CPF Account Value Thread 2025

[d9_lives]

380k sa is quite little at 48

Said the guy who prob. has less than 380k in his cpf.

 

[LWZ]

I feel poor, below avg after looking at the balances of others. Do you guys keep doing cash top-ups every year ?

never done cash top-up before.

been transferring OA to SA since I started getting CPF, now cannot transfer any more

 

[PrincessBunny]

I feel poor, below avg after looking at the balances of others. Do you guys keep doing cash top-ups every year ?

No for me. just CPF-OA to SA transfers. Never topped up MA as well

 

[JuniorLion]

I'm sure there are more hidden tigers lurking around

 

[poooff]

CPF-OA to SA transfer early on will boost the SA amount later on. I'm 36 with 234k CPF-SA

I’m similar age, slightly more SA, and I see myself as peasant. So I don’t think 380is a lot.

Considering annual 10k interest and 7k contribution to SA, definitely reaching it before 48

 

[Shion]

As I have yet to buy a HDB flat, advisable to transfer OA to SA at this stage ?

 

[yslvlys]

never done cash top-up before.

been transferring OA to SA since I started getting CPF, now cannot transfer any more

Me 2. Not topping up 8k to save at most 2k in taxes.

 

[maumu]

As I have yet to buy a HDB flat, advisable to transfer OA to SA at this stage ?

Too little info to comment:
- Age?
- Salary? Got stable job?
- How much cash savings?
- Going to get married or own flat? How big the flat you thinking of?

Generally, not wise to transfer if need for housing (that's what the OA is mostly used for), but if you're cash rich, it's another story...

 

[JuniorLion]

Me 2. Not topping up 8k to save at most 2k in taxes.

Every cent saved is every cent earned, no?

 

[BBCWatcher]

As I have yet to buy a HDB flat, advisable to transfer OA to SA at this stage ?

Too little info to comment:
[….]
Generally, not wise to transfer if need for housing (that's what the OA is mostly used for), but if you're cash rich, it's another story...

If you need OA as OA (for housing), a few points:

• You only need to converge to a target OA figure. For example, if you have $30K in OA, need $40K for your down payment 3 years (36 months) from now, and your compulsory OA contributions are $1K per month, you’ll have $66K (plus some interest) when you need your $40K down payment if you do nothing. You could transfer some OA dollars to your SA (and/or to a family member’s SA or RA) now without missing your OA target. And if you want to assume 6 months of unemployment within those 36 months and keep a 9 month mortgage buffer thereafter (see below), OK, but that still probably means you’ll overshoot if you do nothing.
• The CPF Investment Scheme (OA) is also a potential option for some dollars. Many people feel like they want to keep some OA dollars around just in case they have some mortgage payments to make during a period of unemployment. But that doesn’t mean you need to drag ”too many” OA dollars along at 2.5%, currently a low rate. In many cases (not all, due to fees and badly timed maturities) even 6 month T-bills are yielding better. However, if you were to invest some dollars in (low cost, prudent) long-term investments and (for example) keep 9 months of mortgage payments behind in OA, that seems just fine to me, in many cases anyway. In the unlikely event you ever need an emergency 10th month you’ve got the long-term investments you can tap.
• If your mortgage is or will be the 2.6% HDB loan then you know your OA will always earn only 0.1 percentage points less. That is, you have much less interest rate risk. Take that risk factor into account in managing cash, OA, and long-term investments.
• Once your MA reaches the Basic Healthcare Sum and your SA reaches the Full Retirement Sum the portion of your compulsory contributions earmarked for MA will spill over into your OA. Take that factor into account, too.
• If you or your spouse/partner still haven’t maxed out CPF bonus interest then you’ve got an extra incentive to raise your (or his/her) MA or SA balance if you reasonably can.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Oh, another thing: if you’re taking a HDB loan then you can’t keep more than $20,000 in your OA anyway. When you pick up the keys anything over $20,000 is swept into (your) leasehold equity. So in the example above if you’re going to end up with $66K (plus interest) for a $40K down payment, you can avoid that future sweep of thousands of OA dollars by moving some OA dollars into SA. And since you know that sweep is coming, why not move those particular OA dollars now? You’ll earn 36 months more of higher SA interest on those dollars, plus potentially bonus interest if you haven’t maxed that out yet.

 

[highsulphur]

I’m similar age, slightly more SA, and I see myself as peasant. So I don’t think 380is a lot.

Considering annual 10k interest and 7k contribution to SA, definitely reaching it before 48

Can share how much do you have at what age?

Did you top up with cash or transfer from OA before?

 

[DriftKing]

I’m similar age, slightly more SA, and I see myself as peasant. So I don’t think 380is a lot.

Considering annual 10k interest and 7k contribution to SA, definitely reaching it before 48

How sia, no property and 20kpm since 18?

 

[highsulphur]

How sia, no property and 20kpm since 18?

property is irrelevant since we are talking about SA only

 

[LWZ]

As I have yet to buy a HDB flat, advisable to transfer OA to SA at this stage ?

based on what I know of you, think you should

just keep enough for the time you need to paying for your BTO flat when you are closer to 40

 

[chong18]

I’m similar age, slightly more SA, and I see myself as peasant. So I don’t think 380is a lot.

Considering annual 10k interest and 7k contribution to SA, definitely reaching it before 48

Don't forget once you hit the FRS amount in SA you won't be able to top up cash, so the growth will be slower

 

[highsulphur]

Don't forget once you hit the FRS amount in SA you won't be able to top up cash, so the growth will be slower

i think there are only a few ways to attain higher SA

1) Top up SA with cash or from OA until FRS (this is what I did - transfer from OA in my 20s)
2) Invest from SA (challenging)
3) Multiple stream of contribution of multiple employment

So I am curious what did he do to attain such high SA.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Don't forget once you hit the FRS amount in SA you won't be able to top up cash, so the growth will be slower

You may still be able to make an “all 3 accounts” voluntary contribution if you have room below the CPF Annual Limit. If you’re self-employed a VC3A is eligible for tax relief. But even without tax relief it could be a reasonable thing to do. If your MA has reached the Basic Retirement Sum, your SA has reached the Full Retirement Sum, and you’re using (or can use) OA for housing anyway then you could make a VC3A which is effectively equivalent to a SA deposit plus paying your mortgage.

I can imagine some people in their 40s and early 50s making VC3As in this way, for this reason. It’s at least slightly clever. But it basically presupposes you’re claiming tax relief via MA VCs first (to keep MA “full”), or you’re self-employed.

 

[DriftKing]

property is irrelevant since we are talking about SA only

Why irrelevant? Cannot transfer from OA to SA?

 

[highsulphur]

Why irrelevant? Cannot transfer from OA to SA?

just saying property mortgages do not deduct from SA. You can top up SA either with cash or from OA so property is irrelevant when it comes to optimising SA