On your 55th birthday, CPF Board creates a Retirement Account (RA) for you. Savings from your Special Account (SA), then your Ordinary Account (OA), move into it up to your Full Retirement Sum, which is S$220,400 if you turn 55 in 2026. Your SA then closes, and whatever is left sits in your OA, where it can be withdrawn.
That is what happens to your CPF at 55 in one paragraph. The detail matters, because a few of the choices that follow cannot be undone.
What Happens to Your CPF at 55, Step by Step
CPF Board’s sequence is automatic:
- A Retirement Account is created.
- SA savings move in first, up to your Full Retirement Sum (FRS).
- OA savings follow if the SA alone is not enough to reach the FRS.
- The SA is closed. Any SA savings above the FRS move to your OA.
If your SA and OA together are less than the FRS, up to $5,000 stays in your OA so that you can withdraw it. The rest goes to the RA.
Your MediSave Account is not touched.
The FRS that applies is fixed by the year you turn 55: $220,400 for 2026 and $228,200 for 2027. See CPF retirement sums for 2026 and 2027.
Three Worked Examples
All three are illustrative members turning 55 in 2026. MediSave is left out.
| SA before | OA before | RA after | OA after | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: below the FRS | $80,000 | $40,000 | $115,000 | $5,000 |
| B: SA below the FRS, OA makes up the rest | $180,000 | $100,000 | $220,400 | $59,600 |
| C: SA above the FRS | $240,000 | $60,000 | $220,400 | $79,600 |
Member A has $120,000 in total. All $80,000 of the SA and $35,000 of the OA move to the RA. The last $5,000 stays in the OA and can be withdrawn.
Member B needs $40,400 from the OA to fill the RA. The remaining $59,600 in the OA is withdrawable.
Member C fills the RA from the SA alone. The extra $19,600 of SA savings moves to the OA, joining the $60,000 already there.
The short version: At 55 your SA closes and an RA opens. Savings up to your Full Retirement Sum are set aside in the RA for monthly payouts from 65. What remains in your OA is yours to withdraw, move or leave alone.
What You Can Withdraw
From 55 you can withdraw:
- Up to $5,000, whatever your balances.
- Your OA savings left after the FRS is set aside, as often as you like.
- More, if you own a property with a lease that lasts until you are at least 95. Property can count for up to half your FRS, which lets you withdraw RA savings above your Basic Retirement Sum.
Withdrawing is optional. Savings left in the OA keep earning 2.5% a year. Money taken out no longer earns CPF interest, and any RA savings you withdraw leave less to fund your monthly payouts.
We work through the amounts in how much CPF you can withdraw at 55 and 65.
What Changes After 55
Interest. RA savings earn 4% a year, the same floor rate the SA earned. Money that lands in your OA earns 2.5%. For Member C, the $19,600 that moved from SA to OA earns about $290 a year less than before.
Extra interest. The tiers improve. From 55 you earn an extra 2% on the first $30,000 of combined balances and an extra 1% on the next $30,000, with the RA counted first. Details are in CPF interest rates explained.
Contributions. If you keep working, your rate falls from the month after your birthday month. In 2026 the total is 34% for ages above 55 to 60, down from 37%. It rises to 35.5% on 1 January 2027. The share that used to go to the SA goes to the RA until it holds your FRS, then to the OA. See CPF allocation rates by age.
Top-up ceiling. You may now top up your RA beyond the FRS, up to the Enhanced Retirement Sum: $440,800 in 2026 and $456,400 in 2027. Top-ups are irreversible.
Withdrawal controls. CPF Board sets a default online Daily Withdrawal Limit of $2,000. You can raise it to a maximum of $50,000, after a 12-hour cooling period. You can also switch on the CPF Withdrawal Lock, which sets the online limit to zero.
Before You Turn 55: Housing
This is the one item with a deadline.
Once savings move into the RA, they can no longer be used for housing. If you are still paying a home loan from your OA, or plan to buy, CPF Board lets you reserve OA savings for housing before your 55th birthday. Reserved amounts are not swept into the RA at 55.
There is a trade-off. Money held back for housing is money not earning 4% in the RA. And for members born in 1958 or later, CPF Board states that OA savings are transferred to the RA when payouts start if the FRS has not been set aside by then.
If you hold Special Account investments, note where the proceeds go when sold after 55: to the RA up to the FRS, then the OA. We explain why in after the SA closure.
The Choices That Follow
After the automatic part, four decisions are yours.
- Leave OA savings where they are. They earn 2.5% and stay withdrawable.
- Withdraw. The money is flexible, but it leaves CPF’s guaranteed interest.
- Move OA savings into the RA, up to the Enhanced Retirement Sum, for higher payouts. It cannot be reversed. See topping up your Retirement Account from 55 to 64.
- Invest OA savings above $20,000 under the CPF Investment Scheme. Returns on market investments are non-guaranteed and can go down as well as up.
None of these has to be decided on your birthday. Our checklist of questions to ask before moving CPF money is a useful pause before any of them.
What To Do Next
- In the months before 55, check your Retirement dashboard on the CPF website to see how your SA and OA will be split.
- If you need OA savings for a home, look into reserving them before your birthday.
- Decide on a Daily Withdrawal Limit you are comfortable with, and consider the CPF Withdrawal Lock if you do not plan to withdraw.
- Review your CPF nomination. See CPF nomination versus a will.
- Use the CPF retirement sum planner to see what your RA could pay from 65.
- Review your cover at the same time: our insurance review at 55 and 65 lists which policies change and what to check.
