Innovative Ways to Tackle Manpower ShortageThe biggest fear of running a business is the absence of customers. Of late, however, the fear for local SMEs has changed to the shortage of manpower. The government has reiterated that there will be no U-turn in policy with regards to foreign labour tightening measures and may further reduce the number of S-pass holders. Money Week has the report from various trades; a fitness centre, a furniture store and a seafood restaurant. How do they adopt innovation to improve productivity faced with the manpower crunch? Financial Planning 101: Impact of Simplifying CPF Top-Up Schemes? From 1 November 2012, the existing CPF top-up schemes in Singapore will be simplified. Two of the existing CPF top-up channels, the Voluntary Contributions to a member’s Retirement Account (VC to RA) and the top-up made under the Ordinary Account to the Special Account (OA-to-SA) Transfer Scheme, will be merged into the existing Minimum Sum Topping Up (MSTU) scheme. The top-up limits will also be aligned with this simplification. For CPF members planning to top up, how will these changes affect them? And how will tax relief benefits be affected?