Should Employee Retiree Later? Why?

In my opinion, retirement should be optional for employees. After 55, many employees’ especially top contributors are still able to offer leadership and management skills, technical expertise and guidance. These are invaluable assets that can be used to groom future leaders and successors. Keeping them employed avoid more loss of talent in our country. Still, those who prefer to retire should be allowed to do so.

Our lifespan is now longer than 75 years. This means that a retiree aged 55 has to support himself for another 20 years or more without an income. The average Malaysian is expected to have RM120,000 in his EPF. That will give him RM500 per month or RM16.67 per day, during his retirement.

However, with the increasing inflation rate it will erode the consumer purchasing power. Meanwhile, the medical and healthcare expenses will also eat up our savings.

For me, 55 is too young for some people to hang up their boots. When my grandfather retired at 55, he was restless and complained that he had nothing to do. So, asking a capable person to retire at the peak of his career does not make sense. With the low unemployment rate in Malaysia and plenty of available jobs that are up for grabs, I don’t think that raising the retirement age to 60 will negatively affect the younger workforce.