EPF: Numbers we should know and start to prepare
I became an EPF member aka as contributor when I started working as a sales assistant right after SPM. It was for just for a few months while waiting for SPM results. That was way back in 1994. Haha. Yeah, I am 45 this year. My basic salary at the time was RM300 + RM50 for good attendance incentive and I also have overtime payments as and when my supervisor asked me to work longer hours. Then, I left the role to continue with my studies. Thus, I have been an EPF member since 1994. That’s 28 years already.
Below are some numbers about EPF that I have read and will write down so that I also have a place I could refer to in the future.
Reference articles:
Article in freemalaysiatoday.com
#1 – Due to the withdrawals allowed for members who faced financial difficulties due to Covid-19 in 2021, withdrawal amount exceeded the contribution amount. (This is NOT good for the future of the affected EPF members)
#2 – EPF members have had access to their retirement funds of up to RM71,000 via i-Lestari, i-Sinar and i-Citra
#3 – Total withdrawals for these three programmes; i-Lestari, i-Sinar and i-Citra was RM101 billion.
#4 – EPF has a total of around 15 million members
#5 – 48% of EPF members (6.1 million) have less than RM10,000 in their EPF account (Many are still working… our median age is 29 by the way)
#6 – 10% of EPF members own 40% of the funds totalling some RM890 billion. (Means each of these top 10% EPF members have close to RM600,000 on average in their EPF accounts currently)
#7 – EPF dividends for 2021 could have been 6.7% if no withdrawals were allowed due to the Covid-19 effects
#8 – There is now a EPF Voluntary Contribution scheme where contributors must contribute at least RM5 a month or RM60 a year and maximum amount is up to RM60,000 a year.
#9 Only 3% of EPF contributors could afford retirement after the withdrawals over the past two years impacting contributors’
Reference articles:
Article in freemalaysiatoday.com
Conclusion
EPF is really the last resort because most people do not have enough money in their EPF account to rely on when they stop working. If we take EPF as an extra, then we will know that we also need other investments too. If EPF is the only one we have, then get ready to struggle in the future. There are better investments but as usual, higher returns meant higher risks too. Some say they want to withdraw RM10k to invest into other places since the government allows withdrawal of up to RM10k now. Read here for the news.
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