Can you retire?

Only 5% of Malaysian are prepared for retirement. Based on EPF’s 2005 annual report, about 90%
of EPF contributors have less than RM100,000 in their account – not enough to see them through
20 years past retirement.

In 1981, when Azman graduated, he got a job in KL which paid him RM1,800 a month. He bought an
imported Mazda at RM17,000 and months later he put down money on a RM78, 000 single-storey
terrace house.

Today, 25 years later, Azman's daughter has just finished university. Her starting pay is RM1,800,
just like her father's two and a half decades ago.

But unlike her father's time, imported cars cost over RM100,000 today. So Latifah has opted to buy
a Proton for RM45,000 (more than double what her dad paid for his first car).

While her father could afford to buy a house early in his career, Latifah can't. Houses in KL these days
cost at least RM200,000, so she has to work for a few years first before she can own one.

Compared to 25 years ago, the prices of goods, food, petrol and electricity have all gone up.
Understandably, it's an uphill task for Latifah to save on her RM1,800 salaries, since the purchasing
power of her salary is much lower than her father's back in the 1980s.

It is a fact that wages have not moved in tandem with the rise of the cost of living and inflation.
That trend is expected to continue.

Today, three meals cost you RM20 but in 20 years time – with an inflation rate of 6% a year –
you will need RM64 per day for the three meals, estimates financial consultant Hazel Ong Archibald
of CIMB Wealth Advisors (see Chart above).

So while the RM500,000 in your EPF or bank account at retirement might look good on paper, she
says, if you do not invest that money to make it grow at a rate higher than the inflation rate, 20 years
later, it would be worth only RM145,053 in purchasing power!

“People are living longer, life expectancy for women is 76 years. For men it's 72. With this kind of
longevity, people have got more than 20 years after retirement.” she says.

People are marrying later too, points out Ong.

This means they are having children later in life. If a person has a kid at the age of 35 and retires at 55,
the odds are that his child at 20 would probably still be at university or college and his education
require financing.

Assuming that one can live on RM1,000 a month, to survive for 25 years, one would still need a
substantial RM300,000 and for 35 years, RM420,000.

“When you are in your late 40s, you should be winding down and not committing to high expenses to buy
big things,” she says.

By SHAHANAAZ HABIB - The Star, Sunday May 27, 2007