Social Security System (SSS) President and Chief Executive Officer Rolando Ledesma Macasaet on Monday said he has urged Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Singapore to avail of the SSS Voluntary Provident Fund Program, also known as the Worker’s Investment and Savings Program (WISP) Plus.

Macasaet said he told the 83 OFWs, who attended the 1st SSS Kapihan sa Singapore on 10 March 2024, to put their hard-earned money in the WISP Plus to build on their retirement savings and augment their pensions.

Macasaet said that the voluntary retirement savings program was being offered to SSS members to increase their retirement pension on top of the benefits they will get under the regular social security program.

“Save your money with us through the WISP Plus and we will take care of it. When you reach the age of 60, you can get it back together with its investment earnings,” Macasaet said.

He explained that the program was an affordable and flexible savings scheme as SSS members could contribute as low as P500 whenever they want.

“Members can contribute for as low as P500 per payment whenever they want for this additional layer of social security protection,” he noted. “The members’ pooled contributions under WISP Plus will generate investment earnings, which will be credited to their individual accounts, tax-free.”

“The program is off to a good start with an estimated 6.86 percent return on investment (ROI) in 2023. It outperformed the average 1-year Treasury bill rate, which stood at 6.01 percent in 2023,” he added.

“It is an indication that members’ savings invested in the program will generate decent earnings, which will be added to their total contributions resulting to higher benefits when they retire," the SSS chief stressed.

Macasaet said that, for example, if a WISP Plus contributor invested P10,000 at the start of the year, he would have already earned P690, which was a reasonable amount considering that if he put that in a bank savings account, he would only earn a little more than 1 percent or only P100.

He said that members can check the status of their voluntary retirement savings under WISP Plus online by logging in to their My.SSS account.

In 2023, Macasaet said the total member savings collection from the Voluntary Provident Fund Program reached P386 million from more than 30,000 SSS members in its first year of its implementation.