90% Of EPF Members Under Age 30 Will Not Have Enough Retirement Savings

According to the Khazanah Research Institute (KRI), the situation had worsened due to COVID-19-related EPF (Employees Provident Fund) withdrawals.

Earlier this week, KRI had released the State of Households 2024 report. The report also highlighted the impact of the pandemic on households from 2019 to 2022.

Only 10% of EPF members under age 30 are on the right track

The 2024 KRI report mainly focused on how the global pandemic reshaped household formation, income distribution, inequality and wealth in Malaysia.

KRI revealed that EPF members’ contributions from 2019 to 2022 show that only the top ten per cent in the below 30 years of age category have more than RM35,000. This amount is used as a guide to benchmark if they can reach the basic savings goal by age 55. Overall, Malaysian household residual incomes have also declined for the entire population but the report highlighted that it affected the lower and middle income households more.

According to the report, “the lowest population band saw a -108.2% decline from RM200 (nominally) in 2019 to -RM16 in 2022. This trend is further exacerbated through the Covid-19 related EPF withdrawal schemes, that collectively resulted in over 90% of EPF members under 30 not having enough in basic savings for retirement”.

Basic retirement savings of RM240,000 by age 55

EPF has raised the basic retirement savings benchmark to RM240,000 by age 55 in recent years.

This basic savings amount is so that “EPF members have sufficient savings at a minimum amount of RM1,000 per month when they retire in order to support their basic retirement needs for 20 years from age 55 to 75, in line with Malaysians’ life expectancy”.

Earlier, EPF had also published a monthly household expenditure guide which showed that a senior couple will realistically require at least RM3,210 to cover monthly expenses while living in the Klang Valley.

Either way, surviving on RM1,000 per month is no longer realistic given rising inflation and our weak ringgit. If Malaysian youth are unable to even save enough to meet the basic savings guide set by EP, the situation is really alarming.

However, the KRI report does not capture data of non-EPF savings. As younger Malaysians today are more involved in the gig economy, there could be income and savings information that are not captured in EPF database as well.