall, GO+ functions like a small, limited-sized bank account with a debit card. It allows us to pay easily from our cash storage as well as gives us interest or returns on stored cash. I would recommend using it for holding cash intended for daily or monthly expenses. If you are looking for larger or more long-term storage however, there are more suitable options elsewhere.