Many Malaysians think that they are managing their finances well. However, the RinggitPlus Malaysian Financial Literacy Survey 2019 (RMFLS 2019), in partnership with Visa, reflected otherwise. 

The survey found that while close to 70 per cent of Malaysians indicated that they are in control of their finances, an alarming 53 per cent of respondents admit that they are not able to survive more than three months with their savings. The findings further revealed that about 43 per cent of Malaysians spend exactly what they earn or more. This statistic has increased by 10 per cent compared to last year. 

“Our annual survey plays a critical role in providing us with insights to drive our mission for the nation – saving Malaysia one wallet at a time. With these findings, we are switching gears to place even greater importance on our battle to proliferate the nation’s financial literacy. The strong support from Visa this year has enabled us to tap into a wider audience pool, making our survey results more representative of our population,” said Liew Ooi Hann, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RinggitPlus. 

“It is time for Malaysians to take action and we hope this year’s results act as a wake-up call. The lack of awareness on personal finance is an ongoing challenge for us all. What’s more alarming to us is that people are in denial of their financial reality. Another insight we learned is that some Malaysians, while knowing the importance of financial management, do not take active measures. For example, we found that 34 percent of the respondents who believe their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings is not enough for retirement do not have a retirement plan to compensate for that,” Hann added. 

“We are pleased to partner with RinggitPlus to conduct this survey as part of our key efforts in promoting financial literacy in Malaysia. At Visa, improving lives and economies around the world is core to our business,” said Ng Kong Boon, Visa Country Manager for Malaysia. 

“Through this financial literacy survey conducted on 8,000 Malaysians, we have identified the gaps that we need to address and this is important to us, as we strive to create financial education programmes and content that we can share with Malaysians to increase their awareness and knowledge,” added Kong Boon.