PRIVACY POLICY

Monday, September 11, 2023

How to transfer from CPF-IA to CPF-OA? Must buy T-bill?

In my last blog post, I made a passing mention about a 6 month T-bill which I bought using money in my CPF-OA maturing in the same week.

I made a request to transfer the money back to my CPF-OA when I saw the funds sitting in my CPF-IA a day later.

It was all rather easy with DBS online banking.

I simply logged in and went to the "Invest" tab and selected "More investment services."

Then, I chose "Refund to CPF Board."

Clicked on "Refund Full Amount", and it was basically done after clicking "Next" and "Submit."




Today, I checked my CPF account and found that the funds are back in my CPF-OA.

Now, I am wondering whether I should buy another 6 months T-bill with the money.

To be quite honest, I am not as enthusiastic as before because the cut-off yield has reduced so much since the start of the year for 6 months T-bills.

In January, it was as high as 4.2% p.a.

The T-bill that matured last week had a cut-off yield of 3.93% p.a.

I am hazarding a guess that the cut-off yield for this week's auction is probably going to be around 3.7% p.a. or similar to what we got in the last auction.

For a sum of $50,000, we are looking at an additional interest income of less than $200 compared to what the CPF-OA would pay for a 7 months period.

Nothing to write home about.




Anyway, with CPF-OA money, I will not go the path of non-competitive bids just in case the unthinkable happens.

I will put in a competitive bid of 3.5% p.a. because I don't think I am interested in anything lower than that.

If the cut-off yield should come in at 3.5% p.a., the difference in interest income is going to be less than $120.

The cut-off yields for 6 months T-bills are declining but the CPF-OA still pays 2.5% p.a.

So, the difference is shrinking and it is really not a big deal.




There is quite a bit of talk in social media that we should all use our CPF-OA money to buy T-bills.

To be honest, unless the sum of money is relatively large, it isn't anything to worry about.

If we do not have a large amount of money sitting in our CPF-OA, we really are not missing out on any meaningful passive income.

I think some people would say don't sweat the small stuff.

Of course, I am just talking to myself.

If AK can talk to himself, so can you!

18 comments:

  1. Hi AK, there is a typo error on your T-bill BS23117Z. It is 3.69% only

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  2. you are right, no point using OA. I just use cash and keep recycling. The coming SSB is 3.16%

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  3. Thanks for this!! as you know, I always fail in putting my OA into T bills. with your post, glad I got a easy number to input into my competitive bid!

    I was wondering - when do you think it make sense to pull out my SSB and put into the next month SSB? my own number is 0.5% difference since that would be about 50 dollars in a year difference if you put in 10000? that would be worth the time and effort for some clicks!

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  4. Hi Isabel,

    Aiyoh, all these T-bills codes with too many numbers and letters. I blur.

    I checked my blog in March.
    T-bills 3.98% p.a.

    Maybe, I made made a mistake then too. (TmT)

    I blogged about the new SSB recently.

    3.16% p.a. SSB...

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  5. Hi gagmewithaspoon,

    I think 3.5% is a safe bid as it also guards against the possible loss of 8 months in interest income from CPF.

    A bid of 3.5% is also being socially responsible as we do not drag down the cut-off yield and harm the interest of other bidders.

    So, it is good for ourselves and good for others. AK is a nice person! ;p

    As for the SSB, who knows what next month's 10 year average yield is going to be?

    Again, I just keep to my simple guideline of only getting SSB if the 10 year average yield is higher than 3% p.a.

    Otherwise, I just do VC to my CPF account. ;p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi AK, I 'tested' the system. Put in the redemption request yesterday and today, the amount of SSB available for purchase has increased. There's a $2 redemption fee per transaction though, so better to redeem one large sum if going for redemption.

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  6. Hi Yv,

    Thanks for sharing your experience! :D

    This is useful information for anyone who has not made a redemption before. :)

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  7. Hi AK, please share your view about using CPF OA for upcoming 1year TBill in Oct. Also, should the competitive bid remains 3.5% for this 1year Tbill or lower?
    Thanks!

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  8. Hi AmyZ,

    A T-bill is a T-bill to me, whether 6 months or 1 year in duration. ;p

    If they provide better returns than the CPF-OA, why not?

    As for the competitive bid, my thinking does not change and what I said in this blog post holds.

    I do what suits me but you have to do what suits you. ;)

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  9. Hi AK,

    Can I ask what is the description for the Tbill interest when it's paid in the CPF account? I have login to my cpf account but can't find it. Thanks

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  10. Hi EX,

    With T-bills, we get a "discount" instead of being paid an interest.

    So, if we bough $52,000 of the recent T-bill for example, we would see only $51,035 deducted.

    At the end of the 6 months period, we will get back the $52,000 minus some service fee imposed by the bank.

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  11. Morning AK, I have a decent size of CPF OA to consider buying 6-mth T-bills. But I am not sure if I should wait for next tranche (potentially higher yield, maybe 3.78?) or current tranche which should have cut off of 3.75%.. Grateful if you could talk to yourself. Thank you

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  12. Hi C,

    With T-bill, it is impossible to time the market as we don't know what the cut-off yield is going to be until the auction is over.

    However, if we are using CPF-OA money, we have to time our purchase so that we lose 1 extra month of OA interest instead of 2.

    So, avoid buying T-bills with auction happening close to the end of the month like this upcoming one.

    Buy T-bills which are offered in the first half of each month.

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    Replies
    1. My kid also born in year of pig, hope he as smart as you next time.. :-)

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  13. Hi C,

    Aiyoh, you like that say AK paiseh lah.

    Seriously, pigs are very smart animals but they just pretend to be stupid.

    扮豬食虎? ;p

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  14. Hi Ak, could you please self talk or point me to previous blog on how to roughly assess the competitive bid to put in for the coming early October 6-month T-bills ? Wonder if I put in around 4 - 4.05% would be prudent as I have a decent size CPF OA to be utilised..thank you.

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  15. Hi C,

    It is always about how money should go to where it is treated best.

    At one time, we could get 3.88% p.a. from OCBC for FD using CPF funds.

    So, bidding anything lower than that would be silly.

    That is no longer available.

    For me, CIMB offers 3.45% p.a. for a 6 months FD.

    So, my competitive bid in the last auction was placed at 3.5% p.a.

    Anything lower, I might as well place a FD with CIMB.

    It is all about being sensible. :)

    ReplyDelete