Reference

Glossary of household savings and goals-based planning terms.

The vocabulary that turns up in CFP® coursework, FPAS practice notes, and CPF Board guidance. Each entry is short and links to longer treatment where one exists.

Annuity (ordinary): A series of equal periodic payments at the end of each period. The standard convention for household savings calculations.
Annuity due: An annuity with payments at the start of each period instead of the end. Equivalent to ordinary annuity multiplied by (1+r). Modestly higher accumulation.
APR: Annual Percentage Rate. The quoted annual rate before compounding-frequency adjustment.
APY: Annual Percentage Yield. The effective annual rate after compounding. APY = (1 + APR/12)^12 − 1 for monthly compounding. Slightly higher than APR.
Auto-transfer / standing order: An instruction to a bank to move a fixed sum on a fixed schedule from one account to another. The behavioural workhorse of household savings.
BTO: Build-To-Order. The Singapore HDB programme for new flats, with a typical 3–4 year build timeline from selection to key collection. See the house deposit page.
CFP®: Certified Financial Planner®. The international professional designation administered by the Financial Planning Standards Board.
ChFC®: Chartered Financial Consultant®. A designation administered (in Singapore) by the Singapore College of Insurance.
CPF: Central Provident Fund. The Singapore mandatory savings scheme covering retirement, housing, healthcare, and education uses.
CPF OA: CPF Ordinary Account. The portion of CPF accessible for housing, approved investments, and education. Earns 2.5 % statutory floor (subject to revision).
Default effect: The behavioural-finance finding that defaults overwhelm preferences in retirement-savings participation and contribution-rate decisions. See the behaviour page.
Education inflation: The historical rate of increase in tertiary tuition costs, typically running 1–2 percentage points above general consumer inflation. Approximately 4.5 % per year for international study from Singapore. See the education page.
Emergency fund: A liquid reserve sized at 3–6 months of essential expenses, held outside investment accounts for same-day or near-same-day access. See the emergency fund page.
FPAS: Financial Planning Association of Singapore. The Singapore professional body administering CFP® certification locally and producing practice guidance.
Future value (FV): The accumulated value of a present sum or series of payments at a future date, given a periodic interest rate. The output of the savings-goal formula.
Glide path: A pre-set schedule for shifting asset allocation toward more conservative assets as a goal date approaches. Used in target-date funds and goal-based investing.
HDB: Housing & Development Board. The Singapore statutory body building and managing public housing.
HDB Concessionary Loan: A government-subsidised mortgage offered by HDB for eligible flat purchases, currently capped at 75 % LTV for first-time buyers.
Loss aversion: The behavioural-finance finding (Kahneman & Tversky) that losses are felt approximately twice as strongly as equivalent gains. Affects savings-disruption recovery patterns.
LTV: Loan-to-Value ratio. The mortgage amount as a percentage of property purchase price. Capped by MAS regulation.
MAS: Monetary Authority of Singapore. The central bank and integrated financial regulator.
Mental accounting: Thaler’s framework: people categorise money differently based on labels (gift, salary, refund) despite economic equivalence. Used in named-account savings structures.
Pay-yourself-first: The financial-planning convention of routing the savings contribution at the start of the month, before discretionary spending. See the behaviour page.
PMT: The periodic payment in a time-value-of-money equation. The variable usually being solved for in savings-goal calculations.
Save More Tomorrow: Thaler & Benartzi’s framework: pre-commitment to allocate a portion of future salary increases to savings, smoothing the consumption-saving trade-off.
SSB: Singapore Savings Bond. A government-backed bond redeemable in any month with full principal protection plus pro-rata interest. Suitable for emergency-fund layers and short-horizon goals.
Time horizon: The number of months or years between today and the goal date. The denominator in the time-to-goal mode and a key input to vehicle selection.