Solutions

From the interviews, the participants suggested some solutions addressing certain challenges that they have faced. As the solutions come from the participants themselves, it is tailored to address the pressing needs of the generation moving towards old age. This makes it more relevant to address their issues as it comes from the participants’ perspectives, who belongs to this group of people moving towards old age.

All the participants faced financial insecurities and encountered issues with various financial or social services application process. Most of the suggestions given were regarding policies, whereby the participants hoped to see more flexibility and understanding of the special cases by the policy makers.

CPF Policies

Regarding CPF, a few participants highlighted the thoughts of using the money for emergency needs, housing and retirement plans. Some participants were upset with the change in CPF policy in recent years that changed what they were promised before. One of the suggestions given was reviewing the policies and setting cut-off age group to enforce the new change in policy.

General Social and Financial Services Policies

As for the social and financial services policies, participants raised the issue of rejections by the officials regarding their applications due to lack of understanding by the officials. However, they also understood this was due to the stringent policies set in place that resulted to this. For some participants, even when the application is approved, the assistance provided is deemed to be insufficient to help them get over their tough period. The participants felt that more could be done to understand into their cases instead of just rejecting their application or providing insufficient aids.

Work

Another common issue faced by the participants is work. As some of them were jobless, they faced challenges with the work programmes put in place. More could be done to understand the situations of these participants. In our themes, we covered the personality of the participants as a hindrance. There is a need to understand their mentality and bridge their needs and wants to be able to come up with policies and programmes that best address what this group of audience need.