Thursday, February 5, 2015

CPF Scheme Still Stinks

What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. That's the line from Romeo and Juliet. On the other hand, a stinker will still smell all the way to heaven, and renaming the Minimum Sum as Basic Retirement Sum is no relief from the odoriferous pong. In like manner, they had changed the National Conversation to Our Singapore Conversation, but the con remains.

Which part of "Return our CPF" did the 13-members of the CPF advisory panel not understand? The "basic" amount of $80,500 of the Basic Requirement Sum is still money withheld, money which should have been released at age 55. Way back in 1984, Toh Chin Chye had already named the beast:
"Mr Speaker, I think fundamental principles are being breached. The fundamental principle is this. The CPF is really a fixed deposit or a loan to Government, which can be redeemed at a fixed date when the contributor is 55 years old. If I were to put this sum of money in a commercial bank and, on the due date I go to the bank to withdraw the money, the manager says, “I am sorry, Dr Toh, you will have to come next year”, there will be a run on the bank! It is as simple as this, that the CPF has lost its credibility, the management of it."

Toh also identified where the thievery started from Medisave: “6% of your Special Account will be kept for Medisave and you cannot withdraw that, even if you were to die.” Some senior citizens have discovered, to their horror, that when their meagre Medisave funds are used for healthcare needs, funds from ordinary/retirement accounts were transferred over to make up the Medisave minimum, without their knowledge or expressed permission.

When Toh was speaking, CPF contribution was 50% of wages, more than enough to see anyone through in retirement comfort. But no, they had to tweak the system to raid the nest egg, to the extent that Medishield Life will now tax a 90 year old to the tune of a $1,500 a year. Not every nonagenarian still has a $16,000 allowance, on top of multiple counts of pensions, and not even required to show up for work. One way to escape the cradle-to-grave tax is to burn your passport, withdraw your CPF balances and buy a house in Batam, where some Indonesian maiden will pamper you to death in your evening years. Maybe that was their intended way of exporting the aging population problem.

18 comments:

  1. They still don't understand the people's sentiments, do they? And they still don't trust a 55-year old with their own money? It's almost like the money in my pocket is stll better than in yours.

    10 years ago I can still pay for a decent car at half today's prices but now they are saying all of us are only worthy of 20% of our CPF savings in another 10 years time once we reach 55?

    You do the sums and then decide whether PAP is worth our vote at the next Election?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This whole CPF scehemes is nothing but scams, utterly short on statistics.

    At least in HK, I know their MPF as a whole has a 559.63 billion total net asset value as of Oct 2014. With an annuaized RoR (net fees/charges) of 4.2% which outperformed inflation by 1.8% yearly. and against the 1 month HK$ deposit of 0.7% yrly.
    What is our state of CPF Rate of Return (ROR)? Does anybody know? Now they want it to be hard pegged to 3% instead of it being index to inflation...like that Win Liao lor?!!

    HK also alllows phased and early withdrawal, no more than 4 withdrawals per scheme/year. And those with "terminal illness" as a ground for early full withdrawals. Down here, our money is not our say.

    Indeed, once again, those foreigners who come here and work and permanently depart or cease employment in SG can get the full withdrawal, but the locals continued to be held in ransom. Not just their money, but also their property now!

    Good grief, no wonder those clever folks at Eternal Pure Land are so smart to get into the cradle (from placenta cordlife of your babies) to the grave (ashes) of one's afterlife. Only in Singapore, your soul from the moment you are born is already owned by the "better" devil you have always known.

    Only in Stinkapore.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great piece, Tattler. On the other hand the Indonesian maiden may poison the old coot for an accelerated windfall. This might give them some ideas as to how to deal with the ageing population. Legalising euthanasia may well be on the cards.

    ReplyDelete
  4. In the early years, the direction of CPF was in favour of the member. Since then, it has been tweaked again & again to suit other needs... to delay and even deny its return.

    On top of that, it is negative returns.

    A legalised scheme that we have allowed
    Oh God! our daftness verified multiple times.
    Sounds like the people caught in gold scams... suckers in perpetuity.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haha, another wayang committee formed to extract even more than before. That's how you "fixed the grievances" - give the sheeple more pain until they stop complaining!

    I have never thought about it this way, but it now looks like old fart's departed old pal Suharto thought him how to turn the CPF into a personal bank account. At least Suharto's yayasans extracted the money from businesses, not the people and workers which the yayasans were supposed to have helped. CPF money, after being cycled via MoF into the 2 SWFs not unlike Kong Hee's Xtron, has become Suharto's yayasans. Go in its our money, come out its their money.

    ReplyDelete
  6. PM Lee :

    So, after considering this for a long time and discussing it with my colleagues, I have decided I would change my view, I would adjust the policy and I think we should allow people the option to take out part of their CPF savings in a lump sum if they need to but subject to some limits. The amount which you can take out cannot be excessive. For example, it can be up to 20 per cent of the total that you have and it should only be during retirement, 65 and beyond, not ‘suka suka’, any time you need money, you visit the HDB. He is not your money lender. //

    Please ask Tan Chuan Jin again, are you sure "CPF is your money" is still valid? We certainly did not appoint you as our money lender or money holder..!!" The irony of it all.

    You know what gets my goat? That we now learn medishield minimum sum (or will it change to Basic Medical Sum aka BMS)?!!) will surely be on the way.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really don't know about how you guys feel, but to me all the 13 members on the advisory combined have not graduated from the kindergarten of life.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The pappies still doesn't know what is brewing among the people especially those in 40s/50s. Almost everyone is cursing PAP like mad, using our hard earned savings to gamble in the share market and losing billions until they have to impose all these bullshit.

    Why is the PM's CEO wife still around ? Still can't find a much better replacement or don't want to find? If any CEO loses 1 million, out you go for someone to take over. Here loses >1 billion, still impossible to find a replacement? How can they be so dishonest?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the answer is very obvious. When the govt install Chip Goodyear, what Goodyear find is all the bullshitting and creative accounting done and is asked to shut up his mouth. Now you see why Pinky didn't want another foreigners to take over because they will expose the shit further. At one time didn't chipyear expose those pap clowns as good for nothing .

      Delete
  9. When you kpkb not enough for retirement, they tweak it so you can get some money at 55 yrs old. The con-mittee should have dealt into the reasons why not enough for retirement and arrest the problem at its source- too expensive HBD housing !!!! -too small returns from CPF savings. I think I can do a better job than the 13 clowns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stagnant wages due to influx of foreigners. High cost of livings due to large population vying for limited resources.

      Delete
  10. The smart PAP already knows that People are not happy with CPF. That is why they put in ex Navy Chief to be in charge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ex-navy chief is part of the contingency plan, where the army takes over in case of a ''freak'' election result.

      Delete
    2. Isn't it amazing that all these apparently high-performing, brilliant fellows are unable to land a good job in the private sector on their own? That they have to depend on the govt to hold their hand and give them work?

      BTW, I met an elderly guy (late 60s/early 70s) who used to be a major. He gets $5,000 a month in pension....

      So many of us are not even earning half of that, despite putting in 12-hour days and putting up with loads of shit at our workplace.

      Delete
  11. The cake already baked long before the committee was formed. These 13 cooks (clowns) just need to put the icings to make it looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Loong started collecting his pension at age 55 while still drawing his pay. Peasants cannot withdraw their own money from their savings? Even after they have retired?
    LOLx. What a bunch of losers.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Cat got their tongues when it comes to the CPF interest rates, a key component of a pension fund in generating retirement adequacy. A better way to escape the cradle to grave extortion is to use the ballot well. They have been there too Loong for our own good.

    ReplyDelete
  14. they are making mockery out of us isn't it?

    ReplyDelete