Remember when the “Return My CPF” and “Vote them out” fever was so high?
Multiple protests were organised at Hong Lim Park as speaker after speaker criticized the Government for holding back people’s money, for not keeping their promises and for losing their money. All kinds of claims were made about the retirement sum, minimum sum, etc.
There was even that shocking protest when clear, special needs children were frightened by the shouts and march of the infamous gang.
The claims distressed many people who hurried to withdraw their CPF upon reaching 55, only to regret it.
We have since left those days behind us.
Through a concerted and persistent effort by the CPF Board to inform and educate the public, people realised that they had been badly misled and misinformed by the CPF Gang.
They woke up to the realisation that those made CPF a whipping boy with an agenda against the Government. They realised they were used. Fortunately, the realisation did not come too late for most of them.
The ‘return my CPF’ fever has been replaced by an ‘I’m topping up my CPF’ fever that refuses to be abated.
In a clear sign yet of the upward trend of voluntary top-ups, more than 200,000 CPF members voluntarily made over $3.5 billion to their or their loved ones’ retirement savings.
This is $84 million higher than the amount received for the same period last year.
One in four who made top-ups for themselves or loved ones this year has been doing so for at least three consecutive years!
Thirty-year-old Lee Zhi Peng is among the many CPF members making regular top-ups.
“I started making yearly top-ups to my mother’s CPF a few years ago as it is a good way for me to take care of her. She can enjoy a stable stream of monthly payouts for life, and at the same time, it gives me tax relief,” he explained.
Members who made cash top-ups to themselves can benefit from tax relief of up to $8,000. They would earn another $8,000 in tax relief if they made top-ups to their loved ones. Great, isn’t it?
