Turning 55 is a big thing in Singapore.
At that age, one significant financial milestone is the ability to withdraw
cash from CPF. After working for a better part of one’s lifespan, many look forward to the extra ‘cash in hand’.
This is a list of what you can expect for your CPF from 55.
1 Retirement Account (RA)
A Retirement Account will be set up when you turn 55. Funds will first be transferred from Special Account (SA), followed by Ordinary Account (OA)
savings.
The amount transferred will be up to Full Retirement Sum (FRS). If there
is insufficient RA to make up FRS and you have used CPF savings for the
property, the amount withdrawn from the property (including accrued interest)
will be used to meet FRS (Property Pledge)
It is not mandatory to top up RA if you cannot set aside your FRS. You will
receive monthly payout from RA from retirement age. You HAVE to apply to start
receiving monthly payouts at any time after 65. Esle payouts will only start
automatically at 70.
2 Cash Withdrawal after 55
Regardless of how much you have in CPF, you can withdraw at least $5000 or any
amount in excess after setting aside from FRS from 55.
The CPF money can be withdrawn at any time in full or partially and as
frequently as possible.
If you have sufficient property pledge, you can withdraw the balances in the
CPF SA, OA and any RA savings above the Basic Retirement Sum.
If you are born in 1958 ot later, you can withdraw 20% of your CPF RA savings
at age 65 on top of monthly payouts ( This will include the initial $5000
withdraw at age 55.
Any balance in CPF continues to earn interest rates as follows
- OA: 2.5%
- SA : 4%
- RA: 4% *
CPF monies in RA can earn up to 6%
- First $30,000- 6%
- Next $30,000 – 5%
- Remaining -4%
3 Topping up of RA to full retirement when selling your property
If the CPF used for property has been pledged for RA,the amount will be
earmarked for RA and CANNOT be taken out as cash. These will be
deducted from your proceeds to Top up RA.
4 CPF Ordinary Account can still be used for Property Loan
If there is any balance in OA, it can still be used for housing loan
repayments.
There is a limit to what you can use for a housing loan from OA.
Refer to CPF to check on the limits. The limit safeguards against overspending on housing loan repayments at the
expense of retirement savings.
5 CPF Ordinary Account and Special Account remain open
As usual, the OA and SA account remains open and will receive employer and
employee contributions. The % of the contribution will be reduced from age 55.
6 You can withdraw Retirement Savings if you have other sources of lifelong
income
Do you know that you can withdraw all your retirement savings at 55?
You are eligible if you
meet the following conditions.
- 55 and above
-
Receiving guaranteed monthly payouts from the private annuity (bought with
cash or under the CPF Investment Scheme) or pension. -
Both the policyholder and sole insured person of the annuity policy.
Multiple annuity policies can be used. -
The full withdrawal is possible if the yearly payout from an annuity or
pension meets the payout benchmark. The private annuity cannot be used to
obtain a loan. - Conditions on top-ups to RA apply.
Do note that if you made the withdrawal but surrendered or terminated the
annuity or pension in the future, the surrender value of the annuity/pension
muse is refunded to the Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum with
accrued interest.
Disclaimer
This post is meant for educational purposes and does not constitute
financial advice. The information was updated on 15 Apr 2023. TWD is not
liable for any errors or changes to the CPF policies. For the latest
CPFguide, do refer to CPF.
