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Can EPF Approved Funds Outperform EPF Dividend?
We analysed 290 EPF approved funds and here are the results.
DoitDuit | Your Investing Friend
March 05, 2026
If you have a friend that is a mutual fund/unit trust agent, you most likely heard this sales pitch before:
EPF dividend is so low, invest in unit trust/mutual fund la, can get higher return than EPF;
EPF dividend 6%, much lower than inflation lo; or
No money to invest in unit trust/mutual fund? Use EPF money la.
Many Malaysians are convinced by the words of these agents, who make money when they sell you funds, and disappear when you lose your retirement fund.
Instead of trusting the words of these agents, let’s look at the real numbers and performance. We have gone through 290 EPF approved funds and analyse their results.
EPF Historical & Annualised Return
EPF historical return from 1952 to 2025 is as below:
Year | Conventional Account |
|---|---|
2025 | 6.15 |
2024 | 6.30 |
2023 | 5.50 |
2022 | 5.35 |
2021 | 6.10 |
2020 | 5.20 |
2019 | 5.45 |
2018 | 6.15 |
2017 | 6.90 |
2016 | 5.70 |
2015 | 6.40 |
EPF annualised return is as below:
Period | Annualised Return |
|---|---|
1 Year | 6.15% |
3 Year | 5.98% |
5 Year | 5.88% |
7 Year | 5.72% |
10 Year | 5.88% |
20 Year | 5.87% |
EPF annualised return is the benchmark for all EPF approved funds. They must outperform EPF annualised return, for it to be “worth it” for you to sacrifice your stable and consistent EPF dividend.
How EPF Approved Funds Perform?
290 approved funds performance compared against EPF over different time periods:
Period | EPF Annualised Return | Total No. of funds | No. of Funds Outperform EPF | % of Funds Outperform EPF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 year | 6.15% | 290 | 145 | 50% |
3 year | 5.98% | 290 | 152 | 52% |
5 year | 5.88% | 287 | 31 | 11% |
7 year | 5.72% | 286 | 114 | 40% |
10 year | 5.88% | 277 | 71 | 26% |
Note that the above return is excluding sales charge of 0%-3% (depends you invest via agent or via EPF i-invest platform. Dont invest via agent for EPF approved funds!
Some takeaways:
In the short term (1-3 years): Your chance of picking the “right” fund to outperform is 50%-52%, essentially you are betting your retirement with by flipping coin. Heads you win, Tails you lose.
In the medium term (5 years): Your chance dropped to 11%. This is most likely due to Covid-19 market crash. That’s why dont underestimate EPF stable and consistent return, the last thing you want is when you retire and need the money, your portfolio underperform EPF and you lose opportunity cost.
In the long term (7-10 years): Your chance increased slightly to 26-40%, but still lower than flipping coin. Over the long run, you only have ¼ chance of outperforming EPF, can you see how low the % is?
The Winners
Even so, there are a few EPF approved funds that are outliers, that can consistently outperform EPF in all 5 time periods (from 1-10 years annualised return): - 14 funds only:
RHB Gold and General Fund
AmPrecious Metals Securities
Public Islamic Asia Tactical Allocation Fund
AHAM World Series - Japan Growth Fund - MYR-Hedged Class
Manulife Investment Shariah Asia-Pacific Ex Japan Fund
Manulife Investment Asia-Pacific Ex Japan Fund
Astute Dana Aslah
PB Euro Pacific Equity Fund
Public Singapore Equity Fund
Kenanga Blue Chip Fund
AHAM Select Opportunity Fund
RHB Global Equity Yield Fund
Principal Global Titans Fund (Class MYR)
PMB Shariah Equity Fund
Note that these 14 funds, especially the highlighted ones are benefiting because of gold price and Japan stock market surge recently, so even they outperform for all 5 different time periods now, doesnt mean they will continue to outperform in the future.
Paid subscribers can get the full list of EPF approved funds and their respective performance in the file attached:
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, to outperform EPF, you need a lot of luck to time the market and select the right fund. A skill that many people think it’s easy, but is actually hard AF to consistently make the right decision.
The simple advice is to keep your EPF untouched, you will thank yourself when you retire.
Anyways, the market is crashing right now. Dont panic and stay discipline.
Stay safe and stay strong investing!
Regards,
Guan🍉 and HY 🦭
DoitDuit
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