PETALING JAYA: Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members whose savings are at a critical level have expressed concern about how they will survive when they retire.
FMT interviewed several of these employees who will retire in five to 10 years. They said they will need to continue working or start small businesses to make ends meet.
Lorry driver Saffri Kamaruddin, 50, admitted that his EPF savings would not be enough to sustain him after retirement in view of the rising cost of living.
He said he planned to use whatever he has as EPF savings as capital to run a business.
“Perhaps with the business capital, I will be able to increase the money to support my children who are still studying,” he said.
A factory worker, known as Krishnan, 55, said he has increased his monthly contribution to EPF to ensure his savings will be enough when he retires.
“If it’s not enough, then I will have to work after retiring. Maybe I’ll work as a security guard to support my family,” he said.
Meanwhile, a consultant at an aviation school, Zulfadli Halim, 50, said that the hike in the cost of living has made it difficult for him to increase his monthly contribution to EPF and he was worried about his future.
On Monday, deputy finance minister Shahar Abdullah said Covid-19-related programmes had affected EPF members’ savings by around RM155 billion.
He had said that the implementation of four facilities introduced to tackle problems brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, namely i-Lestari, i-Sinar, i-Citra as well as the special one-off withdrawal of RM10,000, had seen around RM145 billion being withdrawn from EPF savings.
“EPF members’ savings are at a low and very worrying level, especially after the four withdrawals and the reduction in the employee share of the statutory contribution rate,” he said, adding that as of June 30, 6.62 million members — or 52% of the total of 12.78 million EPF members aged under 55 — had savings of less than RM10,000.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/08/14/those-reaching-retirement-age-worried-about-epf-savings/