EPF Wish List: Raise Retirement Age to 60

The Star Online

September 27, 2011

  Malaysia

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) hopes the Government will consider raising the retirement age to 60 from 55 currently because long retirement period is one of the factors that contribute to inadequacy of retirement savings.

Chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said this when asked what was EPF's wish for Budget 2012.

“A factor that works against the adequacy of retirement savings in Malaysia is the increasingly long retirement period.

“When it was first set up in 1951, the full withdrawal age for our members of 55 was the same as the Malaysian life expectancy then.

“But some 60 years on, while the full withdrawal age has not changed, the average life expectancy of Malaysians has increased to 75 years.

“Thus, Malaysians today need to save for a 20-year retirement span compared to a shorter one 60 years ago. This is a long period and one of the longest in Asean and the world,” he said in his keynote address at the Malaysian Private Pension and Healthcare Conference 2011.

Another factor that influences the inadequacy of retirement savings among EPF members is the spending habit of retirees.

Azlan said that in a survey commissioned in 2003, it was found that 14% of its members finished their retirement savings within three years of retiring, 50% within five years and 70% within 10 years.

“Hence, we need to be mindful of this inadequacy of retirement savings issue as it could snowball into a future social issue,” he said.

At EPF, as a guide towards judging the adequacy of retirement savings, Azlan said, it had established a measure called “basic savings”.

“Basic savings is a benchmark by which members can gauge the adequacy of their retirement savings at each year of their life from 18 years to 55 years of age.

“The final aim is to have accumulated RM120,000 by the age of 55 that will translate into RM500 a month for the next 20 years.

“We are happy to note that at the end of 2010, for our active members who are 54 and about to retire this year, their average savings is around RM127,000 each,” he said.

However, the RM500 a month is lower than the 2009 poverty line income of the country of RM800 a month set by the Economic Planning Unit.

On healthcare and retirement, Azlan cautioned that the demand for healthcare for the aged was expected to rise significantly in the forthcoming years.

“And the Malaysia population is ageing, according to the United Nations, with more than 7% of our population aged 60 years and older.

“At EPF, we are cognisant of our members' needs and for those most urgent, we have provided withdrawal schemes from members' account two for housing, education and critical illnesses.

“From July 15, we have raised the number of critical illnesses eligible for withdrawal from the age of 36 to 55,” he said.

On the paring down of EPF's stake in RHB Capital Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB), Azlan declined to comment.

EPF holds 44.84% and 65.5% stakes in RHB Capital and MBSB respectively.