With the latest increases in the Minimum Sum to be retained in the CPF and Medisave Accounts, the CPF savings scheme is now a hot potato issue among the account holders. Many felt cheated while some felt glad that the govt is raising the minimum sum to provide for their retirement needs. Below are two comments from bloggers in the TRE on this topic.
1. Sperm:
Likely PAP squandered away all our CPF money , we become a country of bankrupts ?
2. Im a layman.
I dont concur because I ask myself a few questions first.
Did the CPF ever default since its inception in 1955?
The ruling party has a non nonsense reputation when it comes to credibility & integrity in finance.
It has fed this donkey (cpf) with a higher than bank savings rate since inception so that the people will have a bigger nest egg.
Which member upon reaching 55 and minusing the prescribed asset hasnt been paid back the balance?
Commentator Sperm belongs to one camp that is being troubled by this obsession and funny logic to keep raising the minimum sum. They are suspicious and worried that the CPF has not enough money to pay them and has to resort to locking away their savings by all kinds of schemes and means for as long as it can. How valid are their concerns and suspicions? At best it is only a gut feel as nobody really knows and the govt is not coming up with official statistics except statements to assure the people that their money is safe.
In the case of commentator ‘I m a layman’, he is a happy man. He is very confident that all the money is there and there is nothing to worry about. He even commented that until now, the govt has not defaulted in any payments to the account holders when they reached the retirement age of 55. And he is right. Those who had reached the age of 55 earlier had happily received their CPF savings in cash. Those that reached 55 in the last few years also had received some of their money in cash but with some of their savings lock up in Minimum Sums Schemes and Medisave. But they are not complaining much as they still got to receive a fairly substantial sum at 55.
Now this is a thing of the past. The new 55 can only withdrawal the amount after setting aside the minimum sums in the RA and MA, nearly $200k or $5k as many did not have enough to cover the minimum sums. The govt is not renegating on the payout at 55. The govt sure pay out if one has the money to be paid out. Just make sure your balances are more than the two minimum sums and you will receive your money.
Now who is accusing the govt for not being able to meet their obligations and not paying out the money when it is due? Not true right. So commentator ‘I m a layman’ is right. Do not underestimate the intelligence of a layman. He is clever like hell. You cannot cheat a layman unless he volunteers to be cheated, willingly, happily and gratefully
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/