00:00Malaysia is aging fast, and while we're living longer, we may not be saving enough to keep up.
00:09Projections show that by 2050, Malaysians could live well into their 80s,
00:13but the system meant to support retirement, the Employees' Provident Fund, or EPF,
00:19is under pressure. Malaysia's main retirement model is the EPF, a defined contribution scheme.
00:25You and your employer contribute monthly. The money is invested. What you end up with depends on how
00:32much you put in and how well the fund performs. For civil servants hired before 2001, there's also
00:38a defined benefit pension, a guaranteed monthly income based on years of service. The DB model
00:44is stable for retirees, but expensive for the government. The DC model is more sustainable,
00:51but riskier for individuals. Then came COVID-19. To cushion the economic blow,
00:59the government allowed withdrawals from EPF accounts.
01:03More than 8.1 million contributors took out a staggering 145 billion ringgit in total.
01:11Today, nearly half of EPF members under 55 have less than 10,000 ringgit left in their accounts.
01:17But here's the problem. Malaysians are living longer. Men now live to nearly 75,
01:26women to almost 79.
01:30To retire at 60 and live a modest life for two decades, you'd need 360,000 ringgit.
01:39But 74% of active EPF members haven't even saved 100,000 ringgit. At the same time, Malaysia is
01:49seeing a sharp decline in births, down 10.2% in just one year. Fewer births mean fewer workers in the
01:57future and fewer EPF contributors. With a low tax to GDP ratio, Malaysia doesn't have the fiscal room to
02:04support a tax-funded pension model. Unlike some developed nations, we can't afford a generous
02:10pay-as-you-go system without major reform. What's needed is a multi-pronged solution.
02:17Boosting financial literacy, offering tax incentives, expanding aged care infrastructure,
02:23and crucially, redesigning the EPF payout model.
02:27A proposed hybrid system would let retirees take part of their savings upfront and convert the rest
02:34into guaranteed monthly income, similar to Singapore's CPF life. This adds a layer of
02:39protection, ensuring no one outlives their savings without shifting the burden entirely to the state.
02:46The challenge is urgent, but not insurmountable. If Malaysia can blend personal responsibility with
02:53smarter policy, there's still time to build a retirement system that lasts,
02:57even as our lifespans stretch further than ever before.
03:00Dhanush Rajareza, FMT.
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