3 Things To Know Before You Do CPF Shielding

July 26, 2021

by Chengkok with 6 Comments CPF Accumulation Money Mindset

As the population gets financially educated especially when it comes to the usage of CPF, the idea of CPF-SA shielding is gaining traction. Some says it is a “loophole” and wants this to be closed. Personally, I think it is weird to call it that way. It is like calling investing a loophole because it helps you achieve financial freedom.

If you have read my articles before, you would be aware that context is very important for planning and today’s focus will be the 3 things to know before you do CPF-SA Shielding.

What is CPF SA Shield?

At age of 55, your Retirement Account (RA) will be funded from your Special Account (SA) first and then your Ordinary Account (OA) to make up Full Retirement Sum (FRS).

As SA gives 4% interest as compared to OA 2.5%, there is an interest (pun intended) to keep monies in SA. The idea of CPF-SA shielding is to fund your RA with more of your OA than SA by transferring your SA monies out temporarily.

So what can go wrong?

Context. It is always about context. In my own opinion, not everyone should/can do shielding.

Context #1: Paying For Mortgage Using CPF-OA

Your CPF-OA contribution rate at age 56 is 12%. Using an salary of $6000 (Ordinary Wage Ceiling is $6000 anyway), $720/month goes into your CPF-OA. If your monthly mortgage is > $720/month, you might be using your previous CPF-OA contribution if you don’t want to use cash. (There is a whole literature on why you should use cash but we will leave it for another discussion).

When you do CPF-shielding, your CPF-OA balance drastically reduces and this might mean that you would need to use cash for your mortgage. This might adversely affect your cashflow in future.

Context #2: It Assumes You Know Where to Park your Money Temporary

There are several instruments that you can consider purchasing using your CPF-SA. Different investment carries different risk. It is most important to know your own risk profile or work with someone who can do that for you. Even money market funds carries it’s own unique set of risk. Please take time to understand the benefits and risk of your chosen funds.

To illustrate an example: Mr Suay bought $100,000 worth of Singapore Bond Funds using his CPF-SA to do shielding at the age of 54. Before Mr Suay could sell the Singapore Bond Funds, there was an economic crisis. Typically, volatility of bond funds are not high. However, because of the crisis, Mr Suay may see his Singapore Bond Funds be worth $90,000 now. Mr Suay may experience losses if he wishes to sell it and put it back into his CPF-SA.

And yes, there may be transaction costs involved. Please do the calculations to see if it is worth it.

Sidetrack: It is only when you know what the risk is, then you can learn how to manage those risk. It might be unwise to avoid risk altogether.

Context #3: If you are risk adverse

Every trained financial professional will be able to find out your risk profile by doing a questionnaire. If you happen to be a risk adverse individual, this might not be the best strategy for you.

It is okay to be risk adverse. I think everyone of you will have a different experience with money. There is nothing wrong planning your financial journey as a risk adverse individual. It just means the instruments that you will be using will be different from the rest. There is nothing wrong with that. You are uniquely you.

Final Thoughts

I believe that are merits of doing CPF-SA shielding if done well. The most important consideration is to see if this strategy makes sense to you. The context of the strategy is very important. It may not be applicable to some out there especially if they fall into #1, #2 or #3 as explained above.

If you wish to find out if CPF-SA shield is applicable for you, please do reach out to me.

Till then, take care!

Top 5 CPF Decisions To Be A CPF Millionaire

April 21, 2021

by Chengkok with 2 Comments CPF Accumulation Money Management

Top 5 CPF Decisions To Be A CPF Millionaire

CPF remains one of the main cornerstone of wealth management in Singapore. There are tons of information regarding the CPF on the web and I’m happy to see that CPF is having a purposeful outreach to the retirees and even the younger crowd. I do notice a better acceptance of the CPF during my 9 years in financial services and I do hope this trend continues.

Previously, I have spoken about 5 Things You Need To Know About Your CPF. This stems from 5 mistakes people make using their CPF that I have written in the last year. One of my friend then asked me why not write about the best advice that I will give with regards to CPF.

I have reservations about using the word “advice” because this assumes that I understand the situations, the profile, the life stage and risk tolerance, etc about that individual. Hence, this article is not about best advice but perhaps best decisions you can make if it fits your situation.

If you wish to find out more, I’m organising a CPF webinar on 29th April 2021. Limited seats only. Click here to join us.

#1: Transfer money from OA to SA

This is a pretty easy one. Currently, the floor rate of CPF-OA is 2.5% and the floor rate of CPF-SA is 4%. You would want to put more money into an account with higher interest with all things kept constant.

Top 5 CPF Decisions To Be A CPF Millionaire Compounding Effect

For the same $20,000, you would have $68K in your CPF-OA and $142K in your CPF-SA after 50 years. This is a difference of $73K. However, I do acknowledge that some might need to use the monies in the OA for your housing loan or downpayment. If you do not have “extra” monies in your CPF-OA, you can consider to transfer it to your SA.

Please note that this process is irreversible.

#2: CPF-SA Shielding

At the age of 54, you might want to consider CPF-SA shielding. In a nutshell, it means keeping your monies in your CPF-SA account to get a higher interest. This is because at age of 55, the formation of your RA (retirement account) starts from your CPF-SA and than your CPF-OA.

Top 5 CPF Decisions To Be A CPF Millionaire CPF SA No Shielding

This is an example of no shielding. All your CPF-SA ($150K) will be transferred in the creation of you CPF-RA account leaving $0 in your CPF-SA after age of 55.

Top 5 CPF Decisions To Be A CPF Millionaire CPF SA Shielding

With CPF-SA shielding, you temporarily transfer out you CPF-SA into a “safe” investment. $40,000 is left in the CPF-SA due to the rules of the CPF. At age 55, during the creation of the CPF-RA account, only $40K is transferred from CPF-SA and the rest will be transferred from CPF-OA. You then transfer the monies back to your CPF-SA which is giving 4% interest.

Remember that the crust of this is to keep your monies in the higher interest account.

#3: Upgrade your Medishield Life to an Integrated Shield Plan

I cannot emphasize more on the importance of medical insurance. With the new adoption of the co-payment structure of our medical plan, you can also interpret it as medical costs are getting more and more expensive.

It is important to get a medical plan that suits your needs especially during retirement age where the chances of hospitalisation are a lot higher. Having a strong medical plan is a risk management to help you remain a CPF millionaire.

#4: Choosing The Appropriate CPF-Life Option

Big shoutout to families here. Do you know that you can increase the amount of money you leave behind to your loved ones if you select the appropriate CPF-Life option?

Top 5 CPF Decisions To Be A CPF Millionaire CPF Life Bequest

If you don’t select the CPF-Life option, it will be a standard plan. Let’s look at the difference between the standard plan vs the basic plan.

Difference Between Standard Plan and Basic Plan Monthly: $124 (taking the lower estimate)

Difference Between Standard Plan and Basic Plan from Age 65 to 83: $26,784

The reason I’m using age 83 is because that is the accepted mortality age in Singapore at the moment. This is means that we are expected to live until age 83 (life is short isn’t it). For an extra $124 a month (the cost of one meal a month), your family might lose out potentially $84,368 (because $111,152 – $26,784) worth of bequest. This “extra” bequest may help your loved ones become a CPF Millionaire.

I hope this word gets out to more families out there.

#5: Using cash to pay for your mortgage

CPF was set up years ago as a retirement vehicle. In 1968, the government finally allowed the use of CPF for the downpayment and to service the monthly mortgage loan instalment. This means that less will go into your intended retirement (not taking accrued interest into account).

Using more cash to pay for your mortgage will leave more money that will be compounded for your retirement so that you can become a CPF Millionaire.

Final Thoughts By Wealthdojo

The decisions above serves as a guide and shouldn’t be taken as advice. The main emphasize is to consult an expert to see if any of the decisions above serves you. Most of the decisions circle around keeping the monies in the higher interest account (which is CPF-SA) at the moment to let it compound for the future.

Wishing you all the best to be a CPF Millionaire.

If you would like to benefit from CPF more, I have put together a free webinar to share my knowledge on it. Limited seats only. Join us with the link here.

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

5 Things You Need To Know About Your CPF

April 6, 2021

by Chengkok with 2 Comments CPF Accumulation Money Management Retirement Taxes

Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a compulsory comprehensive savings and pension plan for working Singaporeans and permanent residents primarily to fund their retirement, healthcare, and housing needs in Singapore. It started in 1 July 1955 and just like our Integrated Shield Plans, there have been many changes over the years.

Like with most changes, some will appreciate it, others will not appreciate it as the “rules changed”.

Love it. Hate it. It is an asset class that we will have with us for the rest of our lives.

To help you understand CPF, the opportunities and optimization better, I have put together a free webinar to share my knowledge on it. Limited seats only. Join us with the link here.

Fun Fact #1: You cannot use your CPF to pay for your house in the past

Before 1968, CPF cannot be used to pay for a house. In 1968, the government finally allowed the use of CPF for the downpayment and to service the monthly mortgage loan instalment. Fast forward to 2021, majority of the people around me are using their CPF to pay for their downpayment and their monthly mortgage loan servicing.

This liberation allowed Singapore to have one of the highest house ownership levels in the world. However, as more money is used for housing, the original intend of CPF to help us retire may have taken a back seat. There is also the cause of concern for accrued interest.

Most of you might be servicing your mortgage with your CPF and worry that you do not have enough money in your CPF for retirement. For that purpose, I use a CPF Projection Calculator for my clients. This allow me to accurately measure the amount my clients will have in their CPF at age of 55. So far, they have found this insightful.

5 Things You Need To Know About Your CPF Retirement Age 55

Fun Fact #2: Special Account (SA) was started in 1977

To help you with retirement, the special account was created in 1977. Tons of literature has been written on the special account. Among my favorites are the following. If done correctly, the following opportunities will help you in your retirement.

Transferring Ordinary Account (OA) monies to Special Account (SA) to have a higher interest (up to 5%)
Retirement Sum Top Up Scheme (RSTU): Top up up to $7000 into your CPF for tax deductible benefits.
CPFIA: Using CPF-SA to invest (with limitations)

However, it is worth noting that the higher interest that the SA earns is not guaranteed. The floor rate of 4% has been extended by the government until 31 December 2021. The SA and Medisave (MA) rates are reviewed quarterly. The 1M65 movement takes the assumption of these rates being at 4%.

5 Things You Need To Know About Your CPF Floor Rate

Fun Fact #3: Medisave was started in 1984

Medical inflation isn’t new. Medisave was created to help you to pay for our healthcare cost. It is not hard to understand that one of the The Hidden Cost Of Retirement is Healthcare. With healthcare cost escalating at more than 10% per year, tons of measures have been implemented to help you pay for our healthcare cost.

Among which, you can use your medisave to pay for (part of) our integrated shield plans. There are some outpatient treatments that can be paid using medisave. You also have to set aside a Basic Healthcare Sum (BHS) in your CPF. The BHS is adjust annually to keep up with inflation. This is one initiative to help with medical cost.

With the new co-payment medical plans now, you will have to plan for your retirement a little differently.

Fun Fact #4: Minimum Sum Scheme Was The First Version of CPF-Life

CPF is still about retirement. Before CPF-Life, there was the minimum sum scheme (MSS). However, as your life expectancy increase, you run a risk of outliving your MSS. Hence, the retirement scheme was updated/upgraded to become the CPF-Life. The retirement account (RA) is created at age 55. Your OA and SA monies will be transferred into the RA during then.

Assuming that you have $181,000 (FRS) in your Retirement Account (RA), you will get between $1390 to $1490 per month for the rest of your life starting from age 65. This will form part of your retirement cashflow. There are 9 options for you to choose from at age 55.

Fun Fact #5: There is a maximum amount of money you can put into CPF a year

You can’t just simply top up everything into your CPF. There is a maximum of $37,740 of mandatory and voluntary contributions that a person (employee or self-employed person) can make in a calendar year is subject to the CPF Annual Limit.

Final Thoughts By Wealthdojo

I personally like the CPF scheme because it really helps a lot of people including myself plan for our retirement seriously. I contribute to my SA every single year so that I can make use of the tax incentive and also hit my FRS in the years to come. Having enough in my medisave gives me the confidence to pay my integrated shield plans yearly and usually the interest on my medisave pays for my shield plan.

To each his own. Love it. Hate it. It is an asset class that we will have with us for the rest of our lives.

If you would like to benefit from CPF more, I have put together a free webinar to share my knowledge on it. Limited seats only. Join us with the link here.

Join my Telegram Channel for a tip a day! In Wealthdojo, we dedicate a small amount of time daily for learning new things. Continuous learning is one of the greatest secrets of success.

For those of you who want to turbocharge your journey, contact me at chengkokoh@gmail.com. I would like to hear from you what your experiences are currently and from there, we develop a plan specially catered just for your journey.

We wish you all the best! Stay Safe and Take Care!

Chengkok, Sensei of Wealthdojo.

How Much Is My Income Taxes [2021 Edition]

March 4, 2021

by Chengkok with 2 Comments CPF Accumulation Insurance Money Management Money Mindset SRS Taxes

It is the tax season for 2021. If you had an income in 2020, filing of your income tax starts 1st March 2021. You will NEED to file it by 18 April 2021 (e-filing) or 15 April 2021 (paper filing). If you don’t, it could lead to a fine or even a court summon. Don’t say you have not been warned.

We don’t really talk about taxes in 6 Levels Wealth Karate Methodology. In a simple gist, taxes are bittersweet to me. On one hand, I don’t like to pay taxes as it is an expenses to me. On the other hand, if I pay higher taxes, it would mean that my income is higher! I’m just glad that in Singapore, we have a really attractive tax program and we pay significantly lesser taxes as compared to people in other countries. Without going too deep into that, here’s how how much to pay for your income taxes in 2021.

Do you need to pay taxes or not?

Yes. You only pay income taxes if your chargeable income is greater than $20,000. Some income are chargeable and some are not. Fun fact: your winning from your TOTO/4D is not a chargeable income. Check out the full list here.

If your chargeable income in 2020 is above $20,000, you will be taxed with the progressive income tax system. Singapore follows a progressive income tax system. This means that the higher your income, the more you pay in taxes. The resident tax rates are as follows.

How To Reduce My Income Taxes Resident Tax Rates

However, this does not show the effective income taxes for your income. When I first saw this table, I thought that if I earn $80,000, my tax bracket would be 7% or $5,600. This is untrue.

How To Reduce My Income Taxes Effective Income Tax Rates

If you are earning $80,000, you will be paying $3,350 in taxes which means my effective income tax rates are 4.19%. Personally, I think it is quite fair. With the same $80,000, you would be paying $23,571 or 29.46% effective income taxes in USA.

Is it automatic?

If you received a letter/SMS/form that tells you to file your income tax, you will have to log in and file it yourself. This sms below is one that I received from IRAS. Typically, most of my income have already be pre-filed as I’m a self-employed working with AIA.

If you received a letter/SMS/form that tells you NOT to file your income tax, you don’t have to do it. But please verify if your information is correct and accurate.

If you didn’t receive anything from IRAS, you will still need to file a tax return if your:

annual net business income exceeded $6,000, OR
annual income (inclusive of rental income) was more than $22,000 last year

Tax Deductibles

Since 2020 is over, you can’t really do much changes into your deductibles. You can start planning for 2021 instead. In Singapore, we have a list of deductibles given to encourage social and economic objectives such as filial piety, family formation and the advancement of skills.

Income – Deductibles = Chargeable Income

As mentioned above, you will pay taxes on your chargeable income. This means that deductibles will play a big role in the taxes you are paying.

IRAS has created a personal income relief checker to see how much deductible you are allowed. These deductible includes SRS Top Ups, CPF cash Top Ups, just to mention a few. There is a maximum of $80,000 tax reliefs.

Final thoughts by Wealthdojo

Co-incidentally, these two can be well managed by proper financial planning or using insurance tools to achieve your financial goals. This article is meant to be a general article on how to pay taxes in Singapore. If you would like to know more, just comment on this post or contact me and I would love to have a conversation with you on the above.

Stay healthy. Stay Safe and pay your taxes.

Thank you for your contribution to nation building.

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

The $1 SRS Strategy

November 16, 2020

by Chengkok with 18 Comments Investment Accumulation Money Management Retirement SRS

It is 45 days before the end of the year. Have you accomplished your 2020 goals? Whether it is a financial goal or a fitness goal, the good news is that we have another 52 days left.

In the 6 Levels Wealth Karate, we talked about many strategies while you embark on your wealth management journey. Today, I want to congratulate each and every one of you for being invested in your financial journey. If my blog has helped you, I would appreciate if you could comment how you have benefited in the comments below.

If you have not started, it’s okay. This article will be the easiest way to start to start.

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS)

Previously, I have already talked about SRS. In this semi viral article, I described the 5 things you need to know about SRS when you are 40 and older. Personally, I believe that SRS may be suitable for someone who is 40 years old and above.

This is because it is likely that your income is more than $80,000. There will be great substantial tax savings. Plus, we might need liquidity for housing/renovation/marriage/children purposes before that. This will post an liquidity issue. Someone 40 and above might fit into such a category.

In the “best case scenario”, you will be withdrawing $40,000 per year and that income will be tax-free (assuming you are not working).

Please read the above post to learn more about the details.

The $1 SRS Strategy

This strategy is the most important strategy of all. This is because we need to first start!

Yes. Most goals failed because they have not even started. Think about it, did you “renew” your 2019 new year’s resolution in 2020 because you didn’t accomplished it in 2019? It need not be a financial goal. What about your fitness goal? What about your learning goal? If this seems like the case, you have the opportunity to change now. By doing so today, you will shave off up to 3 years of your retirement age. If that is not enough, all it takes is $1.

How is that possible? Let’s gather a few facts.

You can make penalty free withdrawals from your SRS on or after the statutory retirement age (currently at 62) that was prevailing at the time of your first SRS contribution. In 2019 National Rally Speech, PM had announced the retirement age to be raised to 63 in 2022 and 65 in 2030.

This will mean that if you still refuse to open your SRS account by 2022, your penalty free withdrawal will increase by 1 year. If you still refuse to open your SRS account by 2030, your penalty free withdrawal increase by 3 years.

The minimum that you can contribute is a grand total of $1. If you are above 18, all you need is to contribute $1 to “lock in” your retirement age to be 62.

Your 1 Minute Opening Guide

You no longer need to go to the physical bank branch to open up your SRS account anymore. All it takes is 1 minute.

This is the way I do it. My personal SRS account is with DBS (for convenience sake). You can also open your SRS account with OCBC or UOB. It is only 2 steps, click click and you will have an SRS account. If you are unsure how much to contribute, you can always contribute $1 to your SRS account first to “lock in” your retirement age.

This guide serves to let you under how $1 can lock in your statutory retirement age. In fact, do it now! Log into your DBS/OCBC/UOB internet account and do it now!

What can you do with your SRS account?

By popular demand on my Telegram group, I’m currently writing on how to invest using your SRS account now. If you have any questions that you want to be addressed in that article, do drop me a comment and I will include that in the article.

Otherwise, this is one question that is commonly asked: 3 things you need to know about SRS if you plan to leave Singapore. This is for people who wants to live in another country during retirement.

Final thoughts by Wealthdojo

We wish you the very best in your 2020 goals. Otherwise, we hope that this will be your first financial milestone.

Feel Free To Reach Out To Share Your Thoughts.

Contact: 94316449 (Whatsapp) chengkokoh@gmail.com (Email)
Telegram: Wealthdojo [Continuous Learning Channel]
Reviews: About Me

Wealthdojo

What is CPF SA Shield?

Context #1: Paying For Mortgage Using CPF-OA

Context #2: It Assumes You Know Where to Park your Money Temporary

Context #3: If you are risk adverse

Final Thoughts

#1: Transfer money from OA to SA

#2: CPF-SA Shielding

#3: Upgrade your Medishield Life to an Integrated Shield Plan

#4: Choosing The Appropriate CPF-Life Option

#5: Using cash to pay for your mortgage

Final Thoughts By Wealthdojo

Fun Fact #1: You cannot use your CPF to pay for your house in the past

Fun Fact #2: Special Account (SA) was started in 1977

Fun Fact #3: Medisave was started in 1984

Fun Fact #4: Minimum Sum Scheme Was The First Version of CPF-Life

Fun Fact #5: There is a maximum amount of money you can put into CPF a year

Final Thoughts By Wealthdojo

Do you need to pay taxes or not?

Is it automatic?

Tax Deductibles

Final thoughts by Wealthdojo

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS)

The $1 SRS Strategy

Your 1 Minute Opening Guide

What can you do with your SRS account?

Final thoughts by Wealthdojo

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