Malaysians feel freelance work or a side business can help their finances

How financially-savvy are Malaysians?

According to a Vase.ai  survey of 1,525 Malaysian youths, 80% of them feel in control of their finances and 78% have been saving part of their income.

That said, 32% of savers, save less than 20% of their income, 61% of them felt their income is sufficient for their needs, and 52% said their finances could be better if they took up freelance work or started a side business.

In line with that, 52% of Malaysians who save part of their income revealed they engage in freelance work or have a side business to achieve their goals, while 48% said that they downgrade their lifestyle.

Of those who save, 58% allocated between 1-25% of their savings into insurance (retirement plan, investment linked products, etc) while 50% of respondents allocated 1-25% of their savings into EPF (additional self-contributions).

As for the non-savers, 55% said their income is just enough to maintain their lifestyle, while 32% say they do not know how to save.

More than half (61%) of Malaysians who have not been saving part of their income said they find it difficult to save because cost of living has been rising, while 37% said it is difficult because they still have loans to pay off.

Similar to savers, non-savers felt that their income is insufficient for their needs (63%) and that their finances could be better if they took up freelance work or started a side business (47%).

In that line, 53% revealed they engaged in freelance work or have a side business to achieve their saving goals, while 35% downgraded their lifestyle.

When it comes to what Malaysians are saving for, those who put aside part of their income are saving for an emergency fund (68%), a property (53%) and family planning (52%).

While non-savers said if they have money to save on a regular basis, they would put it aside to purchase a property (44%), put money in emergency funds (40%), and save for family planning (39%).

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