What happens to your Retirement Account money, and why we keep it topped up.
Because you were born before 1958, you are on the Retirement Sum Scheme, not CPF LIFE. Your Retirement Account money stays yours: it is paid out to you month by month, and whatever is left when you pass on goes to your family, with interest.
The Retirement Account earns 6% on the first S$30,000, 5% on the next S$30,000, and 4% on the rest.
Payouts start at 70 and cannot be pushed later. The monthly amount is set so the account runs down to zero by age 90. So each payout is partly interest and partly your own money coming back to you.
You can put cash back into the Retirement Account at any age, even while payouts are running, up to the year's Enhanced Retirement Sum. That limit is S$440,800 in 2026 and S$456,400 in 2027, and it rises every January. Top-ups cannot be taken out again; they come back to you through higher monthly payouts.
Each January, top the Retirement Account back up to the new Enhanced Retirement Sum. That keeps about S$440,800 each earning a guaranteed 4%, which is more than any bond in Steps 2 to 4 pays. The plan assumes you do this; the CPF figure on the main page is the two accounts at the 2026 sum.
Only skip a top-up if you need that cash for something specific in the next few years, because it cannot be taken out again except through the monthly payouts.
Checked September 2026. Rules change; ask JX or ZX to re-check before making a large top-up.