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Are you an EPF member who withdraw money out for investment scheme? Then, this is a very important news to you. Effective January 2014, the minimum basic savings required in Account 1 was revised upward. This will affect all of YOU who withdrawn certain amount from EPF account 1 for eligible investment purpose. Higher limit means lesser money you can withdraw from EPF in the future. How much will be increased? Based on the chart below, the percentage increased can be as high as 64%. Generally, the increasing amount was at least 50% once you're age 27 onward. How to calculate how much can I withdrawn from EPF account 1? What's the different or impact? Depending on your age and how much savings in account 1, the impact varies by members. For better explanation, please see example below: Finance Malaysia hopes this post can enlighten you on EPF members investment scheme withdrawal. You may share this to your friends. Thanks.

There is a chain email spreading about some EPF rules, that makes members worry such as below: If ONE of your nominees in the EPF nominees list dies, automatically the whole arrangement (EPF Nominees list) is VOID . Meaning if, you only put in ONE name & unfortunately he/she dies before you? Automatically EPF will channel your EPF money to trustee of AMANAH RAYA upon your death. Upon surrender to trustee of AMANAH RAYA, your children will have to battle the money through 3 channels; Majlis Agama Pejabat Tanah Mahkamah Is it TRUE ??? According to EPF, if a member has more than one nominee, and one of the nominees dies during the member’s lifetime, ONLY the portion that was bequeathed to the deceased nominee will be invalid . Should the member later dies without updating his nomination, the other nominees will receive their portion accordingly. Only the portion that was bequeathed to the deceased nominee will be subject to procedures under ‘EPF savings without nom...

This is one of the common question asked by potential PRS contributors. First, I want to emphasis that PRS is a long-term investment for the purpose of retirement planning . In investment case, long-term means you already using the most powerful method to reap a good return. Anyway, many contributors still want to treat PRS as some kind of short-term investment. I got the answer for you. Basically, PRS is very similar to unit trust investment. The underlying structure and investment philosophy were the same actually. No wonder many people perceived PRS is another unit trust scheme. Yes, you're correct to a certain extent. Under the guidelines, each PRS providers must at least launched their core funds for investors to select, namely Growth , Moderate and Conservative . To make things simple, we only discussed these core funds because I believe most of us only invest in core funds.  From these core funds, growth fund is the most aggressive one. In other words, the most risky one, w...

As all of us know, Employees Provident Funds (EPF) is meant for our retirement savings which helps us go through our golden years. However, statistic shows that most of the contributors opted for full withdrawals at age 55 and finished it all within a period of 10 years . In addressing this issue and encouraging contributors to keep their savings longer, EPF has launched a campaign to promote awareness on their " Flexible Age 55 Withdrawal Scheme ". How flexible is it? If you're one of the to-be-retiree, then this post more than relevant to you. Read on and share this with other contributors if you think that this might be useful for them. How does " EPF Flexible Age 55 Withdrawal Scheme " works? By opting the scheme, contributors could withdraw part of their savings at any one time or make monthly withdrawals or a combination of both options. This is how flexible it is where you can vary the frequency and withdrawal amount anytime. In other words, withdraw onl...

Although EPF members investment scheme was launched years ago, yet many Malaysians still do not know the existence of it. Follow by next question: "How to calculate the withdrawal amount?". Hope this post can give all of you an insight on this matter. First, we must know that EPF members investment scheme only allows eligible members to withdraw eligible amount to EPF-approved investment schemes. The schemes was being monitor closely by EPF authorities, by reviewing it every year, in order to protect the interest of EPF members. Am I eligible? Members can withdraw up to 20% of access amount from the minimum required Basic Saving in Account ONE. The minimum amount for each withdrawal is RM1,000. Sounds confusing, right? Let's explore it step-by-step. Step 1: Determine the age (what is your celebrated last birthday?) Step 2: Determine the required Basic Saving in Account 1. Step 3: Determine your Current Saving in Account 1 . Step 4: Applying the formula : (Account 1 - Ba...

Last week, EPF announced that it has published the revised list of Fund Management Institutions (FMI) and unit trust funds for 2012/2013 for EPF Members Investment Scheme (EPF-MIS).  For the period of 2012/2013, a total of 223 active unit trust funds from 24 FMIs are offered under EPF-MIS, details of which are as follows: "The list of funds under EPF-MIS is reviewed annually based on a set of evaluation criteria that focuses on the consistency of fund performance , as approved by the Ministry of Finance. The evaluation process is carried out together with the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM) which represents the unit trust industry," said EPF General Manager for Public Relations. When would it be effective? The revised list will be effective for the period of 1 June 2012 until 31 May 2013.  List of EPF approved funds from some of the popular Fund Management Institutions: How about Public Mutual ? Because of too many funds, please click here for the list of...

In 2008, we have seen the catastrophic effect from the subprime mortgage loan in US. Even now, US is still struggling to fully recover from their worst financial crisis since Great Depression. The problems doesn't build in one day, in fact, it took years to snowball the problem. And, yet Malaysia seems like wanting to catch up with them by supporting the subprime loan. But, the unique part of our version is " using EPF monies "? When news first broke out last month that EPF would be channelling RM1.5bil for a special public housing scheme, alarm bells sounded off for many contributors. Maybe EPF already knew the result for last year performance, it announced later that contributors are getting a decade-high dividend rate of 6%. Salute to EPF. Since EPF are doing so good even without the said "loan", then, why EPF have to take the risk to loan out to this scheme? Afterthat, EPF published a statement claiming that the money is loaned to the Government, not to ind...

During the recent Budget 2012 announcement, one of the controversial issue is the increment of 1% contributed by employers to EPF effective 1st January 2012. This will bring the minimum contribution rate by employers to 13% from 12% currently for those earning less than RM5,000 per month. The Fatter EPF While employees are welcoming the new rules, many employers are voicing out their concern on the extra burden being bear by them. "This is not fair to us, especially during current scenario where businesses are bracing for more challenging times ahead", says one of the concerned boss. Although there is some sort of tax-relief for employers who contribute more, bosses are still unsatisfied by the new ruling which adds to their fixed costs. What is the rationale behind? The reason is somewhat very good, that is "to equip Malaysians more retirement funds for their golden age" after recent facts shown that Malaysian generally fully utilized their EPF monies between 3-10...

Merely less than one month of battle (not even pulling off the gun), both Maybank and CIMB today respectively announcing to abort the merger talks with RHBCap. Funny oh? First, the news of aborting was first reported by a Singapore newspaper, not Malaysia, and why not Malaysia? Second, both contenders had set end of June's proposals, announced just only last week. So fast change mind? Both CIMB and Maybank are turning their heads away from RHB now. Of course, between the dates, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) made a significant headline when it sells its 25% stake in RHBCap to its sister company, Aabar Investment, for RM10.80 per share, which value RHBCap at 2.25 times RHBCap book value. Does this really affecting the merger talks? What CIMB says? In a statement Thursday, June 23, CIMB group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said that based on its discussions and assessment of the present expectations of key stakeholders, the bank did not believe that it would be able to ...

For the financial year ended 31 December 2010, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced a 5.8% dividend rate. This translates into RM21.61 billion, which is the highest dividend payout amount ever to members, an increase of 11.55% over the 2009 dividend payout of RM19.37 billion. For the year 2009, the dividend rate is 5.65%. "The remarkable investment income achieved in 2010 was especially driven by the performance of equity investments. The improved financial and economic conditions provided the market with sufficient liquidity, allowing profit taking activities throughout the year", said EPF chairman in statement issued. Who is the main contributor? Buoyed by a good year for the equities market, equities were the largest contributor to the EPF's gross investment income in 2010, representing 45.45% of EPF's total gross investment income. ( See Table 1 ) Source: EPF website During the year under review, EPF total investment assets also continued to register healt...

Effective 1 September 2010, there are 223 unit trust funds approved under the EPF Members Investment Scheme (EPF-MIS). The list of EPF approved funds is updated upon conducting the fund evaluation exercise based on EPF-MIS fund evaluation methodology (FEM). Under the FEM, funds must meet the set standard criteria, including:- At least 3-years track records Have investment mandate of not exceeding 30% in overseas assets Consistency in return performance among peers/ with benchmark How frequent will it be reviewed? By using an international research house rating data as input in the assessment and evaluation of funds, the exercise will be conducted once a year.  Suspended Funds? Funds that underperformed their peers will be suspended, until they are qualified to be reinstated. Suspended funds are not allowed to received new investment under the EPF-MIS, yet investments made by investors prior to the suspension are nevertheless allowed to remain in the funds. Suspended Funds are lo...

* Please take note that this blog is for reading pleasure only, and NOT intended to offend any party. Below are some questions posted to Finance Malaysia (FM), with some interesting reply: Q    : Let's start off with the famous KL MRT project. Any comment? FM : Well, this is definitely a good public transport reformations for KL citizen. However, please bare in mind that the extensions of two existing LRT lines still not yet started. Implementation is problem, not project . Q    : How about the development of the Malaysian Rubber Board land in Sg. Buloh by EPF? FM : The project costs RM10bil for 15 years. I don't know when EPF (Malaysians' retirement fund) role has changed to being a developer? Q    : Malaysia's tallest building - 100 -storey Warisan Merdeka. Is it necessary? FM : So that Osama can either choose this or Twin-towers. Haha. Since EPF can be a developer, why not PNB? Malaysia Boleh spirit for all... Q    : Existi...

When the RM15.6 billions take-over news broke out, MMC share price has been rallying to multi-months high. It was reported that MMC is pairing with EPF and PNB with MMC holding a 40% stake of the consortium. On the other hand, Khazanah Nasional Bhd is the ultimate holding company of UEM Group Bhd . The Pull factors… PLUS Expressways, is one of the key assets that spark MMC interests? The national’s largest cash-generating toll-operator undeniably is Khazanah’s golden asset with 55.2% direct and indirect interest. UEM Land , which has a huge land bank in southern corridor – Iskandar Development Region. This is favorable to Johor based MMC’s investments. To boost its construction arm with stronger muscle? UEM Group is having several projects in Malaysia, such as the Penang Second Bridge. MMC can leverage on the latter expertise and also to gain market share, given the lack of domestic awards. What makes me interesting is the alternative MRT proposed by IJM-UEM recently. By acquir...

Since EPF go online years ago, many people are disappointed by the way the website was maintained and updated. However, as time goes by, EPF had done a face-lift to its website. If you noticed, I could say that EPF website nowadays is very informative, convenient, well-organized.  I know, I know, maybe you are saying: “Is it really so goooood ???” The fact is, I am not a EPF staff, then why I need to praise them? From now onwards, there will be an EPF series written in this blog. In this 1st series, I would like to touch on i-Akaun by EPF. What is i-Akaun? i-Akaun is a member’s or an employer’s personal account to be used on the Internet, specifically on myEPF portal. By having this account, users are able to access EPF services that are being offered online. What are the online services offered? For members: - View and print account statement for current and previous year. - View withdrawal status and history. - View EPF transaction activities. - Update mailing address and person...