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By Jamie Ee Wen Wei
It has been a busy month at the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board.
Members have been flooding its offices and phone lines with questions about the new CPF Lifelong Income Scheme For The Elderly (CPF Life), which was opened last month to those aged 55 and above.
Almost 30,000 people have walked into its five service centres to ask about the scheme, said Mr Tey Chee Keong, deputy director of CPF Board's lifelong income department.
The board has also received about 13,000 calls.
Letters were sent last month to 200,000 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 55 and above, asking if they wanted to opt for the scheme. Close to 12,000 so far have said yes.
A further 500,000 members in this age group will get the letters by the end of this month.
CPF Life was unveiled in February last year to help tackle the problems of an ageing population, when people's retirement savings may not be enough to keep pace with longer lifespans.
There are four plans under CPF Life - Life Basic, Life Balanced, Life Plus and Life Income - with payouts coming from a CPF member's Retirement Account.
The scheme will automatically apply to those turning 55 from 2013 and who have at least $40,000 in their CPF savings.
Last month, the CPF Board said that older CPF members who want to join ahead of 2013 can now opt in too.
The CPF Board has given The Sunday Times more details of members who have signed up.
Of the 11,787 who opted in, 60 per cent are male. More than half are aged between 55 and 59. A third are between 60 and 64. The average balance in their Retirement Accounts is $57,000.
More than half of those who signed up opted for the Life Plus plan. This provides a higher payout than the default Balanced plan, but leaves less for beneficiaries.
'Based on the feedback from members, most of them think that their children can take care of themselves, but they still want to leave a token sum for them when they die,' Mr Tey said.
About 10 per cent of the members chose the Life Income Plan, which gives a highest monthly payout but does not leave anything for beneficiaries.
Financial advisers believe most people are still taking a wait-and- see approach towards the new scheme.
Mr Patrick Lim, associate director at financial advisory firm PromiseLand Independent, said: 'They could be waiting to see if their relatives and friends will sign up.'
Some may also feel the payout is low compared to what they will get through the current CPF Minimum Sum Scheme (MSS), he added.
The MSS provides members with monthly payouts for about 20 years. 'They can get up to $1,040 if they stick with the MSS,' Mr Lim said.
Alpha Financial Advisers' business unit director Tan Siak Lim felt the elderly would need other sources of income to supplement the payout.
'The good thing is that people don't really retire these days. They will still find some work to kill time... what's important is that employers change their mindsets to embrace mature workers... and they are already taking small steps towards that.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
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