Nur Amalina with her children Annur Sofea, six, Thariq Al Kharj, four, and one-year-old Auliya Nuha. The prize money will go to their education savings.
UNIVERSITY lecturer Nur Amalina Jamaludin was going about her day as usual when she received a call from an unknown number.
She contemplated whether to ignore the call but decided to answer it.
It was good news.
Nur Amalina, 35, has won RM2,020 in the monthly lucky draw of the Cabutan WOW! SSPN-i Plus 2020.
The senior lecturer at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia has been saving with the National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN) since January 2018 for her three children’s future.
She saves RM300 in Topas SSPN-i Plus every month – RM100 for each of her children, aged one to six years. She has a standing arrangement whereby every month, RM300 would be deducted from her bank account and deposited in Topas SSPN-i Plus.
“By saving with SSPN, I want to avoid study loans when my children go to university. I do not want them to be burdened with debt,” she said when contacted.
She said the call last Tuesday came from an officer with the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), who informed her that she was among the winners of the August draw.
Nur Amalina who is married to a Royal Malaysian Air Force pilot said the windfall would be split among her three children’s SSPN educational savings.
She chose to save in the Topas package because “it was affordable, the terms are attractive and it comes with takaful benefit.”
Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) officer Khairul Nizam Yahya, a winner of the July draw, also saves in Topas SSPN-i Plus.
Khairul, 40, saves in SSPN for his seven-year-old son, while his homemaker wife Ismawati Salleh, 37, saves for two other sons aged 10 and 12 years.
“It was my wife who initiated the educational savings for our children early.
“With this win, we can start saving for our two-year-old youngest son soon,” said Khairul.
Khairul and Ismawati Salleh with their sons (from left) Khairul Naufal Afiq, Khairul Nafiz Ariq, Khairul Najmi Aniq and youngest boy Khairul Najwan Azriq. The parents will start an SSPN-i Plus account for the toddler soon.
On the Topas package, he said: “It is a good educational package, as it comes with savings and takaful protection. If anything were to happen to us, our children will have money for their studies.
“RM100 per month is manageable for educational savings. So I started for our eldest son about two years ago.”
The SSPN-i Plus savings packages are shariah-compliant and guaranteed by the Government.
Apart from it offering competitive dividend rates, parents and legal guardians who save with SSPN-i Plus will be able to enjoy income tax exemption of up to RM8,000.
Civil servants under the pension scheme can get RM7,000 in takaful contributions, while others enjoy RM3,000 in takaful coverage.
There are takaful benefits for death or permanent disability of up to RM1mil.
Among others, depositors are eligible to apply for a PTPTN loan.
There are six savings packages under SSPN-i Plus.
The Intan package is affordable. As low as RM1 savings a day, one gets to enjoy various benefits just by depositing RM30 per month.
There’s also the Delima (RM50 per month), Topas (RM100 per month), Zamrud (RM200 per month), Nilam (RM300 per month) and Berlian packages (RM500 per month).
There are RM1mil worth of prizes up for grabs in its Cabutan WOW! promotion for SSPN-i Plus, which was introduced in 2015.
There is a monthly draw (from July 1 to Dec 31) and an annual draw (from Jan 1 to Dec 31) for Cabutan WOW! SSPN-i Plus 2020.
A total of 1,123 depositors will get the chance to win prizes this year.
The main prize for the annual draw is a Mercedes Benz C200 FL AMG Line, while the monthly draw offers cash prizes to 20 winners.
