Most CPF advice online is complicated. Transfer your OA to SA. Top up to the Full Retirement Sum. Invest through CPFIS. Maximise your Retirement Account.
I did none of that.
What I did was simpler — and it still worked. Here is exactly what I did with my CPF, why I made those choices, and what I would suggest you consider based on your own situation.
The simple truth about CPF SA
When I started working, I did what most Singaporeans do — I let my CPF contributions go in each month and I did not touch them. Mandatory contributions from both my employer and myself flowed into my Ordinary Account, Special Account, and Medisave Account automatically.
The SA earns a guaranteed 4% interest per year. That is not a small number. Over two decades, the compounding effect on a consistent stream of contributions is significant — even without doing anything extra.
I never transferred OA funds to SA. I never made voluntary cash top-ups to my SA. And until now, I have not invested my CPF OA through CPFIS — but that is about to change, which I will share more about shortly.
I simply left my SA alone and let time and compound interest do the work.
This is the part most people overlook when they read complicated CPF optimisation strategies. The most powerful thing you can do with your CPF SA is also the simplest — start early, contribute consistently through employment, and leave it alone.
The one thing I did differently — voluntary housing refund
In 2022, I made the decision to do a voluntary housing refund on my properties.
Here is some context for those unfamiliar. When you use CPF OA funds to purchase a property in Singapore, you owe that money back to your CPF — the principal you withdrew, plus the accrued interest it would have earned at 2.5% per annum had it stayed in your OA. This is called the accrued interest.
When you sell a property, CPF takes back what it is owed automatically. But you can also choose to refund this amount voluntarily at any time — without selling the property.
Why would you do this? Because once the money goes back into your CPF OA, it earns interest again. And if you then choose to transfer OA funds to SA, it earns 4% instead of 2.5%. You are essentially returning money to a guaranteed, tax-free interest-earning account.
I started making voluntary housing refunds in 2022 — not as a fixed monthly amount, but as lump sum top-ups when it made sense. There was no rigid schedule. I did it when I had excess funds available from my rental income and investment returns.
The result was that a meaningful sum went back into my CPF, where it continues to earn guaranteed interest — contributing quietly to my overall financial position.
My CPF OA investment plan — and why I chose Endowus
I have not yet invested my CPF OA through CPFIS — but that is about to change. I am currently planning to invest my CPF OA funds through Endowus, a robo-advisor that is one of the few platforms in Singapore authorised to invest CPF monies.
My reasoning: the CPF OA earns 2.5% guaranteed interest, which is a decent floor. But a well-diversified, low-cost portfolio through Endowus has the potential to generate meaningfully higher returns over the long term — and at my stage, I have time to ride out any market volatility.
I have not made this move yet, so I will share my experience and results once I do. Watch this space — I will write a dedicated post on my Endowus CPF investing journey when it begins.
What does this mean for you?
Your CPF situation will be different from mine. Your property history, your OA balance, your SA balance, your years of employment — all of these affect what makes sense for you.
But here are the principles I would offer:
- Do not underestimate what your SA is already doing. If you have been working for 10, 15, or 20 years, your SA has been compounding at 4% the entire time. Check your balance. It may be larger than you expect.
- Consider the voluntary housing refund if you used CPF to buy property. If you have the funds available and you are not close to selling your property, refunding the accrued interest returns money to a guaranteed-return environment. It is worth understanding and discussing with a financial advisor.
- Consider your CPF OA strategy carefully. The guaranteed 2.5% interest is a solid floor — but for those with a longer time horizon and higher risk tolerance, investing CPF OA through an approved platform like Endowus has the potential to generate meaningfully higher returns over the long term. This is a step I am taking myself, and I will share my experience as I go.
- Think long-term. The power of CPF is not in any single clever move. It is in decades of consistent contributions compounding at guaranteed rates. That is what I experienced — and it made a real difference to my overall financial position at retirement.
The honest summary
My CPF strategy was not clever. It was not optimised. I did not do the things the personal finance blogs tell you to do.
I let my SA compound naturally for decades. And in 2022, I made voluntary housing refunds to return funds to my CPF when I had the capacity to do so.
That was it. CPF has not yet factored into my retirement income — I am still years away from drawdown age. But it sits there compounding quietly, and will form part of my financial picture in the future. Think of it as a later-stage foundation that is building itself in the background while your other assets do the work today.”
Sometimes the most powerful strategy is the simplest one — show up consistently, leave good systems alone, and let time do the work.
— Eunice
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