KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 ― The average amount middle-class Malaysians desire to have in their savings for when they retire comes to US$583,380 or RM1.9 million, almost four times more than neighbouring Indonesia, a recent survey by global insurance group AIA revealed.

In the survey of self-described middle-income earners in six countries in Southeast Asia, AIA found Malaysians wanted to have the most funds in terms of the average retirement savings amount desired, after Singaporeans.

Citizens in the island republic gave the highest average figure with US$898,330 (RM2.93 million) ― a number that AIA said it did not find surprising.

On average, those from Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia put their desired savings figure for retirement at US$493,100 (RM1.61 million), US$233,960 (RM762,960), US$207,610 (RM676,995) and US$181,610 (RM592,212) respectively.

But AIA noted that the middle-class in all six countries widely view saving for a comfortable retirement to be a “challenge”, with 44 per cent of the 3,000 polled expressing concern that they would not be able to save enough by the time they retire.

This worry about retirement savings was shared by 55 per cent of the 500 Singaporean respondents, as well as 53 per cent of those polled in both Malaysia and Thailand, according to a media statement issued by AIA at its launch in Singapore yesterday.

On top of coping with their own retirement, most of the Southeast Asian respondents also expected to take care of the financial needs of their families.

Out of the 3,000 surveyed, close to three-quarters or 70 per cent said that children should take up the responsibility of financially supporting their elderly parents, with 63 per cent already helping to cover the finances of their own parents or their spouse’s parents.

Despite the challenge in fulfilling their goals of saving up to quit working, AIA noted that an overwhelming majority or 81 per cent polled still retained hope of finally retiring some day.

The AIA Survey on Middle Class Hopes and Aspirations: the ASEAN Region was carried out by market research agency Ipsos from July 10 to August 12 this year.

It was conducted through face-to-face and online interviews with 3,000 respondents or 500 self-identified middle-class individuals in each of the six countries, and has a margin of error of 4.4 per cent.

The full survey results with details on the responses of Malaysian respondents is only expected to be released next week.

On October 5, Malay Mail Online reported that Malaysia may be headed for a retirement crisis as tens of thousands of Malaysians depart the workforce for their golden years with less savings than is needed to keep them out of poverty.

According to recent figures from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the approximately 70,000 active 54-year-old contributors have an average savings of just under RM167,000 last year, which is below the recommended minimum savings level of RM196,800.

The situation is made more alarming by the revelation that 69 per cent of all EPF contributors of the same age have less than RM50,000 in their accounts, as revealed last month by the fund’s chief executive Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan.

As the average Malaysian is expected to live until 75, retiring at 60 with RM167,000 would mean surviving on just RM700 a month for the rest of their days or below the government’s poverty threshold figure of RM830 per month in peninsular Malaysia.