Reminder: Your CPF money isn't really for you

Parliament passed an amendment to the CPF Act on July 20th that will guarantee a steady income for retirees. Sounds like a great plan, but the devil, as always, is in the details:

Under amendments to the CPF Act passed yesterday, CPF members will receive a steady stream of retirement income. But premiums and payouts are at the Government's discretion and will vary with factors such as interest rates.

Mr Gan said that a guaranteed monthly amount is not feasible and that it would be adjusted regularly to ensure the fund's solvency.

(Emphasis mine)

So you and your employers contribute part of your wages to CPF, but you can't take any of that until you're retired, the government can use it to invest at their discretion, and you're not guaranteed that the payouts will be enough to support you in your old age.

Nope, your CPF money is not for you. It's for the government to earn more money. In other words, an amendment was passed to hand the advantage back to the government to handle your money in ways they deem fit, and you will only reap the rewards they deem fit for you to have. And the solvency of the CPF fund, managed by our best and brightest, is more important that making sure our elderly and retired populace can survive; our scholars managing the CPF must have their reputation intact, let the retirees starve!

Yep. Gotta be really grateful for the way they take care of the people.

(via @mrbrown)