What is CPF LIFE? It is Singapore’s national annuity: at 65 or later, the savings in your Retirement Account (RA) are used as a premium, and in return you receive a monthly payout for as long as you live. The money does not run out at 85 or 90, which is the whole point of the scheme.
Most people born in 1958 or later are placed on it automatically. Here is how the machinery works, using CPF Board’s own descriptions.
What Is CPF LIFE For?
CPF LIFE stands for Lifelong Income For the Elderly. CPF Board calls it a national longevity insurance annuity scheme.
The risk it insures is a good one to have: living a long time. If you draw down a pot of savings yourself, you have to guess how many years it must last. Guess too short and the money ends before you do.
CPF LIFE removes the guess. Members put their retirement savings into a common scheme, and the scheme pays every member monthly until death, whether that is at 72 or 102.
Who Is Included Automatically
According to CPF Board, you are automatically included if you meet all three conditions.
| Condition | What CPF Board says |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident |
| Birth year | Born in 1958 or after |
| Savings | At least S$60,000 in retirement savings when you start your monthly payouts |
CPF Board will inform you before you turn 65 and explain your options.
If you are not automatically included, for example because you were born before 1958 or have less than $60,000, you stay on the older Retirement Sum Scheme. Its payouts stop when your savings run out. You can still choose to join CPF LIFE from 65 until one month before you turn 80. We compare the two in Retirement Sum Scheme versus CPF LIFE.
If you already have a pension or private annuity that pays the same or more each month, CPF Board says you can apply to be exempted. Our comparison of private annuities and CPF LIFE sets out how the two differ.
How CPF LIFE Works: Premium, Pooled Interest, Payouts
There are three moving parts.
1. Your RA savings become the premium
At 55, CPF creates your Retirement Account from your Special and Ordinary Account savings, up to your cohort’s Full Retirement Sum. That account keeps earning interest until you start payouts.
When you start, the premium is deducted from your RA:
- Standard and Escalating Plans: all your RA savings are deducted as the premium.
- Basic Plan: about 10% to 20% is deducted as the premium. The remaining 80% to 90% stays in your RA and funds your payouts until one month before you turn 90.
2. The interest is pooled
Your premium continues to earn CPF interest. CPF Board describes this as risk-free interest of up to 6% a year, built on a 4% floor rate plus extra interest on the first $60,000 of combined balances.
That interest does not sit in a personal account. It goes into a common pool, and the projected interest is factored into your monthly payout from the start. This is why payouts are higher than you would get by simply dividing your savings over 20 or 25 years.
3. Payouts come from your premium first, then the pool
CPF Board explains that your monthly payouts are drawn from your own premium first. Once your premium is exhausted, payouts continue from the interest that you and other members have accumulated.
This is risk pooling. Members who die earlier leave their unpaid interest in the pool. Members who live longer draw on it. Nobody knows in advance which group they will be in.
The short version: CPF LIFE turns your Retirement Account into a monthly income that lasts as long as you do. Your premium is paid back to you first. After that, pooled interest keeps the payouts going. Any unused premium goes to your beneficiaries.
How Much It Pays
Payouts depend on how much is in your RA, when you start and which plan you pick.
CPF Board publishes estimates for members turning 55 in 2026. For a male member on the Standard Plan, setting aside the 2026 Full Retirement Sum of $220,400 at 55 is estimated to give about $1,780 a month from 65. These are CPF’s estimates, not guarantees, and CPF Board says they may be adjusted for long-term changes in interest rates or life expectancy.
We set out the full table in CPF LIFE payouts for the BRS, FRS and ERS.
Two levers change the amount:
- Start age. You can start any time from 65 to 70. CPF Board says payouts rise by up to 7% for each year you defer, up to 35% at 70. See deferring CPF LIFE to 70.
- Plan. Standard pays a level amount. Escalating starts lower and rises 2% a year. Basic starts lower and falls once balances drop below $60,000. See the three CPF LIFE plans compared.
What It Does Not Do
CPF LIFE is a floor, not a full retirement plan. It helps to know its limits.
- It is not a savings account. Once savings are deducted as a premium, you cannot take them out as a lump sum.
- The Standard Plan does not rise with prices. CPF Board’s own example is that $1,000 of spending today may need about $1,500 in 20 years.
- Interest on the premium is not inherited. Your beneficiaries receive any unused premium, not the pooled interest. See what happens to your CPF LIFE money when you die.
- It pays what your savings support. A small RA means a small payout. The scheme does not top it up for you, although lower-income seniors may receive separate government payouts.
Why It Is Run This Way
CPF Board describes CPF LIFE as a non-profit scheme with no advertising costs or agents’ commissions, and the largest member pool in Singapore. A large pool makes the averages reliable, which is what lets the scheme promise payment for life.
It also says the design ensures members get back at least the dollar amount of their premiums, through payouts, bequests or both.
What To Do Next
- Log in to the CPF website with Singpass and open your Retirement Dashboard to see your RA balance and estimated payouts.
- Try our CPF retirement sum planner to see how your RA compares with the Basic, Full and Enhanced Retirement Sums.
- If you are close to 65, read how to start your CPF LIFE payouts.
- Check that your CPF nomination is current.
