Personal protection still not a priority: Zurich

About 30 percent of working Malaysians in the prime financial planning age have no form of personal protection. Compounding this, 16 percent of them said they have no plans whatsoever to set aside any money for insurance or takaful.

This is despite 75 percent of Malaysians not being able to raise MYR1,000 in an emergency, according to Bank Negara Malaysia, and 6.62 million EPF members aged under 55 having savings of less than MYR10,000.

Diving deeper into the reasons behind the inaction in obtaining personal protection, the overarching theme is misconception as well as lack of information and understanding.

These findings were part of Zurich Malaysia’s survey comissioned in late 2021 titled ‘Impact of Pandemic on Protection’ involving 1,201 respondents nationwide. This group of 25- to 40-year-old working adults make up 41 percent (491 respondents) of the total sample size, and 30% of this group stated that they do not have protection.

The findings highlight the important role that life insurance agents and takaful advisors play in ensuring understanding among the public. This is critical to increasing the insurance and takaful penetration rate and reducing the protection gap towards a sustainable way of life.