Singapore Retirement Income Schemes

Singapore Retirement Income Schemes

We look at two Singapore Retirement Income Schemes.


The two Singapore retirement income schemes wchi will shall brielf review are Silver Housing Bonus (SHB) and Lease Buyback scheme (LBS).

The Silver Housing Bonus (SHB) is introduced to help lower-income elderly household supplement their retirement income when they right-size their flat.

If you buy a smaller flat type (up to 3-room flat) or Studio Apartment (SA), you can apply for the SHB and receive up to $20,000 cash bonus per household by using some of your net sale proceeds to top up your CPF Retirement Account (RA) and join CPF LIFE.

How to compute net sale proceeds?

Net sale proceeds = Selling price of existing property less any outstanding loan on existing property, refund to CPF Account, resale levy, deductible of up to $15,000 for ancillary costs, and cash used for purchase of next property.

Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS)

The LBS will continue to be available to interested applicants under existing terms until 31 Jan 2013. Any online application submitted before 1 Feb 2013 will be processed under the current LBS.

The (LBS) is an additional monetisation option launched on 1 March 2009 to help low-income elderly households in 3-room and smaller flats to unlock part of their housing equity while continue living in their homes, and receive a lifelong income stream to supplement their retirement income.

LBS is intended for those who wish to age-in-place. Hence, the 30-year lease term is non-transferable in the open market. The flat owner cannot sell the flat in the open market or sublet the whole flat.

Editor
Investments Singapore

Investing For Retirement

Investing For Retirement

In this 2011 post on Investing For Retirement, we look at one specific area of investing for retirement.

[photo source by ngotoh at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gotoh/]

Government schemes can help when investing for retirement. What are the retirement schemes provided by the government to help you in your investing for retirement?

What may be the conditions and terms to check out when investing for retirement?

Here are some things to consider in investing for retirement.

Government schemes for investing for retirement:

First, you can start with your Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings to build your retirement portfolio.

CPF members aged 55 from year 2013 (with at least $40,000 savings in their retirement account with the CPF Board) will automatically be enrolled in the national annuity scheme, CPF Life.

They can look forward to a stream of annuity income from age 65 for life.

Most are familiar with CPF savings but overlook another critical source of funds - the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS).

For those who pay income taxes, SRS can be an excellent tax-deferral scheme.

Each dollar of contribution to the scheme will reduce your taxable income by the same amount.

Individuals can leverage on this scheme to build a stream of retirement income.

You can plan it such that your SRS drawdown starts at age 62 before your CPF Life Plan payment begins.

You must complete your withdrawals in 10 years.


For more details on investing for retirement, take a look at IMSAVVY a site provided to guide you on investing matters.

Editor
Investments Singapore