Premature EPF withdrawal significantly reduces long-term retirement wealth due to the loss of compounding interest.
A withdrawal of Rs 1 lakh at age 28 can lead to a loss of approximately Rs 11.78 lakh by age 60.
Withdrawing Rs 5 lakh early could diminish your total retirement corpus by about Rs 60 lakh.
Experts recommend maintaining a separate emergency fund to avoid tapping into long-term retirement savings.