Published
Allianz's "Life Planner" launched this week — slick, instant, customer-facing. It's the latest in a wealthtech wave replacing opaque agency math with algorithmic projections that look authoritative. They usually aren't. Four assumptions almost every Malaysian retirement calculator gets wrong, and a 10-minute sanity check against your real Duitful ledger.
Customer-facing projections
Allianz Life Planner, June 5, 2026 — and ~20 similar tools across the wealthtech wave
The agency-driven "ilustrasi" handed to you on paper used to take 2 weeks. The new tools take 90 seconds and look exactly as authoritative. The math underneath is mostly the same — and mostly carries the same flattering biases.
The wealthtech shift is real and mostly good for consumers. You can model a retirement scenario without sitting through a 45-minute sales meeting. You can compare three insurers in an afternoon. You can finally see the math.
But you can also be misled by the math, faster and with more polish than ever. The calculator's polished presentation isn't proof of correctness — it just looks like proof. The fix isn't to ignore the calculators. It's to verify the inputs they're working from.
Most Malaysian retirement calculators assume 5–7% annualised real returns on a balanced portfolio. Real historical figures for Malaysian retail investors (after fund fees and taxes) sit closer to 3–4.5%. A two-point gap compounded over 30 years is roughly half your projected nest egg. If the calculator doesn't let you change the return assumption, that's a flag.
Headline CPI is what calculators use. Your personal inflation (food, healthcare, housing in KL/PJ) has been running 1–2 points above headline for a decade. The calculator says you need RM 4,000/month in 2055; the reality for someone living in KL might be RM 5,500–6,500.
Calculators treat EPF as a smooth annuity. The reality: most people withdraw 30% at 50 (Account 2), face dividends that vary 4.7%–6.4%, and have shifted to having significant chunks in i-Saraan if they're self-employed. The simplified EPF curve in the projection misses the real shape of your retirement income.
Most retirement calculators model living costs but not healthcare inflation. Malaysian medical-cost inflation has been 9–12% per year. A pre-existing condition that costs RM 200/month at 55 can cost RM 1,200/month at 75. If "healthcare" isn't a separate line in the calculator, the projection is missing a major monthly chunk.
Duitful → Reports → last 3 months → record total monthly spend. This is what to type into the calculator's "current monthly expenses" field. Not the budget you'd like to have — the burn you actually run. Almost everyone underestimates this by 15–25% from memory.
Run the calculator twice: once at its default return rate, once at 2 percentage points lower. The gap between the two projections is your "calculator optimism premium." If the lower number still works, you're robust. If it doesn't, you need either higher contributions or a different plan.
If the calculator doesn't model healthcare separately, add 15% to its monthly need figure. It's a rough but defensible adjustment for Malaysian medical-cost inflation through retirement.
The calculator will tell you to save X% of your income. Look at your Duitful Reports → calculate your actual savings rate from the last 3 months (income − total spend, ÷ income). If the gap is more than 5 points, the calculator's plan won't survive contact with how you actually live. Close the gap first; the plan only works when the math matches the behaviour.
Calculator sees
Calculator can't see
The calculator's projection runs forward from your typed inputs. Your ledger runs backward from what you actually did. The cross-check is comparing the two. Where they agree, the projection is reliable. Where they diverge, the projection is wrong — and your ledger is the truth.
RM 4,200
Calculator's "current monthly expense" input (from memory)
Compare to RM 5,150 from a 3-month Duitful burn. The 22% gap, compounded over 25 years to retirement, is roughly RM 500k missing from the target nest egg.
Single 35-year-old in Subang, household income RM 8,500/month. The Allianz Life Planner (or any calculator):
Duitful 3-month average burn: RM 5,150 (Grab, groceries, subscriptions, parents' top-up, half-forgotten weekend trips). Real savings rate after fixed costs: 12%.
Re-running the calculator with RM 5,150:
This is not the calculator's fault. The calculator was working with the wrong input. The cross-check is what makes the projection real.
When both products use the same calculator UI, comparing is fair. Don't trust the absolute numbers; trust the relative gap. "Plan A leaves me RM 80k ahead of Plan B at 65" is more reliable than either absolute figure.
The deltas the calculator shows are usually directionally right even when the absolute projection is off. Use it for "what does an extra RM 500/month buy me?" — that's the question it answers well.
The calculator can tell you "you should increase your EPF self-contribution by RM 200/month and add an annuity at 50." Even if the long-range projection is wobbly, the near-term action items are usually solid.
Don't rely on it for
Do use it for
Use both. The agent's projection often includes assumptions specific to your product that the generic calculator misses (riders, policy loans, bonus structures). The calculator catches the assumptions the agent is biased to flatter. Triangulating both is more reliable than either alone.
For a balanced portfolio of EPF + ASB/ASM + a small Bursa/global equities allocation, 4% real (after inflation) is a defensible base case in 2026. Stress-test at 2.5% real. If both work, you're robust. Anything above 5% real is the calculator selling you a story.
No, intentionally. The honest answer to "will I have enough" depends on your real burn (Duitful tracks that), the return rate you assume (no one knows), and your retirement lifestyle (only you know). Duitful's job is to give the calculator a true input, not to add another biased projection to the pile.
Same four assumptions apply, with the same biases. Robo-advisor projections are often slightly more conservative than insurance calculators (they want you to invest more, so showing "you're behind" serves their funnel). Still cross-check with your real ledger.
Yes — read it in Bahasa Melayu here.
The calculator's projection is only as good as the monthly burn you typed in. Duitful's three-month rolling burn — pulled from real entries, not a guess — is the input that turns a glossy projection into something you can actually decide on.
Open Duitful →