Sgpolitics.net, 24 Jun 2014
Firstly, Mr Lim said that people should use less of their CPF money when they are young, and they should also try to defer drawing down their CPF when they reach the age of 55. These statements were made in BOTH the original press interview as well as the clarification that he later sent to the media (see here).
However, Mr Lim also asserts that the CPF is for housing, healthcare and education, in addition to serving retirement needs. He makes this assertion in the context of assuring Singaporeans that “CPF is your money“. Again, this point is repeated in BOTH the media interview as well as his subsequent clarification.
Why does this not make sense? If you want citizens to save more CPF money for retirement, then you should not be asking them to spend the CPF on so many needs including housing, healthcare and education simultaneously.
In other words, the CPF should NOT be turned into an escrow account to ensure that all Singaporeans pay for their expensive houses and medical bills from their own retirement savings, and in so doing relieve the state of the burden of caring for its citizen. Full story
