4 ways to beef up our CPF savings! (InvestX Congress and the CPF.)

I hope everyone who went to InvestX Congress today had a good time. 

To my regular readers who were there, I hope it wasn't too boring listening to me repeating the same old stuff about the CPF. 

Anyway, for the benefit of some in the audience who told me that they might have trouble remembering everything I shared today, here are some salient points from my segment:





Beef up your CPF account.

You could do these:

1. Top Up your SA (not beyond FRS)

2. Voluntary contribution to your MA only (together with mandatory contributions, not beyond CPF annual limit and, on its own, not beyond BHS)

You will also get income tax relief for doing the above. For #1, only for the first $7,000 each year.






3. OA to SA transfer (not beyond FRS)

4. Voluntary contribution (allocated to OA, SA and MA) (together with mandatory contributions, not beyond CPF annual limit)


These will not get any income tax relief.





We don't have to do everything to capture all the benefits. It is not like Pokemon GO and we gotta catch them all. Just do what we can.

For me, the big thing was doing OA to SA transfer in the first 4 years of my life as a working adult. I emptied my OA into my SA. 

Did this in the first 4 years of my working life instead of the last 4 years of my working life. 







That makes a big difference because compound interest needs time to work its magic and a bigger base earlier makes it more magical.

Also, have enough in our CPF-MA and the interest income we receive yearly from the government will pay for our insurance. Who says there is no free medical insurance in Singapore?

See:
http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2013/12/how-to-get-free-medical-insurance-in.html 

Please read the following blog for updates:
CPF Amendment Bill 2021.

Here are links to some of my other blogs on the topic:

1. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/01/ak-showing-off-his-cpf-oa-and-ma-2017.html

2. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2015/01/how-did-ak-amass-so-much-money-in-his.html

3. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2016/02/the-cpf-is-really-national-ponzi-scheme.html



If AK can do it, so can you! Gambatte!

23yo bought 40yo HDB flat and worried.

Reader:

I am currently 23years old & married. My husband and I purchased a resale flat last year.

Back then we did not read nor have knowledge about financial planning. 

We purchased what we want and our desired location...

Our resale flat is actually quite old. I think is 40 years old this year...

Many people called us stupid for buying resale flat instead of BTO ones. 

And since we didn't have proper financial planning, we exhausted our entire CPF to pay for the flat.

So, our CPF is 0 now. 

We also took a loan of 25 years...

I am beginning to learn how to invest and starting small. May I ask how can I actually do better in planning my finance? 

Thank you for taking your time to read my email. Hope to see your reply.

AK:
How do you start doing better in your finances? That is a very broad question. It is very difficult for me to answer with specifics. 

Here are a few blogs you might want to read:

1. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2014/03/graduating-soon-take-steps-towards.html

2. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2015/05/how-much-should-we-have-in-our.html

3. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/04/hdb-flat-is-37-years-old-and-son-is.html


4. http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2017/07/buying-properties-with-short-remaining.html


There are many other relevant links in my blog. 

Go to the right sidebar of my blog and read those suggested especially those listed under "WEALTH CREATION".
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If we to learn from mistakes, we will avoid them and make better decisions in future.

Don't beat ourselves up.

This reader has the right attitude. Gambatte!