CPF LIFE Payout Calculator

How Your Retirement Account Is Formed

At 55 CPF opens a Retirement Account for you and moves savings into it, drawing from your Special Account first and then your Ordinary Account, until it reaches the retirement sum you qualify for. Anything above that sum stays withdrawable, although going below the Full Retirement Sum normally requires a property with enough remaining lease to be pledged. The Retirement Account balance is what later becomes your CPF LIFE premium.

The CPF Interest Tiers That Do the Heavy Lifting

• Floor rate: Retirement Account savings earn at least 4% a year
• Extra interest: a further 1% on the first S$60,000 of combined balances, of which at most S$20,000 may come from the Ordinary Account
• From age 55: another 1% on the first S$30,000, so that slice can earn 6%, the next S$30,000 earns 5% and the rest earns 4%
• Because the top tiers are capped, the blended rate on a large balance drifts down toward the floor rate

Choosing Basic, Full or Enhanced

A higher retirement sum buys a bigger payout for life, but locks away money you could otherwise withdraw at 55. The Basic sum suits members who own their home and want cash out early; the Full sum is the default target for most; the Enhanced sum is the ceiling and is reached with voluntary cash top-ups, which may also attract tax relief. Because payouts scale with the premium, doubling the sum roughly doubles the monthly income.

What This Estimate Deliberately Leaves Out

• Plan choice: Standard, Basic and Escalating plans pay differently, and the Escalating plan starts lower but rises about 2% a year
• Bequest: unused premium and interest go to your nominees, which affects how CPF prices each plan
• Top-up limits: cash top-ups under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme are capped, and tax relief is capped separately
• Moving targets: the retirement sum that applies to you is the one set in the year you turn 55, not today's figure