CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) Guide for CPF OA + SA

Key Takeaways

• The CPFIS lets you invest your CPF OA and SA savings in approved financial products.
• CPF members with at least S$20,000 in their OA and/or S$40,000 in their SA could be eligible for the CPFIS.
• Available products include insurance products, unit trusts, bonds, fixed deposits and treasury bills.

Want to make your CPF savings work harder for you? Consider the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS).

The CPFIS allows CPF members to invest a fraction of their savings in their CPF Ordinary Account (OA) and Special Account (SA), giving them more control over the growth of their retirement funds.

What’s the catch? CPF investment carries investment risk, and your capital is not guaranteed—it is not for everyone. By contrast, CPF interest rates are guaranteed and risk-free. So, you should only invest your CPF savings under the CPFIS if you think you can beat CPF interest rates and tolerate the risks involved.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into CPFIS and answer questions such as how CPF investment works, how to invest your CPF monies, and the types of instruments and products available.

What is CPFIS and How Does This Affect Me?

CPFIS is a scheme that allows CPF members to invest part of their savings in their OA and SA, with the expectation of growing their CPF savings faster. Under the CPF investing scheme, CPF members can invest their CPF savings in approved financial products.

The main objective of the CPFIS is to potentially earn higher returns than the CPF’s base interest rates for CPF SA and OA. However, as with most investments, there is a degree of risk involved, and while your returns may beat CPF interest rates, this is absolutely not guaranteed.

You should thus evaluate your own goals and risk tolerance before deciding whether the CPFIS is for you. If your priority is capital preservation, you may prefer to leave your funds in your CPF accounts and simply let them earn interest the risk-free way.

There are two schemes available:

• CPF Investment Scheme-Ordinary Account (CPFIS-OA): Lets you invest your CPF OA savings after setting aside S$20,000 in the account.
• CPF Investment Scheme-Special Account (CPFIS-SA): Lets you invest your CPF SA savings after setting aside S$40,000 in the account.

Current CPF Interest Rate

Before deciding to invest, you should always check CPF’s guaranteed interest rates. Only invest if you are confident you can stomach all the potential risks and earn better returns than these rates.

CPF interest rates are reviewed every three months, but they’ve stayed consistent for decades to date.

Here are the CPF interest rates from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026.

In addition to base interest, CPF members also earn additional interest.

Here are the CPF additional interest rates from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026.

How to Invest With CPFIS?

Here is the eligibility criteria for the CPFIS:

• 18 years old and above
• Not an undischarged bankrupt
• Have more than S$20,000 in your CPF OA and/or more than S$40,000 in CPF SA
• Have completed the CPFIS Self-Awareness Questionnaire (SAQ)

In case you’re wondering, the SAQ is an online quiz that takes about 20 minutes to complete.

All CPFIS investments are made through approved banks and product providers, with whom you can get in touch directly to find out more about their products.

Always remember that investing CPF funds is meant to be for the long term, and this is reflected in the product selection. Your money could be locked up for some time, so you should first set aside any funds you need for housing or mortgages before investing any excess savings.

Who Should and Can Invest With CPF?

Anyone who is at least 18 years old, not an undischarged bankrupt and has enough savings in their CPF OA and/or CPF SA can invest under the CPFIS.

But should you? That depends on many factors. Only invest your money if you are sure you don’t need it for other purposes, such as housing, and can tolerate the risk.

CPF-OA

To invest your CPF-OA savings, you must open a CPF Investment Account with one of the three CPFIS agent banks—DBS, OCBC or UOB.

Any buying, selling and management of your investments can be done through the product providers.

CPF-SA

To invest the money in your CPF SA, you don’t even need to open a CPF Investment Account. You can simply approach any of the approved product providers directly and buy or sell your investments through them.

How Much Can I Invest?

The CPF Board requires you to keep a certain amount of savings in cash in your CPF OA and/or SA before allowing you to invest the rest.

Note: When it comes to investing CPF OA savings, you are only allowed to use a maximum of 35% of your investible savings for buying stocks, and 10% for buying gold. These caps are as such to mitigate risk within your retirement investment portfolio.

How Can I Check My Investible CPF Savings?

Want to know how much you have in your CPF accounts and how much you can invest? There are several ways to do this.

CPF website

1. Log in to the CPF website using your Singpass to access my cpf Digital Services.

2. Click on [my cpf] > [Investment].

CPF Mobile app

1. Open the CPF Mobile app and log in with your Singpass.

2. Scroll down and tap [Investment].

3. Click on [>] under the [Investment] tab to see more details.

CPF Service Centre

1. Make an appointment online at least one working day in advance.

2. Show up for your appointment with your identity card.

3. Ask about your investible and/or invested OA and SA savings.

What Exactly Can I Invest in Under CPFIS?

You can only invest in CPFIS-approved instruments. The range of products available for CPFIS-OA is not exactly the same as that for CPFIS-SA.

You can also invest your CPF OA and CPF SA savings through Endowus’s wealth management platform mobile app by linking your MyInfo profile to your Endowus account. You will still need to set up a CPF Investment Account if you wish to invest your OA savings.

Can I Withdraw My CPF Investment Returns?

All investment proceeds after deduction of applicable fees will be returned to your CPF accounts. You can withdraw them only in accordance with the usual withdrawal rules governing CPF savings.

From the age of 55, you will be able to withdraw your CPF savings up to a certain limit, depending on how much you have in your account.

If you have met the Full Retirement Sum, you can withdraw any OA savings above this amount.

Otherwise, you can withdraw S$5,000 from your OA.

If you own a property in Singapore and the lease will last until you are at least 95 years old, the Fixed Retirement Sum can be made up of a mixture of cash and property, enabling you to withdraw the remaining balance.

You can start receiving monthly CPF payouts anytime between the ages of 65 and 70.

How to Withdraw CPF Investments

When you reach 55 years old, if you have set aside the Full Retirement Sum in your account fully in cash or partially with cash and property, you can withdraw the CPF investments made via CPFIS-OA and CPFIS-SA, subject to the usual withdrawal rules.

You can apply to withdraw your investments in the following manner:

1. Log in to the CPF website using your Singpass to access my cpf Digital Services.

2. Click on [my cpf] > [Investment].

3. Submit a withdrawal application.

4. Wait for your withdrawal application to be approved. This is typically done within one working day.

What to Consider Before Investing With CPFIS

Before diving into investing your CPF savings, here are some factors to consider:

#1 Risk Tolerance

All investments come with some degree of risk. By contrast, the interest earned on your CPF savings if you leave them in your OA and SA is virtually risk-free.

Before dabbling in CPF investment, seriously assess the risk of investing in the products you’re considering and decide whether it matches your expected return. Also, review your current risk tolerance and how it aligns with your long-term goals.

#2 Investment Fees

When assessing the profitability of the various investment products, don’t forget to factor in the cost of any fees you’ll be charged, as that could eat into your returns.

#3 Investment Horizon

The amount of time you have before cashing out will strongly affect your investment decisions.

If you are approaching retirement and have a shorter investment horizon, it might make more sense to simply keep your CPF savings in cash and let them continue to earn interest in a risk-free, worry-free way.

However, if you are relatively young, a longer horizon makes investing more sensible in the long run, and also increases your risk tolerance, since you’ll have more time to ride out market fluctuations and stay invested.

#4 Investment Goals

Any investment decisions you make should be in line with your investment goals in the larger scheme of your life.

For instance, if your main investment goal is to provide for yourself in retirement, your decisions will differ from those if you wish to grow an inheritance for your children.

#5 Your Retirement Fund

Your CPF savings might be just one component of a more varied retirement fund, which should be taken into account as well. If you already have a diversified retirement portfolio, you might decide to keep your CPF savings in cash to balance out riskier, higher-yield investments.

Bottom Line: Should You Invest Your CPF?

The CPFIS offers a way to potentially earn higher returns on your CPF OA and CPF SA savings by investing in approved products.

While this might sound incredibly tempting, remember that CPF interest rates are risk-free and currently quite attractive. Whether you should invest your CPF savings depends on many factors, such as your personal risk tolerance, investment goals and the rest of your portfolio.

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