The “forced saving” reason is why I like the CPF concept. However my sore points about the current system are i) its too much of one’s gross pay (over 1/3 up till the $5k limit!), ii) the rate of return is abysmally low for long-term investors and iii) no easy/low-cost way to regularly invest CPF funds (sure you can do RSP into a unit trust – but the trust has high upfront and mgmt fees). The use of CPF for housing also muddies the waters – CPF should be for retirement savings only.
The “forced saving” reason is why I like the CPF concept. However my sore points about the current system are i) its too much of one’s gross pay (over 1/3 up till the $5k limit!), ii) the rate of return is abysmally low for long-term investors and iii) no easy/low-cost way to regularly invest CPF funds (sure you can do RSP into a unit trust – but the trust has high upfront and mgmt fees). The use of CPF for housing also muddies the waters – CPF should be for retirement savings only.