14 Jan 2020

SOURCE: CPF Board

After closing the chapter on your schooling adventures, you are ready to embark on the next phase of life — adulting! With your first pay cheque in hand, you might have noticed that a portion of your total monthly wages is contributed to your CPF accounts.

#DidYouKnow that your employer contributes 17% of your total monthly wages to your CPF accounts? As a working adult aged 35 years and below, you will also contribute 20% of your total monthly wages to make up a total of 37%¹. This money will be distributed into your three CPF accounts — Ordinary Account (OA), MediSave Account (MA), and Special Account (SA).

Here’s a CPF guide to show how your monthly contributions prepare you for every stage of adulthood!

Ordinary Account

A total of 23% of your monthly wages is allocated to your OA. The name aside, what’s not-so-ordinary about the OA is that it garners an interest rate of up to 3.5% p.a.²​!

When committing to your first house, you can use your OA savings to defray most of your housing costs. Instead of using all of it for your house’s downpayment, you can choose to set aside $20,000 in your OA. This money can continue to grow with interest, and you can use it as an emergency fund to cover your monthly mortgage in the event that you are strapped for cash.

From the downpayment to your monthly home loan repayments, your OA has your back.

MediSave Account

Out of your total monthly wages, 8% is allocated to your MA. This account enjoys an interest rate of up to 5% p.a.²​ and serves to lighten the costs of your healthcare needs, especially in old age.

You can tap on your MA to foot applicable medical care and hospitalisation expenses, up to the respective MediSave Withdrawal Limits. Not only that, you can also pay the premiums for MediShield Life using your MA savings.

Curious as to what else you can do with your MediSave Account? Check out the 9 uses of MediSave!

Special Account

Lastly, 6% of your total monthly wages is distributed to your SA. With an attractive interest rate of up to 5% p.a.²​, the long-term growth of your SA will contribute significantly to your retirement savings.

Want to give your retirement savings a boost? Try making small and regular cash top-ups to your SA via the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme (RSTU) to tap on attractive interest rates and the power of compound interest to grow your savings.

¹These CPF contribution and allocation​​ rates apply to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents in their 3rd year onwards, who are private sector employees or public sector non-pensionable employees, earning a total monthly wage of $750 or more.

²Includes extra interest, which is paid by the Government, on the first $60,000 of a member’s combined balances. Read more about CPF interest rates.

The information is updated on 10/9/2020.