What we didn't know was the fact that for some, it would affect their future as well.

Retirement is affected

In a worrying update, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) revealed that only a handful of Malaysians have enough in their savings to retire.

Its chief strategy officer, Nurhisham Hussein, told Bernama that only three per cent of EPF contributors can afford to retire.

This was due to the various COVID-related withdrawals - namely i-Sinar, i-Lestari and i-Citra - which left many Malaysians below the age of 55 with little to no money left for retirement.

“Even with COVID-19, 80 per cent of Malaysian men and 90 per cent of Malaysian women will reach age 60, while one out of three men and two out of three women will reach age 80.

“We now estimate that only three per cent of Malaysians can afford to retire,” Nurhisham was quoted as saying.

On top of that, EPF revealed that 54 per cent of their members aged 54 would have less than RM50,000 in their savings account.

Nurhisham added that those who withdrew their EPF savings at the age of 55 would finish up their funds within two to three years.

To make matters even more complicated, he said that those who opted to withdraw their savings using the facilities above during the pandemic would now need to work an extra four to six years just to cover the amount they withdrew.

This is indeed a worrying development. So, if you have some extra money, remember to save it for rainy days, OK?