14th October 2026 - 6 min read
Young Versa account holders who save automatically every month have four times more money in the app, on average, than those who don’t. Versa, a digital savings and investment app, shared this from its own app data in a statement on 12 October 2026. That was three days after Budget 2027 was tabled.
Under Budget 2027, every Malaysian citizen will be signed up to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) automatically at 18. You’ll have a retirement account before your first job, but it’ll start empty. It only grows when you or an employer pay in. Saving a set amount every month, as Versa’s auto-savers do, is one way to start filling it. The Budget measure has been announced but hasn’t started yet, and no start date has been given. It’s also not yet clear whether people already over 18 who aren’t members will be signed up too. For now, you can still register yourself through KWSP i-Akaun, on the website or the app.
Versa compared Gen Z account holders who have an auto-save plan on Versa Save with those who don’t. An auto-save plan moves an amount you choose from your bank account into savings on the same day every month. Once you set it up, it runs on its own.
Versa counted account holders born between 1997 and 2008 and all aged 18 or older. The data runs up to 9 October 2026. A person’s balance includes everything they hold across Versa’s funds, and anyone with at least one active auto-save plan was counted in the auto-save group. Versa says auto-save may not be the only reason these savers have more money. People who set up a plan may also earn more, or may have been saving for longer.
In Versa’s Malaysia Day survey, 66% of Gen Z picked “investing early, even in small amounts” as a habit they’d pass on to the next generation. That’s close to the 68% of all ages who picked the same habit. Among the same Gen Z group, 60% said they wish they’d learnt how to invest, and not just how to save, at a younger age. The survey asked 1,333 people in the Versa app, and 488 of them said they were Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012. Versa didn’t ask whether they were studying or working.
A separate Versa survey asked 3,506 people of all ages in the app in June and July 2026. Of those asked, 58% said they don’t regularly save for retirement outside EPF. That includes 20% who haven’t started saving anywhere else at all. All of these results come from Versa’s own app data and surveys of people in its app, and none have been checked independently. Everyone counted already uses a savings app, so the results may not reflect all Malaysians.
Versa founder and CEO Teoh Wei Xiang said registration only opens the EPF account, and regular contributions are what fill it over time. If you’re still studying, or you work part-time or gig jobs with no employer paying in, nothing goes into the account unless you add it yourself.
Saving beyond EPF from 18 instead of 25 can leave you with RM39,800 more by age 60, from the same RM50 a month. The longer your money stays in, the more it grows. Each year’s profit is added to your savings, so the next year you earn on a bigger amount.
The table below shows RM50 saved every month until age 60, with a 6% profit added once a year, the way EPF credits its dividend. The amounts are a RinggitPlus calculation, rounded to the nearest RM100.
| Age You Start | Total You Put In | Value At Age 60 (6% p.a.) |
| 18 | RM25,200 | RM108,500 |
| 25 | RM21,000 | RM68,700 |
Those seven extra years cost you RM4,200 more of your own money. Double it to RM100 a month from age 25 and you’d have RM137,400 by 60.
The 6% a year is a rate we’ve assumed for this example, close to the 6.15% dividend EPF paid for 2025. EPF dividends change every year, and only conventional EPF savings have a guaranteed minimum of 2.5%. Other savings products pay different rates, and if your savings earn less than 6%, they’ll grow to less than the amounts in the table.
You don’t need a big amount to start saving outside your monthly EPF deductions. Voluntary EPF contributions and Versa Save both accept as little as RM10.
Voluntary EPF contributions add to the EPF account you already have, and your top-ups earn the same yearly dividend as the rest of your EPF savings. You can pay in up to RM100,000 a year. Auto Simpan in the KWSP i-Akaun app takes a set amount from your bank account every month, from RM10. Of every ringgit you put in, 75% goes into Akaun Persaraan, which you can’t touch until you’re 55. Another 15% goes into Akaun Sejahtera, which you can only use for approved needs such as a home or education. The last 10% goes into Akaun Fleksibel, which you can withdraw at any time.
If you’re under 60 and self-employed, a gig worker or have no fixed income, i-Saraan adds 20% to what you pay in. The top-up goes up to RM500 a year and RM5,000 over your lifetime. E-hailing and p-hailing drivers get the same 20% through i-Saraan Plus, up to RM600 a year and RM6,000 over their lifetime. You need to register for each scheme and pay in through it to get the extra 20%. Under either scheme, that extra 20% goes into Akaun Persaraan.
Versa Save lets you set up an auto-save plan that moves a fixed amount into savings every month. It has two funds managed by AHAM Asset Management. Versa Cash returned 3.22% a year after fees in September 2026, and Versa Cash-i, its Shariah-compliant version, returned 3.28%. If you ask to withdraw from Versa Cash before 3pm, the money is paid out the next business day. For Versa Cash-i, it’s the same day if you ask before 10am. These are investment funds and not bank deposits, so they aren’t protected by PIDM, and the return can change from month to month.
Whichever you choose, pick an amount you could still pay in your worst month. Students and gig workers often earn different amounts each month, and a small plan you keep paying will grow more than a big one you stop. A RM200 plan you cancel after three months stops at RM600. Set the transfer for payday, and raise it when your pay goes up.
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As a creative content writer, Eloise has covered finance, business, lifestyle topics, and even moonlights as a singer-songwriter outside of RinggitPlus. Her current interests are learning the best ways to optimise spending and credit card hacks to gain more airline miles.
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