MORE than half of Malaysians polled in a Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) and Visa survey are not financially ready for retirement.

The Sun reported AKPK chief executive officer Azaddin Ngah Tasir as saying the survey found that one in five respondents was saving less than 10% of their monthly salary.

“People are saving, but not enough. This is because a lot of people, especially young adults, do not think about retirement. And based on the (monthly) income that they have, there is only a certain amount that they can save,” Azaddin said at the launch of the agency’s new mobile app, Financial Insight.

The survey was conducted in August, involving 1,000 Malaysians, aged between 18 and 55, to help create the Financial Insight app, which calculates a user’s financial input and projects their financial standing upon retirement.

The app is available for download for free in the middle of next month for iPhone and Android users.

Azaddin said from the agency’s inception in 2006 up to October 31 this year, it had provided counselling for 648,295 cases, with 14,973 cases, amounting to RM600.6 million, settled.

He said AKPK’s statistics showed that 12.8% of its debt management programme customers were below the age of 30, 70.6% between 30 and 50, and 16.6% above 50.

The Malaysian Insight previously reported that three out of four Malaysians were unable raise RM1,000 in an emergency, as part of an earlier survey that found low-ranking civil servants were unable to save money each month after spending on their families. – November 29, 2017.