CPF Account Value Thread 2025

[o2atom]

Basic Salary 10k per Month
Annual Salary = 120k all under OW

120k - 102000 =18k
Employee 0.2x18k this portion no need to pay CPF will encash back on monthly Salary when limit reached during the 11th Month

Employer 0.17x18k this portion Employer will no longer need to pay CPF for the Employee

Correct

Your calculation was wrong.

The salary ceiling for 2025 is $7.4k. Both employee and employer do not need to contribute cpf for anything above $7.4k

 

[o2atom]

You must consider the monthly CPF contribution limit on OW which is $7,400 for year 2025. Though his total wage is 10k per month or 120,000 for the year, the employer is only obliged to contribute CPF on 7,400 x 12 (OW) unless the employer submits 1,100 as AW each month but it's unusual to have AW every month.

No employer will pay more cpf than required since it is a cost to the business.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Hi experts, I have a question about topping up young kid's MA. If we top up kid's MA, the MA account will earn 5% interest (4% + 1% extra interest to be earned on the first S$60,000 of combined balances) right?

Correct.

Also, since we are topping kid's MA, would we (as parents) be able to tap on the kid's MA in the event of a medical need when we are older? I was not sure because I understand that CPF members can use their Medisave to pay for medical expenses of immediate family members. But what if the kid is below 21? Can the kid "consent" to the use of his/her MA for use by parents?

As Royalmix highlighted, below the legal age of a majority a parent can approve of a child's use of MA to support qualified/eligible family members' medical needs (to the extent MA can be used). When the child reaches the age of majority it's solely up to the child (now adult).

I'm phrasing it a little differently than a specific age in order to be precise and accurate. Singapore could change its legal age of majority to some other age.

If possible, then I would think that it is more practical to top up kid's MA rather than SA as there is somewhat more flexibility in the use of the MA (for the kid's own medical expenses, as well as parents/dependents), rather than SA (which is pretty much locked up forever).

I agree with this logic insofar as it goes, but I would carry the logic to what I think is its logical conclusion.

I'm not a big fan of adding funds to any of a child's CPF accounts. Not in general, anyway, in contrast to ordinary long-term investing. Children have the very longest investment time horizons among living people, and so if anyone can benefit from long-term investments it's children. So why not start investing in long-term investments for a child? That could be a low cost stock index fund on its own or mixed with a long-term bond index fund — although not too much of the latter, I would argue. Such funds happen to be liquid if there's a genuine emergency, such as the child genuinely needing mental health services that insurance and MA don't fully pay for that are otherwise unaffordable.

But there are some edge cases. One example is when a child is born with multiple citizenships and will probably not retain Singaporean citizenship upon reaching adulthood. In that case MA (especially at 5% p.a. interest) makes a pretty good college/university savings account. Once the child loses his/her Singaporean citizenship the CPF Board will disburse all CPF savings to the child, including all accrued interest. That's not bad, even if it's the "wrong" currency (Singapore dollars). And if your supposition is wrong, and the child decides to remain a Singaporean citizen instead, having a fatter MA account than otherwise is still at least a decent outcome. Of course here too Singapore could change its nationality law, and the child might be allowed to retain Singaporean citizenship under some future nationality law. And that'd still be a fine outcome. And if there's something that can be paid for with MA dollars along the way, that's fine too.

There are also some edge cases involving asset protection objectives. CPF savings are well protected against calamities such as adverse court judgments and creditor claims. If you're careful you may be able to shield separately titled children's assets to some extent, but a child's CPF savings would be even better protected against such calamities. For most people it's not a big issue, but for some it might be. Sometimes the asset protection that you're trying to obtain is protection against someone doing something stupid, like otherwise taking the dollars and spending them at a casino in Las Vegas. Obviously you can't do that with a child's MA dollars.

Sometimes it might be a generous family member with this idea (adding funds to a child's MA), and perhaps the choice is either that or nothing. OK, no problem! MA it is, and thanks to that family member for their generosity, even if it has those particular boundaries.

Even in these edge cases you should be aware of possible foreign tax complications, for example. It's common for a foreign tax jurisdiction to levy income tax on CPF interest, every year. Even though those MA dollars are only partially liquid. And tax laws can change, too. Moreover, if/when your child applies to a university that's considering the child's (and family's) financial means, the child's own assets tend to count most heavily against the child in that computation — even more heavily weighted than parental assets.

 

[superfly21]

Thank you!

 

[MoDiE]

45 yr old this year. My humble CPF:

OA - 38,405.49
SA - 222,090.49
MA - 75,500
Used for Housing - 303,856.55
Used for OA Investments - 39,598.52 (Not sure where to see this amount, but this was based on my own records)

Didn't do any investments using my SA as the interest from CPF is stable and hard to beat. Unless anyone has any good lobang?

 

[8zaoyu]

45 yr old this year. My humble CPF:

OA - 38,405.49
SA - 222,090.49
MA - 75,500
Used for Housing - 303,856.55
Used for OA Investments - 39,598.52 (Not sure where to see this amount, but this was based on my own records)

Didn't do any investments using my SA as the interest from CPF is stable and hard to beat. Unless anyone has any good lobang?

put in to CPF good for stable compounded interests till RA draw down ,OA got to wait till FRS to paynow self after 55/65 leh.
see cash today better, tmmr may never come, children alive may live overseas, etc , etc

 

[highsulphur]

45 yr old this year. My humble CPF:

OA - 38,405.49
SA - 222,090.49
MA - 75,500
Used for Housing - 303,856.55
Used for OA Investments - 39,598.52 (Not sure where to see this amount, but this was based on my own records)

Didn't do any investments using my SA as the interest from CPF is stable and hard to beat. Unless anyone has any good lobang?

Don't touch your SA

 

[JuniorLion]

45 yr old this year. My humble CPF:

OA - 38,405.49
SA - 222,090.49
MA - 75,500
Used for Housing - 303,856.55
Used for OA Investments - 39,598.52 (Not sure where to see this amount, but this was based on my own records)

Didn't do any investments using my SA as the interest from CPF is stable and hard to beat. Unless anyone has any good lobang?

Exactly, don't touch SA.

 

[Jirachi]

CPFIA-SA, don't let government earn.

Woah nice. Where can you even invest SA? It is so difficult to find.

 

[Jirachi]

Some people just don't like the idea of "debt", even if the debt is interest free.

Not all debt are bad debt. Leverage wisely.

 

[JuniorLion]

Not all debt are bad debt. Leverage wisely.

No one said that "all debt are bad debt".

 

[8zaoyu]

No one said that "all debt are bad debt".

Then define debt - under 500k is a good debt for a HDB, over 500k is a bad debt for owning a EC , the worse debt is owning a tiny condo over a million. The best is NO debt for owning a GCB!
Bottomline is do not take umbrage / belittled selfworth for HWZners pieces of mind. Got one million outside CPF - go jiak sushi /durian / abalonee, kee jeh buayki
PS: he said lever- age , i will say no more debt / premiums to pay when senior age - knn pay lifetime longevity premiums

 

[JuniorLion]

Then define debt - under 500k is a good debt for a HDB, over 500k is a bad debt for owning a EC , the worse debt is owning a tiny condo over a million. The best is NO debt for owning a GCB!
Bottomline is do not take umbrage / belittled selfworth for HWZners pieces of mind. Got one million outside CPF - go jiak sushi /durian / abalonee, kee jeh buayki
PS: he said lever- age , i will say no more debt / premiums to pay when senior age - knn pay lifetime longevity premiums

Uh, again. The only thing that was mentioned was this -

Some forummers said they rather have peace of mind.

No one is taking umbrage over differing views.

 

[Shion]

Have been trying to create my own CPF forecast excel. Pretty challenging I feel due to the variables involved.

 

[highsulphur]

Have been trying to create my own CPF forecast excel. Pretty challenging I feel due to the variables involved.

I always underestimate so far. Every Jan will update actual numbers

 

[hwmook]

Woah nice. Where can you even invest SA? It is so difficult to find.

Only can invest In low risk products, I only found some unit trusts with balanced portfolio aka bonds plus equities that meet the criteria for SA investing and also have decent long term returns.

 

[Shion]

From OCBC

 

[chiokcc]

One of my parents is more than 80 yo (thus not on CPF Life), and I noticed the withdrawal amount from RA under the Retirement Sum Scheme to bank account increases this month ..... and has increased on a yearly basis since about 2 years ago .....

How is the amount determined?

 

[BBCWatcher]

One of my parents is more than 80 yo (thus not on CPF Life), and I noticed the withdrawal amount from RA under the Retirement Sum Scheme to bank account increases this month ..... and has increased on a yearly basis since about 2 years ago .....
How is the amount determined?

There’ve been some tweaks to the classic Retirement Sum Scheme payout computations in recent years. Examples:

• An increase in the minimum monthly payout from $250 to $350;
• A reduction in the ”exhaustion age” (how long monthly payouts are expected to last).

The government may have also deposited some funds in your parent’s Retirement Account, and (if so) that’ll boost payouts. Also, the interest rate on RA savings was higher than 4% for a period of time, so the additional interest boosted payouts a little.

Of course you shouldn’t necessarily expect these increases to continue unless somebody is adding funds to your parent’s Retirement Account. If there’s little or no further funding the payouts will still end at some point if your parent (happily) lives a long life. And any payout increases your parent has enjoyed likely haven’t even kept pace with inflation. Basically, you and your parent may still have plenty to do to support your parent’s basic lifestyle needs.

 

[lzydata]

One of my parents is more than 80 yo (thus not on CPF Life), and I noticed the withdrawal amount from RA under the Retirement Sum Scheme to bank account increases this month ..... and has increased on a yearly basis since about 2 years ago .....

How is the amount determined?

If the RA has been topped up, then its monthly payout amount will also increase. So someone must have topped it up or possibly the government did. Under the Majulah Package, Retirement Savings Bonus, those born in 1973 or earlier with less than BRS (and fulfilling property conditions) can get $1,500 or $1,000 topup. This was paid in Dec 2024.

https://www.govbenefits.gov.sg/about-us/majulah-package/am-i-eligible/