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Less Options for CPF Life
It has been announced that CPF Life will be revamped from the year 2013 onwards.
Instead of providing four options for CPF members to choose form, members will now be given only two choices – the existing basic plan, and a new standard plan which is a combination of the two current most popular plans (Balanced and Plus Plans). The standard plan will now be the default option for those who do not choose.
The reason given for this change is to make the options of CPF Life simpler for people to choose.
I actually prefer having more options as it will give people greater flexibility to choose a plan that better suits their needs. For those people who are confused, they can always stick to the default option.
Anyway, we will change from the current:
- LIFE Income Plan – No bequest, highest monthly payout
- LIFE Plus Plan – Low bequest, high monthly payout
- LIFE Balanced Plan – Medium bequest, medium monthly payout (default)
- LIFE Basic Plan – High bequest, low monthly payout
to
- Life Standard Plan – average of low and medium bequest, average of medium and high monthly payout (default)
- Life Basic Plan – high bequest, low monthly payout
We don’t have the details of the new projections yet but it is likely that the new default option will have a lower bequest since the standard plan is a combination of the old balanced and plus plan. This means a higher proportional of the Minimum Sum will be put into the life annuity pool.
We have come a long way from the original twelve options recommended by the National Longevity Insurance Committee to two options today.
I foresee that sometime in the future, CPF Life will be reduced to just one option. After all, we don’t have a choice where most of the CPF regulations and changes are concerned. So I don’t see why it would be any different for CPF Life.
Existing CPF Life policyholders on any of the four current plans can continue to remain on their existing plans.
He or she may also choose to switch to the new Standard Plan before 31 Dec 2013 if he or she finds that it now better meets his or her retirement needs. Existing policyholders will receive customised informational packages from the third quarter of 2012, to help them better understand the differences between their existing plans and the new Standard plan.