SINGAPORE - There are only three solutions to a pension system's challenges, concludes an Economist article that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shared in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

In his summary of the article, about the challenges the American pension system faces, Mr Lee said: people must either live on less during retirement, work longer and retire later, or save more of their salary while working.

Mr Lee added on Facebook "this is exactly what a British pensions expert told me," referring to Mr Paul Myners, an advisor to sovereign wealth fund GICand who had done a study on pensions for the British government.

Referring to the three solutions, Mr Lee said: "These are tough choices that countries - not just Singapore - are facing."

In September, the Government appointed a 13-member advisory panel to relook four key areas of the Central Provident Fund. These are: possible adjustments to the Minimum Sum beyond 2015; enabling lump sum withdrawals; offering CPF payouts that rise with living costs; and the flexibility to choose private investment plans.

Next year's Budget is also likely to contain measures that build on the Government's ongoing shifts in social and economic policy. These include moves "that the Government has undertaken over the last few years to strengthen social support and retirement adequacy", Senior Minister of State for Finance Josephine Teo had said in late November.