Some of the scary facts were
a) Funds in EPF on average will last only 3 to 4 years after retirement.
If you're retiring at the age of 55, you'll be broke by the age of 59.
b) People can no longer expect their children or the govenment to take care of them during their old age.
Due to the increase of life expectancy (more and more people reaching the age of 75 years or older) and need special attention and care most of the time.
c) People living in major cities in Malaysia would require between RM500k and RM5 million to retire quite comfortably.
Now tell me honestly, can you at least accumulate RM500k in your EPF by the time you retire? If you're just a middle class people like me .. I think the answer is most probably be no. Middle income people will unlikely reach the RM500k in their EPF let alone from other form of saving accounts if they don't have a second or a third stream of income.
d) Most retirees suffers chronic diseases and psychological issues. Top killer is heart disease while hypertension is a common killer. (Scary!)
Which only means you will drained up your retirement funds at a quicker pace as the cost of medical sevices is also on the rise.
The question is now, are we all doomed for our own retirement? Well thank god it is not. The advice given was to start planning for your retirement as EARLY AS POSSIBLE.
Some advised that were given ...
a) Accumulate assets early in life. For me that's a good advise because when you reach you retirement age you can rest assured that the house is 100% paid and it is yours totally. No more instalment payments. Whether you realised this or not our house is actually our biggest investment in life.
b) Start saving at least 10% of monthly income the moment you receive your salary. (errr status duit simpanan aku ... sadis!)
c) Adopt a healthy lifetstyle now. This is to reduce your risk of suffering critical illnesses later in life. (Thank god I'm doing something towards this goal right now)
Do you have enough money to retire comfortably? I know I'm not .. so I'll definitely will think of ways to increase my savings. With this little info, I hope you readers will start thinking about your retirement plan too. Just imagine if you're going to retire tomorrow, how are you going to survive? That should start you thinking I hope. :)