The Lazy Way To Save More Money For Your Old Age

Hi folks

Do you

** pay taxes?
** want to reduce your tax burden?
** increase the yield on your savings?
** accumulate more funds for a comfortable retirement?

If your answer is "YES" to one of the above, then invest using this vehicle viz. Supplementary Retirement Scheme [SRS in short].


SRS was introduced by the Government on 1 April 20001.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s statistic, the number of tax-payers who participated in the SRS shot up from 11,890 [in 2001] to 31,413 as at end Dec 2005. An increase in 264%. The number of taxpayers who opted to transfer their SRS savings to growing their money in surance portfolio also saw an increase from 28% [in 2001] to 39% in Dec 2005.

The SRS is part of the Singapore government’s multi-pronged strategy to address the financial needs of a greying population, which were highlighted in the Report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on the Ageing Population, released in November 1999.

The SRS complements the Central Provident Fund (CPF). CPF savings are meant to provide for housing and medical needs and for basic living needs after retirement.

Unlike the CPF scheme, participation in SRS is voluntary. Participants can contribute a varying amount to SRS (subject to a cap) at their own discretion. The contributions may be used to purchase various investment instruments. All Singaporeans, Singapore Permanent Residents (SPRs) and foreigners who

• are at least 21 years old;
• are not undischarged bankrupts; and
• are not of unsound mind.
are eligible to open SRS account.

With the SRS, the government hopes to encourage Singaporeans to save more for their old age, by means of voluntary contributions to their SRS accounts.

The SRS offers attractive tax benefits :

•contributions to SRS are eligible for tax relief,
•investment returns are accumulated tax-free(with the exception of
Singapore dividends from which tax is deducted or deductible by the
payer company under section 44 of the Income Tax Act)
.and only 50% of the withdrawals from SRS are taxable at retirement.

With more CPF cuts and lower caps and particularly if you are utilizing your CPF saving for other purposes currently, you may find that you may end up with little money in your CPF account for you to enjoy upon your retirement.

SRS is one option that you should seriously consider now.

Foreigners working or doing business here in Singapore and who are looking to reduce their tax burden can also consider the SRS scheme as well.

If you are one of the current 800,000 plus tax payers who wants to know more about SRS scheme works and how it can benefit you financially, you are welcome to contact me. I shall be more than happy to walk through with you on the tax benefits etc that you can get from SRS.