You will be able to explain how SA and OA savings move into the Retirement Account at 55.
Linda turns 55 in three years. Her older cousin turned 55 a decade ago and still tells everyone that at 55 "CPF gives you your money back." Linda's colleague, who turned 55 last year, says almost nothing came out and her Special Account disappeared. Both are describing real events. They turned 55 under different rules.
This lesson explains what happens to your accounts on your 55th birthday under the current rules, so you can work out what will happen to yours.
When you turn 55, the CPF Board creates a Retirement Account, or RA, for you. It is the account that will later fund your monthly payouts through CPF LIFE, from your payout eligibility age.
On your birthday, savings move into the RA automatically, up to a target amount called your retirement sum. By default that target is the Full Retirement Sum that applies to your cohort, the group of members turning 55 in the same year. Lesson 6.2 explains the three retirement sums and how owning a property can let you set aside less.
The money moves in a fixed order. Your SA savings go in first. If they aren't enough to reach your retirement sum, your OA savings make up the difference. MediSave is left alone: it stays as its own account, with its own cap and uses.
Since 2025, the Special Account closes when you turn 55. Whatever is in your SA is used first to form your RA, as above. If your SA holds more than your retirement sum, the part above it moves to your OA. After that, you have three accounts: the OA, the RA and MediSave.
This is the change Linda's colleague noticed. Under older rules, people over 55 could keep an SA, earning the higher rate, with savings they could withdraw on request. Now, money that isn't needed for the RA ends up in the OA, which earns the lower OA rate. The CPF Board's explanation of the change, and what it means for different members, is on cpf.gov.sg. If you are planning around 55, read the current version rather than relying on a relative's experience.
Here is Linda at 55, with made-up figures. Suppose her SA holds S$150,000 and her OA holds S$110,000 on her birthday, and her cohort's Full Retirement Sum turns out to be S$240,000, an example figure only.
Her SA goes in first. All S$150,000 moves to the RA, and her SA closes. The RA is still S$90,000 short of S$240,000, so S$90,000 moves from her OA. Her OA is left with S$20,000. Her MediSave stays where it is.
If her SA had held more than the retirement sum, say S$260,000, then S$240,000 would have gone to the RA and the remaining S$20,000 would have moved to her OA. Her OA wouldn't have been touched to form the RA at all.
If her SA and OA together had held less than the retirement sum, everything in both would have gone to the RA, and the RA would simply be smaller. Lesson 6.4, Map your accounts at 55 under three scenarios, shows what that means for different plans.
If you keep working after 55, you and your employer keep contributing, but at the rates set for older workers. Those rates step down at older ages and have been raised in recent years, so check the current table on cpf.gov.sg. The money is allocated across your OA, RA and MediSave, using the allocation rates for your age.
Contributions into the RA continue to build your retirement savings until your payout age, and money in the RA earns the higher interest rate that the SA used to earn. If your housing loan is still running, your OA keeps receiving contributions that can pay it. For Linda, who still has a few years left on her HDB loan, that matters. The S$20,000 left in her OA, plus new contributions, will carry her instalments after 55.
The cohort figures for the retirement sums are announced ahead of time, and the CPF Board publishes them, along with the rules for members turning 55 in each year. If you are within ten years of 55, look up the sums for your own cohort, or the latest announced figures if yours aren't out yet.
Find your current SA and OA balances and estimate what each will hold when you turn 55, using your worksheet from lesson 1.4 as a starting point. Then work out how much of each would move into your Retirement Account under the current rules.
Write your expected SA and OA balances at 55 and how much would move to the Retirement Account under current rules.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).