RETIREMENT is going to be a big problem for many as almost half of the members of the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) currently have less than RM10,000 in their accounts.

With rising inflation and Malaysia moving toward becoming an aging nation status by 2030, there is now a bigger need than ever to start saving young and plan one's investment journey early.

Asgari Stephens, 61, a highly-respected name in Malaysia's investment circle, says his biggest passion in life is creating awareness for financial literacy, and that it is best to learn this skill when one is young.

Asgari's advice to the young is to start saving and investing as early as possible as compounding the returns is one of the key essentials of investing.

"The young can go for high growth funds due to the time horizon that they have, while those with lower risk tolerance can opt for dividend funds," he said.

As the society develops, the notion of retirement starts to evolve. This is in part due to longer life expectancy and also the fact that work is no longer as rigid as before. While many may look forward to an early retirement with sufficient savings, Asgari believes that an ideal dynamic is for the young and the old to work hand in hand.

Citing an example, a high-level C-suite who have reached the retirement age but feels he can still contribute should be considered for a mentor or advisor role within the organisation. This is because he has the work experience and knowledge which the young may lack.

"This is a clever use of experience. He can provide value to the company but at a lower pay as

he works shorter hours. So he gets to impart his knowledge to the young recruits in the workforce, and at the same time he still gets a salary," he added.

Asgari also advocates increasing one's income and not just rely on savings to build one's wealth.

Having been an institutional investor and one of the early co-founders of a renowned investment

advisory and fund management group, Kumpulan Sentiasa Cemerlang Sdn. Bhd, Asgari's advice to individual investors is not to hope for a quick windfall.

"Active management of fund is a difficult and challenging industry. My advice to anyone who hopes to beat the market in the short term by active trading is to consider parking your funds with a fund management company.  If professional fund managers who spend years studying the economy and stock market can't beat the market all the time, it would be a tall order for individual investor who spends only 20 minutes a day looking at the stock market.

"Unless one is willing to be patient and consider investing for the long term, otherwise it may end up an

exercise of futility."

The local stock market has been down for the last five years. Many professional fund managers have not done too well except possibly beating the benchmark index. So retail investors need to take note of this.

With regards to fund raising in Malaysia be it venture capital or private equity, over the years, fundraising has never grown easier.

While there are improvement with the government playing a more active role in facilitating this agenda, most of the private equity funding still depend on family offices and only a small amount comes from pension funds and the likes. So if this process could be expedited, it would enhance the financial landscape and become more

competitive like in Singapore.

Asgari, a Sabahan who is now based in Kuala Lumpur, also started two venture capital firms, iSpring Venture Management Sdn Bhd and Intelligent Capital Sdn Bhd.

He was previously the chairman of the Malaysian Venture Capital Association and is a director of Jaycorp Bhd.

He was an independent non-executive director of Maxis Bhd, the chairman of Mudajaya and director and chairman of the Asian subsidiary of Leighton Holdings.

He is also one of the partners of Tapir Partners, an investment advisory and management services provider.

His latest venture is backing Advisonomics, a financial planning firm which he co-founded with Raevendren Ramachandran, a CFA charter holder.

"I am involved in various projects but I am most excited about financial and retirement planning. It's something that I care about most," he said.

* The writer was a journalist with The New Straits Times before joining a Fortune Global 500 real estate company. This article is a collaboration between the New Straits Times and Tradeview, the author of "Once Upon A Time In Bursa".