INTERACTIVE: Higher voluntary EPF contributions with tax exemptions is what most want in Budget 2026 poll<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cNot allowing withdrawals will leave retirees under debt pressure, especially since many still carry unpaid loans into retirement. What\u2019s needed is better financial education and a culture of saving, not stricter withdrawal rules,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said raising the withdrawal age to 60 makes sense as it would align with the current retirement age.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current full withdrawal at 55 has been in place for decades and no longer matches Malaysia\u2019s employment structure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, he suggested that the adjustment be introduced gradually, starting on a voluntary basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere must be active engagement with stakeholders to manage expectations among EPF members,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sunway University economist Prof Yeah Kim Leng agreed that raising the EPF withdrawal age is a reasonable step forward, though flexibility must be maintained.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that many contributors deplete their savings within three to five years, a compromise could be to convert half of the amount into an annuity account for continued financial security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill, flexibility should be given for special cases, which can be managed through EPF\u2019s established expertise in retirement planning.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a news report, the World Bank had suggested increasing the withdrawal age for EPF from 55 to between 65 and 70.<\/p>\n
They claimed the current age is too low and that a gradual increase would ensure the sustainability of Malaysia\u2019s social protection system, while allowing retirees to enjoy larger pension benefits.<\/p>\n
It also said the current social pension eligibility age of 60 is below most countries\u2019 standards and no longer aligns with the nation\u2019s improved healthy life expectancy.<\/p>\n
According to an analysis done by the World Bank on Malaysians\u2019 household income and spending, from government data in 2022, the result showed that the risk of poverty increases with age.<\/p>\n
Hence, the World Bank said that raising the eligibility age could also help better target support to elderly citizens who truly need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PETALING JAYA: Seniors are pushing back against the World Bank\u2019s proposal to raise the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7127,138,13488,38731,246,111,139,69,244,245,294,2532,26179,24547],"class_list":{"0":"post-113048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-age","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-economists","11":"tag-epf","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-personal-finance","17":"tag-personalfinance","18":"tag-retirement","19":"tag-retirement-planning","20":"tag-withdrawal","21":"tag-world-bank"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}