MORE than a third of the 274,715 EPF members aged 54 have less than RM10,000 in retirement savings, Deputy Finance Minister II Steven Sim said. 

Fifty-four year-olds make up 1.7% of the total 15.7 million EPF contributors, with a combined savings of RM35.72 billion, he told parliament today.

Only 2%, or 4,877 members, have retirement savings exceeding RM1 million, said Sim. This group has a combined total savings of RM7.9 billion.

Members with savings of RM10,001-20,000 accounted for 8% of the contributors, RM20,001-50,000 (13%), RM50,001-RM100,000 (12%), RM101,001-200,000 (13%), RM200,001-500,000 (13%), and RM500,001 to RM1 million (4%).

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said 51%, or 6.7 million of EPF contributors under the age of 55 had savings of less than RM10,000.

“Such an amount means that, members only retirement funds of RM42 a month over a period of 20 years,” Anwar said.

In 2019, EPF set the recommended minimum retirement savings at RM240,000. 

Sim said low retirement savings is a legacy issue that required structural reform. 

In the meantime, Sim said EPF has provided members with various ways to raise their retirement savings. 

He said employees could  choose to contribute more than the statutory rate at any time. 

“As of the first half of this year, 186,00 EPF members have registered to make contributions in excess of the statutory rate for employee contributions,” he said. 

Sim said members could also contribute more at any time through the voluntary contribution scheme, subject to a limit of RM100,000 per year.

“In the first half of this year, a total of 535,000 members have made voluntary contributions totalling RM3.93 billion.” – November 29, 2023.