Retirement income products: flavour of the times

THE NEED for income in retirement is surely one that causes anxiety to savers. If you have managed to accumulate a sizeable lump sum by your 60s when you have ceased to work, that is a feat. But the next challenge is: What do you invest in that will yield a regular income, incur minimum volatility, and hopefully also the smallest of downside risks?

There are a number of lower-risk options. These include the Singapore Savings Bond (SSB). The latest issue in April has a 10-year interest rate of 2.16 per cent on a compounded basis, which is just a tad short of the 10-year Singapore government bond (2.2 per cent).

And of course you cannot ignore the CPF Life, which pays an annuity for life and has the highest payout for every dollar committed compared to private annuities.