Mr Lee said the CPF interest rate is better than
that given by the banks, and he had a tip for wives.
"All the women should tell their husbands that the government's CPF
interest rate is now very high, better than the POSBank anytime so
better take your money from your POSB (account) and put into my CPF
account," he quipped.
The extra one percentage point given by the CPF Board is something
Singaporeans will find hard to get anywhere else.
Mr Lee said: "The government is taking care of it
100-percent risk free. The money is there, it will never disappear.
People say go with GIC, Temasek; GIC makes so much money, you
should give me the same like GIC. But GIC invests long-term they
buy shares, the stock market goes up, the stock market goes
down.
"(In the) last few months, the stock market has gone down. I am
sure GIC's portfolio would have gone down. And not just your
interest is less that means your capital gets less. I was
persuaded by MOM (Ministry of Manpower) and MOF (Ministry of
Finance), against my preference, that it's better for the
government to take on this responsibility for the first S$60,000
because it's a big burden."
The fallacy in PM Lee's logic is, if the stock market goes down you
lose capital; but then again when the stock market falls, it will
recuperate again, since the beginning of wall street, it has always
been so. Not every CPF members withdraw their money when market is
bad, because they can only withdraw when they reached their
retirement age. So in time, the ups and downs of the stock market
will average out (some years stock market drop, sometimes it
booms). The P4P government if they want to benefit the citizens,
should pay the average returns of stock market (in interest rates)
for CPF members.
The CPF is not really equivalent to banks because the money you put
in the bank, it's very liquid (meaning you can withdraw the money
anytime you so choose). Whereas the CPF is more like an insurance
scheme (more restrictions than insurance scheme because it's
compulsory), you are bonded for life.
PM Lee trying to hoodwink those without financial intelligence. Do
you think HC will ask PM Lee to put all their money in CPF?
