By the age of 60, most Malaysian retirees will have to face life without assets or savings, according to Allianz Asset Management.

This is because most of them would have used up their retirement savings within five years, said Brigitte Miksa, head of international pensions at Allianz Asset Management.

"At 60, the nation's official retirement age, Malaysians may well find themselves with no assets left yet with roughly 20 more years to live," she added in a statement.

(The Employees Provident Fund allows contributors to withdraw the full amount at the age of 55).

Miksa said that at prevailing savings rates, most Malaysians would have to survive on a third of their salaries.

This is far lower than the Organisation of Economic Corporation Development (OECD) benchmark of 60-70 percent, she added.

She said Allianz's Retirement Income Adequacy indicator ranks Malaysia 49th worldwide, because the Employees Provident Fund is "one of the least adequate".

This is made worse by findings that two months out of every year added to life would be spent ill.

Miksa said to avoid outliving one's savings, Malaysians should look to building a nest egg that is 12 to 14 times larger than their last drawn annual salary.

This means setting aside 13-18 percent annually, she said.

Malaysians could also look to delaying their retirement age to 65, so they need to only save three percent of annual salary to have a reasonably comfortable retirement.

While the general picture does not look good for Malaysian retirees, Miksa said Malaysian women are in a better position.

She said statistics show that women aged 30-34 earn 14 percent more than their male counterparts.

With females making up 55 percent of the Malaysian job market, Malaysian women are more likely to escape the fate of a dreary retirement befalling many women worldwide due to longer life expectancy.