23 September 2019

How are the excess CPF funds withdrawn after meeting the Full Retirement Sum?

Presuming that at age 55, you have the necessary CPF Retirement Account (RA) funded, what happens to the rest of the 'excess' money in the Ordinary Account (OA) and Special Account (SA)?  Can we withdraw freely, and how in what order will it be withdrawn from the respective accounts?

Here goes the responses from CPF Board ...

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Question: If there is still balance in my SA after deducting the sum for RA, will it remain in the SA, or will the balance be transferred to OA?
It will remain in the SA.

Question: And thereafter, is it correct that any time after age 55, I can withdraw any balance left in both OA and SA?
Yes, your understanding is correct.

Question: Which gets deducted first if I choose to withdraw? Must it be from SA first, before OA? Or do I have a choice?
The Board processes your withdrawal in the following deduction sequence:



Question: Is it true that I can then withdraw as often as I want after age 55? For instance, can I withdraw a monthly sum of my choosing till the balance in OA and SA are depleted?
Yes, you can withdraw all the savings in your SA and OA at any time from age 55 (i.e. multiple times in a year), provided you have set aside the FRS in your RA.
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Related:
What happens to my CPF savings when I turn 55?
How much CPF savings can I withdraw from age 55?
How much CPF LIFE monthly payouts will I receive?

19 comments:

sgdividends said...

great series of CPF post.

For the flow chart, is there a difference from simply SA first then OA, instead of separating interest, refunds as first 2 boxes?

Cheng KW said...

I am 56, & topped up my RA to $264k (ERS). To further withdraw cash for investment (retirement policy), it will first draw from SA but have to keep a balance of $40k in SA. Am I correct?

Scorpio said...

I am 47 now, SA already reached FRS of $176,000, not allow me to top up anymore, how to cash top up to achieve ERS limit of $256,000?

Scorpio said...

I am 47 now, FRS already reached limit of $176k, cannot top up cash anymore, how to achieve ERS limit of $256k?

louis said...

@scorpio. U can top up cash to ERS limit when they create your RA at 55. Now u cant

Anonymous said...

why no reply from the blogger?

Anonymous said...

I asked CPF this question about 4 yes ago. I got a different response. Yes, u may withdraw the excess amount. However, if you are currently employed, thus actively contributing to CPF, u are only allowed 1 withdrawal in a year. If you are not working though, u are allowed 1 withdrawal per month.

Lizardo said...

sgdividends,

I was as surprised to learn about this sequence of withdrawal. That was the exact reply from CPF Board. In all three cases, it is always from SA first, then OA.

Lizardo said...

ChengKW,

With your ERS fully topped up, any withdrawal will start from SA first, then OA, according to the sequence shown in the figure.

But if you are talking about CPFIS, then either CPF-SA or CPF-OA should still be possible, subject to the same restrictions on the instruments that each allows.

Don't think there is a requirement to keep $40k in SA. But perhaps a sensible thing to do to maximise the additional interest earned for the first $40k in SA. It is a choice to make.

Good to check back with CPF Board to be sure. They are quite helpful and respond to online queries via CPF website (or login to you CPF account to enquire).

Lizardo said...

Scorpio,

Louis has correctly highlighted you can continue to top-up to your CPF-RA after you pass 55. After age 55, you could also transfer CPF-OA if you have to CPF-RA to top-up to ERS.

Meanwhile, your CPF-SA will still be earning compound interest each year, as would any compulsory CPF contributions going into CPF-SA if you are still working.

Lizardo said...

Anonymous,

About being constrained to how often you can withdraw a year, go ask CPF Board again. Were you talking to an official CPF Board staff previously?

Lizardo said...

Anonymous,

On "why no reply ..." ... erm, because:

I have not FIREd and am busy working?
I have a life, blogging is not a paid job?
I can choose not to?

Haha.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lizardo,

I thought it would be a fitting complement to your post on "How are the excess fund withdrawn after meeting the FRS?" with this one "What are the ways one can take to put money into their CPF accounts!"

There are a few ways one can put money into their CPF accounts besides the automatic monthly deductions from your salary and the employers' contribution.

But before I go into the above topic, I would like to highlight again this tip on the best time to make withdrawal from your CPF OA & SA IF you wish to only withdraw the interests earned for the year and at the same time keep the principal amounts intact to earn further interest in the next year. This step is important especially if you have substantial money in your SA that you want to "preserve" to earn the yearly 4% interest. The best time to withdraw the interests is in Dec,and you can only withdraw 11 months worth of interests! That is, 11 months of interest from your SA (for Jan to Nov), and likewise, 11 months of interests from your OA.

Here are the steps one can take to grow your CPF

1. Monthly deductions from your salary. The amount deducted from your salary will depend on your salary capped at $6,000 a month and a further cap of $102,000 per year. What this means is that if you earn $7,000 a month, the CPF deduction (contribution) is based on $6,000. Say, you have 5 months bonus, then the deductions from your full year salary and the 5 months will be capped at $102,000 giving you the maximum contribution of $37,740 for the year.

2. Have more than 1 job. If you work two different jobs with two different employers, both employers are obliged to contribute your CPF via the employers' contribution. Through this way, you can exceed the limit of $37,740 per year contribution to your CPF.

3. Make Voluntary contribution to your CPF. Say you earn less than $6,000 a month and together with your bonus, your annual salary is less than $102,000. You can make voluntary contributions to your CPF any time to hit the yearly limit of $37,740. For my case, after I turned 55 yo, my CPF contribution was cut to 26% instead of 37% of my salary. So I have been doing voluntary contributions to my CPF to hit the $37,740 limit eah year.

4. Return money that was withdrawn for property purchase. If you have extra money, you can return the money into your CPF to redeem the amount that was withdrawn to purchase property including the accrued interests. My wife and I have returned the full amount we withdrew from our CPF OA including accrued interests, that we had used to purchase our properties.

5. Top up your RA. This one is only applicable to those 55 yo and above. I have topped my RA to the ERS. And continue to top up each year to meet the new RA ERS.

6. Invest through CPFIS. This one is a little controversial in that you could lose money through bad investment rather than build your CPF. There are investors who have successfully enlarged their CPF OA and SA through astute investment through CPFIS.

7. Inheritance. You can only receive inheritance into your MA, SA and RA up to the prevalent limit. The rest of the inheritance money will be paid to you in cash. Put another way, you cannot bequeath your CPF money into your beneficiaries' OA, but only to their SA, MA or RA and only up to the limit prevailing.

"Adam"

MoneyBuysFreedom said...

That is different from my understanding. All excess monies after setting aside for property and FRS will be returned as 1 lump sum. What multiple withdrawals?

Unknown said...

After setting aside basic retirement fund can e excess be withdrawn

Lizardo said...

Unknown,

Yes, all the excess can be withdrawn. But you can choose not to. And if so, you can continue to withdraw anytime, any number of times.

Lizardo said...

"Adam",

That's an extensive list. I will repost it in the near future.

LEE said...

OA & SA LOW AMOUNT
AMOUNT AGE 55ABOVE BELOW 65
MA MET REQUORED AMOUNT
RA MET FRS
CAN RA INTEREST BE WITHDRAW ?
AT AGE 65 ABOVE CAN DRAW 20% FROM RA YET RECEIVE CPF LIFE PAYOUT?
20% LESS 5K
THE 5K IS INCLUDED IN THE OA N SA WHEN WITHDRAW IN FULL AT AGE 55 A LUMP SUM ?

Lizardo said...

Can't decipher what you are saying. You will need to be clearer.