(20-08-2014, 08:32 AM)corydorus Wrote: National Rally 2014 speech touches CPF and Financial Planning. I am in full agreement that the issue is not minimum sum but sustainability to support retirement through CPF commitments. Leaseback extends to 4 Room is good news. I hope this can be extended to all properties.
Aside, overall i am please with the high quality presentation. Kudos to the team. Constantly reminding myself not to take this for granted. I feel proud to be a Singaporean.
btw i did not vote for this gov last time. I will review my decision again in the next on how effective the Property Curb measures.
They screw up big time in the supply imo. Is important we do not live off from our future generations.
I have a slightly different perspective.
Like I posted in another thread, if I am asked if I "trust" the current government / incumbent political party, that they are competent and pragmatic; the answer is unequivocally YES for the PAP old guards, a definite NO for the Goh Chok Tong era (asset enhancement scheme, infrastructure falling behind population growth etc) and a MAYBE for the current leadership because I perceive too much populist tendencies (when you appease a monkey with peanuts, it grows into a chimpanzee and if you continue it grows into a gorilla and finally into King Kong!).
The title of the article referenced at the start of this thread is "Major CPF Policy Shift On The Way". IMHO the only "Shift" is the ability to withdraw 20% of the minimum sum at the age of 65. The rest are "Tweaks":
Extending lease buyback to 4 room flats (I note that this is not a popular option even amongst 3 room flat owners).
A "new" Silver Bonus promising top ups for older Singaporeans who do not have enough in their CPF accounts, do not own flats and are without family support (ST estimated that this will benefit about 10% to 20% of Singaporeans which I find a really scary statistic) aka along the existing trajectory of more help for the very poor and vulnerable.
An (last?) increase in the minimum sum to $161K in 2015 which is a continuation of the current policy trajectory without any "Policy Shift" towards helping Singaporeans achieve it.
My ideal Government is one of leadership predicated on the ability to make hard headed decisions based on principles. The public need not always agree with their decisions but a majority should hold the opinion that the Government do have valid reasons behind them. The Government also need not always be right but they should be accountable for their mistakes and attempt to fix them rather than insist on maintaining an aura of omniscient.
While I do appreciate that the incumbent government must be seen to be responding to public demands but, based on this standard, I really did expect more given that this was a highly anticipated nationally televised moment of truth to be delivered by the Prime Minister himself.
So what is the standard that I expect from a "Major CPF Policy Shift"? I admit that I was impressed by the white paper put up by the National Solidarity Party (see
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1axuAdy...hJaGs/edit ). To be balanced, their proposals will result in a major increase in business costs and affect Singaporeans' ability to service their existing mortgages so I do have strong reservations. But while I am not making a carte blanche plug for them, I do believe that credit should be given where credit is due.
My hope is that when the MOM Advisory Panel on CPF Changes is convened, that they do look for good ideas even from the opposition parties. The aim should be to try to make CPF a world class retirement scheme and not for the incumbent Government to try to maintain their aura of omniscient.
Btw I did not vote for this gov last time as well. That was after a most unsatisfactory dialogue with my MP over my perspective that foreigners were being treated better than Singaporeans. But that is a post for another day.