CPF Life will be disbursing payouts of up to $1,000 monthly to
about 10,000 Singaporeans aged 62 and above this year to those who
have signed up for the scheme.
They will get the payouts by the seventh working day of each
month which will go on for as long as they live.
The monthly amount depends on the Retirement Account savings
they used to join the annuity scheme. There is no minimum amount
required, but members with lower balances will get lower monthly
payouts. The highest payout is reported to be $1,040 a month.
Singaporeans are not allowed to opt out from the CPF Life scheme
though the money belongs to them. It will apply to all Singaporeans
turning 55 from 2013 and who have at least $40,000 in their CPF
savings.
In an interview with the state media, one Singaporean Madam Siti
Khadijah Abdullah, who turned 62 yesterday, had opted for the CPF
Life Balanced plan.
The plan will pay her $366 monthly, hardly enough for her to
survive in Singapore. As her children do not give her a fixed
allowance, Madam Siti is considering returning to the
workforce.
“There’s more security because I’ll be getting a regular
allowance until the day I die. Even if I don’t work, I’ll still
have money to survive,” she added.
The ruling party has been encouraging Singaporeans to work for
as long as they can. Though Singapore is a first world country, its
citizens enjoy few social welfare benefits unlike others.
Most Singaporeans have to depend on their CPF savings for
retirement. Before 2003, they are able to withdraw their CPF monies
in one lump sum when they reach 55 years of age.
Now, they have to keep a “minimum sum” in their CPF before they
are able to do so. As of now, the minimum sum has been increased to
$117,000.
Unless one belongs to the top 5 per cent of the income group, it
is almost impossible for ordinary Singaporeans to accure that
amount in their CPF.
Furthermore, a substantial amount of their CPF savings will be
used to finance the mortgage loans of over-priced HDB flats. The
ruling party claims that rising prices of public housing help to
“create wealth” for Singaporeans, but that capital value will not
be unlocked unless one migrates elsewhere.
The monthly median wage of an average Singapore worker is only
$2,600 compared to more than $150,000 for a minister and $250,000
for the prime minister of Singapore.
It is an irony that Singapore is “wealthy enough” to lose more
than $40 billion dollars of its reserves in failed overseas
investments (Wall Street Journal, September 2009), but its people
are struggling to make ends meet.
The situation isn’t helped by the relentless influx of
foreigners into Singapore which help to keep wages stagnant for the
Singapore worker.
The ruling party isn’t sympathetic towards the suffering of
ordinary Singaporeans in the street. While PM Lee claimed in his
New Year Day message that Singaporeans will remain a “top priority”
for his government, his father MM Lee Kuan Yew urged Singaporeans
to put up with the “tide” of immmigration which has since grown to
become a “flood”.
In a recent interview with the National Geographic
magazine, Lee Kuan Yew continues to support the ruling party’s
liberal immigration policies though he is aware that many
Singaporeans are unhappy with the influx of immigrants.
“Over time, Singaporeans have become less hard-driving and
hard-striving. This is why it is a good thing that the nation has
welcomed so many Chinese immigrants.” Lee was quoted
saying.
Lee describes the country’s new subjects as “hungry,” with
parents who “pushed the children very hard.”
“If native Singaporeans are falling behind because the spurs
are not stuck into the hide, that is their problem,” he
quipped.
It has indeed become a big problem for Singaporeans that they
are not having sufficient savings in their CPF for their twilight
years, not that the ruling party led by its overpaid millionaire
ministers cares much anyway.
Minister in the Prime Minister Office Lim Swee Say who recently
urged Singapore workers to be “cheaper, faster and better” once
made the following famous remark:
“Every month, when I receive my CPF statement, I feel so
rich and the best part is, I know the CPF money won’t run away. CPF
will still be around for a long, long time to come… Not only is it
earning good interest, my capital is protected.”
Now that Mr Lim has successfully “upturned” the downturn, he and
his colleagues can expect another round of pay hike to their
salaries in the new year ahead and of course, he will feel richer
with more contributions from Singapore taxpayers to his CPF.
Election coming!
