To expect the Employer to pay more into a worker's CPF, will
only increase the cost of operation for the Employer. It will be
like "killing the goose that lay the golden egg".
Meanwhile, the worker will still need to pay at least 20 percent
into a CPF fund that is shrinking in size due to a SMALLER
CONTRIBUTING POPULATION - due to the shrinking growth rate of the
Singapore Population that is worsening with each year.
As was mentioned before, the population growth rate was an alarming
3 to 4 percent during the 1940s, 1950s, and into the 1960s.
This resulted in the very successful Family Planning Programmes
that were created in different aspects - social and financially
punitive programs - to slow down the growth rate.
This resulted in the present situation, where in the years 2000 and
through 2020, the 1940s and 1950s babies will be retiring, and soon
will be drawing on their CPF savings.
Meanwhile the smaller population growth of 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s
are just into their early age of 40s, 30s, and 20s; and will have
to provide a larger CPF input to allow those from 1940s and 1950s
to retire.
For CPF to be successful, the number of retiring CPF Account
Holders must always be smaller, and the number of contributing CPF
Account Holders must be more at the turn of each year - like in a
pyramid, the base is always bigger than the apex at the top.
The true picture of CPF today, is that it is like an inverted
pyramid, where the numbers of retiring CPF Account Holders are
bigger, and the contributing younger CPF Account Holders are lesser
- like an up-side-down pyramid, with the big base of retiring
people at the top and the younger contributing numbers of new
entrants in Kuala Lumpur being the smaller apex tip being at the
bottom.
We have no clue how CPF Board invest the CPF funds contributed by
Singaporean Workers, and what is the rate of return, and how much
profit and losses have been incurred by the CPF Board.
The actions from the Government over the last 10 years can provide
an insight into the situation at the CPF.
In the early 1990s, CPF allowed the various account holders to
control how the CPF money is to be invested. Ten years later, in
2002 or 2003, it resulted in a complete turn around of policies,
CPF Account Holders will no longer be allowed to use CPF money to
invest in any CPF approved stocks, and more restrictions are made
in the use of CPF for home purchases, and CPF levies on return of
profits made from CPF approved investments.
While it has been constantly denied that the GIC do not manage the
investment funds from the CPF Board, how do we know who is managing
such funds ?
If the financial experts at Temasek Holdings can produce results of
losses in some years, can those at the CPF Board do better ?
