This month, however, she decided to stop withdrawing for a year.

What changed her mind was a letter from the CPF Board. It said that by deferring her withdrawals, she would qualify for the Voluntary Deferment Bonus (V-Bonus).

Madam Misliah is among the success stories of the board's recent campaign to get members to take advantage of new Government incentives aimed at persuading people to keep their money in CPF longer.

The campaign, which involves sending out thousands of letters, has already started to bear fruit, a CPF Board spokesman said on Tuesday.

A total of 2,400 letters were sent to CPF members who were turning either 63 or 64 in the first two months of this year (2008) and were drawing down their CPF retirement savings.

Nearly half - or 1,055 - of them have agreed to stop.

Five of them went beyond CPF's expectations. They said they would delay withdrawing their money until after age 65, the cut-off age for the V-bonus.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.