Govt doesn’t pay a single cent to aid SGs’ retirement. TRUE?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Govt doesn’t pay a single cent to aid SGs’ retirement

May 27th, 2014 | Author: Contributions

An elderly Singaporean


It all read very nice and reasonable but as most things coming from the political elite. you play on the general public ignorance of their property rights and of finance and investments.

If CPF is MY MONEY, then I should be able to make use of it as and when I want, not subject to shifting rules and restrictions. As you said, ours is not like a state pension system. So thanks for confirming that and no thanks for not making clear the difference which is in our system, it is OUR MONEY whereas in a state system it is the state’s money. As it is our property rights, the government cannot treat it like it is a state pension system which even the governments in Europe dare not change as much as this government.

But then, why are you bothered about aging pension systems like those you referred in Europe when as you say it is OUR MONEY and the Singapore government pays nothing into it. The government is over-hedging that they will not pay a single cent to aid citizen’s retirement prospects. Just come out and say so, no need to pull wool over our eyes.

Then let’s talk abt longer life expectancy. Your government solution is to keep increasing the MS and increase employee’s contribution to ensure that citizens have enough retirement funds, But why don’t the government increase CPF rates so that not only will our CPF account accumulate at higher rate and also citizens gets a higher income payout in retirement. Why don’t you be clear that the government wants citizens to bear all financial risks in retirement while the government keeps accumulating its own reserves by keeping CPF rates low and takes no risk and no mitigation to ensure a better retirement for citizens and alleviate those in difficulties.

Have you ever engage in a debate with your PM and your MOF about the trade off between the persistent budget surplus and Singapore’s chronic under spending on healthcare and retirement funding? Where and when does this reserves accumulation ends? It already stand at $895 billion by my careful estimates. What is the moral standpoint of having all this money and none to mitigate social risks?

Let’s be clear, your government do not mitigate citizen’s retirement funding by increasing CPF rates because that would meant more of GIC and TH returns will pay what should be due to us, leaving less money for your government to indulge in what my learned fellow TRE commentator @Oxygen termed as pork barrel politics.

You have done nothing of the above, have you, Chuan-JIn? So you are another well meaning under-achiever in government. You get what? a million dollar for that?

Chris K

* Comment appeared in: Minister Tan: The truth about our CPF and Minimum Sum


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