Since the CPF Special Account closure in January 2025, your Special Account (SA) closes when you turn 55. SA savings move to your Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum, and the rest goes to your Ordinary Account, where it can be withdrawn but earns the lower rate.
Until then, a member who turned 55 kept an SA alongside the new Retirement Account. Savings in that SA earned the higher interest rate and could still be withdrawn. A tactic known as “SA shielding” grew up around this.
That arrangement has ended. Here is what happens at 55 now, and what the choices are for money that used to sit in the SA.
What Happens on Your 55th Birthday
CPF Board sets out the sequence:
- A Retirement Account (RA) is created.
- Your SA savings move into the RA first, then your Ordinary Account (OA) savings, until the RA reaches your cohort’s Full Retirement Sum (FRS).
- The SA is closed. Any SA savings left over move to your OA.
The FRS is S$220,400 for members turning 55 in 2026 and $228,200 for those turning 55 in 2027.
After that, the part of your work contributions that used to go to the SA goes to the RA, up to the FRS. Once your RA holds the FRS, it goes to your OA instead.
For members who were already 55 or older, the SA was closed in the second half of January 2025 on the same basis.
Why the CPF Special Account Closure Happened
The reasoning CPF Board gave is about matching interest to access. Savings that can be withdrawn on demand should earn the short-term rate. Savings locked up for retirement should earn the long-term rate.
Before the change, SA savings above the FRS were withdrawable from 55 yet still earned the long-term rate. The closure removed that mismatch.
In today’s terms, the OA earns 2.5% a year and the RA earns a 4% floor, which the Government has extended to 31 December 2027.
Why ‘SA Shielding’ No Longer Works
The old tactic worked like this. Just before 55, a member invested most of the SA through the CPF Investment Scheme. With the SA nearly empty, the RA was filled from the OA instead. After 55, the member sold the investment and the money returned to the SA, earning the higher rate while remaining withdrawable.
Two rules now defeat it. The SA no longer exists after 55. And CPF Board states that when SA investments are sold or mature after the closure, the proceeds go to the RA up to the FRS, with the remainder going to the OA.
So a member who tries it today ends up in the same place as one who does nothing, after taking investment risk and paying costs along the way.
A Worked Example
Take an illustrative member who turns 55 in 2026 with $260,000 in his SA and $90,000 in his OA.
| Before 55 | After 55 | |
|---|---|---|
| Special Account | $260,000 | Closed |
| Retirement Account | None | $220,400 |
| Ordinary Account | $90,000 | $129,600 |
The RA takes $220,400 from the SA. The remaining $39,600 of SA savings moves to the OA. His OA savings are untouched because the SA alone covered the FRS.
The $129,600 in his OA can be withdrawn at any time. It earns 2.5% a year. On the $39,600 that came from the SA, that is about $590 a year less than it would earn at 4%.
This is a composite example using 2026 figures. It ignores extra interest and MediSave.
The short version: At 55 your SA closes. Savings up to the FRS go to your Retirement Account and keep earning the higher rate. The rest goes to your Ordinary Account, where it is withdrawable but earns 2.5%.
What You Can Do With the OA Money Now
There is no replacement for the old arrangement, in which money was both freely withdrawable and earning the long-term rate. Each option below gives up one or the other.
Leave it in the OA. It earns 2.5%, stays withdrawable and needs no action. For money you may need, this is a reasonable resting place.
Move it to your RA. You can transfer OA savings to your RA up to the Enhanced Retirement Sum, $440,800 in 2026 and $456,400 in 2027. It earns the higher rate and raises your CPF LIFE payouts. It is irreversible and returns only as monthly income. See topping up between 55 and 64.
Withdraw it. Once in your bank account it is fully flexible, but it leaves CPF’s guaranteed interest behind and is yours to manage.
Invest it through the CPF Investment Scheme. You must keep $20,000 in the OA. Products range from T-bills and fixed deposits to funds and shares. Returns on market investments are non-guaranteed and can fall as well as rise. For the lower-risk choices, see the break-even maths against 2.5%.
Help a family member. You can transfer CPF savings to specified family members once you have set aside enough for yourself. CPF Board’s rules for members aged 55 and above depend on who receives the money. For a spouse, you set aside your Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) first. For parents and grandparents, it is the BRS if you own a property and can meet your FRS with your CPF savings and that property, and the FRS if you do not. For siblings, parents-in-law and grandparents-in-law, it is the FRS, and only OA savings can be transferred. See family top-ups and matched grants.
The choice turns on one question: how sure are you that you will not need this money as a lump sum? Our retirement sum planner shows what different RA balances could mean in monthly payouts.
If You Are Not Yet 55
Your SA carries on as before until your 55th birthday. Top-ups and transfers into it still work, up to the current FRS.
What has changed is the end point. Whatever is in your SA at 55 fills the RA first, and only the excess reaches the OA. Plans built on large SA balances earning the long-term rate after 55 need redoing. We look at one such plan in 1M65 explained.
It is also a reminder about policy risk. A rule that had stood for years changed with about a year’s notice. Any strategy that depends on one specific rule staying put carries that risk.
What To Do Next
- If you are turning 55 soon, check your Retirement dashboard to see how your SA and OA will be split.
- Decide how much of your OA you want to keep accessible before transferring any of it to your RA.
- If you hold SA investments, note where the proceeds will go when you sell after 55.
- Work through our questions to ask before moving CPF money after 55.
- See every CPF strategy by age for the wider picture.
