6/30/2007

CPF - A bugging feeling

Cpf is the people's life saving for their retirement. By the ever increasing withdrawal age, it appears to be an elusive dream. Just when one is about to touch it, it slips away again. The apparent slipping away act has led to many wild speculations that there is not enough money in the CPF. But the official position is to keep it a little longer for the people's own good. Hold it back a few more years, and the money will grow a bit more. It is such a nice feeling to know that one will have a big sum of money in the CPF at 90 if the withdrawal age ever reaches that number. For as long as the purpose of keeping the money for old age is still tossed around as the reason, it may still be tolerable to some. What if the retention of CPF is to allow the funds to be used in some mavericks' investment schemes? There is this bugging feeling that the CPF is a cheap source of fund for investment. And the longer it is retained, more funds will be available to do a lot of things. Th0ugh this may not be the case, people's imagination simply run wild. What would be most undesirable will be for people to incorporate CPF's savings into their financial planning. This will be contrary to what the CPF is all about. Investing CPF money should be a secondary objective, a kind of a need to grow the money since it is there. Not to make the funds available and withholding it from the people. Now why would people think that this may be the case?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoy the witty interactn in yr blog, redbean. ;)
Can u enlighten me on a couple qns:
1. If we don't hv minimum sum in our cpf by age 62(or 65 etc), what happen to our cpf?
2. If we renounce sg citizenship, do we get to take ALL cpf: ordinary, special accs n all?
3. Other than renounce, what other ways can we do to maximise the $pittance we hv in cpf?

Thks alot, redbean & bloggers. Kum sia. :)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous,

the concept of cpf is a good one. people are unhappy because of this repeated obsession to retain the people's money with all sorts of cock reasons which the people don't buy anymore. and the more they cooked up more reasons and schemes to justify not returning the money to their rightful owners, the more people will grow distrustful of the trustees. by keeping on shifting the goal posts, the more they will lose credibility among the people.

1, when you reach the age to withdraw the minimum sum and if you have less, your monthly stipends will be lesser depending on how much you have left.

2. yes, when you denounce citizenship and pledge that you will not return to this island to work, you can have everything back. that is the unspoken result of the cpf scheme. when you are old, denounce the citizenship, collect everything and don't come back.

3. buy the most expensive property that you can afford, put all the money in stocks and investments, and put some in annuity plans... and opt for the most expensive hospital wards to empty your medisave. that is what they expect you to do. you are not supposed to be frugal and thrifty with your savings.

save to spend or save for others to play with it?

Anonymous said...

Thks alot redbean! Kum sia! :)

Anonymous 12:49pm

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

rebean begins his post with a false premise:

> Cpf is the people's life saving for their retirement <

No it isn't. CPF is a TAX.

If it was a life savings for retirement, then people would be able to pull out their money at retirement.

If you begin with a false (or wrong) premise, then the rest of your reasoning is invalid, because it is based on a wrong premise.

Anonymous said...

yes, when you denounce citizenship and pledge that you will not return to this island to work, you can have everything back. that is the unspoken result of the cpf scheme. when you are old, denounce the citizenship, collect everything and don't come back.

3. buy the most expensive property that you can afford, put all the money in stocks and investments, and put some in annuity plans... and opt for the most expensive hospital wards to empty your medisave. that is what they expect you to do. you are not supposed to be frugal and thrifty with your savings.



If you denounce your citizenship, you will lose all your medisave insurance benefits, so that when you go for a major opts abroad you will probably finish your cpf windfall sooner than later. That's the food for tot which redbean has not reckoned with, as usual.

Anonymous said...

Wa lau eh! U mean i denounce i cannot take back my medi$ave also?!
Xiao liao la!! ;B

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

when one denounces his citizenship, he gets whatever is left in the cpf plus medisave. the medical insurance, ie medishield is an yearly plan. you need to pay every year to renew it.

one has to decide what one wants to do with his life after 60. if one treasures living after 60, when you are hit by a serious illness, here or overseas, whatever savings will not be enough, wipe out.

taking this situation out, with all the money, one can decide to migrate to a cheaper land to increase the value of his savings.

i rather choose to spend my money to make me happy than to spend them in a hospital and ended up penniless. what is the point of living with no money after surviving a hospital stay? might as well give whatever money left to the children and go.

it is a personal choice.

Anonymous said...

Ho seh ah! Thk u hor, redbean, U don't say I also don't know hehe..
Buay xiao liao loh!! ;D

Anonymous said...

redbean you smart boy!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i think if one parks himself in a monastry and parks $50k in a bank, it will last forever.

Anonymous said...

u better buy a chastity belt before u go inside one :)

Anonymous said...

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http://www.chastity-uk.co.uk/Mgallery.htm

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous,

if you want to sleep with me, no need to fear so much. i won't make you pregnant that's for sure: )

Anonymous said...

i just dun want to get aids

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