Iggy’s Journal: The Price of Retirement Income: What S$1,000, S$2,000 and S$3,000 a Month Actually Cost Today

Sat 10 Oct 2026 | Midday

The Numbers

The same S$2,000 a month needs S$600,000 at CPF’s 4 percent floor rate, but S$1.25 million at the 1.92 percent six-month T-bill yield. The gap is S$650,000, and it comes from the yield assumed, not from any difference in lifestyle. My 4.7 percent hurdle asks for S$510,638. A dividend can be cut, while the T-bill yield resets at every auction.

For someone still saving, the target moves whenever the yield moves. At 1.92 percent, S$200,000 pays S$320 a month. At 4 percent, the same S$200,000 pays S$667 a month. CPF’s 4 percent is a useful yardstick, but it is not money you can generally draw monthly in the way T-bill income can be drawn.

My Personal Take

I redid the S$2,000 sum before writing it down. S$24,000 a year divided by 4 percent is S$600,000, and divided by 1.92 percent is S$1.25 million. Both answers are correct for their own yield. The T-bill yield resets at each auction, so a target built on it describes today and may not describe next year. I now write the yield next to every target figure, because a target with no yield beside it cannot be checked.

The Members Edition of this episode is free for everyone. (I will post the full article on LongBridge community) 

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Not financial advice. Iggy’s Forensic Compliance Standards apply.