WHEN the Financial Education Network–an inter-agency platform–presented the National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2019-2023 (National Strategy), it revealed that one in three Malaysians rate themselves low in financial knowledge.
This is worrying with rumblings of an oncoming recession that will hit many countries economically by next year. Having good financial management skills is then crucial.
In response, the Government has implemented various initiatives to help Malaysians manage their finances, such as implementing the above-mentioned National Strategy to increase the level of financial literacy and foster financial management habits and attitudes.
The National Higher Education Fund (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi National, PTPTN) is one of the organisations that has taken steps to make a difference, by providing savings instruments through its National Education Savings Scheme (Simpan SSPN).
Saving benefits
The scheme offers two savings products, Simpan SSPN Prime and Simpan SSPN Plus, which grant various privileges and benefits, such as tax relief on current year’s net savings up to RM8,000 per year, free takaful protection savings of RM1,000 and above, competitive dividends, a matching grant up to RM10,000 for any eligible family, government guaranteed savings and eligibility to apply for a PTPTN education loan.
Simpan SSPN Plus however does not feature matching grants but offers additional takaful protection benefits from a choice of Hong Leong MSIG Takaful Berhad, Great Eastern Takaful and Takaful Ikhlas Family Berhad.
These additional benefits include takaful coverage up to RM1.2mil subject to the selected takaful operating company, terminal illness benefits up to RM200,000, outpatient accident claims up to RM3,000, critical illness takaful benefits and more.
Health checks are not required for those joining in the Intan, Delima, Topas, Zamrud dan Nilam packages, although joining the Berlian package are required to answer three health questions.
PTPTN aims to help Malaysians manage their debts by practising planned savings for their children’s education.
With such financial planning, graduates who plan to further their studies in the future are not dependent on education loans and will not be burdened with loan repayments later.
Tax relief
Simpan SSPN is the only savings plan that offers tax relief up to RM8,000 per year.
Families can register for separate accounts as husband and wife and receive maximum tax relief of RM8,000 per year per parent.
They can also jointly register, which offers a maximum tax relief of RM8,000 per year as a couple.
Parents who opt for the Simpan SSPN Plus can receive an tax relief of up to RM11,000, which is as much as RM8,000 for net savings in Simpan SSPN and RM3,000 for takaful contributions.
Depositors who choose the pension scheme are eligible to enjoy tax relief of up to RM15,000, which is as much as RM8,000 for net savings in Simpan SSPN and RM7,000 for takaful contributions.
This tax relief incentive is given based on the amount of net savings for the current year, which is savings that have been deducted from withdrawals.
With the release of this tax assessment and also the dividend rate given, depositors of Simpan SSPN actually get a profit of more than 3%, subject to the tax rate applied.
More rebates
As part of the attraction of saving with Simpan SSPN, PTPTN also runs fun campaigns to reward its depositors.
One of these is the Cabutan WOW campaign, PTPTN’s annual signature campaign and is a mark of appreciation to Simpan SSPN depositors.
As PTPTN is celebrating its 25th anniversary, the prizes offered are even more attractive, amounting to a total of almost RM1mil for 350 winners in three categories, the Silver Jubilee Annual Draw, the Babyku Simpan Special Draw and Series Draw.
The main prize of the Silver Jubilee Annual Draw is a Mercedes-Benz C200 Avantgarde.
Also in conjunction with the anniversary, PTPTN and Sinar Harian are organising the “Syoknya 25 Tahun PTPTN” contest on the Malay daily’s newspaper and digital portal.
This contest is ongoing via the digital platform and will end on Dec 31.
The contest prize for both platforms is a total of RM15,000 in SSPN Prime Savings accounts that winners can use to start saving.
That way, PTPTN can introduce and encourage non-users to discover more on Simpan SSPN.
Visit the PTPTN website or download the myPTPTN mobile application for more campaigns and promotions.
