"Strongly-worded response..."

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/vari...iered-dividends

(Sharing, not an official announcement.)

But it addresses the lack of data for its projection though, as some members asserted earlier.

This is The Star news, not The Edge.

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...er-in-top-glove

Released!

2019 AR released today.

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/about-epf/news-high...ts/publications

It's also worth mentioning that EPF now has a microsite for its 2019 AR.

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/annualreport2019/index-en.html

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/stat...vidend-bag-2020

Don't know whether realistic or not. The numbers are kind of subjective.

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...roperties-in-kl

*Cross-posted with ASNB FP Thread

Now only you are alarmed ah lol

Not just referring to CEO change. Considered a GLIC, and whole-owned by MOF. EPF has been mired in controversies long before.

See: https://b-ok.asia/book/3396470/5e0660

You should be alarmed decades ago. Those who lived through the 80s and 90s definitely can recall what happened to say RHB bank, for example, before it's under EPF's management.

Though its investments intact, retirees should still keep a watchful eye on the institution as a whole.

What do you plan to do with that money? Invest elsewhere?

Today is a fine Saturday. Expect announcement today?

It is important to understand that CPF money are invested in SSGS and the proceeds go to GIC together with SG's government surplus. CPF is not involved directly in the investment. And some more, the government's money is joined with the people's to invest together.

EPF on the other hand has to manage the money and invest themselves and even used to fund government's budget deficits.

Poor Malaysians lol

Mind sharing the link to the session? I am not aware of any such session.

2.5% p.a. is Ordinary Account's (popularly known as OA) return. Special Account (SA) and Medisave give 4% p.a. SA is the one mainly used for retirement savings. OA is mainly used to pay HDB flat.

There is a popular 1M65 movement in Singapore: https://blog.seedly.sg/1m65-1-million-by-65-cpf/ You can join their Discord channel to know more. Very active channel.

As for budget deficits, have a look at last year's budget 2021 government fiscal outlook: http://belanjawan2021.treasury.gov.my/index.php/en/tf-2021

Select Section 4: Debt management. Search "EPF" using your browser/PDF viewer's search function.

Look at 4.6 below. EPF accounts for 27% of outstanding government debt.



Using the same search function, type "Employees"





Have a look at this page too. https://www.intechopen.com/books/perspectiv...ebt-in-malaysia

Now, let's go to MOF Singapore and understand how they "fund" their budget.

First, have a look at Singapore's fiscal policy: https://www.mof.gov.sg/policies/fiscal

Next visit Q30 and Q31 in this page: https://www.mof.gov.sg/policies/reserves/is...ebt-obligations

This post has been edited by TOS: Feb 21 2021, 09:07 PM

Agree on that. There is still room for improvements though. I don't mind if the government bonds are issued for a country's development or for investment purposes, but by far a majority of our debt goes into paying civil servant's salary, corruption, and other non-productive use. The Auditor-General's report is pretty scary. It's this that is of concern. Otherwise I am fine with EPF. They served retirees well.

Maybe in the future, they can consider offering annuity products and provide universal insurance like their CPF counterparts too. That would provide more choices for retirees and the working public.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/epf-...unt-fund-us600m

Now following ASNB's footstep? Doing fund management business? Hope they don't sway away too much from their aim of managing retiree's fund.

Don't know yet. No news on EPF's website. Only know that dividend will be announced this weekend.

Ya to some extend their high foreign exposure of 30% compared to 10% for PNB matters here. Also, asset allocation is different. PNB is local-equity heavy while EPF mainly deals with MGS/GII and other fixed income securities. Last factor of contribution may be the size of fund, with EPF 3 times that of PNB, they can capture more opportunities in the market.

This post has been edited by TOS: Feb 27 2021, 12:55 PM

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/-/epf-navigates-saf...c-stricken-2020

The news article. Includes the contributions from each asset class too.

I think that is stated in the annual report. You need to wait for next year to know last year's activity. They are very slow recently.

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/about-epf/news-high...ts/publications

EPF only declares dividend out of realized income, so all dividends are true cash earnings. Unrealized portion is retained as paper profits and not declared.

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/dividend#FrequentlyAskedQuestion

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/epf-...5-dividend-2020



As for EPF Act, I don't see any realized income restriction on dividend payout.

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/about-epf/news-high...es/epf-act-1991



Also, can be seen in the AR 2019,

https://www.kwsp.gov.my/documents/20126/149...t=1609996394548

YH1234, relax. Others, chill too.

First let's understand different people have different expectations about returns. They can set different benchmarks, some make sense and have high correlations, some don't.

GDP generally has high correlations with indices performance but it is a lagging indicator. Stocks go up before GDP data indicates so (they are trailing data) and vice versa.

Also, indices these days, especially in US markets are populated by monopolistic large cap tech stocks that are beneficiary of the sudden surge in WFH trend. So while main street is suffering, shares tell us otherwise. Without FAANG, S&P 500 wouldn't be that stellar. Looking back at Bursa, 2020 is only gives 3.5% YTD for capital gain. (See: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/thes...ers-bursa-2020)

This accounts for half of the earnings for EPF. You pointed out that EPF has extra cash to buy during the dip. That's correct (I did that too ), but one should bear in mind that EPF already has substantial stake over many of the companies. So the average-down effect will not be dramatic as you expect.

The other main important thing that you guys are missing is that EPF actually bought more bonds and not stocks during the March crash last year. Notice the following data:

Allocation of capital:

Asset Classes	Q4 2019	Q1 2020	Q2 2020
Equity	39%	36%	38.2%
Fixed Income	49%	54%	49.2%
Cash	7%	4%	7.2%
Real Estate	5%	6%	5.4%

Source:

Q4 2019: https://www.kwsp.gov.my/-/appendix-epf-2019-performance
Q1 2020: https://www.kwsp.gov.my/-/epf-q1-2020-recor...vestment-income
Q2 2020: https://www.kwsp.gov.my/-/epf-records-rm15....ome-for-q2-2020

Based on 10-year MGS yield, the capital gain from bonds from trough to peak in 2020 is about 25%-26%. But, firstly, 26% is unrealized capital gain. EPF can't declare them as dividends unless the securities are sold. Secondly, EPF may not realized all their bond holdings. But one thing is certain, realized cash coupons from bond yields actually drop from 3.3% p.a. to around 2.7% p.a.

So it is not a surprise that the rates are slightly lower than 2019, realized capital gains from bonds unable to fully offset declining bond yields, low yields on stocks or even worse, companies don't declare dividends. These contributes to low realized portion as well. It's not wholly comparable with stock index. After all, EPF does not buy exactly on the worst sell-down date and sell all holdings immediately after biggest gain. Some are retained for future dividends, for instance, if they are good blue chips.

Just my 2 cents.

This post has been edited by TOS: Feb 27 2021, 11:30 PM