Should I buy a retirement plan or put the money into CPF or put them into index funds?

They all makes sense, for the right people. For some, they might prefer one over another.

I will compare cpf and index fund since I don’t have knowledge with retirement plan.

CPF
Pros - guaranteed returns (2.5% for OA and 4% for SA)
Cons - stuck in there until 65, lesser cash for you to use, limited use for housing, education and medical

Index Fund
Pros - higher returns (average 7% to 9% annually over long period of time), can cash out if you need to
Cons - returns not guaranteed, if market crashes and you need to cash out you will get lower than expected

With that, you can see they are different things but you can make them work together. For me I would put into cpf until it reaches the estimated amount I would need for housing. Then anything more put into index funds.

This is just an oversimplified way lah. Do more research on your own and make a decision! 💪🏽

Hi, I think one simple way of looking at it is this: what's your investment horizon?

That will ultimately determine the amount of volatility you can risk, and thereby sieve out which investment vehicle you can use or not.

When asking these questions, I find it helpful to have a framework along these lines:

1. What's my goal in investing? (Retirement)

2. What's my timeline?

3. Based on that timeline, how much fluctuation in value can I tolerate in one given year?

If you approach the problem with a framework, it will help you better understand your problem and choose a suitable solution.