Despite rapidly growing affluence, mainland Chinese are the least prepared for retirement, according to a recent survey by Standard Chartered, with over half of the market having made no related savings nor investments.
61 percent of mainland Chinese have not started to make savings for retirement, according to Standard Chartered’s «Wealth Expectancy Report 2021» which surveyed affluent individuals across 12 markets.
Interestingly, Greater China markets dominated the ranks of lacking retirement readiness with Hong Kong as the runner-up (50 percent) followed by Taiwan (46 percent).
Pakistan (44 percent) and South Korea (38 ranked third and fourth, respectively.
Post-Pandemic State
Despite the like of retirement readiness, mainland Chinese individuals were more confident than the broader market with regards to their post-pandemic financial state.
Although Covid-19 has made 42 percent of affluent consumers feel less confident about their finances, only 24 percent of mainlanders agreed with this state with 47 percent claiming stronger confidence.
Sustainable Investing
Nearly all affluent mainland Chinese surveyed (97 percent) took at least one finance-related action last year with a spotlight on sustainability.
‘Doing more due diligence around the ethics and sustainability of investments’ tied for third place (28 percent) as the most common action taken alongside ‘more actively tracking the performance of investments’ (28 percent). ‘Setting aside more money for the future’ topped the list (32 percent), followed by ‘researching new financial products’ (30 percent).
The report surveyed more than 15,000 consumers, ranging from the emerging affluent to high net worth individuals, across Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, mainland China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, UAE and the UK.
