Moves in
Special, then Ordinary
Up to the Full Retirement Sum: S$220,400 for those turning 55 in 2026, S$228,200 in 2027. MediSave stays where it is.
Insights · Guide · Your CPF
CPF LIFE is the base. What sits on top is up to you.
Most Singaporeans will get a monthly cheque from CPF for life. Few know how big it will be, or how much of retirement it pays for. Start there.
Level 3GrowthNot guaranteed — the layer that flexes
Level 2IncomeContractual income, for a set period
Level 1CPF LIFEYou know this one. Start here.
1 · At 55
At 55, your CPF changes shape.
A Retirement Account opens on its own and fills up to the Full Retirement Sum, from the Special Account first, then the Ordinary Account. From 19 January 2025 the Special Account closes at 55; what is left of it goes to the Ordinary Account. CPF LIFE pays you from the Retirement Account.
Yours to take
Up to S$5,000, and anything above the sum
S$5,000 can be withdrawn whatever your balance. With a Singapore property whose lease runs to at least 95, savings above the Basic sum (S$110,200) may be released too, after CPF's own assessment.
Stays put
Whatever you leave
Money you don't withdraw keeps earning interest in your Ordinary Account. Leaving it there is a choice, and so is moving it.
2 · The pay
The sum you set aside at 55 sets your pay for life.
CPF's own estimates for someone turning 55 in 2026, Standard plan, paid every month from 65.
Basic Retirement SumS$110,200S$950 a month
Full Retirement SumS$220,400S$1,780 a month
Enhanced Retirement SumS$440,800S$3,440 a month
Starting later pays more: up to 7% more for each year you wait, to 70. These are estimates, not promises; your own figure is on the CPF website.
3 · Two choices worth understanding
Standard, Escalating or Basic
StandardThe same amount every month, for life. Most people are on it.
EscalatingStarts lower, then rises 2% every year, so it keeps more of its buying power as prices rise.
BasicPays less each month and leaves more in your account for longer, so more may go to your family.
Ordinary or Retirement Account
The Ordinary Account pays 2.5% a year; the Retirement Account 4% (1 Oct – 31 Dec 2026). Over ten years, S$100,000 becomes:
Left in the Ordinary AccountS$128,008
Moved into the Retirement AccountS$148,024
The catch: a move into the Retirement Account cannot be undone, and that money is then paid out only as CPF LIFE. More pay for life, less money to reach. Members 55 and over also earn up to 2% extra on the first S$30,000 and 1% on the next S$30,000.
4 · The gap
Now the question that matters: does it cover the life you want?
Pick your sum and the life you picture. Figures are for someone turning 55 this year, in the dollars of the year they turn 65, with prices rising 2% a year.
Set aside at 55
The life you picture
A month at 65Comfortable life, one person: S$4,297
CPF LIFE pays for about 41% of it. The other S$2,517 a month has to come from somewhere else.
And it shrinks. The Standard plan pays the same amount every year, so by 85 that S$1,780 buys what about S$1,198 buys at 65.
Lifestyles and 2024 costs from a 2024 survey of about 2,000 working adults in Singapore by a local bank. Brought to today's prices by us, using the Department of Statistics' June consumer price index, the same method the survey used. Costs in 2026 prices, grown at 2% a year to 65. CPF LIFE: CPF Board estimates, Standard plan from 65, members turning 55 in 2026 (checked 27 Sep 2026).
5 · What fills it
That gap is what Level 2 and Level 3 are for.
Level 1
CPF LIFE
The floor you have just measured. It never runs out and does not depend on markets, which is exactly why the levels above it can take some risk.
Level 2
Income
Income you can count on for a set number of years, from endowments and annuities. It often covers the years between stopping work and CPF LIFE starting, when a fall in markets would hurt most.
Level 3
Growth
A diversified, low-cost portfolio that grows ahead of prices across a retirement that may last thirty years. It is not guaranteed, so it is the level that flexes in a bad year, and the one that keeps the floor from shrinking.
See your own three levels, every year to 100.
Put in your own CPF LIFE figure, any income plans and what you have saved. Two minutes, no sign-up.
General information, not advice, and not a recommendation of any product. CPF rules and figures from the CPF Board, checked 27 Sep 2026; interest rates for 1 Oct – 31 Dec 2026 (CPF Board, 22 Sep 2026). Withdrawals and property pledges are subject to CPF's own assessment. Thomas Chai Kian Teck, Certified Financial Planner, MAS Rep. No. CKT300001354.