CPF - How meaningful can the interest be?

I have always been an avid reader of AK71's blog.

Today he wrote about the interest that his SA account earned.

So I thought that I shall share a little bit about our CPF contributions for 2015.

Well a little bit of background. We have been working for about 13 yrs (averaged out between the Teo of us).

It was only in the last 3-4 years when our earnings have reached the point that our mandatory contribution has hit the limit of $17000 per pax. 

So based on a simple calculation, our total CPF contribution and including our employees would be $62900.
Our deductions for housing and MediShield plans was ~$15500

Therefore the net growth should be ~$46900.

However when I compare our 2014 vs 2015 year end balance. Our CPF net gain was ~$64000.

What exactly happened???

Well it's because the total interest that we earned for all our monies in CPF was ~$15500.

So I totally concurred with AK71 when he said in one of his blogpost that a lot of his SA money is from the government.

For me, I will say that the government is paying for my housing mortgages and a big chunk of my MediShield expenses.

Of course, for the earned interest to be meaningful, the CPF monies have to be of a certain size. 

Cheers! 

Four years of barrenness

We married pretty early by Singapore standards.

We wanted to have our first child before before my wife turns 30. 

Our first child took us four years to try.

During these four years, the disappointment grew heavier and heavier for my wife to bear.

But as the disappointment got heavier, God's call to us to draw near to Him got louder. 

Eventually we surrendered to Him. We did not surrender so that He could bless us with a child. We surrendered because He is more than enough for us. 

We accepted that He could have called us to be childless but it didn't matter because He is more than enough. 

It was about a month after we surrendered that we realised that she was late. We did a home test and two lines appeared.

Strangely I wasn't hopping around. I was elated but my heart felt very rested. It was as if the Lord was speaking to me that we are ready to steward the life that he has breathed into her womb.

The other one time that I felt the Lord telling me that I'm ready was regarding my wife. 

The four years of barrenness was the Lord's way of preparing us for parenthood. It helped us to question our motives for wanting a child.

From "I want a child to call my own" to "I am a steward of this life". 

There's a saying that when it rains, it pours. This is usually meant in the negative sense but I must say that when God rains his blessings, He literally pours them. It is so easy to get intoxicated in God's blessings but once again, I'm reminded that there's a reason for Him blessing us with children.

Calling (Part 1)

My vocation is a teacher. 

Whenever I'm asked of the subject that I teach, I would always answer, "lives". 

The first 4 years of my teaching, I spent trying to be the type of teacher others expect me to be. 

I failed.

I knew that God called me into teaching but why do I feel defeated? 

There were successes in those first 4 years. However I felt uncertain about myself. I beat myself up over my weaknesses. 

It was until I embraced my own personhood and accept myself. That God made me unique and wired me in differently from others. I felt so free when I looked into my reporting officer's eye and told him that I want to be on the teaching track. 

This act was significant to me because I would always indicate that I was undecided between the leadership and teaching track. 

I got sucked into the idea that being successful at work = climbing up the career ladder. 

Some people believe that leaders are nurtured, some believed that leaders are born. 

I believe that both cases are true of a leader. He is both birthed and nurtured. 

I have come to accept that I do not have the skill set to advance at least in the very first school that I was in.

Interestingly, I also have come to see that actually it also depends on who is your boss and whether your boss can be the 伯乐 who can bring out the best in you. 

 God never waste our journeys, so even though I did not rise in my career but I found what excites me and what I'm wired for.

I remembered that there were two occasions when my pastors said that if they wanted to get an honest opinion, they would ask me.

At that time, I was a bit puzzled. Huh? 

Later on as I matured, I realised that   I value authenticity very much. Because of that, the way I communicate and respond was authentic. 

Well some would say that I lack tact or I get emotional.
But I simply can't hide that's within my heart when it comes to issues that I care about.

It also meant that as a listener, I'm always trying to cut through the all that's being said and figure out the heart of the speaker.

Even though youths are not able to articulate fully what they feel but one of their needs is to feel emotionally connected. 

Now because I'm wired to be authentic, this means that I'm in a good position to talk to the youths about life issues. 

So after four years of trying to manage my weaknesses, eg meeting deadlines for admin work. I found myself, dying to do the work that many teachers would not touch with a ten foot pole. 

I stand in front of students to talk about life and issues that matters to them.

I've speak to crowds as small as 20 to 800. 

I talk about love, marriage, respect, sex, masturbation, pornography. 

Yes. I want to talk to them because I see the need to.

It feels like Isaiah 6:8, where the Lord calls and I said "Here I am, send me."

About me

Hi,

I'm in my mid thirties and resides in sunny Singapore. Happily married to a most wonderful woman. 3 young children and 1 more on the way.

Received the Lord Jesus in my life when I was in my mid teens. Life was never the same again.

Personally felt that I'm at a crossroad with major life decisions to undertake and I hope to use this blog to process and document the journey.