C.6Enough to Retire On? Little to Turn into Monthly Income
A hawker who has only ever paid MediSave reaches 55 with little or nothing in a Retirement Account, so for most such hawkers CPF LIFE (the national scheme that pays a monthly income for life from 65) pays little or nothing. What is left pays only to people on low incomes, only to those who can first put in cash of their own, or only while they are still working.
Singapore's retirement promise is built around the employee. At 55, savings from the Ordinary and Special Accounts form a Retirement Account, which CPF LIFE turns into a monthly income for life:
The employee's promise
| Basic Retirement Sum · $110,200 set aside | $950 | |
|---|---|---|
| Full Retirement Sum · $220,400 set aside | $1,780 | |
| Enhanced Retirement Sum · $440,800 set aside | $3,440 | |
| MediSave-only hawker below the Basic Healthcare Sum · nothing to set aside | $0 |
There is one way in, and it is narrow. Once a self-employed member's MediSave reaches the Basic Healthcare Sum, $79,000 in 2026, further MediSave contributions are channelled into the Special or Retirement Account, up to the Full Retirement Sum (MOM, May 2022). A long-serving hawker who earned well and drew little on his MediSave can build retirement savings this way. One who pays his family's premiums and bills from it will seldom get there. How many hawkers have, no one publishes.
The headline statistic does not see them. In 2025, 76% of active members reached the Basic Retirement Sum at 55, against 65% of all members. "Active" means a contribution in the last four months – and self-employed members who are not also employees are excluded. Government's adequacy assurance covers members who "work and contribute consistently", which for CPF purposes excludes most hawkers.
The nets that remain – and where they catch a MediSave-only hawker
| Scheme (2026) | What it pays | Does the hawker qualify? | What trips them up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver Support | Up to $1,080 a quarter | Yes, if average net trade income at 45–54 was $27,600 a year or less | A good stall's income; a working child in the household (per-person cap $2,300 a month); owning a 5-room flat or private property (living in a 5-room flat still pays, at a lower rate) |
| Earn and Save Bonus (born 1973 or earlier) | $400–$1,000 a year into retirement savings | Yes – trade income counts | Must still be working, earning $500–$6,000 a month; stops when the hawker stops; a home of annual value above $25,000, or more than one property |
| Matched Retirement Savings (55+; from 1 January 2026 also persons with disabilities of any age) | $1-for-$1, up to $2,000 a year, $20,000 lifetime; $456M to more than 250,000 members for 2025 | Yes in principle: Retirement Account savings below the Basic Retirement Sum | Needs spare cash to top up first; average income up to $4,000 a month, a home of annual value up to $21,000, at most one property |
| Budget 2026 CPF Top-Up (Dec 2026; born 1976 or earlier) | $1,500, $1,000 or $500, one-off | Likely: retirement savings below $110,200 at end-2025 | A home of annual value above $31,000, or more than one property; above $21,000 it pays at most $500 |
| Top-up tax relief | Up to $8,000 relief on own top-ups (another $8,000 for top-ups to family) | Only if paying tax | Most low-income hawkers pay little or no income tax; none on top-ups that attract the Matched Retirement Savings match |
| ComCare Long-Term Assistance | $760 a month, one person | Last resort | Must be permanently unable to work, with little family support |
The Budget 2026 CPF Top-Up, for homes of annual value (the rent a home would fetch) up to $21,000: $1,500 if retirement savings are below $60,000; $1,000 if they are $60,000 to below $110,200. Homes of $21,001–$31,000 get $500 where savings are below $60,000; CPF's table is unclear for higher savings. The money goes into the Retirement Account; for a member under 55, who has none, into the Special Account. A MediSave-only hawker born in 1976 or earlier, in a home of annual value up to $21,000, would receive the full $1,500.
MediSave is the only pot, and it does double duty. It pays MediShield Life and CareShield Life premiums. About a quarter of all self-employed people were in MediSave arrears at end-2024; hawkers, whose licence renewal needs the bill settled or on GIRO, are probably fewer. Arrears past CPF's deadline block Workfare, and arrears not on an instalment plan block the Matched MediSave grant (2026–30). Even Workfare, when it arrives, goes 90% into MediSave for the self-employed – so until his MediSave passes the Basic Healthcare Sum, the main wage top-up builds health savings, not retirement income.
The nearest measured analogue. The Government measured this gap for riders before it closed it. The Advisory Committee on Platform Workers found that a young full-time platform worker would accumulate "about 10%" of a similar employee's CPF, and that "just over one in four" platform workers above 55 had reached the Basic Retirement Sum (report, 2022, ¶5.2.4–5.2.5). These are riders' figures, not hawkers'. For hawkers they are an assumption, the closest one we have, because no one has measured the gap for the cook.