Children in the Ministry of Health survey were found to have been providing regular cash payments to 75.9% of all the over-55s. Holzmann and his colleagues reported at approximately the same time that the median balance of the active CPF member was S$50,000-S$60,000. This sum (just under the equivalent of two years of mean earnings) would provide them with an annuity of S$583 per month. That is another way of saying that without their children they would not be able to purchase more than their basic necessities.