Many want to make withdrawal by age 55

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are unwavering in wanting to withdraw their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings by age 55 and not ha­­ving to wait five more years to withdraw the full amount.

Many expressed their views on The Star Online’s Facebook page.

Rita Jasmin said she strongly objected to the EPF’s proposal to increase the full withdrawal age to 60.

She said EPF should maintain the age limit at 55 or lower it to 50.

“There are people who need not wait until they are really old. People are dying even before turning 60.

“It is my hard-earned money that is being saved and it is my right to decide if I want to withdraw the full amount at age 55 or 60,” she posted.

Paul Chong said he would rather have the money at an earlier age than 60 because it would help him settle his debts, such as housing loan.

“It makes no sense in paying extra interest charges to the banks if I can withdraw the EPF amount and settle my outstanding loan,” he said.

M.K. Ganesan said it was a basic and fundamental right of a contributor to withdraw the full amount by age 55.

“However, if EPF wants to encou­rage people to keep their savings for longer, it should give better dividends and entice the contributors to avoid withdrawing.

“I suggest the declared dividends plus a 2% minimum, guaranteed and protected under an insurance scheme. I always worry that somebody might take away my hard-earned money,” he said.

Gerard Nonis posted that it should be up to the contributors to manage his or her own savings upon retirement.

“Don’t treat contributors like ignorant spenders. I’m very sure that most contributors have housing loans to settle because the interest is a big burden to them,” he wrote.