What are the CPF LIFE plans available and which is the right plan for me?
There are three CPF LIFE plans available – Escalating Plan, Standard Plan and Basic Plan.
It is important to plan for your retirement with inflation in mind. Assuming you receive $1,000 of monthly payouts today, in 20 years’ time, you may need about $1,500 to buy the same items today. Which plan you choose depends on how willing you are to adjust your retirement lifestyle, as things become more expensive.
If you are worried about things being more expensive as the years pass, then you need a retirement income that increases every year. With monthly payouts that increase by 2% every year for life, the Escalating Plan protects you against rising prices so that you can generally keep your lifestyle in your retirement years. Read more about how the CPF LIFE Escalating Plan works.
If you are willing to cope with rising prices over the years by buying less and living a more modest lifestyle, the Standard Plan provides level payouts. Payouts start higher than the Escalating Plan if you join with the same CPF LIFE premium, but will remain the same for the rest of your life and will eventually be lower than the Escalating Plan payouts. Read more about how the CPF LIFE Standard Plan works.
If you don’t mind starting with lower monthly payouts which will be progressively lower later on, then the Basic Plan is good enough. The Basic Plan is a legacy plan carried over from the time CPF LIFE was first introduced in 2009. Compared to the Standard Plan which gives higher and level monthly payouts, Basic Plan payouts are lower and will get progressively lower when your combined CPF balances eventually fall below $60,000. Read more about how the CPF LIFE Basic Plan works.
In all three plans, you will enjoy payouts no matter how long you live, your premiums will enjoy risk-free CPF interest rates of up to 6% per annum, and any remaining CPF LIFE premium balance will be given to your beneficiaries, together with your remaining CPF savings when you pass on. In other words, you and your loved ones will always get back the premium that you have put into CPF LIFE.
