KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 – The public is advised to have more savings and invest wisely instead of solely depending on their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings when making their retirement plans.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said although EPF gave an average dividend of 6.11 per cent in the last five years since 2008, the average savings of an EPF active member at the age of 54 was just RM158,302, which might just last for a further 20 to 25 years.
“In order to encourage this, our regulators, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commision have introduced several consumer protection initiatives including strengthening of business conduct regulations applicable to financial service providers and the establisment of comprehensive institutional arrangements for dealing with consumer enquiries, complaints and redress,” he said, here, Tuesday.
Ahmad Husni was delivering his keynote address at a two-day international seminar themed, ‘Towards Securing a Comfortable Retirement’ focusing on financial education at the workplace organised by EPF, and attended by 350 international and local participants.
Also present were EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman and its chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan.
Samsudin in his speech said surveys found that most Malaysians had not given any thought to retirement even when they were only five to 10 years away from it and one reason they did not engage in a retirement plan was due to the lack of financial literacy.
“We hope this seminar will provide a platform for participants and employees to kick-start their roadmap in retirement planning.
“We also strongly recommend the 500,000 employers (registered with EPF) to lead the way to initiate an education programme at their workplace to enhance employees’ know-how on financial management,” he added.
– BERNAMA
