Here's what you need to know about your CPF Yearly Statement of Account

Some CPF members often look forward to the start of the year for their personalised copy of their CPF Yearly Statement of Account (YSOA). Unlike previous years, CPF will no longer be issuing a hardcopy of the YSOA, but you can now access it conveniently in your CPF account, or via an email sent by the CPF Board.

Why should you care about your YSOA? Here are 4 reasons which will be fleshed out further as you read on:

1. Your CPF interest earned across all your accounts and annual CPF contribution
2. An overview of your CPF withdrawals and transactions
3. Actionable insights on how to maximise your CPF
4. The yearly progress on your CPF growth

Your 2020 YSOA can be accessed conveniently within the CPF online services, or alternatively, you can access the latest and past YSOA statements by taking the following steps:

1. Click on "My Statement" in the sidebar
2. Scroll down to Section B "CPF Statements"
3. Click on "Yearly Statement of Account"
4. Choose the CPF YSOA year that you want to view

If you are not as familiar with CPF, you may be wondering about the benefits of a tool like the CPF Yearly Statement of Account. After reviewing different family members' and friends' YSOAs, we have come to realise that the CPF YSOA can be a highly personalised and insightful planning tool. Here are 4 useful pieces of information you can glean from the report.

See your "hard-earned" interest and contribution across your CPF accounts

Detractors of CPF often lament that their CPF contributions and interest earned are opaque. After all, CPF rules are complicated and require time and effort to understand.

The 2020 CPF YSOA cleanly summarises the incremental change in your CPF account since last year. The statement cleanly segregates the different inflows into categories such as:

1. Your personal contributions, be it mandatory contributions as an employee or those you top-up at your own discretion
2. Employer contributions
3. Government contributions, such as interest payments
   

There are also helpful tool-tips for you to understand the details of each breakdown.

You can view the base interest  — the standard 2.5% / 4% interest rates on your CPF Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA) and Medisave Account (MA) — and the extra 1% interest that you have earned on CPF.

Note that it was announced on 29 May 2023 that the SA and MA interest rate will increase to 4.01% for the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 Sept 2023. Learn more about CPF interest rates here.

You would have maxed out the additional interest you can receive if you:

1. received $600 (for those who are below 55 years old)
2. received $900 (for those who are 55 years old and above)

If you have not received the above maximum interest, you can consider either topping up your own CPF through voluntary contribution or the retirement sum top-up scheme.

Alternatively, you may get your family members to top-up your CPF balance as well.

A useful tip: CPF interest is calculated based on the monthly lowest balance. In the event that you want to make a voluntary contribution, do it at the end of the month instead, since interest is not accrued daily.

Get an overview of your CPF withdrawals and usage

Not only do you see the inflows into your CPF account, but you also get a breakdown of the outflows as well. These are categorised under housing, retirement, healthcare and others.

In summary, housing usage denotes CPF OA monies withdrawn for downpayment, mortgage instalments and other housing-related expenses.

Retirement usage includes CPF life premiums, monthly payout from your Retirement Account, and even top-ups to loved ones CPF accounts.

Healthcare usage includes medical expenses such as Medishield Life and Careshield Life premiums

Others include Dependant's Protection Scheme Premiums and withdrawals from CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS).

One of the key reasons that many Singaporeans are unable to rely on CPF for retirement is because they may have used too much of their CPF OA monies on housing. Many Singaporeans wipe out their monthly OA contributions to pay for mortgages. Having an overview of your CPF inflows and outflows can help you understand if you are getting closer to your CPF retirement goals as every year passes.

If you have used most of your CPF for your mortgage payment, then consider investing your cash for retirement. Alternatively, you can use cash to pay for your mortgage while you keep your CPF monies to compound at a higher interest rate.

You can read more about the considerations behind using CPF or cash for your housing expenses here.

Actionable tips to maximise your CPF

The CPF YSOA not only gives you a snapshot of your CPF balances and transactions, it also shares actionable tips for you to utilise the different government schemes more effectively. These messages are personalised to you; different people will be shown different tips.

Not only that, the benefits of these actionable steps are also customised to you, and the details are quantified.

You can track the progress of your CPF monies

You can also access the past yearly statement of account conveniently in your CPF portal. The steps to gain access to past statements are as follows:

1. Click on "My Statement" in the sidebar
2. Scroll down to Section B "CPF Statements"
3. Click on "Yearly Statement of Account"
4. Choose the CPF YSOA year that you want to view
   

By comparing your previous CPF statements, you understand how much you have grown your CPF over the years and also reflect on the different milestones you have reached in your life.

For example, you might have earned more interest in your CPF annually prior to using CPF for your housing expenses. After reviewing the statements, you may want to pay off more of your mortgage using cash instead, so you can rebuild your retirement nest egg

Now that you have a clearer picture of your CPF account and its past activity, it's time to optimise it to ensure you get the most out of your money going forward. Learn more tips about growing and utilising your CPF in our webinar.

Get a head start on financial literacy & general investing by exploring the Endowus Fin.Lit Academy.

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