George Town, Penang · Est. 2016
A Team That Helps
Households Find Their Bearings
Compass Hours was founded on the belief that retirement preparation deserves the same care as any other significant household project — clear materials, structured time, and a facilitator who can hold the space.
← Back to HomeOur Story
How Compass Hours Began
Compass Hours grew out of a series of informal evening sessions held in 2015 by two facilitators who had spent careers in adult education and household financial organisation. They kept encountering the same pattern: households approaching retirement had accumulated documents, made broad plans, and spoken loosely about the transition — but had rarely sat down together, with time set aside, to work through the practical details.
The first formal workshop, held in early 2016 at a rented meeting room in George Town, drew fourteen participants from eight households. The response was direct: people wanted more sessions, more structure, and printed materials they could take home and return to. By 2017, Compass Hours had moved into its current office at Wisma Pantai and established the rotating single-workshop format that remains central to the programme today.
The team has since developed the three-workshop course and the annual household programme, both shaped by participant feedback over successive cohorts. Every element — the workbook design, the session length, the way facilitators field questions — reflects that ongoing learning.
Our Mission
Why We Run These Workshops
Our purpose is straightforward: to give Malaysian households the structured time and good materials they need to prepare for retirement — without overstepping into advice that belongs with qualified professionals.
We work in the space between general awareness and specialist advice. We help households organise their records, hold the conversations that keep getting postponed, and build a clear picture of what preparation they have done and what still needs attention. We do not tell participants what to do with their funds, how to structure their estate, or which professional to engage — those decisions belong elsewhere.
"The year before retirement should not be the first time a household sits down together to read through its records."
— Founding principle, Compass Hours, 2016
The People Behind the Workshops
Our Facilitating Team
Every session at Compass Hours is led by a trained facilitator. Our team combines backgrounds in adult education, household organisation, and community outreach.
Suraya Rohani
Lead Facilitator
Suraya has twelve years of experience in adult community education. She developed the household record-organising framework used across all Compass Hours workshops.
Khoo Teck Lim
Senior Facilitator
Teck Lim facilitated household planning sessions in the non-profit sector for eight years before joining Compass Hours. He leads the family conversation and calendar planning workshops.
Nadia Azreen
Programme Coordinator
Nadia manages registration, materials preparation, and participant follow-up. She joined Compass Hours in 2019 and is the first point of contact for most new enquiries.
How We Work
Our Standards and Protocols
We hold ourselves to consistent standards across every session — from how materials are prepared to how participant information is handled.
Participant Privacy
Registration information is used solely to prepare session materials and follow up on enquiries. We do not share participant details with third parties.
Educational Boundaries
Facilitators are trained to keep all session content within the educational scope. Personal financial, legal, or tax questions are acknowledged and redirected to qualified professionals.
Material Review Cycle
Workbooks and handouts are reviewed and updated annually. Facilitators flag content that needs refreshing between cycles based on participant questions.
Facilitator Development
Each facilitator participates in a quarterly review of session delivery, drawing on participant feedback and peer observation. Content and approach are adjusted accordingly.
Venue Accessibility
Our Wisma Pantai office is selected for its accessibility — ground-level entry, adequate seating, and proximity to public transport on Lebuh Light, George Town.
Participant Feedback
Every session closes with a brief written feedback form. Responses are read by the programme coordinator and inform the next material review and facilitator development cycle.
About Our Work
Retirement Preparation Education in Penang
Household preparation for retirement in Malaysia covers a wide range of practical tasks — reviewing EPF and pension entitlements, organising property documents, clarifying insurance records, and holding the family conversations that shape how the transition will unfold. Many households have pieces of this work in place but have not yet drawn them together in one organised review.
Compass Hours workshops give households the structured time and printed materials to work through that organising process with a facilitator present. The facilitator's role is to keep the session on track, answer general questions about the preparation process, and refer specific questions to the kinds of professionals who handle them.
The three workshop topics in current rotation — household records, family conversations, and calendar planning — address the aspects of retirement preparation that households most commonly tell us they find difficult to approach alone. Records accumulate over decades and become hard to navigate. Conversations about retirement intentions between partners often get postponed. Calendar planning for the twelve months before retirement is rarely done in advance, even though the decisions made in that period are significant.
Our office in George Town serves households across Penang and, for the annual programme, households who can make the journey from further afield on the mainland. Sessions are conducted in English and can accommodate participants with questions in Bahasa Malaysia where the facilitator is able to assist.
Take the First Step with Compass Hours
Reach us by phone or email to ask about the current workshop schedule, seat availability, or which programme fits your household's situation.
Get in Touch