PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund\u2019s (EPF) revised benchmark of RM1.3mil in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement has raised concerns as to whether most Malaysians can achieve \u00adadequate savings.<\/p>\n
For operations manager, Samantha Khor, 47, the higher target feels like a wake-up call rather than a shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my age, you start looking seriously at your EPF balance and realising how fast time moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more than halfway there, but RM1.3mil still feels like a stretch, especially with children\u2019s education, housing loan and daily expenses,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She believes those in their 40s can still catch up, but only with discipline and realistic planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve started making voluntary EPF contributions and cutting back on non-essential spending. I also don\u2019t expect to fully retire at 60. I plan to keep working in some form as long as my health allows,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Khor is also worried that the new benchmark may not be the final one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith inflation and medical costs, I won\u2019t be surprised if this number goes up again. RM1mil used to sound like a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cEPF is not \u2018extra money\u2019. It\u2019s survival money for later in life,\u201d Khor said.<\/p>\n
She added that clearer \u00adretirement planning tools and stronger financial education are crucial, especially for younger Malaysians.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in their 20s and 30s need to understand that starting late makes everything harder. The earlier you save, the less painful it is later,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Senior accountant Alex Mok, 43, echoed similar concerns, \u00adsaying the jump from RM1mil to RM1.3mil feels like the goalposts have moved at a time when expenses are at their peak.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m earning more than when I was younger, but I also have more commitments \u2013 housing loan, children\u2019s education and caring for ageing parents. When you hear RM1.3mil, it sounds very far away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While he believes catching up is still possible, Mok said it would require tough choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve started increasing my \u00advoluntary EPF contributions and cutting back on non-essential spending. It\u2019s not easy, but doing nothing is worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also expects the retirement target to keep changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith prices going up every year, RM1.3mil today may not be enough in 20 years. EPF will probably have to revise it again, and that\u2019s worrying for people my age,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For retirees like Zai Xing, 66, the revised benchmark confirms what many had already felt on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I retired, RM1mil \u00adsounded like a lot. But after daily expenses, medical bills and helping my children when needed, the money goes faster than expected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zai noted that retirees have \u00adlittle room to recover financially once they stopped working.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this age, you can\u2019t suddenly earn more or save more. You just have to be very careful with spending and hope there are no major medical emergencies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He believes the higher RM1.3mil figure underscores the need for stronger support beyond EPF alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everyone can reach that amount. There needs to be more help for retirees, especially with healthcare. Otherwise, many will struggle as they live longer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund\u2019s (EPF) revised benchmark of RM1.3mil in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,18864,35787,186,119038,27818,5465,217991,184,185,1793,6541,1781,131371],"class_list":["post-412270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-discipline","tag-epf","tag-finance","tag-financial-education","tag-healthcare-costs","tag-inflation","tag-non-essential-spending","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-retirement","tag-retirement-planning","tag-savings","tag-voluntary-contributions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}