However, this dream is slipping away for many Malaysians as the rising cost of living and inadequate savings force a growing number of older folk to delay their retirement.
Economist Yeah Kim Leng of Sunway University said income insecurity was a significant concern for a large segment of Malaysians, particularly due to the stagnation of wages and income inequality.
“These factors, compounded by high medical inflation and increasing life expectancy, create financial pressure that leads many to extend their working years.
“The Gini coefficient – a measure of income inequality within a country or a population – remains largely unchanged, and the relative poverty rate has increased based on recent income measures.
“Without adequate intervention, Malaysia risks facing an old-age poverty crisis,” he told Bernama.
A recent survey by insurance firm Sun Life Malaysia found that 18% of non-retirees had delayed their retirement, citing the need to save more (64%), higher living expenses (56%), and a desire to remain physically and mentally active (44%) as key reasons.
The “Retirement Reimagined” survey covered 502 people in Malaysia and more than 3,500 respondents from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam as well.
Sun Life Malaysia CEO Raymond Lew said the number of people who had postponed their retirement plans paints a stark picture of the financial challenges many face in planning for their golden years.
He said it also underscored an urgent need for better financial literacy and long-term savings strategies to secure a comfortable retirement.
“Younger Malaysians are disproportionately affected, with 59% of them citing rising costs as a major concern, compared with just 29% of retirees,” he said.
Sun Life Malaysia’s survey also found that medical inflation in Malaysia stood at 12.6%, more than double the global average, adding to people’s financial strain.
Yeah said retirees might rely more on public healthcare with private healthcare becoming less affordable, and warned that this could overwhelm government hospitals and clinics.
He proposed several policy measures to address retirement insecurity, including gradually raising the retirement age beyond the current 60 years and aligning EPF’s withdrawal age with life expectancy trends.
“The EPF withdrawal age should be realigned from 55 to 60 years to reflect a longer life expectancy.
“These two key short-term measures need to be complemented with a restructuring of the retirement savings scheme from lump sum withdrawals to annuity-type schemes that provide retirees with monthly income,” he said.
Yeah also said the government should emulate other countries in giving monthly cash transfers to retirees.