Personal Finance 101: WORKING LONGER is compulsory for majority. Does it include you?

Here’s that news which should alarm many of us: 71pct of EPF contributors aged 55 and below do not have enough to rise above poverty level Briefly, this meant that for these 71 percent of EPF contributors, they will live under the poverty level for their savings versus the years they have to live with it. Malaysians are living longer yeah. Take this into account when we are talking about working past retirement.

Continue the lifestyle, not reduce the quality

A good friend was saying that he wanted to just resign and stop working full time. He’s too tired of going office daily. When asked if he had enough savings, he said that he can manage his expenses and detailed how he would eat at a cheap place everyday. He will also not going to travel a lot, just need to go hiking and stay healthy. That’s most important he said. While I agree health is important, I disagree that one would have to reduce the quality of life when compared to going to office daily. Everyone’s different I guess. Which one are you?

Working past retirement?

Will you continue working past retirement? I guess the answer depends on whether we have enough to cater to our lifestyle. The lesser we spend, the lesser we need and the longer our savings could last us. Typical retirement age is probably between 56 – 60 years old today in Malaysia. This is on the low side because many ageing and aged countries have already increased their retirement age many years back. They realised they needed more people to continue working because there’s just not enough young people joining the workforce.

Already an ageing nation

Let’s look at some facts. Article in themalaysianreserve.com World Bank Group representative to Malaysia and country manager Firas Raad said in a statement, “Malaysia has passed a crucial milestone in its development trajectory this year and has become an ageing society; defined per the international convention as having 7% or more of the population aged 65 and above.”

He shared that with rapid ageing, Malaysians would have to work longer. Our demographics have shifted to an era of low fertility and low mortality from a high fertility and high mortality previously. (Briefly, we have less baby and people live way longer than previously) He shared that only 45% of Malaysians between 55-64 are working while in South Korea, Japan and Thailand, more than 65% of persons aged 55 to 64 are active in the labour market. Do read more here: Article in themalaysianreserve.com

Health is wealth, that’s the truth!

They say health is wealth. Could we maintain this past retirement? Well, it’s happening with the demographics shift in Malaysia. We are now living longer. However, are we also be coming healthier? An earlier article here for reading: Living longer and staying healthier. Malaysians lah

Three reminders for all of us. Living longer means we MUST be wealthier too. Else, how to support our life post-retirement yeah. If we are NOT wealthy enough, then be prepared to work LONGER. Else what to do once income stops? Lastly if we intend to work LONGER, then we need to stay healthy. Else, it’s not just inability to earn more salary post-retirement age but we will also be spending even more of our savings due to health issues.

We are ageing, we need health and we definitely need to work longer

Are we spending our salaries happily? In the future, happiness will be harder to find. Save some for the rainy days they say. Well, invest some for future days too. At the same time, do not be lazy and get up and walk 1km this whole week. 2km daily the next week and so on. A typical 1km walk is less than 10 minutes. Everyone can do it if they like to. Continue reading kopiandproperty.my too. Haha. Take care and have a good day ahead.

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