Here I share my thoughts on how Singapore may be falling short on protecting us
Singaporeans have long been lulled into a sense of comfort knowing that our country is safe in many aspects, like physical and food security, and financial security, which is what I will talk about here. We have trusted the government and its financial institutions such as MAS or even SGX to deal with financial / economic / trading issues.
So it comes with no surprise that our parents and even some of us now depend on the government to structure important life milestones such as our retirement. The first part of us potentially being shortchanged is the overly-discussed CPF Retirement scheme.
In recent years, the CPF board has declared a growth of 2.5% pa on our OA, and 4% pa interest for SA. While it may seem fine in this environment, but do note that not too long ago, Singaporeans managed to enjoy CPF rates of even 4% to 6%. This 2.5% returns also seems paltry when compared with Malaysia's EPF returns. For this year, the Malaysian government has granted a 8.5% returns rate. Wow.
Touching on Malaysia, our neighbour also surprised me in another aspect of financial security. Singapore has drawn up a Deposit Insurance scheme by SDIC to guarantee our money deposits (and insurance policies) of up to $75,000 per bank in case of a collapse. However, I was surprised to learn that Malaysia has their version of this called the PIDM (Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia), which provides coverage of up to RM250,000 per bank. That sure is a generous amount to guarantee and put the minds of bank depositors at ease.
Looking at these make me wonder what other special surprises our neighbour has in store that would make Singaporeans wonder if we are adequately protected.
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