What are your thoughts on including CPF in your net worth calculation?

The correct calculation of net worth is to include CPF. Bank will do that also.

However, i personally wont include CPF & property for my calculation. Because is not liquid which = no cashflow.

If a company heavy on fixed asset (not liquid) with no or little cashflow is it a good company? Eg. Airline companies.

If you include all those things you probably a millionaire. But do you feel like a millionaire? I just dont want to have that illusion, i am in good financial situtation because i have ton of non- liquid "asset"

I'll list some of my thoughts here.

CPF money undeniably accrues interest through the years, but a large portion of this value is locked up in housing, and during that time, there is no "govt-backed guarantee" that the housing appreciates at 2.5% CAGR. Resultantly, the liability for that 2.5% annual accrued interest is transferred back to the CPF member.

So if the CPF member is unable to return the accrued interest on his property/CPF monies, it doesn't bode well for his retirement. This isn't a handful of people, but easily hundreds of thousands of folks out there between 55 to 70 who don't meet the BRS.

All this wouldn't be a problem if we all earned $10,000 a month and could easily spare that 20% CPF contribution. However, this isn't always the case, and I venture that many people whose bank balances pale in comparison to their CPF are not in this situation by volition. If I earn $2000 a month and $400 goes to CPF, that's not a lot of breathing space. The CPF contribution for these people isn't a form of "forced savings"—it's basically depriving them of much needed liquidity.

Think of it this way: it's not that these people don't set aside emergency funds or don't plan—their income simply doesn't give them the room to do that. And the $400 which could be their emergency funds is locked up in CPF. So in this scenario, the illiquidity is an important factor to consider.

CPF certainly has its merits as a housing funding scheme, but to mix it up with retirement/annuity is another monster altogether. It's not an exact analogy but I liken it to mixing insurance with investment—they're two different things which serve different purposes and when you mix them up you get this hybrid product that's neither here nor there.

I guess at its heart this question is also challenging assumptions that CPF is your asset, especially if you have no control over it for the best years of your productive life. But it's not an easy question, and this discussion should not undermine the benefits of CPF for housing and medical needs.