Did you know that there’s now a new income threshold for B40, M40 and T20. Maybe you did not even know that Malaysian households were classified into the B40, M40 and the T20 groupings?
Do you know which grouping are you currently in? The B40 may say they do not have enough, the M40 may say they also need as much help as the B40 while the T20 will definitely still say that cost of living is too high… Anyway, statistically, this is how Malaysian households are classified for government policies.
For example, the B40 households get a Bantuan Sara Hidup of RM200 per year. As for the incomes, the Bottom 40 (B40) has a household incomes of up to RM4,360. Median salary for B40 is RM3,000. M40 are households whose income ranges between > RM4,360 – RM9,619. Median income for the M40 is RM6,275. T20 are those with household income range of RM9,619 or higher. Median income for T20 is RM13,148. Image as below:
This was what Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) is proposing to replace the current B40, M40 and T20. Article in theedgemarkets.com Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) has proposed an alternative classification, dividing households into B20, M50 and T30. KRI senior research associate Hawati Abdul Hamid said, “We feel that B40 is both too wide and too narrow a target. If we really want to raise the livelihoods of people above the minimum standard of our society, we think this is too big [of a group] because 40% of the households translates into 2.6 million.”
One main reason she said so is because she felt that the current B40 aid from the government is spread too thinly as it is a large group. KRI Director of Research Dr Suraya Ismail added, “We believe the B40 group could be defined better and, therefore, we did this study. We now have a B20, which would reduce the funding needed to cover B40.” This new proposal is based on the 2014 Household Income and Expenditure Survey by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. Please do read the article for full explanation too: Article in theedgemarkets.com
I seriously do think the bottom group, regardless of B40 or B20 must be assisted with their housing needs. It’s either long term low rental or assistance under the rent-to-own concept. Be very realistic, if this group do not have enough today and yet have to pay rental forever and ever, then their lives would forever be under tremendous pressure. One day, they will retire and if they still have to pay rental… New income threshold for B40, M40 and T20.
Even if they own just an affordable property of say RM250,000 by the time they retire, at least they could stop paying for rental then. Even a RM600 rental (for one room) x 12 months x 20 years (based on life expectancy) = RM144,000. This amount could have been saved if they own the property they live in. At that time, they could even rent out one room out of the three rooms in their affordable apartment and earn that RM600 instead… maybe.
Happy understanding why I always say ONE property is a must.
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