<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>May 16, 2009
SAF'S NEW RETIREMENT AGE, CAREER SCHEME
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Officers fret about lump sum payout
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>They wonder if raised retirement age of 50 would lead to a bigger payout </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jermyn Chow & Yeo Sam Jo
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE Singapore Armed Forces' decision to raise the retirement age of its officers to 50 has left its own officers confused about how this would impact their retirement payout.
Under the Savings and Employee Retirement Plan, or Saver scheme, officers get a lump sum payout when they retire at the age of 42 or 45, depending on their last-held ranks.
But with the change, some are wondering if they will get a bigger payout if they decide to hang up their army boots at 50.
The officers contacted by The Straits Times all had different ideas of what impact this change would have on the Saver scheme. Some said the lump sum payout should grow as they serve the extra five years, while others thought otherwise.
Said a 40-year-old lieutenant-colonel: 'Though we have not yet been briefed on the details of the new scheme, I hope I will be duly compensated for my five extra years in service.'
The Defence Ministry (Mindef) declined to comment when asked about how the Saver scheme payouts would be affected by the raising of the retirement age.
What is clear, though, is that officers can withdraw the lump sum only when they leave the service. Mindef's deputy secretary (administration) Willie Tan said in a media briefing on Thursday that this will not change with the revamped career scheme, even if officers decide to leave at 42 or 45 and not stay till 50.
The Saver scheme, first rolled out in 1998, allows an officer to earn in 25 years close to what he would get if he worked for 40 years in other branches of the public service or in the private sector.
This means an SAF officer who retires with the rank of lieutenant-colonel at the age of 45 will pocket about $700,000 when he leaves.
Some officers are thankful that they can now work for several more years, as it gives them greater job security. A 28-year-old captain said: 'It offers extra job security and we are able to contribute more.'
Mr Lawrence Koh, 33, who left the SAF in 2007 to set up his own venture in adventure sports, said he would not have left so early if the retirement age had been higher back then.
'At that time, I was told that I had to retire at 42, which I thought was too late to start my second career, so I decided to leave earlier,' said the former commando.
Then there are those who feel that leaving the SAF at 50, rather than five years earlier, will spell poorer job prospects.
A former SAF lieutenant-colonel, who retired in February, has not found a job yet: 'It's already so hard for me to find work now in such bad times... Do you think it would be any easier for a 50-year-old?'
Other changes proposed by the SAF aim to give more responsibility to warrant officers, who are often described as the backbone of the military but are not as well paid as the commissioned officers.
Their expanded roles include becoming chief instructors in areas such as weapons handling and soldiering skills - posts currently held by commissioned officers.
A new Third Warrant Officer rank (3WO) will also be introduced to allow top-performing specialists to join the warrant officer corps within six years.
But giving someone a warrant officer rank at a young age may not be a good thing either.
Soldiers pointed out that warrant officers are usually senior people who have had many years of experience.
One serviceman asked: 'How much credibility can a warrant officer in his 20s command?'
A retired second warrant officer described the moves as 'just piecemeal efforts' by the SAF to retain more people within the ranks.
He said the younger warrant officers nowadays are 'impatient, disillusioned and didn't want to wait too long to rise through the ranks'.
It usually takes about 20 years to rise through the current four warrant officer ranks.
The changes to the warrant officer career scheme are the third in recent years. During the last two revamps in 1992 and 2000, they were given higher pay, longer careers and better-defined roles and responsibilities.
All the proposed changes to SAF career schemes will be implemented in the first quarter of next year.
[email protected] [email protected]
SAF'S NEW RETIREMENT AGE, CAREER SCHEME
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Officers fret about lump sum payout
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>They wonder if raised retirement age of 50 would lead to a bigger payout </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jermyn Chow & Yeo Sam Jo
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE Singapore Armed Forces' decision to raise the retirement age of its officers to 50 has left its own officers confused about how this would impact their retirement payout.
Under the Savings and Employee Retirement Plan, or Saver scheme, officers get a lump sum payout when they retire at the age of 42 or 45, depending on their last-held ranks.
But with the change, some are wondering if they will get a bigger payout if they decide to hang up their army boots at 50.
The officers contacted by The Straits Times all had different ideas of what impact this change would have on the Saver scheme. Some said the lump sum payout should grow as they serve the extra five years, while others thought otherwise.
Said a 40-year-old lieutenant-colonel: 'Though we have not yet been briefed on the details of the new scheme, I hope I will be duly compensated for my five extra years in service.'
The Defence Ministry (Mindef) declined to comment when asked about how the Saver scheme payouts would be affected by the raising of the retirement age.
What is clear, though, is that officers can withdraw the lump sum only when they leave the service. Mindef's deputy secretary (administration) Willie Tan said in a media briefing on Thursday that this will not change with the revamped career scheme, even if officers decide to leave at 42 or 45 and not stay till 50.
The Saver scheme, first rolled out in 1998, allows an officer to earn in 25 years close to what he would get if he worked for 40 years in other branches of the public service or in the private sector.
This means an SAF officer who retires with the rank of lieutenant-colonel at the age of 45 will pocket about $700,000 when he leaves.
Some officers are thankful that they can now work for several more years, as it gives them greater job security. A 28-year-old captain said: 'It offers extra job security and we are able to contribute more.'
Mr Lawrence Koh, 33, who left the SAF in 2007 to set up his own venture in adventure sports, said he would not have left so early if the retirement age had been higher back then.
'At that time, I was told that I had to retire at 42, which I thought was too late to start my second career, so I decided to leave earlier,' said the former commando.
Then there are those who feel that leaving the SAF at 50, rather than five years earlier, will spell poorer job prospects.
A former SAF lieutenant-colonel, who retired in February, has not found a job yet: 'It's already so hard for me to find work now in such bad times... Do you think it would be any easier for a 50-year-old?'
Other changes proposed by the SAF aim to give more responsibility to warrant officers, who are often described as the backbone of the military but are not as well paid as the commissioned officers.
Their expanded roles include becoming chief instructors in areas such as weapons handling and soldiering skills - posts currently held by commissioned officers.
A new Third Warrant Officer rank (3WO) will also be introduced to allow top-performing specialists to join the warrant officer corps within six years.
But giving someone a warrant officer rank at a young age may not be a good thing either.
Soldiers pointed out that warrant officers are usually senior people who have had many years of experience.
One serviceman asked: 'How much credibility can a warrant officer in his 20s command?'
A retired second warrant officer described the moves as 'just piecemeal efforts' by the SAF to retain more people within the ranks.
He said the younger warrant officers nowadays are 'impatient, disillusioned and didn't want to wait too long to rise through the ranks'.
It usually takes about 20 years to rise through the current four warrant officer ranks.
The changes to the warrant officer career scheme are the third in recent years. During the last two revamps in 1992 and 2000, they were given higher pay, longer careers and better-defined roles and responsibilities.
All the proposed changes to SAF career schemes will be implemented in the first quarter of next year.
[email protected] [email protected]
not worth saving is it
