SINGAPORE: In his Budget statement on Friday (Feb 16), Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced higher Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rates for those aged 55 to 65 years by 1.5 percentage points, beginning in 2025. The current rates are 31 per cent for those aged 55 to 60 and 22 per […]

Many readers will consider this a contrarian essay, bucking the tide of articles and commentaries about the sorrows of growing old. To be sure, old age brings many challenges to the physical and mental health of old people. It is also true that some old folks in Singapore live in poverty or loneliness, or both. […]

The view that our personal attributes, strengths and luck are related in some way to the positioning of the constellations at the time of birth is an illogical one. And one of the more curious ways in which modern society is changing is that the astrological services industry is booming, even as more people are […]

Initiatives to make Singapore more dementia-friendly have been announced in recent weeks. Under the 2023 Action Plan for Successful Ageing unveiled on Monday (Jan 30), the Ministry of Health (MOH) is increasing the number of community outreach teams that can identify seniors at risk of dementia and link caregivers with resources. Yio Chu Kang is […]

As the Year of the Rabbit is now upon us, millennials dread conversations about marriage and having a family at many an otherwise joyous new year party. The Amazon.sg advertisement that promotes the silencing of probing elders by putting scrumptious festive food bought on its platform before them, encapsulates this sentiment. It finds resonance globally. […]

Many years ago, in 1931, John Maynard Keynes wrote an essay titled “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren”. Stock markets had crashed two years earlier in 1929; millions throughout the world were out of work; it was the beginning of the Great Depression — “a slump which will take its place in history amongst the most […]

SINGAPORE: In a special edition of the World Economic Forum annual report released on Dec 16, Singapore was listed as one of the digitally advanced countries well-placed to manage the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country was ranked sixth in the world for information and communications technology adoption and digital skills, and third in […]

We recently recommended that Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rates for all workers be equalised at 37 per cent, restoring the rates for older workers back to be on par with those of younger workers currently. To many, the change would be a sensible and fair approach. But some have responded strongly to say that […]

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo announced during her Ministry’s budget debate this month that the tripartite labour partners — government, businesses and unions — have agreed that the retirement and re-employment ages in Singapore not only continue to be relevant, but should be increased. The Minister also underlined that even as the retirement and re-employment ages […]

With the advent of life-sustaining medical treatments that can artificially prolong the lives of those with terminal illness, death has become more complicated. Families and healthcare professionals face moral decisions in choosing between life-sustaining treatments and comfort care: when is the right time to detach the ventilator and let a loved one or a patient […]

மரணத்தைப் பற்றி பேசுவது எளிதன்று. நம் உற்றார் உறவினரின் அந்திமக் காலத்தைப் பற்றி நினைக்கவே பயப்படுகிறோம். நம் சொந்த வாழ்க்கையின் முடிவு பற்றி நினைக்கும் போது இந்தப் பயம் அதிகரிக் கலாம்.

There is a growing sense that a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is an incomplete measure of national output and productivity. For one thing, GDP, which is the aggregate value of all goods and services produced within a country, does not count socially valuable but unpaid activities. Caregiving for children, the disabled and the elderly […]