My friend recently exceeded 1mil with additional lump sum voluntary contributions....he is mid 40's. Which comes from his liquid funds which are not necessarily for his retirement. Afterall, he is just in mid 40's.

Now it would seem he was cheated and enticed by the EPF scheme, because now the funds will never see the light of day.

Perhaps he should just withdraw everything before the execution of the new limits.

Is he the only one facing this thought?

Right? it doesn't make sense to do more voluntary contributions meant for things like temporary parking, emergency, housing loan excess prepayments. right?

Damn I just withdrew from asm for the purpose of deposit into EPf. Susah want to buy back lo.

Open your mind a bit. All generalizations are false, including this one.

Hi, he feels misled because he was at 950k previously and he made a lump sum 100k contribution this year with the aim to put another 100k per year next year voluntarily, every year for the next 4 years with the aim to withdraw the 400k plus interest to fund his son’s overseas education. Now, he knows that he just started and only 100k into the hole.
But he is facing pretty sure condition that he is not going to be able to withdraw ANY amount come 2028 because
a: by salary / voluntary deduction the contribution will probably just only touch 1.3m by then, and not 1.7m as needed to fully withdraw 400k and fund the education bill
B: if he makes the voluntary contribution as planned, there is a chance I think but there is also a risk of EPF doing more shenanigans and locking his money further.
Because at any point of time between now and 2028 should he need 200-300k to do something else like buy a property then he is surely locked in.

I know you use “” but why set a withdrawal threshold of 1m in the first place? Wouldn’t it be tantamount to being treated as a FD for people with such excess? Hence the feeling of misled.
Anyway what’s done is done. I prefer to advise him to find other means. ASM was a good option, shame it’s actually a pain to buy anything above 4 figures.

People withdraw they say not good, people deposit they say not good…am I the only one getting mixed signals Hee?
How smooth or hassle free is it to withdraw money from acc2 for children's education? It looks like based on reimbursement, meaning for air tickets and even let’s say money for rent and food one will have to PAY first and claim it based on receipt…??..?

all you have to do is lower the rates on accounts 1 & 2 to achieve what you want...

For those who are not near 55, yet near to 1m it is a very annoying thing.
Especially if you are have plans to retire early.

You know why? The last statement by EPF saying they will revise the 1.3M figure upon review come 2028.

In my personal case, it’s a chase I don’t think I’m willing to participate in for voluntary contribution. I may be permanently parking anything from 100k to 1.3M if they decide to raise it by 100k every year from now on, since I am 43. Assuming I have 100k per annum of spare money to save. This annoyance is real.

I must admit I assumed and treated the >1mil EPF as CASA, and that’s where my annoyance lies when they change the limit arbitrarily, and progressively up to equal to voluntary contribution. To me it means if you put in 100k per year it must stay inside until you retire.

In my own now silly assumption I was planning to park a some money for my kids tertiary education and for opportune market investment times, but after putting some to chase the 1m, now they say hotel California. These moneys are for all intents and purposes NOT a for 55 year old reaping.

Personally I think that the statutory 25% of our income deducted for fixed income retirement savings is more than enough honestly. For young people, I personally think you should consider to take some risks for better returns in business or stock market. Otherwise you benefit the country and it’s masters by allowing EPF to make 30% and giving you 6.3% and then we jump around for joy.

Lastly the actual population affected by this is 0.13+0.12 out of 16.22 which is actually the 1.5% “wealthiest”.

Why does EPF need to care so much for such a group? Except it is not, and there is a unspoken motive here.

This post has been edited by lee82gx: Mar 2 2025, 09:47 AM

Confirmed 2026 will be minimum balance 1.1m and progressively 1.3m by end 2028 without exception.

But read the statement to the end. On 2028 there WILL BE A REVIEW and it can be further increased.

Sorry my sentence may have caused your confusion. My own voluntary contributions are not for the purpose of 55 year old reaping.

I am not asking you directly, but why impact this particular slice of the population? What are the benefits of this policy that helps the group or the general public?
In my opinion, young millionaires should be allowed maximum flexibility to gain whatever they can with the capital on their hand, time on their side, energy to pursue ventures and lastly know how of current business edge. I’d argue they are the prime group to be allowed to take some risks in terms of investment.

Somehow you are not too wrong but many people in my circle disagree.
Anyway if the money is not intended for short term use, yes you can still find 100-200k elsewhere for emergency.

But if I intended the money for use in less than 5 years you are telling me I have to put in 300k, but after 3 years I can only withdraw maybe 100-150k from account 3 and on a 1 time final time basis, that is a major major difference from the facility we had previously.

The people in my circles see this as a major scare point that prevents them from doing further voluntary contribution.
I see your point, but I also understand their fear. There is a big gap that is not reconciled.

Anyway whats done is done - gotta live with it.

This post has been edited by lee82gx: Mar 3 2025, 04:14 PM

The MP person who make the comments on high distribution is a useless dog simply barking. Because there is only sound and no content. I wish the master silence their dog, but we all know one of them is now pengsan and need to go MACC to aid investigation before pengsan again. Anyway if they want me to listen better come up with solutions. Have a shadow Cabinet. Propose policy, and force the policy makers to consider common growth. Anyway that's for another century.

The right question is how the returns are only this little? What are the expenses and expense ratio of the funds? Like some one said before is it true they pay excessive bonuses? These need to be addressed too. If we say 98% of earnings are distributed, am I to assume 2% are expense or are they just retained earnings?

I am referring to how can epf maximise our returns. They can’t jolly well spend the investment returns and then say the final amount distribution is such and such. There has to be metrics and deliverables there too no?
We focus only on 6.3 but I am asking how to make it 6.5 without needing the market to perform even better.

Never settle. I know in business my boss never does, my customers never do. If I don't deliver the utmost , I know the business or job can go elsewhere. We are not asking them to eat grass, or 1 person do the work of 2. I am asking about their efficiency metrics, kpi, losses (poor investments), potential conflicts of interest and avoidance, and how to do better.

It is a trillion RM organisation, far exceeding the biggest company. There has to be ways to sharpen the knife.
Just as I type, comment below sheds some light - they have not published nett income. If I want to speculate I'd say 2% of investment income has been used up as expenses such as salary etc...Is this good, is this bad, is this real - needs scrutiny.

But Singapore is a developed country and so their focus on making the old work and stay fit is more pressing.
We are 3rd world country and like it or not the young need to be given jobs and forcing the old retire is more important.
So I don’t think raising the retirement age will help epf.
What they may do is increasing the minimum age of withdrawal. Example to match 58.