After almost two gruelling years of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, have Malaysians changed the ways they manage their money? More importantly, are we on the road to financial recovery as the economy gradually reopens? The RinggitPlus Malaysian Financial Literacy Survey (RMFLS 2021) dug deep and found that Malaysians are actually finding it harder to save money each month.
“In last year’s RMFLS, we saw that a large majority of Malaysians finally realised the true value of an emergency fund. But the prolonged pandemic continues to take a huge toll on the economy and finances for everyday Malaysians. It’s disheartening to see this play out in the way Malaysians are less able to save, but fortunately, savings isn’t the only avenue for money management. We at RinggitPlus will continue doing our part in educating and empowering Malaysians to make better financial decisions through a holistic approach, which also includes better debt management and other ways to grow their money,” says Hann Liew, Co-founder and Director of RinggitPlus.
52% of respondents save less than RM500 monthly or do not manage to save at all, an increase from last year’s 49%. Meanwhile, 21% live paycheck to paycheck as they do not save any money each month (a slight increase from 19%). Even so, 76% of respondents believe that they are in control of their money – of which, 33% still spend exactly or more of what they earn.
As such, Malaysians have been taking emergency funds more seriously since the pandemic. In fact, 63% of respondents picked “emergency fund” as their top reason for saving money, followed by retirement (49%), travel (40%), and new property/home (38%). They are also more aware that EPF savings will not suffice for retirement (15%, as opposed to 30% who believe their savings are sufficient for retirement in 2020), but about half of this group (45% ) admitted that they have not started planning for their retirement.
