According to a RinggitPlus survey, almost half of the 3,211 Malaysian respondents expressed embarrassment, frustration, or anxiety regarding their present financial circumstances.
The poll found that 67% of participants could save less than RM500 per month, and their emergency savings would only last three months or less.
Contrarily, 55% of respondents acknowledge that they practically live paycheck to paycheck, spending as much as or more than their monthly income.
Thirty-two percent of the respondents think that things are worse financially now than they were in 2022.
All of the Central, Southern, Northern, and East Malaysian areas covered by the RinggitPlus Malaysian Financial Literacy Survey (RMFLS), which conducted in three languages: English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Chinese. The survey sample included 3,211 people above the age of 18.
“While these figures certainly look demoralising – they are largely unchanged when compared to our findings last year – they are quite unexpected. Given the global economic headwinds, Malaysians should be worse off in their financial habits. Instead, this year’s survey results tell us that Malaysians demonstrated surprising resilience by taking charge of their finances: a remarkable 94 per cent of respondents took proactive measures to improve their financial situations this year,” RinggitPlus said in its statement today.
The top three behaviors are reducing leisure time, eating out less, and keeping careful tabs on spending.
Nine out of ten respondents to the poll stated that they have encountered possible scams or fraud attempts this year, which is another important statistic.
Additionally, the RMFLS poll showed that there has been a cultural shift in people’s confidence in financial matters: 68% of Malaysians now turn to social media instead of more established sources like friends and family for financial information.
“This raises a unique concern in an era of misinformation and the growing emergence of unaccredited “financial gurus” online.”
“These findings are a strong indicator that the definition of financial literacy has broadened. Besides traditional financial concepts, digital financial literacy now also encompasses measures to safeguard personal and financial information online and to identify reliable sources of information,” RinggitPlus said.
According to a RinggitPlus survey, almost half of the 3,211 Malaysian respondents expressed embarrassment, frustration, or anxiety regarding their present financial circumstances.