Retirement Timeline: When Will My Money Run Out?

Line up CPF LIFE, your OA, savings and spending year by year and find the age the gap opens.

You And Your Spending

Your age now

years

Age you stop work

years

Monthly spending today

For the household, in today's dollars. Include yearly bills divided by 12.

Yearly rise in prices

% a year

An assumption. Try 1%, 2% and 3%.

Income That Lasts

CPF LIFE payout each month

Your own estimate from the CPF website. Add your spouse's if you are planning as a couple.

Payouts start at age

years

From 65 to 70.

Other monthly income

Rent or a pension, from the day you stop work. Leave out a salary.

Savings You Will Draw On

Cash savings

Interest on cash

% a year

Use what you earn now, not a promotional rate.

CPF Ordinary Account

Only what you can withdraw from 55.

Ordinary Account rate

% a year

Current rate; 2.5% is the legislated minimum.

One-Off Cost (Optional)

Amount

A big medical bill or home repair, for example.

At age

years

Savings run short at age–

Savings when you stop work: –
Monthly gap in the first year: –
Monthly gap later: –
Cash savings used up at age: –
Years your savings last: –

Year By Year

Age	Monthly spending	Monthly income	Monthly gap	Savings left at year end

Illustration only, not a guarantee. CPF LIFE keeps paying for life even after savings reach zero.

How To Read The Timeline

The timeline has one row for each year of retirement. Each row compares what you spend with the income that lasts for life, and takes the difference out of your savings. The row to find is the one where savings reach zero. It does not mean you have nothing: CPF LIFE keeps paying for as long as you live. It means your payout alone has to cover your spending from then on.

The starting figures are the illustrative couple from our article, The Retirement Timeline: When Does Your Money Run Out? They have $250,000 in savings and a first-year gap of $1,200 a month, yet the savings run short at 78. A level payout meets rising prices, so the gap almost doubles in 13 years.

Change one number at a time. Trimming spending by a few hundred dollars a month, or one percentage point less inflation, can move the age by several years. Run it more than once, including once with a large one-off cost.

Assumptions And Limits

Spending rises every year at the inflation rate you enter, starting from today. Your CPF LIFE payout and other income stay level, as on the CPF LIFE Standard Plan. The Escalating Plan and any future adjustment to payouts are not modelled.
Each year's shortfall is drawn at the start of the year, from cash savings first and then from your Ordinary Account. What remains earns a full year of interest at the rates you enter, held constant. A surplus is added to cash savings.
The CPF LIFE payout is your own figure, not one this tool works out. Get your estimate from the CPF website. Payouts can start from 65 and be deferred up to 70.
Enter only the Ordinary Account savings you can actually withdraw. Before 55 the tool does not draw on the Ordinary Account at all. The default 2.5% is the current rate and the legislated minimum.
Extra CPF interest, tax, investment gains or losses, the value of your home, MediSave, insurance payouts and large medical or care costs are left out, apart from the single one-off cost you can add.
Before retirement, the tool assumes you neither add to nor draw from these savings: they only earn interest.

This calculator was built with AI tools from published rules and may contain errors. Results are estimates for education only, not financial advice and not a guarantee. Rates and rules change; confirm with the official source before you act. Your figures stay in your browser: nothing you type is sent to us.

Retirement Timeline: When Will My Money Run Out?

You And Your Spending

Income That Lasts

Savings You Will Draw On

One-Off Cost (Optional)

Year By Year

How To Read The Timeline

Assumptions And Limits

Sources

Take Our Free CPF Retirement Guide With You