“It’s common sense, automatic payout should start at 65” says Calvin Cheng on CPF

Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng is known for his pithy no-nonsense remarks on social media.

The comments he made on the withdrawal of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) following the announcement of the Budget 2019 were no different, and hard-hitting.

Cheng wrote, “It should be the other way round. Automatic payout at 65 and people can request to start only from 70.”

During a discussion on CPF payouts in Parliament yesterday, Lim Biow Chuan, Member of Parliament for Mountbatten said that the number of members who did not activate their payouts by age 70 was not small, and he asked if the payouts could start automatically at 65.

According to Manpower Minister Josephine Teo however, she said that she had given serious thought to it but said, among other things, that the CPF Board cannot do this and deprive members of the benefits of keeping their money in the CPF.

She also added that there would be no change in the policy: CPF members can continue to choose to start monthly payouts at 65, or defer them to any time between 65 and 70.

Calvin Cheng however, weighed in differently on the issue. He said, “This is because those that choose to start from 70 are probably those who don’t actually need their CPF – they have other savings or assets. As such, they would rather make another 5 years of the good interest that CPF pays”.

“This should be common sense”, he concluded.