CPF for retirement planning

[OngHuatHuat]

I have plans to do annual top up of 7K sgd to my CPF special account from this year onwards, I underestimated the savings that this relief can bring for the past few years(they will deduct 7 K from your chargeable income).

Then the 7 K can continue to accrue more interest in the future somemore.

 

[SBC]

Not bad an option. I had transferred OA to SA & top up 1-2k cash to MA CPF.

 

[elnewbie]

I thought u said in other threads that you are in debt ? Better pay off your high interest debts first, imho.

I have plans to do annual top up of 7K sgd to my CPF special account from this year onwards, I underestimated the savings that this relief can bring for the past few years(they will deduct 7 K from your chargeable income).

Then the 7 K can continue to accrue more interest in the future somemore.

 

[OngHuatHuat]

I thought u said in other threads that you are in debt ? Better pay off your high interest debts first, imho.

My debt are mostly low interest bearing.
Highest probably my housing loan in Malaysia, at 4.45 - 4.5 % per annum?

 

[SBC]

Are you having positive cashflow on a monthly or short term basis?

 

[OngHuatHuat]

All my debt are used for investment purpose.
Exclude capital gain, dividend payout and rental payout, I still able to serve my loan currently.

Are you having positive cashflow on a monthly or short term basis?

 

[SBC]

You had accumulated high CC debts, also for investment purpose? Jus curious.

 

[OngHuatHuat]

Cc debt most of them range from 1.x % per annum interest to 4 % interest max. Average around 2 % per annum?

If my investment returns beats 2 % means there is a net gain.

Balance transfer interest is different from
Normal cc interest.

You had accumulated high CC debts, also for investment purpose? Jus curious.

 

[SBC]

V interesting. You always managed to balance transfer rate? Always switch bank after 3 to 6 months?

 

[Perisher]

Cc debt most of them range from 1.x % per annum interest to 4 % interest max. Average around 2 % per annum?

If my investment returns beats 2 % means there is a net gain.

Balance transfer interest is different from
Normal cc interest.

Which balance transfer interest is the lowest among the ones offering in SG?

 

[OngHuatHuat]

Normally they call me.
My credit rating is quite bad now Coz took up too much loans, but somehow they still keep calling me, especially these few banks at which I have quite a good relationship with: Citibank, Uob, anz and scb.

Not really switching bank, I always take balance transfer from the same bank. Somehow they trusted me Coz no matter how bad is my rating, I always manage to get the funds within two days or maximum one week.
Think they have their internal system to assess customers, not depending solely on credit bureau.

V interesting. You always managed to balance transfer rate? Always switch bank after 3 to 6 months?

 

[OngHuatHuat]

If you wait for the banks to call you, you can get pretty good deals.

Lowest used to be bank of China, but now they raised it a lot.

Currently should be citi bank.
If you are new to anz, then anz should be the lowest.

Which balance transfer interest is the lowest among the ones offering in SG?

 

[raven.tw]

As far as i know, the few and only ways to grow SA for retirement planning is to:
1. Topup SA with cash
2. Transfer from OA to SA
3. Make VC (on top of your salary/mandatory contribution if max not hit)
4. Invest your SA

1 &2 cannot be done when SA hit the minimum sum, but still can do 3 & 4 to grow your SA.

Say i am going to buy a house in the next few years, i should skip step
2 because i can use the money to buy the house right?

Second, what should i invest my SA on? I looked up the investment options for SA and none of the options seems good enough except for the ETFs which is the two singapore index but SA cannot be used to invest. Only for OA. So what should i do or rather what should i invest my SA on?

 

[highsulphur]

As far as i know, the few and only ways to grow SA for retirement planning is to:
1. Topup SA with cash
2. Transfer from OA to SA
3. Make VC (on top of your salary/mandatory contribution if max not hit)
4. Invest your SA

1 &2 cannot be done when SA hit the minimum sum, but still can do 3 & 4 to grow your SA.

Say i am going to buy a house in the next few years, i should skip step
2 because i can use the money to buy the house right?

Second, what should i invest my SA on? I looked up the investment options for SA and none of the options seems good enough except for the ETFs which is the two singapore index but SA cannot be used to invest on OA. So what should i do or rather what should i invest my SA on?

Don't touch your SA. 4% risk free is very hard to beat

 

[w1rbelw1nd]

SA can invest in etf? Doesn't seem e case based on cpf website


https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/optimising-my-cpf/cpf-investment-schemes

As far as i know, the few and only ways to grow SA for retirement planning is to:
1. Topup SA with cash
2. Transfer from OA to SA
3. Make VC (on top of your salary/mandatory contribution if max not hit)
4. Invest your SA

1 &2 cannot be done when SA hit the minimum sum, but still can do 3 & 4 to grow your SA.

Say i am going to buy a house in the next few years, i should skip step
2 because i can use the money to buy the house right?

Second, what should i invest my SA on? I looked up the investment options for SA and none of the options seems good enough except for the ETFs which is the two singapore index but SA cannot be used to invest on OA. So what should i do or rather what should i invest my SA on?

 

[Mecisteus]

Not worth investing your SA in those funds. Just leave it in the SA.

 

[raven.tw]

Okay. One more thing. I am helping my dad with his retirement planning with CPF. He has about 30k in OA and about 130k in SA and about 50k in medical account (not sure what is the exact name). Lets say if he has no more housing debt, would there be any other debt he would be paying using his OA? If not, what should he do with his OA to maximize SA returns for retirement planning? FRS requirement etc etc. quite confused about that.

 

[wealth_farmer]

SA should be your bond component. You can use your CPF-IS to invest in broad-based, low-cost, passive index trackers such as ES3.SI or G3B.SI (the two STI ETFs in Singapore), but don't touch your SA.

Actually I wouldn't even touch my OA as I want it to be a buffer to pay my mortgage should I get retrenched. But your risk appetite may vary.

If you really want to be proactive about growing your retirement savings, you could consider modifying step 3 so that you don't make VC but you contribute to SRS instead. You'll get the same tax savings and you can invest that portion as your equities allocation in your portfolio into those STI ETFs mentioned above.

As far as i know, the few and only ways to grow SA for retirement planning is to:
1. Topup SA with cash
2. Transfer from OA to SA
3. Make VC (on top of your salary/mandatory contribution if max not hit)
4. Invest your SA

1 &2 cannot be done when SA hit the minimum sum, but still can do 3 & 4 to grow your SA.

Say i am going to buy a house in the next few years, i should skip step
2 because i can use the money to buy the house right?

Second, what should i invest my SA on? I looked up the investment options for SA and none of the options seems good enough except for the ETFs which is the two singapore index but SA cannot be used to invest on OA. So what should i do or rather what should i invest my SA on?

 

[apatheticme]

Okay. One more thing. I am helping my dad with his retirement planning with CPF. He has about 30k in OA and about 130k in SA and about 50k in medical account (not sure what is the exact name). Lets say if he has no more housing debt, would there be any other debt he would be paying using his OA? If not, what should he do with his OA to maximize SA returns for retirement planning? FRS requirement etc etc. quite confused about that.

How old is your dad? Should be close to 55? I would just shift everything into from OA to SA. Besides housing, OA is only used for

- education (depends on your family, probably N/A)
- Home protection scheme (N/A)
- DPS (N/A, payable via SA as well)
- investment (horizon too short, but applicable if risk appetite is large)

If not going for CPF investment then just transfer to SA.

 

[BBCWatcher]

If he's married, and if his spouse's CPF accounts have not yet maximized the bonus interest (5%), it could make even more sense to transfer those OA monies to his spouse's CPF SA. I think that is possible, although it might require two separate, back-to-back transactions.