EPF to offer retirement, financial advice to members next year

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will offer retirement and financial advice as a value-added service to its members next year at EPF branches in the Klang Valley, said Chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman.

"We will begin a pilot project in the Klang Valley with an eventual national roll-out at the end of the pilot phase in one or two years," he told reporters on the sidelines of the EPF International Seminar 2013 Financial Literacy and Retirement Savings themed "Towards Securing A Comfortable Retirement."

Samsudin said the new service is aimed at helping members in their retirement planning and provide education in finances, adding the initiative is hoped to help EPF contributors prepare for their retirement.

He noted that the fund's studies have shown that people tend to squander money in a short period, which could be problematic if EPF was their only source of income.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said the Klang Valley pilot project would take up to two years prior to being rolled out nationwide for manpower training purposes.

"We will be working hand in hand with other agencies such as the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency and Bank Negara Malaysia to get the right training for our people," he added.

The two-day seminar, officiated by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamed Hanadzlah, is aimed at raising the level of financial management and literacy in the country.

The seminar is hoped to provide a platform for participants and employees to kick-start their road map in retirement planning, with international experts and policy makers sharing financial literacy best practices.

The EPF, the sixth largest provident fund in the world, was responsible for the management of RM554.1 billion worth of funds as of the second quarter of this year.

In the last five years since 2008, the fund has given an average dividend of 6.11 per cent.