Mon. Feb 17th, 2025

TL;DR – The short answer, no.

You might have seen this “official letter” from CPF circulating Facebook or your WhatsApp groups lately,

With the accompanying caption, “Received the above. Maybe u too bro. Any info or comment on this. Base on the letter, it is really an “Opt Out” scheme, if u don’t want the payout to start at 70 yrs old.”

If you don’t want to read the rest of the article, the quick summary is – don’t worry, the minimum age for withdrawal stays at 65.

But if you are interested to find out more, here’s what you need to know.

1) Payout Eligibility Age (PEA)

It is still at 65 for members born from 1954.

That hasn’t been changed. However, under the Retirement Sum Scheme, CPF members can voluntarily defer the start of their payouts up to a maximum of age 70.

2) Starting payouts

Six months before members reach their PEA, they will receive a letter as seen above informing them that that they can start their payouts by submitting the application.

Starting the CPF monthly payouts is an irreversible process. Your RSS payouts will start the following month if CPF Board receives your application three working days before the end of the month.

Are there benefits then to starting one’s payouts later?

By deferring payouts, monies in your CPF Retirement Account (RA) can continue to grow at 4%, plus 1% of Extra Interest (EI) on the first $60,000 in their RA, and 1% Additional Extra Interest (AEI) on the first $30,000 of RA savings from the age of 55.

3) Opt in or Opt out?

In a nutshell, CPF members have the flexibility to start anytime between ages 65 to 70 by informing the Board.

As mentioned, members who wish to receive payouts once they turn 65 or any time between 65 to 70, they can simply apply online by logging onto the CPF website or submitting a form to start receiving their monies from the following month.

READ MORE:  Orchard Road is dying and it's all because of our government?

Otherwise their payouts will automatically start at 70.

While it does make practical sense, especially in the light of increasing longevity amongst Singaporeans, perhaps better explanation can be done on the part of CPF Board?

(Cover image via)

By Zahra