EPF aims annual enrolment of 6,000 for RAS

THE EPF aims to annually enroll 5,000 to 6,000 people walking through their doors in its Retirement Advisory Services (RAS) program in Sabah, revealed its CEO Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan.

However, he said EPF could enrol a higher number of people as the target does not take into account its more effective outreach program.

“We find that can be more effective because the people who come through for the EPF services are the ones already approaching retirement. We want to work with the employers to reach out to people who are still in the working life, especially those who have just started working, 20s and in mid career, as it is important to start their financial planning early,” said Shahril.

“Sometimes, we find that those approaching retirement are in situations that are a bit late in the day because they do not not have enough time to accumulate assets for their retirement.

“Our plan is for an earlier reach out to those in their 20s and 30s so they would have the time to adjust their saving habits and plan from an early age towards their retirement at 55 or 60,” he added after the launch of the twoday Retirement Talks with EPF at Suria Sabah Shopping Mall here yesterday.

The RAS centre, open to all members looking to obtain free advice on ways to make their money last longer throughout the retirement years, is located in Kota Kinabalu.

However, Shahril said more staff are being trained to provide RAS as expansion plans are in the pipelines nationwide.

Currently, RAS counters are available in 18 EPF main branches in Malaysia.

“This year we will be rolling out another 12 branches, including some of the smaller towns, with the aim that basically by 2020, our services should be available in almost all our branches throughout Malaysia,” he said.

“Over 40,000 people are already using the service throughout the country and the feedback from our members have been uniformly positive. A lot of people do not realize that there is a lot they need to learn about financial planning and saving for their retirement. So we have not only been doing a lot of work in our branches but also outreach programs.

“Part of the retirement advisory service is not only in branch education, we work with employers as well as teaching at the employer’s premises. That has been effective because employers work with us to identify vulnerable employees who they feel can take advantage of the program,” added Shahril.

The EPF CEO also pointed out that it is important to provide the right information to members so they will have the ability to utilize the right information to access the EPF services.