11 May 2026

SOURCE: CPF Board

Meeting Lisa Eu, age 47, you would find that her positive energy shines. Despite juggling life as a dedicated CPF volunteer, a full-time financial consultant, mother to two teenagers, she radiates the kind of enthusiasm that makes you wonder where she finds the time, let alone the stamina.

Her secret, Lisa explains, lies in her mindset. For her, being active and helping others is what fuels her every day. And that starts with being a CPF volunteer.

While living abroad for 8 years, mostly as a stay-at-home mum with the occasional job that did not fetch significant income, the thought of whether she would have enough for her own retirement constantly weighed on her mind.

She found reassurance in her CPF savings, her own safety net that guaranteed she had something for meeting her needs in retirement.

However, not everyone in her family shares the same view.

Growing up, she heard her now 76-year-old father expressing his reluctance towards contributing to his CPF accounts, as it was “locking up his money”.

Her mother felt differently. When she heard about the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme from her friends, she was happy to find out that she was eligible. Making a top-up means ‘double the money’ — great!

Lisa also gets questions from her family and friends, including those who are Singaporean Permanent Residents (SPRs). Many had no idea if they had CPF savings and what the contribution rates were. As Lisa explained the basics of CPF, such as what the Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA), and MediSave Account (MA) are for and how much goes where, she saw their appreciation for CPF grow, much like her own had years earlier.

While Lisa acknowledges that there will be different views towards CPF, what matters is staying open and ensuring you have the correct information to make informed decisions.

^{From left to right: Lisa’s daughter Alessia, mum (Mdm Tan), son Livio, and Lisa}

Why worry when my parents will take care of me?

While speaking to younger Singaporeans, Lisa has also noticed a common theme: financial planning simply isn't a priority. Unlike previous generations who often took on part-time work out of necessity, many of them today have a greater safety net. However, this might also mean that financial planning feels less urgent.

Even at home, Lisa sees the same dynamic play out with her own teenage children, Livio, aged 20 and Alessia, aged 18. They have shown little interest in managing their money just yet, therefore Lisa has taken on the role of saving their angbao money, and making little investments on their behalf.

She often wonders if this is an Asian parent thing —  to take care of their children in every possible way, including financially until they fly the nest. But she also is conscious that this could make them less able to make big decisions on their own in the future.

That’s why Lisa thinks having money conversations with young people are important. Today’s generation have more options — stocks, cryptocurrency and so much more — all easily accessible through their digital devices. Without a foundation in financial literacy though, they risk being swept up by trends rather than building genuine financial security.

Planning for yourself is important in Singapore

Lisa emphasises that everyone must plan for yourself. "Money has legs," Lisa often reminds her clients. A vivid way of explaining how quickly finances can disappear without proper planning, but how much they can grow when you put in the effort.

There’s no lack of financial tools available today, but Lisa has noticed that the younger generation tend to embrace the "don't tell me what to do" mentality, preferring to explore and plan on their own terms. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, what matters is that they start.

To take the first step, she recommends PLAN with CPF, a personalised financial guidance platform. She appreciates that it has individual planners covering the key pillars of financial planning: retirement, housing and healthcare, which one can customise at their own time, with different inputs to play around different scenarios. The best part is that it is grounded in facts; results are tailored to each members’ input and current financial situation, taking the guesswork out of planning entirely.

Knowledge is peace of mind

Lisa has noticed that while the Government has several schemes and support measures that benefits Singaporeans, the people who might need them most, such as seniors living alone, often don’t know about them.

^{Lisa at a recent CPF Healthcare Talk}

Lisa regularly takes part in CPF outreach events along with CPF officers, bringing her experience and guidance directly to CPF members.

During a recent healthcare talk, Lisa remembered that some attendees were shocked to discover that they were still paying insurance premiums for their adult children. She and CPF staff then ran a hands-on demonstration of the Health Insurance Planner, which helped them to better understand how to better optimise their health insurance coverage.

Lisa is an advocate for how thoughtfully it’s been designed: it clearly shows which dependants are covered under each plan, maps out the impact of any potential changes to their coverage, with the bonus of insurance premium inflation built in.  For many attendees, seeing their projected premiums in black and white, particularly those on private hospital plans, was a reminder for them to take immediate action. 

These moments are what makes it all worthwhile. Lisa’s commitment to serving the community is, guided by a simple belief: "If you give, you get more."

Like Lisa, you might find that helping others understand CPF schemes gives back far more than it takes. Becoming a CPF volunteer is easy, just download the CPFV mobile app available on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store and sign up today.

Information in this article is accurate as at the date of publication.