More than 50% of Malaysians may not be financially ready for retirement, according to the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK). To help lessen this number, AKPK yesterday launched a new mobile app called Financial Insight.
AKPK CEO Azaddin Ngah Tasir said its study, conducted last August on 1,000 Malaysians aged 18 to 55, showed that although most of the respondents had set aside a portion of their monthly income as savings, one in five was saving less than 10% of their monthly salaries.
The survey helped AKPK create the mobile app. The Sun daily quoted Azaddin as saying: “People are saving, but not enough. This is because a lot of people, especially the young adults, do not think about retirement. And based on the (monthly) income that they have, there is only a certain amount that they can save.”
The app, which allows individuals to take a photo of themselves, will tabulate their financial health based on the inputs they provide and project the robustness of their financial standing with an image of the individual upon retirement.
For example, a user with better financial health will look younger than one who is financially burdened at the same age. The app will also provide tips for users if the results indicate a poor outlook on their retirement. The app will be available for download for free in mid-December for both iPhone and Android users.
Visa and AKPK hoped the mobile app would enable Malaysians to understand the importance of saving regularly, and be aware of the amount that they should set aside every month in order to be financially sufficient by the time they retire.
Meanwhile, Azaddin said since its inception in 2006 to Oct 31 this year, AKPK had counselled more than 648,295 people, with 14,973 cases, involving RM600.6 million, settled.
He was quoted as saying that AKPK’s statistics showed that 12.8% of its debt management programme customers were below the age of 30, 70.6% between 30 to 50 and 16.6% above 50 years old.
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