Why CPF over other forms of investment?

Hi. That’s a good question that I get a lot from passionate equity and property investors.
The key is to compare the risk vs reward profiles of all investments instrument. It is arguable that CPF is very Low risk, probably the only risk are policy risk and political risk (risk of a poor government in future). Nothing is zero risk, so this would fit a Low risk instrument.

I personally don’t like Property investment in our current state of economic maturity. In the Long term, property prices are driven by economic and population growth rates. However, in Singapore both growth rate are very Low in the foreseeable future. Plus the Govt has a phobia toward property bubbles and has repeatedly pricked these bubbles when they are show signs of brewing.
I strongly favour Equity investment. Investment gurus would encourage one to split your wealth across equity and bonds. So I use CPF as a Pseudo Bond portfolio, to manage the risk of my entire wealth. If you were to dump everything into equity, you might not be able to stomach the market swings and fluctuations of the stock market. So park some into your CPF to form a financial safety net, so that whatever happens to your equity investment, there is a large sum on money that awaits you at retirement.

Yes CPF low compared to others. BUT you have to take Risk into consideration.

CPF is risk free! Well, unless you believe sg will collapse and go into great depression.

Whenever you are comparing returns, you must also compare risk involved. Stocks have higher risk of losing capital. ETFs also have a risk of capital loss.