the logic of CPF is exactly like this joke - must read.

[xingguy]

The whole issue lies with the word TRUST, the older generation that were before me, TRUSTED the PAP with everything, even the air they breathe & the water they drink. Frugal??, most of us, are, for we are of that kind of people who inherited this trait, but we can not trust , "man of the cloth' or even people in charge of charities, these days with large sum of money, can we trust those politicians with our hard earn money?? They keep changing the withdrawal limit & make changes to CPF , as if the belongs to them, & them to keep & use, as they wish.

In this fast eroding world, devoid of moral values...who knows, by the time, I can take SOME of my money....I am told to extend that till I am 90?? who knows..can we TRUST those holding my money..not to make changes, changes & changes??

I want my CPF at 55 years of age..Period!.

Way back in 1984, the problems were foresaw by Dr. Toh and because it was not nip in the bud CPF and Medisave essentially now have morphed into a ponzi and sub prime combine scheme.

Dr. Toh Chin Chye's 1984 parliamentary debate on deferring of CPF withdrawal age.

Unfortunately, the Report of this Committee on the Problems of the Aged has tried to solve this complex problem by touching on the Central Provident Fund as if that were the only solution, very much the way that the Minister for Health went about trying to solve the problems of the sick by using Medisave and taking off 6% from the CPF to collect monies which is spent by patients in the hospitals.

The reason for all this uneasiness on the problems of the aged is related to the CPF. The problems of the aged have been forgotten because you are touching people’s savings. I related in the debate on Medisave how the Government could cover the cost of the entire operations of the Ministry of Health from revenue earned by the Ministry of Health plus the 2% payroll tax, without touching on savings.
You have created a precedent. You have touched savings for Medisave.
I abstained from the vote. Others have agreed.

So the Minister for Health says, “Well, I have got one nut. Now I can get two nuts.
How do I solve the problems of the aged? There was no great opposition to touching the CPF.
Now I shall solve the problems of the aged by dipping into the CPF.

There are many countries that are facing this problem. It is not unique in Singapore. No political problem is new for Singapore. And this is a problem that has been encountered by bigger societies and bigger economies than ours. They have employed devious ways of how to allow those who are aging to retire gracefully and in security without becoming a pauper. Why, in America, there is even a scheme in the private sector which permits a retiree to donate his entire savings to a company and he is posted to a village where he can retire until he dies. That is a very expensive village. It is not meant for those with small CPF savings.

So the problem we should ask ourselves is this. As the deposit in the CPF grows and grows, our balances in the CPF will grow, and when we withdraw that sum of money, will we suddenly have overnight millionaires as retirees? How many of them are there? Will it generate inflation? I do not think it will be, because if two-thirds of the balance are withdrawn for purchasing houses and only one-third for retirement, therefore it is less of a concern that raising the age to 60 or 65 will mean that we will be controlling consumption by the private sector. What is irksome is this: that the Government is using people’s savings and telling them how to spend their savings. That is the nub of the problem.

Mr Speaker, I think fundamental principles are being breached. The fundamental principle is this. The CPF is really a fixed deposit or a loan to Government, which can be redeemed at a fixed date when the contributor is 55 years old.
If I were to put this sum of money in a commercial bank and, on the due date I go to the bank to withdraw the money, the manager says, “I am sorry, Dr Toh, you will have to come next year”, there will be a run on the bank!
It is as simple as this, that the CPF has lost its credibility, the management of it. This is fundamental. You were taken by surprise by Medisave. Then they say, “6% of your Special Account will be kept for Medisave and you cannot withdraw that, even if you were to die.”

I am not against the Minister for Health spelling out future problems, but I would like to ask him, “Is it true, really, looking at these statistics, the dependency ratio is so many percent?” Does that mean that the Government is really supporting all these aged? On the one hand you say, “No, no, it is the family members who are supporting the aged parents.” So where does the CPF come into play? This is why this document – it should be a green paper, not a blue paper – would have been better if minds had been applied to the whole problem, so that we are set at ease about your thinking. Or are you trying another fast one?

Mr Speaker, as a senior citizen, I am beyond the decision of the Committee whether my withdrawal age should be 60 or 65.

Mr Howe Yoon Chong (Minister for Health): You have already withdrawn yours?

Dr Toh Chin Chye: I have withdrawn mine. But in fairness to my constituents and to others who have not yet reached this age, I ask “Do you wish me to speak, or do you wish me to be dumb?” They say, they are against this. So I have to explain to them the problems that they will be facing and, most importantly, some of them tell me this. They are not going to squander their money on world-wide trips to see Mickey Mouse in Disneyland. Some married late. By the time they retire at 55, their children are due to go to junior college or the university. Many of them are banking on this sum of money to cover the cost of their children’s higher education.

 

[halsey02]

What is worrying on everyone mind is, that, one day, in the future or maybe tomorrow, we wake up to find out that, the $200,000 in our CPF plus our Medisave of $38,000 is just good on paper...can we trust them, that much??

Khong Fatt Choy & the SUN..can do a song & dance over the money they have been entrusted & they are supposedly in the past, we call them "man of the cloth"...can you shudder each day, that you have enTRUSTed your daily hard earn money to....!!

 

[leetahbar]

as long as they are keeping my cpf like it's their money, how can i trust them? i only want to THRUST them!!