Allow me to explain the current CPF Life policies/rules first, it should help u understand the rules for the old cohorts.
1. At 55, CPFB will transfer SA/OA to RA to form FRS.
2. If RA is not at FRS, whenever the member request to withdraw from SA/OA, CPFB will first transfer monies from SA/OA to RA to help the member meet FRS before any excess monies can be withdrawn
3. At 65 (payout eligibility age PEA), CPFB will do another transfer from SA/OA to RA if FRS still not met, before allowing any request to withdraw.
4. As of now, I cannot find any CPF rules about what will happen to the SA/OA if FRS not met after 65 to 70, but I assume CPFB will continue to do #2 above. (it does not affect me, so I never seek clarifications from CPFB)
5. At 70, if the member did not choose CPF Life Plan, CPFB will put the member under Standard Plan. Before this, I suspect (see #4) CPFB will transfer any monies in OA/SA to RA if FRS still not meet before “locking” this amt into CPF Life. But if RA did not meet the minimum required to auto join CPF Life, CPFB will “not force” the member to join.
6. There is no information what will happen if FRS still not met after 70. So I suspect the member should be free to withdraw monies in OA/SA if any, plus option to join CPF Life with whatever is left in RA or payout starts under RSS.
Ok your senior citizen CPF member is under CPF Life Plus Plan. This is the predecessor of the now Standard Plan. Under CPF Life Plus, all the RA balance was transferred to the CPF Life Pool at 55. If I am not wrong (I cannot find the history), since it is similar to Standard Plan, extra interest of 1%+1% on first 30k and 60k of combined CPF balances also go into the Pool. U can check your yearly CPF statements to see where those interest are posted.
As I explained above, once the member joined CPF Life, CPFB should stop any pre-withdrawal transfers from SA/OA to RA for the member. U can write to CPFB to double confirm this.
(Now that CPFB changed the rules to allow the member to opt to join CPF Life at 65 instead of “forced” joining at 55 in the past, CPF can do another “lock” on the OA/SA monies for new members - “hidden agenda”. By changing the rules again to set final age to 70 for forced joining, I suspect, they can execute the “hidden agenda” again the final round – but this is not clearly defined at the CPF website, so I might be wrong for the age 70 rules)
So now your senior citizen member already started CPF Life payouts, if he wants to transfer monies in OA to RA, based on CPF rules, all monies in SA will be emptied first, followed by OA.
If u topup RA after joining CPF Life at 55 (new CPF rules for new members is after CPF Life payout starts), those monies will sit in RA to earn 4% interest. CPFB will do an annual review and will stream out the monies in RA as additional mthly payout (AMP) if u did not request to buy additional annuity with all the balance in RA.
a. If u request to buy additional annuity, I suspect it will be the Standard Plan, pls write to CPFB to confirm. Under Standard Plan, all the monies will be transferred from RA to CPF Life Pool. If the member die earlier than expected, he loses potential 4% pa. interest on the monies. He already lost the extra interest as I explained above.
b. If he prefers CPFB to stream the monies out as additional mthly payout, RA will earn 4% pa, but the monies together with interest will be used to calculate the AMP amt to last till 90/when RA will be zero. CPF website state a few mths before AMP starts, they will calculate and inform the member of the AMP amt. (Uncle Henry might be able to help u estimate? He is the expert on this)
I think I have answered all your questions?
