Explain how your SA and OA savings move into the Retirement Account at 55.
On your 55th birthday, the CPF Board opens a Retirement Account (RA) for you and moves savings into it automatically, up to a target amount. Your Special Account (SA) is used first, your Ordinary Account (OA) makes up any shortfall, the SA then closes, and your MediSave is not touched.
Linda turns 55 in three years and has heard two different stories. Her older cousin, who turned 55 a decade ago, tells everyone that at 55 "CPF gives you your money back." Her colleague, who turned 55 last year, says almost nothing came out and her Special Account disappeared. Both are describing what really happened to them. Her cousin turned 55 under older rules, and her colleague turned 55 under the current ones. Two people's experiences of 55 can differ for this reason, so plan from the current rules and set aside what happened to a relative.
The RA later funds your monthly payouts through CPF LIFE, starting from the payout eligibility age. The target amount moved into it at 55 is called the retirement sum. By default, your target is the Full Retirement Sum for your cohort, which is the group of members turning 55 in the same year. Owning a property can let you set aside less than the default. Lesson 6.2 explains the three retirement sums and how owning a property affects them.
Under older rules, people over 55 could keep an SA earning the higher interest rate, and could withdraw those savings on request. Since 2025, the SA closes when you turn 55. Money that isn't needed for the RA now ends up in the OA, which earns the lower OA rate. The RA itself earns the higher rate the SA used to earn. The CPF Board explains the SA closure, and what it means for different members, on cpf.gov.sg.
On your birthday, the steps happen in a fixed order:
The CPF Board opens your RA. Your SA savings move into the RA, up to the retirement sum. If your SA is short of the retirement sum, OA savings make up the difference. If your SA holds more than the retirement sum, the excess moves to your OA. Your SA closes, and MediSave is left as it is, a separate account with its own cap and uses.
After 55 you have three accounts: OA, RA and MediSave.
Take Linda with made-up figures: S$150,000 in her SA and S$110,000 in her OA when she turns 55, and an example Full Retirement Sum of S$240,000.
All S$150,000 in her SA moves to the RA, and the SA closes. That leaves a shortfall of S$240,000 - S$150,000 = S$90,000, which is taken from her OA. Her OA keeps S$110,000 - S$90,000 = S$20,000. Her MediSave is untouched.
Linda still has a few years left on her HDB loan. While a housing loan is still running, the OA keeps receiving contributions that can pay it, so the S$20,000 left in her OA plus her new contributions will cover her instalments after 55.
If Linda's SA held S$260,000 instead, S$240,000 would go to the RA and the remaining S$20,000 would move to her OA. Her OA would not be used to form the RA at all.
If her SA and OA together came to less than the retirement sum, everything in both would go into the RA, and her RA would be smaller. Lesson 6.4, "Map your accounts at 55 under three scenarios", shows what a smaller RA means for different plans.
If you keep working after 55, you and your employer keep contributing, at rates set for older workers. These rates step down at older ages and have been raised in recent years. The current contribution rate table for older workers is on cpf.gov.sg.
Contributions after 55 are split across your OA, RA and MediSave using the allocation rates for your age. The part that goes into your RA keeps building your retirement savings until payout age, at the higher RA interest rate.
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 down your expected SA and OA balances at 55. Then work out 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).