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SRS: E-book and a brief analysis.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

UPDATE (YA 2018):
Taxpayers who make SRS contributions on or after 1 Jan 2017 should note that the overall personal income tax relief cap of $80,000 applies from YA 2018 (when the income earned in 2017 is assessed to tax).
Read: SRS INCOME TAX RELIEF.
Feb 16, 2017
See examples:
https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/Individuals/Locals/Working-Out-Your-Taxes/Deductions-for-Individuals--Reliefs--Expenses--Donations-/#title7



----------------------------

SRS e-book
Recently, I came across a couple of blogs talking about the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS). 

Over the years, whenever I talked about how I started an SRS account from the time the scheme was introduced in 2001, listeners would be incredulous. I was only 30 years old in 2001. To me, the tax benefit was too obvious to be ignored. Since 2001, I have contributed to my SRS account up to the maximum sum allowed yearly.




In a blog post on 24 Dec 2009, I mentioned that "As long as a person is paying income tax, he should start an SRS account and contribute to it yearly so that he pays less income tax (or none at all). For me, it's that simple.

Well, it might be that simple for me but for people with many financial commitments, it might not be so. For these people, they might not have much money leftover after taking care of all their routine expenses. So, voluntary contributions to the SRS account could be difficult.

Having said this, as long as we are paying income tax, voluntary contributions to our SRS accounts should be viewed as an important part of planning for our retirement. We should try to include it in our retirement planning.






Voluntary cash contributions to the SRS account are eligible for tax relief. For some, contributing just a few thousand dollars a year could mean not having to pay any income tax. So, there is no need to contribute the maximum of S$11,475 per annum. This is the maximum allowed for Singaporeans and PRs.

Therefore, I would suggest that we look at how much of our income is taxable and to contribute to the SRS account sufficiently to become free from income tax. After all, funds in the SRS account should not be withdrawn till the statutory retirement age to avoid penalties. So, cash in hand is still better than being in the SRS account.




Of course, if our taxable income is much higher, contributing the maximum sum allowed would save us much in income tax although it might not mean being free from income tax. How much to contribute, if ability allows, therefore, depends on individual income levels.

Money in the SRS account could be used to invest for higher returns. Examples are fixed deposits, single premium insurance policies, shares, REITs, ETFs and unit trusts. SRS funds cannot be used for purchasing real estate, for example.







Upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 62, if we had been making regular contributions and investing prudently, money in our SRS accounts could be an important part of our retirement income. 50% of the funds withdrawn upon retirement would be subject to income tax. If we keep our yearly withdrawal within the non-taxable bracket which I believe is $20K, we would not even have to pay any income tax.

So, theoretically, if we had $200K or less in our SRS accounts by the time we retire, withdrawals could be non-taxable. Withdrawing the funds in ten equal portions over a period of ten years would lower the income tax payable if we had more than $200K in our SRS accounts by the time we retire.

For anyone paying income tax yearly and still wondering if the SRS is necessary, do consider the points I have made in this blog post. Financial security in our old age is one of the most important things we have to plan for in life.




UPDATE (18 July 2014):
The maximum contribution allowed for the SRS account now is $12,750 per annum.

NEW: From 2016, max contribution is $15,300.

Read Supplementary Retirement Scheme.
Updated Booklet on the SRS: HERE.





From the FAQ section on SRS in MOF's website.

Update:
"... the caps on contributions to the Supplementary Retirement Scheme will also be raised to $15,300 for Singapore citizens and permanent residents and $35,700 for foreigners."Source: The Straits Times, 23 Feb 15.

Related post: Double your income, not your income tax.

67 comments:

Ken said...

Hi AK
Nice post. Rather than yearly withdrawal of $20,000 after 62 yrs old ,I think one can withdraw up to $40,000 of which $20,000 is taxable.. Yet this amt incurs zero tax by IRAS rules.. =)

Anonymous said...

i got a different opinion. the every dollar of SRS is equivalent to every dollar in salary income tax deducted. Hence if you earn 30K p.a. you need to contribute 10,000 per year to avoid tax completely.

On a side note, has anyone claimed employment expenses using EZLink? how does it work?

Bill

AK71 said...

Hi Ken,

I was under the impression that if we withdrew $40K a year upon retirement, $20K is still taxable. However, your explanation makes sense. Thanks. :)

AK71 said...

Hi Bill,

I am afraid I do not get what you are trying to say. Would you care to elaborate? Thanks. :)

As for claiming for expenses, I do not have any experience here.

bummy said...

i started contributing to my srs in 2005 and have saved a decent sum in taxes.

i use my srs mainly for reits and the dividends so far have been in excess of 5%, which is very decent.

based on my calculation of $11,475 contribution yearly from say age 35 to 60 & a yield of just 3.5% ignoring capital gain/loss, the honey pot would cumulate just over $500,000 by age 60. That is a decent sum to have for retirement

AK71 said...

Hi bummy,

Thanks for sharing your personal experience. I am sure it would inspire many potential SRS account holders. ;)

As long as I am actively employed and taxable, I would continue to make contributions to my SRS account. :)

Raymond said...

Hi AK71,

Would like your opinion. For a Singaporean that may be migrating, does SRS continue to make sense?

Raymond

financialray said...

Hi
If you manage to save $500k in SRS, you'd probably have other streams of income by the time you retire. Then, if you are given 10 years to withdraw, you need to withdraw more than 50k per year. Then your gains in SRS will be taxed, heavier too if you have other income sources.

AK71 said...

Hi Raymond,

If you were planning on migrating, it wouldn't make much sense contributing to SRS. If you were to withdraw the funds from the SRS before the statutory retirement age, you would be penalised. That's my view.

AK71 said...

Hi financialray,

You have made a good point. For a very well to do person, this is a serious consideration. Anyway, I remember the person who came up with the SRS was Dr Tony Tan. His idea was not to benefit the rich but to help middle income Singaporeans be financially prepared for retirement. :)

bummy said...

Hi financialray, you have made a fair point which I did consider.

I do not forsee myself working after age 60 if I have a choice. Any income is likely to be from rental income, withdrawal from SRS, dividends and interest income.

Working on the assumption that my rental income and SRS withdrawal at age 60 (both taxable) equals to annual pay now, i would still pay a smaller tax than what I save now since only half my SRS withdrawal is taxable.

I do however suspect that my taxable income at age 60 could be equal or more than my taxable income now as I have less deductions when I retire + rental income in 25 years time would be significantly more than rental income today for the similar property. Hence the tax I have to pay at age 60 could be the same amount (maybe even more) as what I save today.

Why than do I bother ? Simply because of time value of money and opportunity cost. $973 [taking $11,475 (max srs contribution per year) x 8.5% (which is the tax bracket for taxable income above 40k/yr)] saved in taxes today is going to be far more valuable than paying $973 in taxes in 25 years time. If I can put this $973 saved today to productive use (like buying AA Reit or First Reit), I would be able to generate much more cash than the $973 tax that I will pay in 25 years time.

By the way, saving 11,475 for 25 years will only give 286k, the other 214k comes for a 3.5% yield that compounds. :)

Jimmy said...

Hi! AK, best blog ever. Always look forward to reading new entries.

Although I contribute to SRS, I am worried that I will still be working beyond statutory retirement age of 62 years, and drawing salaries still in the higher tax brackets. If distributions from the SRS over a 10-year period are mandatory, then total taxes over those 10 years could be very high. In other words, government gains by your industry and planning. Also, I expect income taxes to rise in future, because this "race to the bottom" is not sustainable for social justice in high-cost Singapore. BUT then having enough money to be taxed is better than having little money, I guess.

AK71 said...

Hi bummy,

Thanks for sharing your analysis in such detail. Much obliged. :)

AK71 said...

Hi Jimmy,

Perhaps, it would make sense for you to stop contributing to the SRS at a certain point of your working life, given your assumptions. :)

For a person who could be "downgrading" from a higher income job to a lower income job for various reasons, he would not have to face such a happy problem like yours. ;)

Glad you like the blog. :)

Anonymous said...

To get tax rebate, you can also consider cash top up to your own Special Account. You get up to $7K tax rebate per year, and SA earns a decent stable interest of 4% pa. If put in SRS, need to keep the money invested, else would suffer depreciation. Cash top up to SA would be more suitable for people who does not really know how to invest.

Personally I am not doing both as I want to build sufficient cash for private property when time is right.

RL

AK71 said...

Hi RL,

Thanks for sharing this. You are right on how contribution to CPF-SA would attract a risk free and rather high return. You are also right on how it might not be suitable if we need money for real estate purchase. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi AK

Personally, are you invested in any private property so far ?
Do you rather invest in REIT for dividend income or private property for rental income ?

CK

AK71 said...

Hi CK,

Yes, I have put some money in private property.

Investing in real estate diversifies away from equities. It is a different asset class.

Although investing in REITs is a form of investment in real estate, it is really more like investing in unit trusts. We have no control over the underlying real estate.

From a passive income viewpoint, in Singapore, investing in REITs give us greater returns at this point in time compared to being invested in real estate. This could change in time, of course.

However, given the fact that investing in real estate gives us possession and ownership, a lower yield (compared to REITs) is acceptable and normal. For example, a 5% per annum in gross rental income is very decent.

These are just my thoughts. :)

financialray said...

Hi

Perhaps rather than asking the mass population to retire later, make the SRS attractive by allowing people to withdraw over 20 or even 30 years for their longevity. After all, these people should be rewarded for early planning of their retirement.Why insist on making them withdraw in 10 years when life expectancy is getting better?

AK71 said...

Hi financialray,

That is something I have thought of before as well.

The current situation is as if the government is giving us half a carrot instead of a full carrot. Of course, it could also be said that we should be thankful for half a carrot. It could be none at all. ;p

serendib said...

good post and I think we have similar lines of thought when it comes to SRS. I've been contributing to SRS since 2007 when my tax bracket went up. Targetting to hold $440k in SRS come time for retirement.
However, its a complicated animal, and a major drawback of SRS is that withdrawals are strictly in cash only and must be max over a consecutive 10 year period. This means that you need to be able to time the moment you sell your SRS investments. Fortunately I've got 3 decades to worry about this! What are your thoughts/plans on this?

AK71 said...

Hi Serendib,

I simply contribute to the maximum allowed every year and plonk most of the funds into single premium endowment plans.

I do not plan to work till 62, hoping to retire before I turn 45. So, I doubt I would be able to amass $440K in my SRS account like you. ;)

I will have to withdraw my savings in 10 equal portions over a 10 year period when the time comes. Hopefully, I will pay minimal taxes then. :)

serendib said...

Hi AK,
would you share which single-premium plan(s) you're plonking your SRS into? Its probably something work considering when I'm closer to my SRS withdrawal age.
My philosophy wrt SRS thus far has been to only invest it in instruments I would be investing in anyway - ie S'pore stocks. Single-premium plans haven't appealed to me as they have very low guaranteed returns and non-transparent bonus structures. The only benefit really is the insurance coverage?

AK71 said...

Hi serendib,

I like UOB Guaranteed Rewards which is no longer available. It guaranteed between 3 to 4% p.a. for tenures of between 5 to 10 years when it was available. I have a couple of policies which have matured and a few which have yet to mature.

In recent years, I chose to put money in NTUC Income Growth Plan which has a big guaranteed portion compared to other endowment plans. I had a choice of tenures as well. I chose 20 years.

Happy shopping. :)

Serendib said...

Hi AK, thanks for sharing. Would you have bought these single premium policies if you didn't have SRS?

AK71 said...

Hi Serendib,

Nope, I would not have bought these single premium endowments if I did not have an SRS account.

SRS money is locked away until at least age 62. So, it is ok to lock the money away long term and not look at it. That's how I think. :)

Serendib said...

Hi AK,
So assume you are 22 years away from retirement age. if you invest this year's SRS contribution of $12750 in single-premium policies at 4% pa for 22 years, your future value is $30,216.
But say you didn't contribute to SRS, and so didn't get the tax saving (max $2550 at the top 20% bracket). You could invest the difference ($12750 - $2550) of $10200 in your favorite dividend stocks/REITS and say your return over the same 22 yr horizon is 6%pa. Your future value is $36,756.
And the lower your tax bracket, the greater the difference in future value. Of course a guaranteed return on an SP policy is a different risk from a stock yield, but if you weren't planning on buying the SP in the first place (say as a 'bond' component in your portfolio), you might be better off paying tax and investing the rest in stocks?

AK71 said...

Hi Serendib,

From my blog post, you would get the idea that SRS is for tax savings and it doubles up saving for retirement. To me, it is another CPF. As long as I am able to get it to perform similarly to CPF and with a similar level of safety, it is enough for me.

I have absolutely no idea whether I am better off paying taxes on that $10K+ now and investing the money for higher returns. I have investments which have gone sour in the past.

Anyway, best not to put everything in the same basket. :)

serendib said...

Hi AK,
you are right - we all have our own reasons for pursuing our investment strategies. And that's why its vitally important that we form our own according to our situation and future plans.
I've got 2 kids I'll need to put through uni in 15+ years. So have to save up for that too. Which means I'm a bit more aggressive in allocating $ for equity investments. I treat my CPF-SA monthly contributions and $7k annual top-up as my 'bond' investments in my portfolio, and that's the right balance for me.
Anyway, thanks for being so forthcoming and helpful with your comments and through-out your blog. I've only started reading it recently, and hope to complete perusing all your posts in a week (already sacrificed a couple of lunch hours eating in reading up =) )

AK71 said...

Hi serendib,

Yes, understanding our own circumstances and coming up with a strategy accordingly would provide us with a clear direction in our financial decisions. There is no one size fits all. :)

Like you, I also let the government help to accumulate funds for my retirement by putting more money in my CPF-SA. The earlier we do this, the better. Magic of compounding. ;)

I am glad you find my blog posts interesting but to sacrifice your lunch hours reading, please accept my apologies. Lunch hours are sacrosanct! ;p

serendib said...

Hi AK,

haha - dont worry about my lunch hour, it was pouring rain outside!

AK71 said...

Hi Serendib,

Yes, it is that time of the year. I am trapped in my office during lunch hour on most days now. :(

Anonymous said...

I always have this concern of the inflationary effect on the amount of money: 40 years ago, 20 cents was good enough for one bowl of noddle, now $3.00, or more.

AK71 said...

Hi Anonymous,

Yes, I remember paying only 20c for lunch when I was in primary school and that was only 30+ years ago.

We have to take affirmative action to protect our wealth from being eroded by inflation.

AK71 said...

Assuming only those with an annual income above $40,000 pays tax, there are around 720,000 tax-paying individuals. Out of this, only slightly more than 70,000 are SRS account holders.

This means only 10 per cent of people who are eligible to open an SRS account have done so.


See: SRS account.

mrtamjiak said...

Max amount different leh. Time for a update? ;)

AK71 said...

Hi PIB,

Thanks for the nudge. The maximum contribution allowed for the SRS account now is $12,750 per annum. :)

AK71 said...

On my FB wall:

KFM: SRS not for everyone.

DY: Then who is it for?

KFM: For people who can afford it.

AK: Anyone who pays income tax and who is working towards financial freedom should make an effort to be able to "afford" it.

If the consensus is that the CPF is not enough for our retirement, then, people who cannot afford to contribute to SRS, for various reasons, are in trouble because it suggests that they are unable to supplement their retirement income and that is the intention of the SRS. It is a supplementary retirement scheme to the CPF.

I can understand when people say that the SRS is not for them because they want to maintain liquidity and they don't like how they must wait till 62 before they can draw upon the savings without penalty. I can also understand how some people might not be saving much in taxes because their tax bracket might still be quite low. So, the SRS might be less attractive to these people.

However, not being able to "afford" contributions to the SRS, I can only accept this reason if the person is suffering from financial hardship and has no intention of improving his lot in life. In such an instance, there is no point in bringing the horse to water.

AK71 said...

Also on my FB wall:

KT: AK, you read about the draft by MOF, where they planned to change the SRS rules such that, after 62, you can actually transfer your SRS shareholdings into your CDP account, without having the liquidate them?

They will still be taxed according to the SRS rules though (50%), Would love to hear your views!

Here is the info:
Allowing Supplementary Retirement Scheme (“SRS”) members to withdraw their SRS investments without liquidating the investments. This will reduce the transaction costs they incur for withdrawals. The SRS investments will be valued and taxed in the same manner as when the SRS investments are liquidated for cash withdrawal.

AK: Thanks for sharing this. I didn't know.

Well, it is an option for some to consider, of course. And some will consider it. Always good to have options. It has no bearing on my plan, however.

Personally, my plan is to have around $200,000 in my SRS account by the time I am 62 to be withdrawn over a 10 year period. $20,000 each year. Not taxable.

I am looking forward to early retirement from active employment in the near future. So, it is highly unlikely that I would continue contributing to SRS for very long.

$20,000 a year for 10 years 19 years from now. That's my plan.

AK71 said...

Again, from my FB wall:

JT:
Hi Assi AK, what is your view of NTUC single premium plan, Growth link, Intend to invest this plan using my SRS fund.. can share ? thanks

AK:
I am not familiar with this product. I took a look and found that it is an investment linked policy or ILP. Generally, I stay away from ILPs as I want to keep insurance and investment separate.

Most of my single premium policies have a large portion of guaranteed returns which is impossible to find these days. I don't know what is the projected return on this Growth Link policy but if it is 3% per annum, you could be better off investing your SRS money yourself.

After all, most likely, you will keep the money in the SRS account until you turn 62 and if that is a long way from here, you can afford to hold on to some pretty good dividend paying stock and not have to worry about short term price fluctuations.

blazingruby60 said...

hello AK
I am a regular fan of your blog and take on your advice on SRS but I am late to the SRS party,just contributed my first $12750 to the account and I am pretty lost on what to do next.
Could u point me to the website on what annuity or shares to buy for SRS n for me to do some research. A number of annuity I heard from friends promises returns but their numbers are projection and no guaranteed returns. I am 8 years to retirement and I better be very careful with where I invest my money.Thanks

AK71 said...

Hi blazingruby60,

Welcome to my blog. :)

If you are very close to retirement and are pretty risk averse, then, getting an annuity is possibly a good idea.

I think it is hard to get 100% guaranteed returns from a private annuity. This is why I keep telling people that the CPF Life is a fantastic product and that they should make sure they max out the CPF Minimum Sum.

For an annuity, you might want to consider one that Matthew Seah blogged about recently here:Lifelong income with the SRS.

Hope this is helpful. :)

Unknown said...

Hi AK,

I chance upon your blog, am contacting the bank and will drop IRAS my queries too. but like to seek your opinion.

Will the dividend and capital gain of the shares invested from SRS goes to SRS? if so, are they taxable on retirement? which currently capital gain are not taxable.

What if by the time one retire the tax rate has increase by 100% or gone? even if the tax rate remain constant, one income is likely to increase over the year and fall into a higher tax bracket by the time one retire.

Your view or suggestion?

AK71 said...

Hi Eddie,

Dividend and capital gains will go into your SRS account if you were to use your SRS money to invest.

50% of sum money withdrawn will be tax exempt at retirement. The other 50% will be taxable at the prevailing tax rate.

I cannot say what tax rates are going to look like in future, of course. ;p

You might want to read the guest blog by Matthew Seah which I provided a link to in my reply to another reader's comment before yours for a very good idea. ;)

Unknown said...

Hi blazingruby60,

Since you just started contributing to your SRS and your retirement is 8 years away, there is absolutely no requirement for you to invest in an annuity if you don't want to lock up the money after retirement.

Is you continue to contribute $12,750 for 8 years, you would have $102,000 in your account. You could choose to withdraw up to $40,000 a year until the SRS balance is depleted.

Regards,
Matthew

Unknown said...

Hi Eddie,

Dividend anc capital gain are both taxable in the SRS account.

It is highly unlikely that we no longer have a taxation regime in place as the public sector still needs a source of funding.

When you retire, I suppose you stop working, hence you would have no employment income (otherwise you are not retired). Since you have no income, I don't see how you will fall into a higher tax bracket.

You might want to read my article and the comments that follows here.

Regards,
Matthew

Ah John said...

Hi AK, sorry another doubt, if SRS invested in stocks, is it must to sell it if want to withdraw? Can't direct transfer to CDP account?

AK71 said...

Hi Ah John,

From what I understand, yes. Stocks we bought using money in our SRS account stay in the SRS account. Once we start withdrawing money from our SRS account, we would have to liquidate the stocks within the 10 year withdrawal period.

Serendib said...

Hi AK, I suppose change is indeed the only constant! I'm looking back at our discussions from 4 years ago. Now SRS is looking more attractive to me as i) tax bracket and rates have gone up, ii) contribution ceiling will be $15,300 from next year and iii) SRS rules ref liquidation of assets have been amended.
Now I'm thinking of contributing more into SRS and putting them into low-yielding investments - considering the local bond ETF and single-premium endowments (the latter have the advantage of allowing us to withdraw over a longer period than the standard 10 years)
May I enquire which SP endowments you are putting your money into now? I think the NTUC Income Growth Plan is no longer available - there's one called NTUC Income SAIL, which was recommended on DIY Insurance as well.

AK71 said...

Hi Serendib,

By coincidence, I just made my full contribution to the SRS for this year a few days ago.

I am not doing anything with my SRS money for now because I feel that we could be in for a more significant correction in the stock market. I would like to use the money to buy more stocks on the cheap then.

My single premium endowment plans from UOB Life (bought over by Prudential) and AVIVA have matured. I only have 2 endowment plans left which have yet to mature and, yes, you remember correctly, they are NTUC Income Growth Plan.

I also have some SATS and ST Engineerings' stock in my SRS account.

Now, I am doing nothing and just waiting.

haven11 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
haven11 said...

Hi AK,
I stumbled onto the blog, found it very engaging since various scenarios and thoughts are being put out here. I am really glad there are a few more deeper thinkers these days, especially the younger ones... hmnn... maybe... ha ;)
I realized that I did not spend enough time delving into SA previous year (which I need to amend) but went straight into SRS instead. As Serendib mentioned, "change is the only constant" [I like that btw... :)], there needs to be continual management and nudging to fit one's portfolio. Like you, I have stopped investing from SRS funds this year... though it would appear that QE in Europe is easing well and US is well on its way to low unemployment rate (making higher interest 2016 likely), but China/Asia seems to be a slower bump behind... well at least there may be light at the end of global recession... *fingers crossed*
anyway... 35 days remaining to make YA2015. Don't forget before the year end holidays! :D

AK71 said...

Hi Haven,

Welcome to my blog. I am happy you find it engaging.

My blog is very lucky to have very thoughtful comments from readers most of the time. :)

I have started investing my SRS money in recent months. I bought stocks of SATS and ST Engineering, notably. A big portion of my SRS money is still waiting to be deployed. Is there going to be a big slump in the stock market in future? I don't know but I know I will have the funds to take advantage of it if it happens.

As for the CPF-SA, it was something that I took advantage of many, many years ago and I am happy with the results. Here, in my blog, I am just sharing with anyone who cares enough to read what has worked for me. Not being dogmatic. Definitely, there is more than one way to help build our retirement funds. ;)

foolish chameleon said...

"To get tax rebate, you can also consider cash top up to your own Special Account. You get up to $7K tax rebate per year, and SA earns a decent stable interest of 4% pa."

i did not know about this... so if you V.C. (aka cash top up) to CPF-SA. you will get an equal tax rebate?

another thing, i keep reading about withdrawing the SRS over 10 years. is this the max years of drawdown allowed? what happens after the 10th year?
if such is the case, then to reap the max benefits, 400k should be the max to have in the SRS?
otherwise, there is no point to keep >400k in the SRS

AK71 said...

Hi fooztreasures,

If we have not hit the prevailing Minimum Sum (Full Retirement Sum), we could consider doing Top Ups to our SA. Yes, we will get income tax rebate for the first $7K of Top Up each year. This is something I blog about from time to time too. :)

Once we start withdrawing our SRS savings at age 62 or later, we will have 10 years to withdraw everything. So, make sure there is nothing left in the SRS account in the 10th year. Or else, we could use the money to buy an annuity that would pay us a monthly income. ;)

foolish chameleon said...

AK,

is the 7k top up to SA for cash only?
or is the transfer from OA to SA considered as well?

i tried looking for this particular on net, but cant seem to find any info on this.

AK71 said...

Hi fooztreasures,

Only cash top ups to the SA is eligible for income tax relief. Fresh funds. ;)

No income tax relief for OA to SA transfer which is basically just shifting money that is already in the CPF (and which was already given income tax relief as mandatory contributions).

pirate said...

Hi AK

Thanks for writing such a wonderful blog. It has taught me many things and that there is so much more to learn.

What is your opinion on NTUC Income Sail?

Thanks

AK71 said...

Hi pirate,

I am glad you enjoy ASSI. :)

I am not familiar with the product you mentioned. :(

K said...

Hello AK,

I know there are some custodian trading accounts that allows one to trade at 0.12%.

Is there any account out there that lets one trade with SRS funds that is less than the usual 0.275% commission?

Thanks.

AK71 said...

Hi K,

Hmmm...

Not that I know of.

P said...

HI AK,

I chanced upon your blog by accident but have since taken an interest to reading the articles as much as possible to educate myself so i can rely on more than just one active income by working.

I started doing SRS and also using my CPF in a different way by using it to save for retirement. Now i'm currently looking into potential investment in stocks or reits but am trying to educate myself more by reading up on FA and TA first.

Recently, with the cap on personal income tax relief, I'm wondering if it still makes sense to do SRS. What do you think -- If one has hit the personal income tax relief cap, would you still recommend doing SRS?

Thanks a lot for your thoughts in advance.
P

P said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AK71 said...

Hi P,

Welcome to ASSI and I am happy you have enjoyed my blogs. :)

The SRS is most attractive for me because of the income tax relief.

If contributing to the SRS account does not attract any income tax relief, frankly, it is out the window for me.

P said...

Indeed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Kiki said...

Hi

With the statutory retirement age set to increase, does it mean that the SRS withdrawal would be at a later date too?

I cannot seem to find the answer in IRAS and MOF web.

Thank you.

AK71 said...

Hi Kiki,

It would depend on when a person's SRS account was created.

In other words, the withdrawal age for an account would be tied to the retirement age at the time the account was created.

For me, it would be age 62.

This is from what I remember.


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