The Centre for Accounting, Banking and Finance (CABF) parked under the Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF)  organised a webinar titled "Your Golden Years…No Plan, No Gain" on 21 July 2022 via Zoom. The webinar attracted a total of 131 participants in attendance.

Invited to deliver the talk was Managing Partner of Excellenz Wealth Consultancy Evonne Chen. Chen has 20 years of experience in both corporate and financial planning advisory professions. She is also a qualified Islamic Financial Planner (IFP) accredited by the Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA); an independent certified financial planner (CFP) and a licensed capital market representative by the Securities Commission. Chen has also held high-ranking positions within the Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (Perak Chapter).

The webinar aimed to bring awareness as well as highlight the importance of preparing and planning for the golden years, especially for those aged 50 and above as individuals from any stage of life need to identify their goals and the possible concerns arising in their golden years.

Chen started her sharing session by gathering participants’ views on the process of ageing. She later commented that the sentiments were very much dependent on an individual’s concerns and life goals at their golden years and the adequacy of wealth accumulation. She also mentioned that in today’s socio-economy environment, getting old is more of a function of “affordability” rather than “age”. More significantly, she emphasised that families of a nation that plan ahead of time are financially and mentally healthier; they would positively contribute to the nation’s economy.

Apart from that, Chen also shared insights on the transition of the world population by birth rates from the year 1950 to 2050. “During the baby boom years (1940-1960), the birth rates of the world population were high. However, there was an alarming reduction in birth rates in the 1990s which led to the growth of the world’s ageing population by 2050. The ageing society in Malaysia, comprising those from the age group of 65 years old and above, occupied only seven per cent of the Malaysian population in the year 2020. This age group, however, would increase threefold by 2056 and they will be referred to as the super-aged society. On average, Malaysian families have shown a shrinking trend in size across all the three major ethnic groups between 1957 and 2015, indicating the birth rates among Malaysian were dropping at a distressing rate,” she added. While demonstrating the statistics, Chen explained that there will be a rise in demand for senior care in the future and with the increasing costs, individuals will face higher financial constraints while nearing their golden years.

Chen later recommended that the key to achieving their preferred lifestyle during their golden years is to plan ahead of time. She said, “The planning may include assessments on preferred lifestyles to types of senior care, self-retirement funding and estate planning. The fundamental approach to achieving good planning is to carry out financial health checks constantly and stress tests to correspond to the changes and uncertainties arising during life expectancy. In addition, the individuals from the “sandwich” generation are in dire attention as their financial burdens are highly inflated by the increasing costs due to changes in lifestyle and higher responsibilities. The planning-ahead process becomes more complicated and comprehensive and thus, would require professional advice from a certified advisor.”

Chen then concluded her talk by sharing tips on how to carry out good financial planning, including portfolio building, cash flow assessment and finally, risk management analysis to check on the adequacy of protection.

The online talk ended with a Q&A session.