Withdrawal of EPF money for investment (Part 2/2)

If you haven't read Part 1 of this post, please click here.

Under the EPF Member’s Investment Scheme, you can withdraw a portion of your EPF Account 1 savings for investment with approved unit trust funds and/or fund managers if you fulfill the following:

• You are a Malaysian citizen or Permanent Resident, or a non-Malaysian citizen (expatriate) who became a member of the EPF before 1 August 1998.
• You have not reached 55 years old.
• Your EPF Account 1 have at least RM5,000 more than the Basic Savings amount based on your current age.

And here are the conditions for withdrawal:

• Withdrawal can be done at intervals of 3 months from the date of the last withdrawal (date of money transferred).
  
• Each time, you must withdraw a minimum of RM1,000 from your Account 1.
• Each time, you cannot withdraw more than 20% of the amount exceeding the required Basic Savings in Account 1.
• All investment must be using Account 1 savings. You are not allowed to make additional investments under the scheme using your own money.

How to proceed with the withdrawal?

You can contact the office or any agents of the approved fund management institutes under the scheme. An example of unit trust manager is Public Mutual Bhd, and an example of fund manager is Apex Investment Services Bhd STA-3 Securities Trading Account.

Here is an example of calculation on the eligible amount to withdraw from Account 1 for investment.

Mr. X, aged 35, has accumulated RM80,000 in his EPF Account 1.

Based on the Basic Savings requirement, his Account 1 must have at least RM29,000.

The excess amount will be RM80,000 - RM29,000 = RM51,000.

He can withdraw up to 20% of this excess amount for investment purpose. That will be RM51,000 x 20% = RM10,200.

Since he have to withdraw a minimum of RM1,000 under the scheme, he can invest any amount between RM1,000-RM10,200.

He can still invest 3 months later, if 20% of the excess amount in Account 1 by then is still more than RM1,000.

You can check for your most current EPF account statement using their online service, and see how much savings are sitting in your Account 1.