##[25]cpfLife adv over private annuity

Posted on Tue, 25/Apr/2023Mon, 24/Feb/2025 by tiger40490

[23]steward@multi-gen reserve #dementia

Posted on Thu, 23/Dec/2021Sun, 21/Jan/2024 by tiger40490

Genesis: Singapore’s past reserve is a multi-gen reserve … requires reliable stewardship

— well-off kids … I did some simple math with my wife.

Assumption: grandparents don’t spend too much of their current NAV on nursing homes or medical.
.. Based on this assumption, after they pass away, most of their NAV would eventually go to the 2 grandchildren. Perhaps SGD 2M ignoring inflation.
Assumption: Aunt Genn doesn’t cash out on her Sydney home, and spend most of it.
.. Based on this assumption, in 40 years she may pass on a large bequest to the 2 grown-up niece/nephew. I would be very old by then.
my own NAV… I will not discuss.
^^ All in all, my two kids could end up with SGD 3~5M available to them during their adulthood.

— stewardship .. I’m more concerned about my son. By age 25, I hope he will be mature enough to know budgeting, BurnRate control, risk-taking/risk-assessment, due-diligence, wealth preservation,,, With this maturity, he would take care of his inheritance.

More and more frequently, I’m planning to keep my wealth under my own control, as a steward (guardian) till my 80s or even 90s. But I want to downplay this factor. I can’t let my kids rely on my stewardship. By age 30 they will be independent.

If my kids are unable to hit above the median salary, then my stewardship and the reserve would become important.

I think “multi-gen reserve” and “stewardship” are phrases to capture part of this (vague) concept.

— dementia .. I enjoy cashflow management for my own money and my family’s money.. many big and small daily decisions. These are real-world decisions with implications, so my mind is taking on real tasks. Financial decisions also have some cognitive complexity, so I think it’s a nice, enjoyable brain exercise.

— rEstate appreciation .. Most of my properties would be sold eventually. Hopefully one of them could be held long term, but in which city?

Beijing property … Once grandparents sell it, it would become cash and stop appreciating

— Gold … negative yield i.e. carry cost

##trust`(someone)n invest`

Posted on Sun, 01/Aug/2021Sat, 30/Sep/2023 by tiger40490

k_FLI2

In this bpost, “Trusting” means trusting an investment salesperson, and trusting a commercial company.

— My FLI2 experience

Trusting in Singlife in their “projected” payout rate.

Trusting in CIMB as the marketing agency. Contrast it to DBS as marketing agency for Manulife.

Trusting in Linna and her colleague.

— my RBBT experience .. I did my due diligence on the LIR calc
Trust in the bank system for calc algorithm.. is no longer a big concern, but bigger than in the EGA case.

Initially, the promised super-low LIR was too good to be trust-worthy.

— Oanda vs Saxo
Oanda was more fair to customers. I feel Saxo’s FXO practice was really mean to customers.

— my HY/PE experience ..
With E12, I did my due diligence and decided to trust Chip Taylor.

With Jill, I invested multiple times. I still assume Jill might be trust-worthy but she (and her managers) had poor judgement on the companies that received the money.

Overall, I don’t feel very sure about the trust-worthiness (of those people), even though each company is different.

— My SEAsia rEstate decisions .. I visit the sites. I trust a salesperson after a long interaction. I transfer fund only to an account given by the same salesperson.

In each case, there is some big reputable company in the “equation”. That company lends credibility.
— my Rbh experience
Zero commission sounded too good to be trust-worthy, so I started small.

Similarly Vanguard has very low-cost mufus and they have earned my trust.
— my EGA experience .. I did my due diligence on the interest calc
The EGA-IR was too good to be trust-worthy.
Trust in the HSBC calc algorithm .. is not a big concern.

artificial complexities ] US systems #legal

Posted on Thu, 20/May/2021Tue, 22/Mar/2022 by tiger40490

eg: medical insurance is overcomplicated.

eg: personal credit report is not so bad but still overcomplicated

eg: US personal income tax and US medical billing systems are too complicated for most people. That’s why there are fulltime professionals to help folks understand and navigate the artificial complexities.

The poor can’t afford any of these professional help, so they lose out and become poorer.

Therefore, this is a knowledge gap between the rich and poor.

counter eg: usReits are more complex than sReits, not artificially, but due to free-wheeling regulations, giving rise to many variations on the “theme” i.e. the REIT business model.

— eg: trespass and bathtub lawsuit experiences .. I had to ask in legal forums, collect evidence, find out consequences,

Legal systems are complicated in most countries (Singapore is slightly simpler) but in the U.S. there are way too many lawsuits involving ordinary people. I think many immigrants like me are inexperienced and scared of the complexities + consequences.

We are “covid-naive” in a country full of covid hazards.

##[18] car-free locations: %%rationale

Posted on Sat, 01/May/2021Tue, 13/Feb/2024 by tiger40490

k_X_car_dependency

Surprise experience .. In 100% of the places I chose, I didn’t need a car, even in winters, even with kids! Did we feel deprived? Rarely… Worst places were

East Orange
45 Juliette

I’d like to ~~quantify~~ car-dependency by a single number (simplicity is a virtue) — In a month how many times do you NEED your own car, instead of Uber, car rental, bicycle, and public transport?

As I wrote to Sophia Cui, The more “essential” commutes to office, to school, or to see family… tend to be periodic and scheduled, and… can be efficiently supported by scheduled mass transit like trains, buses, ferries.

Weather — affects cycling; and walk could be too cold too wet too long. Experience in White Plains, Bayonne (also JC, Brooklyn) — for 28M I didn’t take taxi or bus even once, except an interview trip to TrexQuant’s campus.

–situations that call for a car, either rented or unshared.
[w=beware winter or rain: x% of the days are too cold and I can’t rely on light rail + walk? below 1%]
[o=largely optional trips. There are usually alternatives.]
send kids to enrichment classes
nearby shopping? I can cycle though my peers would drive
[w] weekly grocery shopping? For short distance, Uber starts at $6 x 2
[o] Walmart/Target trips
bulky purchase … furniture etc. Infrequent after the initial set-up. Can pay for delivery or rent a car
moving home …… pay a professional or rent a car
[w] hospitals ……. Mostly we have used clinics, not hospitals. we don’t have any chronic health condition yet. If we do, then I wish we stay in a well-connected place and don’t depend on cars
DMV, post offices and other government matters. .. Not so frequent in my experience. There is often transit access.
[o] check out various schools/homes? Infrequent… Can pick a free day, and take my bike on the train.
airport ……………… I have been using public transport + cabs. Economically viable. Airport always has transit access. Driving your own car is often impractical due to long-term parking cost.
interviews ………… Sounds like a real problem but Absolutely not a problem in reality. Only 1% of the employers are far from transit stations and I never needed to pay for taxi [RTS, SIG]
[o] family outing …. most of the time (like 90-99%), could use train and then rent a car, but some nearby places may not have train connectivity, so we simply avoid them, as in Singapore and Beijing.
[o] visit friends …… Seldom. May need them to pick me up from train station. Those far-away friends I simply don’t visit.
[o] gym ……………… xp[Retro, Citi, Barcap, Baml, RTS, GS] If too far, I would simply to outdoor. In SG and U.S. I never feel unable to work out due to “no gym nearby”.
[o] cinema………….. Increasingly optional. Just watch at home.
police station to make police report
meet lawyers when I have a legal problem. Email is best, followed by phone call. Only initial conversation need in-person.

It’s possible that one suburb is much more car-dependent than another. South Edison vs North Edison? I have rational reasons to prefer a location with lowest car dependency:

— reasons:
weather .. unwanted dependency! The better locations offer the flexibility to use public transport or bicycle.
.. snowy/icy road … and you hate your dependency on cars
If the location has inherently high car-dependency you could end up needing 2 cars
congestions
tolls — very hard to avoid in an unfamiliar place
tickets — very hard to avoid at least for a beginner
accidents and problems due to wear-n-tear
accidents not due to our fault
private car $TCO
having no car naturally makes you more active and more healthy. If you live in a remote location you would drive for everything by default. You would not keep a bike. The car in the garage would shout “Use me” … hard to ignore. Some blogger wrote “I guess you could get so used to driving that you don’t bother to walk or bike. A 10-minute walk to shops is good exercise, though it requires planning and getting-used-to.”
various accidental mistakes — surprisingly common. CSY told me about running red light; two friends were caught drunk driving;
various stressors .. parking meter, parking space, peak hours traffic,,,
various road rage scenarios .. a broad/vague but memorable phrase
http://www.moneycrashers.com/living-without-car/ list many other factors

—-Hi XR,

I much prefer a home location where I don’t depend on car ownership. I will still own a car, for family outing etc, but I hope I could just keep it in the garage most of the time, and don’t need it for everyday shopping or commute.

Most of the locations I chose were like that — Boston, White Plains, Brooklyn.

One of the places (in Bushwick inner city) is 3 minutes walk to the subway, but strangely I won’t feel so comfortable walking on those dirty, run-down streets so I would probably prefer driving in that area. In contrast, your Jersey City home is also a few minutes walk to PATH, but I would feel safe without owning a car in that area.

I believe most suburban areas require cars, including most of NJ and Long Island. However, in my home search, urban locations “show up” more, so to me, the percentage of car-dependent homes is 30-70%.

%%take@6 levels@ffree #minimalist/tenuous

Posted on Thu, 29/Apr/2021Thu, 28/Sep/2023 by tiger40490

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrae/2019/04/09/levels-of-financial-freedom is the best among 5 articles I have read, all from the US perspective. There are many hints of “ffree as a state of mind” even if you choose to keep working for purpose, engagement,,,

Some may refer to my ffree as tenuous ffree / barebones ffree, fledgling ffree or minimalist ffree.

— Level 2 means “quit your job for a break, if not permanently”. This level of freedom is … (extremely) valuable when you worry about bench time i.e. temporary job loss.
— Level 3 is valuable yet neglected. “immense sense of relief when you are earning enough to save, doing the things you enjoy and still having extra at the end of the month.” I think a majority of the audience (Americans and other nationalities) of this article experience real difficulty saving consistently. I achieved Level 3 long ago.
— Level 4 (time freedom) is the least appreciated level, important to me and many of my fellow busy dads. More time with family, more paid leave, flex time, shorter commute, WFH

— Level 5 basically means “downsize your current lifestyle to a basic/modest retirement”. It matches my bare-bones ffree. It also matches the crbr 3k/M plan.
This bizTime analysis of burn rate probably corresponds to below Level 5.

— Level 6 means “retire at the current lifestyle“. I feel for many of my U.S. peers, this is a huge gap above Level 5, unless your current burn rate happens to be modest, like mine. (Level 7 or above is irrelevant and unneeded .. unnecessary luxury)

Claim: you need to invest in stocks since young.
Observation: many countries’ public pension-like system pays you only a fraction of you “current” burn rate. My parents pensions are adequate.
My Rule #1: be realisitc about retiring in style (Level6), and don’t aim at current burn rate. Excluding healthcare and housing, aim at half the current burn rate.
My Rule #2: from young age, take up the legwork to find long-term solutions for old age housing and healthcare.

As to stock investment, I don’t know the reliability for the purpose of long-term cash payout. What if you buy at the peak, and need to wait 20Y for a recovery? If I give myself 30-40 years of accumulation, I think only U.S. stocks are able to clear that high bar.

======= original publication =====
When you read articles about financial freedom, you may hear people drone on and on about how they are spending practically nothing so they can retire at a younger age, like 30. Conversely, they may have already achieved financial freedom and are bragging about how frugal they were so they could retire well before the typical retirement age.

This is what I hear. Sell all your stuff, except for a tent, and move to the woods so you will never have to pay rent or utilities again. Joking aside, I actually come across a blog that promoted dumpster diving for food. No thank you! Realistically, most of us will not want to do the things required to retire at 30, 40 or 50. In fact, many people who are reading this likely are not saving enough to maintain their current standard of living during their golden years, if they retired at the age of 70. It pains me to report that about 21% of people have zero, zilch, nada saved for retirement, according to the Northwestern Mutual’s 2018 Planning & Progress Study.

Planning for retirement, or even financial freedom, is a marathon and not a sprint, as the saying goes. Breaking up your financial independence goals into small chunks can help keep you on track while making the process a bit more manageable and, hopefully, a little less stressful. Even if you are starting small, the important thing is to get started.

Here are the seven levels of financial freedom that you should work towards achieving.

— Level 1: Not Living Paycheck to Paycheck
The first level of financial freedom is building up an emergency fund. Ideally, this will include paying off any credit card debt as well.

Unfortunately, living paycheck to paycheck is the reality of millions of Americans. According to the Federal Reserve’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2017, some 40% of households could not cover a $400 unexpected expense. Most of us will have some unexpected bills pop up throughout the year such as car repairs, medical bills and nights out drinking with friends. Having an emergency fund will come in handy during those types of situations.

— Level 2: Enough Money to Quit your Job (for a bit)
Financial freedom is all about making work an option. Saving enough money to quit your job forever is a huge undertaking. Accumulating enough money to be able to take some time away from working is a big jump in that direction. This does not mean you have to quit your job, but it sure is a good feeling to know you can.

For extra credit you may want to save up for a sabbatical or extended vacation. I dream of spending a month, or two, in a foreign country each year. By no means will I be quitting my job, but it would take some planning in order to be away from my financial firm for that long.

In the shorter term, that extra money could also serve as your emergency fund. I mentioned that just in case some of you wanted some extra motivation to get to this level.

— Level 3: Enough to be Financially Happy and still Save
This is a bit more about enjoying your life and having the money to do it. There is an immense sense of relief when you are earning enough to save, doing the things you enjoy and still having extra at the end of the month.

That extra cushion can be used to move up your financial freedom date. That of course assumes you avoid increasing your lifestyle and spending it.

— Level 4: Freedom of Time
What many people desire is more flexibility with their schedules. Freedom of time and financial independence go hand in hand. Together, they are about leaving the rat race to follow your passion, or spend more time with family, and not going completely broke doing it. It could come in the form of more paid time off, flex time or perhaps working remotely on occasion. Not having to take a day off from work just so you can visit the dentist or take your kid to the doctor could be a huge benefit for some.

— Level 5: Enough for a Basic Retirement
Do you know anyone who hates their job? I mean really hates it. I have met a few over the years as a financial planner. Those individuals were willing to do almost anything to retire as soon as possible. Some considered things like moving to a foreign country with a low cost of living, selling their home or getting roommates. I should point out that those people were closer to full retirement age.

For those of you looking to retire early with financial freedom, think about what your bare minimum retirement would look like. Could you move to a place with a lower cost of living? Would you give up going out to dinner? Work towards a nest egg that will support this bare-bones lifestyle. You probably will decide against moving to that cabin in the woods without running water, but it might be nice to know you could. Considering your bare minimum retirement, and knowing you have enough money saved to at least cover some standard of living in your early retirement, will also influence other life choices you may make along the way.

Would you lease a new luxury car if you knew it meant you would have to work a few more years? Downsizing your house might look more appealing if it meant you could retire now rather than in 10 years.

— Level 6: Enough to Actually Retire Well
Assuming you are doing pretty well and are happy with your current standard of living, what would you need in order to maintain your standard of living in retirement? Knowing you are on track to accumulate a nest egg to support that lifestyle is a big win. Gold medals go to those who have accumulated enough assets, or passive income streams, to be in a position to retire well.

public healthcare: SG^west

Posted on Thu, 08/Apr/2021Fri, 19/May/2023 by tiger40490

The analysis helps to explain the low tax rate, and the price control in Sgp public healthcare infrastructure. These factors are actually fundamental to my long-term (retirement) confidence in Sgp’s healthcare affordability.

— Sgp public healthcare expenditure .. 2021 StraitsTimes: “Mr Ong [MOH] said healthcare expenditure is set to hit $59.1 billion in 2030, up from $20.7 billion in 2018 and $10.5 billion in 2010. The 2030 figure will form about 16 per cent of the Government’s yearly Budget, up from 12 per cent currently.”

— based on https://reason.com/2020/12/12/singapore-is-not-the-model-for-a-more-libertarian-america/

Lee Kuan Yew regarded with disdain both “free” government-provided health care and what he saw as grossly inefficient private models.

Lee said of Britain’s NHS (National Health Service) in a 2001 interview with PBS. “These are scarce resources. You’ve only got a limited number of top-class surgeons or doctors, and if you promise everybody that they are entitled to the same treatment, it’s just not practical.”

Lee wrote “American-style medical insurance schemes are expensive, with high premiums because of wasteful and extravagant diagnostic tests paid for out of insurance.”

Singapore has found that making patients pay a nominal amount for every type of medical service discourages unnecessary consumption, and that the spectrum of service upgrades — from shorter wait times to one-person wards — allows prices to work as a /mechanism/ for allocating resources.

time=onYourSide iFF…#patience #stableAppreciation

Posted on Mon, 08/Mar/2021Sun, 19/Jan/2025 by tiger40490

k_babysit4exit

My friend Kun.H is the first one to remind me this vague yet powerful factor (See my Feb 2021 mail below). Warren Buffett also mentioned some variation of it. He wants to buy-n-hold for decades. IFF you choose wisely, then the assistance of Time can be effective and quick. I think ValueInvesting often shows powerful examples but not everyone is able to follow ValueInvesting principles.

— BnH: time is on your side if you buy and hold. If you try to time the market to exit, then time is probably not on your side.

Assuming BnH is a good thing, BNH proves to be much easier with real assets due to higher tx cost ?!

For both BGC and khm investments, I need many more years than initially planned (10Y). Luckily, I invested at age 41 and later, so I have a long runway.

— swans and price stability
With speculative assets, I don’t feel time is on your side. See https://tanbinvest.dreamhosters.com/1786/durability-asset-appreciation/

— ChineseBambooTreeParable .. is more relevant in pff than in other domains, because:

buy-n-forget .. you need due diligence to pick the seed. After that, you don’t need to babysit.
there’s an effective “system” at work, with the power to grow the asset. No such “system” outside the pff domain.
in pff, from Year 1 you can see the current value:) In the classic CBTP, the current value is $0 for four long years, i.e. no immediate result 🙁

Q: which asset classes are economically no-growth ?
* gold and oil … supposed to be scarce commodities with increasing demand, but the market may take decades to reflect that.
* bccy
— is time on your side in these asset classes? It depends on your horizon and other factors.

Time is usually on the side of productive assets, unless the payout rate is not growing enough.
U.S. stocks in general yes, but non-US tend to have long trough, so during your lifetime, Time may not be on your side.
U.S. index ETF .. long-term trend exceeds expRatio, so yes Time is on your side.
(see also mail below)
zero-coupon bond? Its value approaches par, but it is dubious to say Time is on your side. I guess in a volatile market, you can just hold the bond to maturity and therefore Time is on your side.
rEstate in developing countries — yes (but probably not in most parts of U.S. See blogposts on Brian.)
.. For rEstate, Time can be a lifetime 😉
REITs .. yes the rental payout gives hope that Time is on your side.
small amount of physical gold (so that I can keep at home at very small negative DYOC)? Time may not be on your side as gold long trough can last decades.
mufu? with expense ratio time is on fund manager’s side
FX? No
annuity like CpfLife? probably yes. The longer you live, the more payout you receive.
endowment and other insurance products? questionable
.. Note there’s a high expense ratio in all insurance products, worse than mufu.

—– Letter to Kun.H
I like your comment about “have time on our side”. Mutual funds have an erosive expense ratio, so time is on the fund manager’s side 😉

To have Time on my side, one of my habits is buy-n-hold. (A related habit is buy-n-forget, as explained in the earlier mail below. If I must babysit my positions, then Time is not really on my side.)

Q: Do stock markets show long-term growth more than inflation?
A: Not sure. Depends on the region and the timeframe. Most authors use U.S. equities history over the past 100 years. What if they only look at the last 20Y? What if they look at another region beside the U.S.?
A: Beware of survival bias. There are thousands of growth stocks (including fake and failed growth stocks) in the last 50 years, but if we include all stocks across all equity markets, the long-term trend would look less convincing, less foolproof.

In contrast to growth stocks, look at T:US. Not much of a long-term trend, but it delivers a consistent dividend, following a sustainable DPR (dividend payout ratio). Looking at my dividend stocks like T:US, I feel “~~Growth is overrated and based on flawed analysis but dividends seldom lie.~~”

Our friend, Time, is a big help in dividend stocks — If the business has healthy profit, cash flow and DPR, then time will prove that the stock is worth buying. Its valuation will tend to grow with the overall market, perhaps at a low beta.

With growth stocks, Time is even more helpful. Beware
* we must pick the real growth stocks not fake ones (with dividend stocks I mostly look at track record only)
* we may need to baby-sit them after we buy (less baby-sitting for dividend stocks… buy-n-forget)

It’s easier to be patient with an investment when it generates periodic cash incomes.

You raised the excellent question about bonds. High coupons are usually on long bonds… where inflation (Time) is NOT on our side. In contrast, about half of my dividend stocks could hopefully grow with the stock market. Both dividend amount and stock price would grow. Nevertheless, there is indeed a chance that my dividend stocks underperform bonds.

With both growth stocks and dividend stocks, we need to have Time on our side and we need patience.

My objective is not windfall appreciation. My objective is a dependable income, like retirees. For my objective dividend stocks are safer. I believe Time is on my side. Time will tell.

Earn/Save/Invest: excel@2 out of 3 #reckless investor

Posted on Thu, 25/Feb/2021Sun, 31/Mar/2024 by tiger40490

k_investor_selfEval

A blogpost on FIRE-in-SGP introduced this concept to me: Earn/Save/Invest — you need to excel at 2 out of 3 i.e. doing better than average. Then you could achieve FIRE. I like the simplicity.

Note “excelling” at Save means “strong savings discipline”, with a large cash reserve, similiar to Sg government.

Note: Wise investor is not reckless. Aggressive investor doesn’t always excel at investing.

Beware peer comparison. Some people would be good at all 3, but usually there’s ~~not much we can learn from them~~ ! Specifically, those who Earn well would seldom Save a high percentage, but their absolute Save amount is still substantial. What can a low-earner learn from them? So some peer comparison on Earn/Save/Invest would be counterproductive.

— Earn+Save -> superior brbr
This type includes people who invest very conservatively or keep lots of cash.
If someone good at Earn/Save and invest heavily into SP500, then she probably falls into Earn/Save/Invest triple threat.
— Save+Invest with limited income .. the FIRE theme
How about Save/badInvesting, with a contingency reserve more than 3Y worth of living expenses? This buffer would protect against the investment disappointments. In an disaster, this buffer could save the ship.
— Earn+invest with limited cash reserve .. is the most popular combination. However, it’s important to point out most of us are not going to earn 3 times the median household income, any time soon. (If you earn 2.5 times the median, but save just 10%, then your surplus is 25% of the median income.)

I think my sis might be in this category.

Beware of Earn / lowSaving / aggressiveInvesting. I feel this is quite common. If the aggressive investing is currently profitable, then the individual would tend to increase risk appetite. If in the red, then the low contingency buffer would be a weakness.
— me

I’m A on Save. Not perfect in teaching my kids
I’m B on Earn. Easy to benchmark — You can reference the national income distributions. My biggest hidden strength is career longevity, based on healthy longevity.
I’m C+ on invest, measured by my own standard (leaning towards current income). No universal benchmark here.

C means “decent”, “good enough”; D means “barely enough”; F means Fail.

[21]cpfRA for liquid parking@4% #green^red

Posted on Tue, 16/Feb/2021Mon, 24/Feb/2025 by tiger40490

Rule 1: After RA is created at 55, you can top up directly to cpfRA. Cpf dashboard will show your “cpfRA topUp each year” including OA->RA transfers. Supposed they add up to 99k over 9Y, then this portion (red portion) of your cpfRA is implicitly locked up, and never f4w (free for withdrawal from cpfRA).

Rule 2: By pledging your portion of your flat, you can incrementally withdraw from green_portion , defined as the age 55 snap55_FRS_minus_BRS.

The green_portion of cpfRA is freed up and becomes f4w when your pledge is approved. This portion starts at 50% of the cpfRA balance. As cpfRA grows, green portion will become a smaller portion, even if dollar amount remains.

Here’s an illustration. Suppose at 55 your cpfSA balance is 284k when FRS watermark is at 250k. This FRS amount will transfer to cpfRA, and the remainder to cpfOA. Now you can [Rule 2] incrementally withdraw the 125k green portion from cpfRA. Meanwhile, you can also top up cpfRA (see cpfRA top-up till 65). For example, you can top up 35k to the red portion, and subsequently withdraw 30k from green portion. Due to Rule 1, this 35k top-up amount is locked up in the red_portion, in some hidden tracking account. The green_portion is now 125k-30k.

After 55, cpfOA balance is also f4w. Only after (not before) you exhaust that, should you withdraw from the green_portion of cpfRA. Don’t touch the green_portion too early and lose the cpfRA interest.

It’s advisable for my wife to max out the snap55, by topping up to OA or SA before 55. If you top up 100k right [1] before 55, this amount becomes basically “free parking” in cpfRA earning 4% compound.

[1] If you top up 3Y before 55, then this amount is inaccessible for 3Y 🙁 However, if you have idle cash not needed for 2 years until age 55, then you can “deposit” that to cpf OA/SA and wait a short while to have it freed up.

Q: Pledging property…. Is my wife a 50% owner or 5% owner? What if she refunds all of her OA amount?
A: still she is considered a co-owner.

— conditions for withdraw from greenPortion

RA balance is above FRS
if $0 “housing usage”, then submit additional docs to prove that you have a usable Singapore property with enough cash value.
.. It’s advisible to leave a bit of housing usage.

dTanbinvest

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