Reading the article on The Edge Markets last week, I was quite surprised that the majority of Malaysians with zero savings.
The savings mentioned in the article exclude forced savings such as EPF. Because according to the researchers, the household does not have access to forced savings during emergencies.
Read more: Can we rely on EPF to fund our retirement years?
Why the majority of Malaysians with zero savings?
As a rakyat biasa (ordinary people), I do believe that many Malaysians are having difficulty saving a portion of their income for emergency purposes.
With the rising cost of living, it is getting tough for most Malaysian to earn enough to have a surplus after taking care of their basic needs.
Besides, low wages coupled with stagnant or low salary increments also causing many Malaysians to fail to put aside some of their incomes.
Another factor could be poor financial management among fellow Malaysians. I strongly believe that proper financial literacy will provide guidelines for all Malaysians to better manage their personal finances.
Final thoughts
It is hard to accept that the majority of Malaysians are with zero savings.
Let’s better equipped our fellow Malaysians, especially the young Malaysians, with proper financial literacy. With the hope that we can improve on our money-saving skills.