Our Story
Patient work,
in the right direction.
Stoneground was built on the conviction that understanding your own retirement savings is worth a full afternoon — not a scroll through a website alone at midnight.
Back to HomeWho We Are
Stoneground started with a simple observation.
Many Malaysian workers reach the years just before retirement having never read their EPF statement from top to bottom. Not for lack of interest — but because no one had ever sat down with them and explained what the columns actually mean. Financial documents are written for administrators, not for the people they describe.
The founders of Stoneground had backgrounds in adult education and community facilitation. They saw the gap between the information that existed — on the EPF website, in government primers, in internationally recognised books on household finance — and the people who needed to use it. So they built a modest structure to bridge that gap: small-group sessions, publicly available materials, no advice, no pressure.
The name comes from the agricultural metaphor the organisation uses to frame retirement preparation — a slow, patient process that rewards regular attention more than sudden urgency. A field prepared gradually yields more reliably than one rushed at the end of the season.
Our Mission
To make publicly available information genuinely accessible.
Everything Stoneground uses in its sessions is drawn from sources that are already public — the EPF portal, Malaysian government documents, reputable publications on household finance. Our role is not to create new information. It is to create the conditions in which existing information becomes understandable.
We work in Johor Bahru, in English, in small groups. We ask that facilitators stay within their role: they explain what is written, not what you should do about it. That boundary is deliberate, and we maintain it in every session.
Values we work by
- Patience: Retirement understanding develops over time. We design sessions that fit that pace.
- Clarity: Plain language, well-organised materials, time for questions.
- Restraint: Facilitators explain. They do not advise. That separation protects participants.
- Community: Learning alongside others produces different understanding than reading alone.
The People
The facilitators who run our sessions
Stoneground sessions are led by facilitators with backgrounds in adult education and community learning — not in financial services.
Rohana Abdul Malik
Lead Facilitator
Rohana has twelve years of experience in adult literacy and community learning programmes across Johor. She leads the EPF Statement Reading Workshop.
Cheng Teck Wai
Discussion Facilitator
Teck Wai facilitates the Quarterly Reading and Discussion Series. He trained as a secondary school teacher and has moderated community reading groups for eight years.
Selvi Krishnaswamy
Retreat Coordinator
Selvi organises and co-facilitates the Annual Reading Retreat. Her background is in programme design and she has coordinated reflective learning days for community organisations since 2016.
How We Work
Standards we hold ourselves to
These are not certificates on a wall — they are the practical commitments that shape every session we run.
Public Materials Only
Every document used in our sessions is drawn from publicly available sources — official EPF materials, Malaysian government publications, and reputable internationally recognised texts.
No Personal Data Retained
Stoneground does not collect or retain copies of any participant's EPF statement or financial documents. What you bring to a session stays with you when you leave.
Trained Facilitators
All Stoneground facilitators come from adult education or community facilitation backgrounds. They are trained in our session format and in maintaining the boundary between information and advice.
Structured Discussion Format
Sessions follow a prepared structure with time for questions built in. Facilitators use a printed discussion guide to keep conversations focused and productive.
No Advisory Role
Our sessions are informational. Facilitators are specifically trained not to offer opinions on contributions, withdrawals, investment choices, or what participants should do with their EPF savings.
Regular Session Review
We review our session materials and discussion guides at least twice a year to reflect any updates to EPF documentation or changes in publicly available retirement resources.
Context & Expertise
Where Stoneground sits in the landscape
Stoneground is not a financial advisory firm. It does not hold any licence to provide regulated financial advice, and it does not seek to do so. It sits in a different category: adult education and community information sessions. This is a meaningful distinction for participants to understand.
The Malaysian EPF system is well documented. The EPF itself publishes guides, maintains a publicly accessible portal, and produces annual statements for contributors. What Stoneground does is help participants engage with those materials in a supported, small-group setting — reading together rather than alone, and with a facilitator who can explain what each part of the document is describing.
The Quarterly Reading and Discussion Series draws on a broader range of materials — books and articles that have shaped how households in Malaysia and elsewhere think about planning for their later working years. The sessions are designed for adults who learn better in conversation than in isolation, and who appreciate the discipline of a structured reading commitment.
The Annual Reading Retreat is the most substantial offering: a full day, off-site, with meals and a small group. It is suited to those within five years of their expected retirement who want to spend time with the topic in a focused, unhurried environment. Past participants have described it as one of the most useful days they spent on the subject — not because of anything they were told, but because of what they found when they were given the time and space to read carefully.
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A seat at the table costs less than a morning of confusion.
Reserve your place for the next workshop or ask us which session fits your situation best.
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