How Much Can You Withdraw From Your CPF Account At Age 55?

Turning 55 is a major milestone in Singapore. With retirement around the corner, CPF does a marvellous job of reminding us by creating a new Retirement Account (RA) and closing down our Special Account.

When our Retirement Account is opened, money from our Special Account (SA) and Ordinary Account (OA) will be transferred into it – up to our Full Retirement Sum (FRS).

For many of us, turning 55 will also be the first time we get to withdraw cash from our CPF accounts. The question is, just how much can we withdraw?

Everyone Can Withdraw At Least $5,000 From Their CPF Once They Turn 55

Regardless of how little we have accumulated in our CPF accounts, we can withdraw at least $5,000 from our CPF OA and SA accounts when we turn 55. If we have less than $5,000 in our CPF accounts, then we will only be able to withdraw whatever we have saved in our CPF accounts.

It is not a requirement to withdraw this money. If we want to leave it in CPF, it can continue compounding at 4.0% per annum in our Retirement Account. We can also choose to withdraw a partial amount if we want, or even multiple smaller amounts with no restrictions on the frequency or amounts we want to withdraw at a future date.

This is the base case for everyone. If we have more CPF savings, we may also be able to withdraw more than $5,000 from our CPF at age 55. This depends on whether we are able to save our retirement sum within CPF.

Read Also: What Happens To Your CPF Monies After Transferring It To Your Retirement Account At Age 55?

If We Have Saved More Than The Full Retirement Sum (FRS)

The first thing to bear in mind is that our Full Retirement Sum (FRS) is $213,000 if we turn 55 in 2025. Depending on how we accumulate more than the FRS (for example $213,000) in our CPF accounts, we may be able to withdraw more than the $5,000 minimum.

Person A accumulated $250,000 entirely with mandatory contributions while working. Person B has accumulated only $100,000 through mandatory contributions, and the remaining $150,000 by top-ups via the Retirement Sum Topping Up (RSTU) Scheme.

In this scenario, Person A can withdraw anything above the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) – which is $37,000 ($250,000-$213,000). Person B can also withdraw $37,000 (($100,000+$150,000)-$205,800).

Person C has no mandatory contributions, but also managed to accumulate the entire FRS amount via RSTU top-ups. As cash top-ups cannot be withdrawn, this person cannot withdraw anything from his or her OA and SA.

If We Only Want To Save The Basic Retirement Sum (BRS)

If we only want to save the BRS – by pledging our property – in our Retirement Account, we can withdraw more from our CPF accounts. The Basic Retirement Sum is half of the FRS, or $106,500 in 2025.

Read Also: Accrued Interest VS Property Charge VS Property Pledge: What Are The Differences?

Let’s start with the simplest outcome – Person H who only has $60,000 in their OA  and SA, will only be able to withdraw $5,000 from their CPF account. This means $55,000 goes into their Retirement Account.

Person F and Person G only have $120,000 in their CPF accounts. Under normal circumstances, they would only be able to withdraw $5,000 from their CPF accounts (because they don’t have the FRS saved).

However, Person F has accumulated $120,000 entirely from their mandatory contributions. If they are able to pledge their property, they will be able to withdraw $13,500 ($120,000-$106,500) from their CPF accounts.

While Person G has also accumulated $120,000, only $60,000 came from their mandatory contributions and another $60,000 came from their RSTU contributions. Person G will only be able to withdraw $5,000.

This is because cash top-ups via the RSTU are primarily to enhance a person’s retirement adequacy, and which also possibly earned them tax deductions. On the CPF website, it states that while top-up monies form our retirement sum (which is why we can withdraw any above our FRS), it will not be “taken into account in computing how much RA savings can be withdrawn in cash for property owners” (which is why we cannot withdraw top-up monies by saving the BRS).

Person D can withdraw $113,500 ($220,000-$106,500) from their CPF account if they opt to save only the BRS and pledge their property.

Person E, who also has $220,000 will not be able to withdraw anything more than the $7,000 ($220,000-$213,000). This is because their $220,000 savings exceeds the FRS of $213,000 by a $7,000 margin.

Read Also: Why I Don’t Want My CPF Returned At 55 – But I Want My CPF LIFE Payout At 65

Should We Perform RSTU Or Transfer Monies From OA to SA?

Any monies we top up to our CPF via the RSTU will build up our retirement sum. This way, we can create a bigger retirement nest egg, while having the option to withdraw anything above the FRS once we turn 55.

Reaching the FRS earlier in our lives is crucial to reducing some stress over our retirement adequacy, and helps us compound the amount by earning a floor interest rate of 4.0% on our SA monies.

However, as we have seen in the examples above, we cannot use RSTU monies to withdraw more from our Retirement Account by opting to save the BRS. This is because calculations for withdrawals do not consider cash top-ups.

But, how much we can withdraw does not apply to monies transferred to our SA from our OA, as it is still considered mandatory contributions into our CPF accounts.

When deciding to make use of the schemes available by CPF, we need to bear these things in mind. However, we also need to acknowledge that we are trying to build a greater retirement nest egg, rather than constantly or only thinking about gaming the system.

Read Also: 15 Little-Known Things About CPF That Most Singaporeans Are Still Unaware About

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