Where would the next goal post be placed?

At age 55, the CPF holders were promised that they could have their money back. The goal posts had since shifted, to 62 years, and will continue to 65 and maybe later. The CPF holders got to thank medical science for keeping them alive, theoretically till 90 or 100 years. So the simple logic is that they must have money in the CPF till 100 years. Bloody hell, if anyone is employed or self employed at 100 years old, he would still have to contribute to his CPF or Medisave!

Can we expect the next goal posts be shifted to 100 years? Possibly, but then you can call yourself lucky. I think the next goal posts could be further into the future.

Many CPF holders would die with plenty of money in their CPF, through the minimum sum and Medisave schemes. And this money will go to their beneficiaries. One of the presumed reasons why the goal posts were shifted to 55 was that at that point in time, there may not be enough money to pay out when too many are taking their money out at the same time. So the pay out date needed to be shifted, delayed. The official position is not true as the reserves are there as proof of money. If anyone still does not believe this is so, wait for the announcement for the next multi billion dollar purchase or the next multi billion dollar loss. No one will blink an eye, because money is plentiful in our reservers.

Rightly or wrongly, some believe that other schemes were thrown in to reduce the damage of a huge withdrawal at 55. Higher HDB prices, CPF Life, minimum sums, Medisave, etc etc, in a way added to reduce the damage should the money be returned to honour the promised date.
But would it work. At every point in time, unless the investments are bearing fruit with a handsome return, there will not be enough money when the date to payout is reached. And how could there be a handsome return when the cost of keeping 400 heads is as high as $8b? I hope this is a misprint, and not true.

If age 62 to pay out is no longer manageable, let’s push it to 65 and see whether there will be enough available. If not, 70 could be the next red letter day.

The other big red letter day is when all the oldies start to fall and their minimum sums in both the retirement and Medisave accounts are due for pay out. That day can come pretty soon as many oldies are past 60s. And if it comes, and not enough money to pay back, do not be surprised, a new ruling may come forth.

Let me try to guess. Just a guess, call it a wild guess, the sum left in the CPF of deceased members could be transferred to the special accounts of the beneficiaries. Ouch! No cash out.

If this is done, how long more will the money be pay back? The answer is Never, as it will float from one member’s Medisave account to the next beneficiary. Oh dear, I may have made a very bad slip and this idea could possibly be picked up by some brilliant kids.

PS. I wrote this on 13 Sep and delayed in posting. I am now told that this is already in practice. Really? My god, if this is true, then I am getting to think like supertalents. All this is just a joke, cannot be true.

I hate Matilah Singapura

I think he is still reading this blog. Whenever I claimed that the money in my CPF was my money he would pour cold water on my head and pointedly told me that it was govt tax. He would add that it was money down the drain.

I refused to believe him. But as everyday passes, it is proving him more right than my fat hope that I will get to see all my savings back. They are scheming with more schemes to make sure that our CPF will last for as long as we live. Now how long would that be? And if that is long long long, then those jokers that surrender their ICs before 60s or anytime earlier will see a lot of money left behind.

I still want to think that I am right, that I will have all my money back at my own time and use it to do what I want. Maybe got to wait till 2016. Definitely I would not want to wait to spend my money when I am 120 years old. Maybe that is what many Singaporeans want and will keep the system going forever.

It is my money, our money. Matilah must be proven wrong. And only through our votes can this be changed, with a new govt to overturn things that we are not happy with, especially our CPF savings.

When policies were enlightened

There was a time when govt policies were enlightened, or were they policies initiated by enlightened men? Housing was a big issue when the colonial govt did not build enough for the people. Families were squeezed into little cubicles, and made do with the squalid conditions, sharing kitchens and toilets with neighbours and everyone.

Housing became a top priority of the govt, to provide every citizen with a roof over their heads, a stake in the country. The govt went further, to provide housing quarters for their employees in the civil service and the uniformed group. Then to encourage home ownership and loyalty to the service/country, priority schemes were launched to help uniform officers to own their HDB flats. Normanton Estate was specially built to house SAF officers as an employment benefit, as an important arm of nation building and the defenders of the country. The uniformed groups were seen as vital to nation building and the security of the country.

Somewhere along the way policies changed. No pension for armed services and no more housing priorities. They were treated just like any organization and will have to bid with everyone for public housing. Are the uniformed personnel less important today than the past? Is housing no longer that important to the people than the past? When prices were really reasonable, and when one could walk into HDB and get a flat within months, everything was fine.

Somewhere down the road, things changed, and policies changed. The new policies must be better and more enlightened, by more talented men. And the people must be happier.

Another piece of frightening news?

The people may find this piece of news frightening, but to the govt it is good news. The MOM is going to help the oldies again. Dunno why, whenever the govt says it wants to help the people, I got a very strange and uncomfortable feeling. This time the MOM is thinking of reviewing CPF rates for the above 50 uncles and aunties, the vulnerable group that have found themselves having not enough savings after a life time of savings. Dunno why, and nobody knows why. They must have squandered them away in wasteful spending.

So here comes the govt to help them, and very likely to raise their CPF and employers contributions. And the magical scheme called CPF Life will be relooked into to ensure that the annuity will be paid for life. The insurance men are smiling. Tell you what, I don’t like their smile. The longer the payout, or the more the payout, the more will be the pay in. And the longer annuity is to last, the longer it will stay in. As simple as that. If they plan the annuity to last till 120 years, it means whatever money, a big portion will stay in till 120 years. Simply ingenious and logical.

And I can already see how good the scheme is. And it is so good that it will be made compulsory for sure. Our reserves are going to get another boost and the country will be richer, and have more money to invest in big big deals. We can buy up the world.

This is going to be another win win formula, good for oldies, good for employers and good for the national reserves. It can’t be that frightening right?

The people are so lucky. Now they can live till 120 years or more, forever, and there will be more to take.

When a govt discriminates against its own people

Tony Tan talked about an all inclusive society and no one will be left out. Then why are citizens being discriminated by incompetence or bad policies? The citizens who are being barred from buying public flats because of some frivolous reasons, especially earning higher income is a glaring example of bad policies. In the first place, all the young people started with incomes within the HDB ceilings and exceeded only because they could not get a flat earlier. Over the years their incomes are bound to go up. Should not the criteria of income measure be at the time of application when they first started to work?

Then the stupid excuse that they will deprive the lower income buyers from getting a flat, or added to the demand. What kind of bull is that? There is no shortage of land to build public flats. In fact the govt is offering a lot of land to build private properties to be sold to foreigners.
Now, what is the real problem? The truth is that the govt is not building enough or had slowed down the building programme and created the shortage by its own bad policies. It is the artificially created lack of supply that is the problem. So who got blame and who had to suffer for such bad policies or bad planning?

The very own citizens are paying for it. And at the same time there are plenty of flats for new citizens, who are flooding into the market without anyone complaining that they are causing the demand to balloon and resulting in higher market prices. And the affected citizens suffered in silence with the govt refusing to acknowledge its own mistakes. We have many citizens who have done their NS and cannot afford to buy private properties and cannot buy public flats. How can such a situation be allowed to exist in an all inclusive society where no one will be left out?

It is govt logic versus people’s logic, or supertalent logic versus no talent logic. Of course supertalent or govt logic wins, and it is the right logic. This is simply brilliant. Create a supply problem and blame it on the young buyers who happened to earn a little bit more. Just pass the buck to them and force them to buy private. They die their pasar. So wicked.