Introduction to CPF

For those who are new to CPF and want to explore on this, here is a brief introduction to CPF.

Central Provident Fund, is a fund taken from some portion of your income which can be used for retirement, healthcare, education, housing, investment or family protection. For Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Resident, contribution is mandatory with certain percentage.

The CPF fund are divided into 3 types of account: Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA), and Medisave Account (MA).

You can use Ordinary Account for:

• Buy a house
• Investment in approved products
• Pay for approved insurance premiums
• Fund full-time study in approved local tertiary institutions
• Retirement fund

Special Account can be used for:

• Retirement fund
• Investment in approved products

Medisave Account is for:

• Hospitalisation expenses
• MediShield orother approved medical insurance

Contribution Rates

For contribution rate, click here.

Interest Rates

A good thing about CPF contribution is you get higher interest than average saving interest in banks (which is pathetically low in Singapore).

For OA, government guarantees minimum 2.5% interest rate. While for SA and MA, it's minimum 4% until 31 Dec 2013 and 2.5% thereafter.

Check Statement

You can check your CPF statements online at www.cpf.gov.sg. However, you need SingPass to login. You can get free SingPass at their website www.singpass.gov.sg. Once you applied, they will mail you the details in few days.