More Who Turned 55 in 2024 Met CPF Required Retirement Sum

Retirement payouts hit $4.4 billion, up 29.4 per cent from $3.4 billion in 2023

- Chor Khieng Yuit

Singaporeans are putting funds aside to beef up their retirement safety nets, noted the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board's 2024 annual report.

It found that more members who turned 55 in 2024 had set aside their Required Retirement Sum than in 2023.

Meanwhile, retirement payouts crept above $4 billion in 2024, while the amount of excess savings withdrawn by those 55 and above rose but remained below the 2022 high.

There were 39,000 active members who turned 55 in 2024. Around 70 per cent of this cohort set aside the Required Retirement Sum, up from 67.6 per cent in 2023.

These members either had the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) in CPF savings, or had at least the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) and owned a property.

Mr Bryan Chan, solutions lead at advisory firm Providend, said the data is encouraging as it shows the proportion has been increasing consistently from 63.6 per cent in 2020 to 70.5 per cent in 2024.

Mr Alfred Chia, chief executive of advisory firm SingCapital, said fewer than half of CPF members met the FRS a decade ago, so these numbers have shown a lot of improvement.

The retirement sum is used to join CPF Life, which provides members with monthly payouts for life starting any time from age 65 to 70.

The report also noted that $4.4 billion was disbursed to CPF members as retirement payouts, up 29.4 per cent from $3.4 billion in 2023.