THE Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has announced a dividend rate of 5.35% for conventional savings and 4.75% for Syariah savings, with a total payout of RM51.14 bil for 2022.
The payout is a decline from 2021 dividends, when it distributed 6.10% for conventional savings and 5.65% for Syariah accounts.
Despite the drop, EPF CEO Amir Hamzah Azizan said the competitive returns were due to the fund’s long-term investment and return sustainability strategy in line with its Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA).
He also said the diversified portfolio and healthy liquidity of the fund helped reduce risk and maintain investment assets above RM1 tril.
The payout is expected to benefit more than 15 million EPF members, including those from the informal sector registered under the i-Saraan program. Amir believes the consistent dividend performance will benefit members’ retirement savings in the long run.
The announcement comes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted global economies and financial markets.
Netizens seem to be very happy with the dividend payout, with most of them having positive comments towards the national pension firm.
User @edwardkuruvilla on Twitter said:
A 5.35% dividend despite the current challenging financial climate is why EPF remains the safest, stablest and soundest choice for retirement savings.
A 10-year average of 6.03% is remarkable.
Miles ahead of insurance-related savings or robo-advisors (don’t get me started). https://t.co/km5dSczXSB
— Edward Kuruvilla (@edwardkuruvilla) March 4, 2023
Another user gave a good example of why people should not withdraw their EPF savings and let them grow over the years, which goes against what some politicians who want quick accolades are urging.
User @Julie_Lim said:
I finally redeemed all my Public Mutual unit trusts. Should have done it a long time ago and invest in high dividend shares. Thankfully, I didn’t make the fatal mistake of withdrawing from EPF to invest in unit trust.
— Julie Lim (@Julie_Lim) March 3, 2023
Moreover, user @mu_idaman supported the idea of long-term investment with the EPF: — March 5, 2023
Epf dividend for 2022 is 5.35% which 2021 dividend is given 6.1%.. mengalami kejatuhan secara 12%.
But as my POV , above 5% masih kira good long term investment for me.
Dekat malaysia jarang ada institution yang dapat bagi 5% compound dividend with low risk.
— 🇲🇾James Te (@mu_idaman) March 4, 2023
