WEALTHTECH TO ENABLE COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT

Speaking of a comfortable retirement, Malaysians often rely on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) as a source of savings. According to EPF Malaysia, 64 percent of EPF members aged 54 have less than RM50,000 in their savings. And, most members spend all their EPF savings within 3 to 5 years.

- LOKINI SEGARAN

Earlier this year, the Department of Statistics (DOS) stated that 71.4 percent of self-employed respondents have sufficient savings of less than a month, while 82.7 percent of private-sector employees have sufficient savings for up to two months during the Movement Control Order (MCO).

The above-mentioned statistics clearly indicates that Malaysians lack the necessary knowledge or preparedness of saving up for rainy days, and this is where wealth management becomes a vital part of life. The 2019 Economic Survey of Malaysia by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealed that an individual tends to spend 20 years in retirement if he/she retires at 60.

Whenever savings become a topic of discussion, investment becomes the ‘why not’ factor as opposed to plain savings.

A study survey by Dalia Research showed that around 31 percent of Malaysian millennials do not have an investment strategy while 43 percent of millennials say they do not invest at all and only 16 percent invest once every one or two years.

The survey demonstrates that Malaysian millennials are more driven towards saving than using their money for investment.

And as the world transitions into digitalisation, many industries are seen to adopt new technologies to continuously improve their services. Financial Technology (Fintech), provides automated and improved financial services with software and other modern technologies.

Among such developments is Wealthtech (wealth and technology), the growing segment of Fintech. Wealthtech involves cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and Big Data, to provide an alternative to traditional wealth management firms.