Many people put their savings in a life insurance policy as a form of investment. Unfortunately, the policy is a bad investment, as it takes more than 10 years to break even, after paying off the commission and other expenses and finally gives a poor yield - not enough to cover inflation.

It is easy to invest your money on your own. You can open an account with a stockbroker and buy any of the following:

• Exchange traded fund, e.g. STI ETF 
• REITS (real estate trust)
• Blue chip shares, e.g. DBS, SingTel, SPH, SIA, Starhub

It cost your $3,,000 to buy 1,000 units of the ETF. You may have to save for a few months (in your bank account) before collecting enough money to buy the ETF. 

You can learn about these investments by attending the FISCA workshop on financial planning. Details can be found here.