facebookWhat do you think of the CPF? What improvements do you think you would like to see in the near future? - Seedly

Kenneth Lou

Co-founder at Seedly

26 Oct 2019

CPF

What do you think of the CPF? What improvements do you think you would like to see in the near future?

We're meeting the CPF team next week and we are keen to give them some feedback on how it can be improved as well. I just wrote a piece on CPF vs other pension schemes in the world, and I'm curious to understand the community's thoughts on CPF in Singapore!

Discussion (26)

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Cedric Jamie Soh

26 Oct 2019

Director at Seniorcare.com.sg

  1. Reduce the incentive for unscrupulous financial advisors. If a customer surrenders any policies in his CPF, within 12 months, new policies will have NO commission for the advisors.
  2. Provide a higher interest rate for CPF-SA. Right now 4% is very little for an account that has 20 - 40 years of lock-in.

Why is there a cap at 176k for SA for voluntary contribution when the enhanced scheme is 250?? Shouldn't it be capped at 250k?

Something I have been thinking about for a while now but still irks me from time to time:

1) there are a number of employers who structure the pay package in a way to avoid CPF. So now there's this group who don't get CPF contributions regularly, and they might not be considered self-employed. How to help them? With the way the act is worded, voluntary contribution gives no relief, and they don't get CPF relief because it is not employment contribution (and they aren't self-employed). Granted these folks may pay max 150 tax per year, but surely you would want them to start baby steps in CPF at least? They get relief for MediSave / SA top up, but isn't voluntary contribution going to OA also a means for them to save towards HDB, which might be a more pressing need than retirement? They aren't getting the CPF relief for employment but they are working... Shouldn't the act be expanded to give them some leeway to help them save for HDB?

2) the accrued interest concept for CPF monies drawn out for property is... rather strange.

A) taking money out for property accrues interest, but taking money out for investment doesn't accrue interest... A bit double standard. And add on my own example - let's say I use my 200k of OA to buy some REITs and they generate 5% dividends annually = 10k dividends which I return to CPF OA to pay HDB loan. I don't owe interest to myself for borrowing to buy the REITs, but once I use the dividends to pay for HDB loan payments, I accrue and owe myself interest. Hmm a bit strange, but if I have enough in my SA, and I make good returns to use the OA to pay for HDB and excess dividends to save for retirement... I still need to owe myself interest?

B) the CPF accrued interest as I understand now will continue to accrue until you reach 55, upon when the RA is formed, and I think the accrued interest is wiped out / forgotten. So what does that mean? If we have enough money for retirement, then the accrued interest isn't an issue? But if the folks who drawn on CPF to pay for HDB have extra cash, then doesn't it make more sense to do the RSTU and get tax relief for that, while contributing to SA that earns 4%? Does it make more sense to have the accrued interest abolished/written off if these folks have hit the FRS with SA balance? It should be along with the same goal and does away with this weird accrued interest concept.

C) if we aren't doing away with the accrued interest, then something I would like to have... A form for recurring giro deduction to pay down the monies I draw from OA for my property. I think it might be a lot easier to pay a bit monthly for a while to clear away this "debt".

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Alvin Teo

24 Oct 2019

Aviva Relationship Consultant at Aviva Affinity Channel

I hope to see more simplicity of the system

more education of any changes to the many nooks and crannies of the schemes so that there wouldn’t be pointless sensationalism over non-mainstream media

And for the scheme to focus more on retirement than usage on the property for obvious reasons

And it’ll succeed when people’s point of view towards CPF monies usage to be more for retirement planning than merely buying HDB

Definitely check out Japan's iDeco system. It allows people to voluntarily contribute to a separate ...

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