bro; these days in sinkieland, hard work and prudence would not bring a family peace of mind...perhaps just sufficient food on the table and a shelter....
let me share my views to you why so many sinkies, in particular the young adults, distrust n despite the cpf so much
1/ in the original context, its was a well intended scheme that benefitted many many 50+/60+ sinkies.
things started to go wrong when these funds were opened up for speculation and mis used...
2/ today young adults have spent the prime of their growing up years going thru a 'pressure cooker' n unproductive education system; many finding themselves competing up fake talents for jobs on graduation.
3/ wages are deliberately suppressed; home affordability; cpf withdrawl hold back; are enough reasons why sinkies; esp the young adults are losing trust.
looking forward to hear more of your fairy tales...
Many of us trusted the PAP & I am not shy to say, I did too. It was with peace of mind, we trusted them with our money, in the beginning the money invested was done prudently, many of us understood that the funds were used for infrastructures that improved our lives & the future generations; & without putting the nation into debts by lending to fund the infrastructure projects. Which man in the street doesn't understand & know all these, from the one with little or no education to the ones that has qualifications from Cambridge U..who doesn't?
We understand that CPF pay us interests for our savings & HDB charges the same for purchasing a housing..who does not. But we understood very well that, at 55 years of age, the so-called RETIREMENT age, we CAN WITHDRAW our entire 30 years or more savings ( depending on how old one started working LEEGALLY).
But....we went into recession in 1984..when CPF rates was 40% ( guess who was the Finance Minister?) & much later, without consultation ( no one complained, what!), they introduced minimum sum & the amount became larger, larger & larger, & when you RETIRE AT 55...you are thankful, the least amount you can get is around a few thousands, after factoring the min sum.
That does not end there...you cannot get the rest of your RETIREMENT MONEY till you are 65, now 67, next?? 99?? maybe??. Is that all, no, you only get a certain sum from a few hundreds to a few thousands, every month, until the retirement money gets depleted.
They keep changing the "goal posts" on CPF withdrawals & keep coming up with rules & regulations to prevent people from touching their money, in the name of LOOKING AFTER YOU. Is that we want?, a nanny government... that says, I give you all the money..you go spend it all!!...but, it is our money, we work hard on it..it is our onus to spend it hard too.
Let's be fair...they have good intention & responsibility to look after the money entrusted to them but have they presented themselves to be TRUSTWORTHY.
The answer to that is a big NO!...I do not trust them now with my money & would want every single cent of that money entrusted to them at 55 years of age.
I do not want to wake up, tomorrow, or any time, reading the papers that " Your CPF money, was $100,000 ( for example), they have so much left...they can only give you $10 for every $1,000.
Remember, the "road to hell is paved with good intentions"..and we HAVE BEEN TOO TRUSTING!
