I’ve long been interested in using my CPF Investment account to dive into REITs, but I was always held back by the rule that caps excess investable funds for property funds and equities at 35% if you have more than S$20K. According to the CPF website, property funds are essentially the SREITs that fall under this restriction. So imagine my surprise when, while watching Master Leong’s YouTube video titled “A Different Path to CPF Investing…”, I learned that it’s actually possible to invest in the REIT ETF (specifically, the NikkoAM-StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT ETF-CFA.SI) using the entire investable amount from your CPF OA.

Earlier this week, I decided to put this newfound information to the test by investing S$20K of my CPF investable balances into the CFA ETF. The first few days were quite stressful, as both my trading representative and my CPF agent bank officer insisted it couldn’t be done—they claimed the CFA ETF was also subject to the 35% limit. But I was determined to see if this guidance from Master Leong was indeed applicable.