Role of Covid-19 pandemic on retirement plans among the working population in Malaysia

• Main Authors: Zulfaka, Auni, Kassim, Salina
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: HG3368 Islamic Banking and Finance
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/87474/19/87474_Role%20of%20Covid-19.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/87474/20/87474_Role%20of%20Covid-19_certificate.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/87474/; http://lppm.tazkia.ac.id/index.php/2020/11/22/8th-asean-universities-international-conference-on-islamic-finance-8th-aicif-2020/

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on employees’ retirement plans. The pain is most acute for those who have lost their jobs or taken huge pay cuts that limit the employees’ ability to contribute to retirement plans such as Employee Provident Fund (EPF). Realizing this issue is impacting the economic growth in the Malaysian society, the government is committed to helping its citizen by introducing the National Economic Recovery Plan as part of the holistic approach to Malaysia’ economic recovery. Hence, this study aims to review and discuss on the role of COVID-19 pandemic on retirement plans among the working population in Malaysia. A total of 225 working individuals had participated in this study to examine their retirement plans during this COVID-19 outbreak. The result identified is based on the several significant variables in the scope of these working population’s retirement demographic profile as according to their age, education level, monthly income level as well as their decision in utilizing the Employees' Provident Fund's (EPF) i-Lestari withdrawal facility in helping them to survive their daily lives during the current period of COVID-19 pandemic. As a response to the result collected from the surveys, there is a significant direct relationship between their retirement confidence, goal clarity, attitude towards retirement and their financial literacy and knowledge regarding to their retirement plans. The policy makers can derive benefits from the results of this study.