For many Singaporeans, a major source of retirement income is our CPF LIFE payouts. The amount of monthly payout we receive is determined by the funds we accumulate in our Retirement Account.
To help us meet our retirement needs, the CPF Board has set the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) as a guidepost for the savings benchmark for retirement payouts. The FRS is meant to provide monthly living payouts in retirement that cover basic living expenses including rental expenses. So, let’s find out how much you will get in CPF LIFE monthly payouts if you hit the FRS in 2022.
The Full Retirement Sum (FRS) for those who turn 55 in 2022 is $192,000. To account for inflation and increasing retirement needs, the FRS increases every year with every cohort. For those in the 2022 cohort, the FRS is $192,000. This will form the basis of our calculations in this article.
Payouts Depend On Whether You Are On The Basic, Standard Or Escalating Plan
There are 3 plans available under CPF LIFE: the Standard, Basic or Escalating Plan. You will only need to choose your CPF Life plan when you start receiving your CPF LIFE monthly payouts, between ages 65 and 70. You will be notified of the options via CPF Board. If no choice is made by age 70, you will be placed on the Standard Plan automatically.
Standard Plan
This is the default option for CPF Life and provides a level payout throughout your retirement. The payout amount starts higher than the Escalating Plan but remains the same over time. It also leaves a lower bequest compared to the Basic Plan.
If you turn 55 in 2022 and hit the FRS of $192,000 in the same year, you can expect to receive $1,550 in monthly payouts. This amount remains the same over the years.
Source: CPF. Estimated CPF LIFE payouts for male, born in 1968 with RA balance of $192,000 under Standard Plan
Basic Plan
This is a legacy plan that is most similar to the previous CPF Retirement Sum Scheme. It gives a lower monthly payout but leaves a higher bequest. The payout under the Basic Plan will get progressively lower when your combined CPF balances eventually fall below $60,000. You can read more about the Basic Plan in our article: CPF LIFE Basic Plan: For Those Who Wish To Be On The “Old” CPF Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS)
If you turn 55 in 2022 and hit the FRS of $192,000 in the same year, you can expect to receive $1,420 in monthly payouts between age 65 and 85. However, as your combined CPF balances are depleted and eventually fall below $60,000, your payout amount will drop to $1,340 by age 95.
Source: CPF. Estimated CPF LIFE payouts for male, born in 1968 with RA balance of $192,000 under Basic Plan
Escalating Plan
This plan provides payouts that increase by 2% each year so that CPF members can generally maintain their standard of living even as prices rise over the years. However, the initial payouts are the lowest among all the 3 plans.
If you turn 55 in 2022 and hit the FRS of $192,000 in the same year, you can expect to receive $1,220 in monthly payouts at age 65. This increases to $1,820 by age 85 and $2,220 by age 95.
Source: CPF. Estimated CPF LIFE payouts for male, born in 1968 with RA balance of $192,000 under Escalating Plan
If you wish to calculate your own personal estimated monthly CPF monthly payout based on your individual life circumstances, you can use the CPF LIFE Estimator.
Read Also: CPF LIFE Standard, Basic Or Escalating Plan. Which CPF LIFE Plans Should You Choose?
CPF LIFE Monthly Payouts Is Sufficient To Cover The Average Retiree’s Expenses
In general, the CPF LIFE monthly payout is sufficient to cover the expenses of an average retiree. The average retiree housing expenditure is $1,154 in 2017. This will be fully covered by the monthly payouts under the Standard Plan ($1,550), Basic Plan ($1,420) and Escalating Plan ($1,220).
You can read more about the detailed analysis accounting for inflation and the various flat types in our article: How Much You Need In Your CPF Retirement Account (RA) At 65 To Afford The Average Retiree’s Expenses With CPF LIFE Payouts?
For the typical retiree living in a 4-room flat or smaller, our CPF LIFE monthly payouts will fully cover our retirement expenses. Of course, if we choose to lead a more luxurious life, we will need more than the Full Retirement Sum (FRS), which is meant to cover our basic living expenses.
Increase Your CPF LIFE Monthly Payouts By Deferring Your Payout Age
Aside from accumulating more than the FRS in our Retirement Account (e.g., by topping up or making more contributions), we can increase our CPF LIFE monthly payouts by deferring the start of our payouts.
By default, we will start receiving our CPF when we reach the age of 65. However, we can defer our CPF LIFE payouts up to the age of 70. According to CPF, the monthly payouts will increase by up to 7% for each year that you defer.
Here’s how much we will get If we defer our payouts to age 70:
| Starting Monthly Payout At 65 | Starting Monthly Payout If Defer To 70 | Increase | |
| Standard Plan | $1,550 | $2,090 | 34.8% |
| Basic Plan | $1,420 | $1,910 | 34.5% |
| Escalating Plan | $1,220 | $1,700 | 39.3% |
If we defer payout to age 70, our FRS will have grown from $192,000 to $355,000:
- If we are on the Standard Plan, we will receive a monthly payout of $2,090 for the rest of our retirement.
- If we are on the Basic Plan, our monthly payout will start at $1,910 between age 70 and age 85. It will drop to $1,850 by age 95.
- If we are on the Escalating Plan, our monthly payout will start at $1,700 and grow to $2,280 by age 85 and $2,790 by age 95.
Read Also: How Much More CPF LIFE Monthly Payouts Would You Receive If You Deferred Till 70
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