Retirement income - S'poreans ranked lowest

kilua SG

The older Singaporeans with insufficient retirement funds should look to PAP for failing to create an effective retirement system.

Before 1999, CPF was not allowed to be used for investing in unit trusts.By then, It was clear significant portion of older Singaporeans cannot retire with low CPF rates and they started to cover the leaking pail by liberalising the use of CPF for investments. In 1999 if Singaporean cant retire, they can blame PAP for preventing them from investing in unit trusts.10 years later in 2009, its your own problem.

Back then, there were not much avenues to grow their retirement funds. Singaporeans overinvested in HDB to grow their retirement fund resulting in a bubble for HDB flats eating up the portion left for pension/retirement income.

If Singaporeans cannot retire is it because we didnt save enough? Singaporeans already have among the highest savings rate in the world. Financial planners would tell you that Singaporeans cannot retire because we did not take enough risks to generate returns. But yet we have a "kind" govt wanting to take all the risks for us by investing through GIC, Temasek and paying us "riskfree" CPF rate. The consequence of earning these "riskfree" returns could well be extra decades of working life.

SINGAPOREANS are at the bottom of a ranking of retirement income from pensions in the Asia-Pacific region, says the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

And this is true at all income levels, according to the study, which covered 19 locations including Hong Kong, Taipei and Japan, The Business Times reported on Friday.

The Pensions at a Glance study, which also involved the World Bank, found that Singapore's average gross replacement rate - the value of the pension as a percentage of earnings when working - is just 13.1 per cent.

Taipei has the highest gross replacement rate of 70 per cent, the report said.

'This means that the gross pension income for average earners in Taipei is over two-thirds of their previous earnings level, whereas pensioners in Singapore receive less than one-seventh the amount of their earnings,' says the study.

Singapore's pension is provided by the Central Provident Fund (CPF).

'The relatively low replacement rate for Singapore is because the calculations only consider the earmarked retirement account,' says the study. 'If an individual were to put the general account towards retirement-income provision as well, then the replacement rate would be 82 per cent.'

It points out that it would be foolish to say that one Singaporean who withdrew from the CPF to buy a house is worse off than another who built up a retirement income and then had to use some of it to pay for housing.

'Nonetheless, there is a risk that older people find themselves asset-rich and income-poor in retirement and facing difficulty in unlocking the value of their housing assets to pay for essentials,' the study says.

Replacement rates - the most familiar indicator for pension analysts - are not the only factor governments are concerned with. They also need to measure the value of the overall pension promise.

'This is measured by the indicator of pension wealth which takes life expectancy into account,' the study says.

Again, Singapore has the lowest measurement - a retiree's pension here is worth just an average 2.2 times their earnings at retirement. The figure for China is 21.2 times - the highest in the region.

Pentaxdude90 SG

a report you'll never see in your free Today newspaper.

Robotics999 SG

Where is the source from? :)

Rednano SG

Where is the source from? :)

shin min daily got...

skythewood SG

state times

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Sin…

charlize SG

Pension meh?

CPF is Singaporeans' money what.

How can say it is pension? Pension means from government.

ShitSandwich SG

As our leaders have said, "Retirement is death". So it doesn't make a difference to Singaporeans if we get any pensions when we retire. That's because dead people have no need for pensions. That's why even if we have the lowest gross replacement rate for pensions that doesn't bother the average Singaporean. The CPF money accumulated could be better spent on other Govt investments, such as to attract talents to lead the country to greater heights.

For example, we can use that CPF money to pay brilliant ministers generous pensions as a reward when they retire from politics at the age of 50 to 60. That would be a fantastic use of the billions saved from paying the average Singaporean a decent pension that they've saved over decades in their working life.

Bottom line: Average Singaporeans don't need a decent pension to maintain their quality of life after retirement, while millionaire ministers need luxurious pensions pegged to their last drawn salary after they retire. And who pays for these luxurious pensions? Yup, it's you, the one who doesn't get much of a pension after contributing 30+% of your monthy salary to CPF till you're 65.

angel7030 SG

No mah, i see alots of ah peks and ah ma driving Merc and BM lor.

dragg SG

they got it all wrong.

singaporeans are not supposed to retire. we must worked until our last second.

AndrewPKYap SG

they got it all wrong.

singaporeans are not supposed to retire. we must worked until our last second.

ah.... but some dishonorable cursed people set the example by clinging on to power beyond their expiry and are rotten to the core.... and so the rest of the silliposheep must follow....

(but conveniently forgetting to mention that they are taking massive amounts of public money to continue working and they continue working so that they can put relatives and cronies in positions to similarly take massive amounts of public money...)

With the massive amounts of money the PAP government takes... how can it be surprising that silliposheeps rank last...

walesa SG

ah.... but some dishonorable cursed people set the example by clinging on to power beyond their expiry and are rotten to the core.... and so the rest of the silliposheep must follow....

With the massive amounts of money the PAP government takes... how can it be surprising that silliposheeps rank last...

What odds would you give for a misguided and ill-informed citizenry to embark on a cause of "change we can believe in" on the premise of the state-censored logic you just articulated (given that is what effectively entrenches and prolongs this regime's survival)?

Stevenson101 SG

It's already on the Strait Times yeesh, how long are you guys going to keep harping on the state censored logic ?

I'm rather surprised to see the Strait Times publishing the opinions of the Opposition on the new Budget in today's Strait Times though.

Poh Ah Pak SG

It's already on the Strait Times yeesh, how long are you guys going to keep harping on the state censored logic ?

Unhappy S'poreans haven't seen enough of world

THOUGH I am not a Singaporean, I have grown to admire the city. This prompted me to read the two volumes of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's autobiography.

If Singaporeans were to read them, they would understand what it took the country's founding fathers, led by Mr Lee, to build Singapore, which has become the envy of its neighbours and a benchmark for development to the rest of the world.

I am sad to note that a small segment of an otherwise-enlightened society is constantly complaining and finding fault with the way things are in Singapore.

After a chat with a well-informed taxi driver, I learnt why some people are unhappy.

He said that some Singaporeans do not travel, and hence do not have the chance to compare Singapore with other countries.

On another note, I read with dismay reports on bringing young men and women together so that they will start families.

When I read of children falling from high-rise apartments, newborns being dumped in rubbish bins and young children suffering from neglect, I wonder what is going to become of Singapore with more unwed teen mothers, irresponsible young fathers and unprotected children roaming the streets.

Unless people are educated on responsible parenting, there will be few gains to be had by encouraging Singaporeans to have more children.

In this instance, quantity without quality does not make sense.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne

I posted a story above criticising Singapore critics of PAP regime, I hope that this will end views that I am anti-PAP regime or anti-Lee Kuan Yew.

maurizio13 SG

It's already on the Strait Times yeesh, how long are you guys going to keep harping on the state censored logic ?

I'm rather surprised to see the Strait Times publishing the opinions of the Opposition on the new Budget in today's Strait Times though.

If someone tells you 99 lies and one truth.

Does it mean you rely on that one truth to validate the 99 lies to be truths?

Stevenson101 SG

If someone tells you 99 lies and one truth.

Does it mean you rely on that one truth to validate the 99 lies to be truths?

I see it as a progressive step, small but definitely a change in the right direction.

Your logic is the one that since it's already been 99 lies there can be no way that this can be a truth.

If you want to drag an idiom to use, use a more proper one.

maurizio13 SG

I see it as a progressive step, small but definitely a change in the right direction.

Your logic is the one that since it's already been 99 lies there can be no way that this can be a truth.

If you want to drag an idiom to use, use a more proper one.

Did I say this "one" is not a truth?

Read my previous post above again and try to understand.

Didn't know my statements can be mistaken for idioms.

You see it as a progressive step and change in the right direction? Meaning you acknowledged that they have lied before.

Metal Eleven SG

If it is really accurate that Singaporeans have the lowest income, then they have only themselves to be blamed, having speculated in unit trusts, structured deposits and instruments, Lehman Bros bonds, property, cars, and even withdrawing lump sums and spending on gambling cruises, slot machines in country clubs and SAFRA clubs and NTUC clubs, and China girlfriends.