Is there Something Wrong with CPF?

last SG · 2005-10-30T23:28:01+00:00

They might as bloody well rename CPF, - TAXCUFFAS :- Tax. Can Use For Flat and Shares or CPFIAMMA :- CPF, It Ain't My Money Anymore

ShutterBug SG

Ladies & Gentlemen, as well as the many teens in here.

I want to draw your attention to the following scenario, and you tell me if there is something wrong with the purpose, and usefulness of our CPF savings:

1) you slog all your adult life to make a living whil contributing to CPF all the time, believing that it will be helpful when you grow old.

2) after several decades of slogging, and you finally reached retirement age, or you were retrenched because of your age and have developed some form of ailment which requires monthly medical treatment. You turn to your CPF only to be told that you need to wait till your medical condition worsens and you are unable to be employed because of it, only then are you allowed a certain amount of your money to pay for your medical condition/s. Otherwise, wait till you're 62 years old to be entitled to a monthly sum of about $300.

What or how will you feel?

launtpc SG

CPF also used to buy house, so buyers will pay less, the rest CPF provide.

Mr Fugue SG

LL loh. what to do?? Laughing

OH-FF SG

Why rely on CPF??

If no CPF ? What will you do with the $$$?

So if there CPF, isn't there a need to take care of health ? Does it cost a lot to take care of health ?

It cost more to buy Cigarettes and Alcohol and drugs to damage health .
Rolling Eyes

dragg SG

its bullshit.

when dont they just give it to us as purely salary like what other countries are doing? the taiwanese and hongkongers fetch a much better take home pay than we do. of course the govt's excuse as usual is they are worried we might spend all over money. hence the cpf idea.

they are doing everything they can to hold on to the money. according to the report recently the amount is a staggering S$114.9 billion at the end of march.

imagine how much they can make from interest alone, let alone investment. how much are they paying us? a pathetic 4% or maybe less.

any request or suggestion pertaining to cpf it is turned down. they just wont allow singaporeans to touch it. and they come up with all sorts of ideas just to make sure the money stays there. WHY?

like the thread starter said we slogged all our lives but what do we get. just do the calculation.

the minimum sum is $120000. the amount you can get at age 55 is your total cpf minus $120000. how high can that be? (unless you make a lot and dont buy a HDB flat) and they will allow you to withdraw $762 per month at age 62 onwards.

knn, the worst thing is i might not even live to that age.

robertteh SG

Actually CPF was doing well up to 1980s. Many could have retired comfortably but sad, but true, the government in order to push up their own land banks finally let people use CPF to buy property and invest in shares to get better values.

From that year when government allowed people to use CPF to buy property and shares till today, people have lost billions. Their property prices today are at 60% of their original purchase price not to mention the high interest charges paid.

They now are struggling for a living by working in all kinds of odd jobs to pay for their outstanding mortgages.

However our leaders will not admit such mistakes and are seen to be trying to say that they have been successful in building so many flats etc.

The greatest failure so far of the government is the so-called asset-enhancement policies and what not. Now they will talk about GDP and Temasek overseas investments to avoid the subject of property disasters in Singapore.

That is why CPF is another NKF where problems will be denied until disasters strike.

mochou SG

wrong? the govt is always right!!!
it is very WRONG to doubt the govt's policy.

dragg SG

when has our govt ever used the reserves to help us in times of need. what is the purpose of temasek holdings and its investment arm? i always see reports saying that we have a hell lot of reserves. but what good are the reserves when it is not used at all to help?

cpf cannot touch as explained in my earlier post.

contribution rates cut to attract investors due to poor economy. but take donkey years to go back up, or wont go back to old rate anymore. thus less cpf, equalling to less income.

high interest rate for housing loans.

less and less jobs. have to tighten belt and accept lower paying job. retrenchments. outsourcing and whatnot leading to more unemployment.

higher transport cost, utilities and whatnot.

all in all it is obvious. people generally end up in more debts, less income, higher living cost and no job/job security.

seow SG

Then if we die, what happen to the cpf $$?

Aveme SG

have you made your nominee yet?

if so the $$$ will go to them.

Unsure how much the govt will tax thou.

maggot SG

CPF is not a bank Cool

Where is the money for the interest come from? Rolling Eyes

Aveme SG

investment?

most long term wise investment can cough up the 4% easily.

But there is where it draw flake from people that the govt did not invested properly resulting in heavy losts and people questioned where is the money

dragg SG

and they keep saying it like they are doing us a big favour giving us 4% interest. if i take the money out and buy some bank shares it definitely will make more tha 4%.

Aveme SG

hehe that is where they say we do not have the expertise to invest wisely in fear that we will make heavy loses.So they bear this "risk" for us.

Govt must look good mah.

dragg SG

and they keep saying they have made good their investments but refused to show us the portfolio.

chinese investment losses?
micropolis losses?
chartered semiconductor losses?

Aveme SG

hehe already said le mah,govt must look good

so if got losses,all the more,die die also cannot show mah.

We can only hope they can do the right thing to make up for it later if such losses are true.

digicharat SG

i prefer to just withdraw all the money when i retire and spent it all in like 3 months.
then jump off building and end my life...

laurence82 SG

Its a legalised robbery. Not even my economics lecturers subscribe to it.

Go read up on today's ST on how one chap made plans for his retirement using other means.

dragg SG

frankly there wont come a day when we will know.

with no public auditing they can say they make a billion a month.

Embarassed

from the recent scandals from the stock market even companies with auditing cant be trusted.

chunyong SG

CPF is for ur wife or chewren one lah...one should try to set aside a sum for retirement or when ailments come knocking after 40....bo bian one.

my stand is still the same, in a small island like SG, there is no need for cars. have so much assets no use one....have $ in bank is the most practical.