Central Provident Fund (CPF) and its brief Introduction

What is CPF?

CPF stands for Central Provident Fund, a unique compulsory savings scheme offered by the Singapore Government to Singaporeans. This savings scheme allows Singaporeans to accumulate money for retirement. It also help to an extent to pay for healthcare, housing, insurance and investments.

You will begin accumulating money in your CPF account once you are a salaried worker and your employer will also contribute from their part based on a certain percentage of your monthly income.

The CPF is split into 3 main accounts, in which both you and your employer's contributions will be allocated accordingly based on the proportion set by CPF scheme.

The interest rates for the accounts under CPF scheme.

The 3 main accounts for CPF are:

• Ordinary Account

• Special Account

• Medisave Account

Retirement Account

The fourth account, Retirement account will be set up to all Singaporeans by the government once they reach their 55th birthday.

Using the savings from your Special Account, followed by your Ordinary Account, your Retirement Account will provide you a monthly income once you reached the age of 65 to all the way for as long as you live.

* The property you own must have remaining lease that can last you to at least age 95.

^ Exclude top up monies, interest earned and any grants received.

CPF LIFE is an annuity scheme that provides you with monthly payouts for as long as you live. Almost every Singaporean will be in this Scheme unless you want to delay getting monthly payout after turning 65 or you want to let it grow and transfer to someone else if you pass on. You will be notified again by the CPF Board via letter when nearer to your 65th birthday. Meanwhile, you can check out this link here in CPF website for a clearer explanation for CPF LIFE as i do not want to complicate this post.

In addition, at age 55, you can withdraw a certain amount based on the combine sum of your ordinary and special account. And how much you can withdraw, i will show on a table below.

* The property you own must have remaining lease that can last you to at least age 95.

^ Exclude top up monies, interest earned and any grants received.

And to withdraw the following amount stated in the table above, you will need to submit a withdrawal form 6 months before your 55th birthday or thereafter. You will receive your payment within 1 week from your 55th birthday. If you had submitted after your 55th birthday, you will receive your payment within 1 week from the date of the receipt of your submitted application form. There are 2 options you can do to submit your application form.

Option 1: Apply online using your SingPass at cpf.gov.sg.

For payment of your CPF savings via Interbank GIRO, you need a bank account with POSB, DBS, OCBC or UOB.

You can also choose to receive your CPF savings via PayNow, in your PayNow registered (NRIC-linked) bank account. Payment will be made to your PayNow registered bank account almost instantly. This payment option is available from your 55th birthday.

Option 2: Submit a hardcopy application

Complete the form(s) available on the CPF website and submit them to us.

To Conclude

Make sure to get more specific details in the CPF website and do not hestitate to tap on their contact should you have any queries. Likewise, you can also bookmark this page for reference and the figures are latest up till today at least that i know of. Have a nice retirement!