4 in 10 S'poreans not saving for retirement

I can't shake the feeling that difficult as is their lot, so many of the younger generation are not helping themselves with their spending habits.

(21-03-2013, 10:22 AM)yeokiwi Wrote:

(21-03-2013, 09:31 AM)sgd Wrote: 4 in 10 means around 2million people are not saving how the hell they come out with 4 in 10 ? they just pluck it from the air did they interview 2million people to get 4 in 10? They just found 1 cock lawyer to quote then use that to assume people at large are not saving and get miw to write articles.

I got feeling this something new and to do with cpf

The HSBC survey also learnt that people were not saving mainly because of the high cost of living.
Still, 41 per cent of about 1,000 Singaporeans polled in the survey said they have never saved for retirement.

41% of 1000 people is 410 people not 2 million polled from 5 million. The title says 4 in 10 singaporeans not 41% of 1000 singaporeans polled.

And where they conducted the survey and what kind of questions did they ask? All never say then write full page story and any how whack 4 in 10 singaporean

maybe they couldn't find a place with a lot of young people so maybe they went to a disco where there were over a thousand young people having a blast getting high and then they conducted that poll what do you think in such a happy environment the poll result could be.

Why don't they poll people who are 40 and see what the response is going to be like.

(21-03-2013, 10:37 AM)sgd Wrote: 41% of 1000 people is 410 people not 2 million polled from 5 million. The title says 4 in 10 singaporeans not 41% of 1000 singaporeans polled.

And where they conducted the survey and what kind of questions did they ask? All never say then write full page story and any how whack 4 in 10 singaporean

maybe they couldn't find a place with a lot of young people so maybe they went to a disco where there were over a thousand young people having a blast getting high and then they conducted that poll what do you think in such a happy environment the poll result could be.

Why don't they poll people who are 40 and see what the response is going to be like.

I think we need to take the survey at face value. No survey is perfect in its construct, and there are bound to be flaws and loopholes.

String this together with another recent survey and you get the idea that a significant proportion of Singaporeans either do not save, or do not save enough. As to the "why", that will be more enlightening.

They are trying to sell investment linked products...that's how they got the 41%.
This article will find its way to the training kits and presentation material of their insurance agents.......

Why not get a property giant to come up with a survey of similar nature?
Probably the result will be 91% of Singaporeans are saving too much.......hahaha!

Of course, how much trust you place in the article is influenced by your value system.

What I feel is the article feels more like advertistment for retirement planning policies from the banks or insurance companies. I got this feeling from these lines...


The survey also found that those who consulted a professional adviser for their retirement planning accumulated the most wealth in their retirement savings, averaging $324,070. This was more than 50 per cent higher than the accumulated savings of $220,383 for those who did not, said HSBC.

Similarly, respondents with a formal retirement plan are financially better off than those who rely on informal methods, and those who have no plans at all



Anyway, the results also depends on the demographic of the 1000 people they survey... Different age/martial status/blue or white collar will have different results. One can survey mostly one preferred group to achieve skewed results to push their point across...

(21-03-2013, 11:25 AM)pubster Wrote: What I feel is the article feels more like advertistment for retirement planning policies from the banks or insurance companies. I got this feeling from these lines...


The survey also found that those who consulted a professional adviser for their retirement planning accumulated the most wealth in their retirement savings, averaging $324,070. This was more than 50 per cent higher than the accumulated savings of $220,383 for those who did not, said HSBC.

Similarly, respondents with a formal retirement plan are financially better off than those who rely on informal methods, and those who have no plans at all



Anyway, the results also depends on the demographic of the 1000 people they survey... Different age/martial status/blue or white collar will have different results. One can survey mostly one preferred group to achieve skewed results to push their point across...

Ka-CHING! I think you hit the jackpot.....

What counts as retirement savings? Equities or just pure cash? I can''t imagine someone building up a slush fund of $300,000 in a bank account without at least putting some of it to work.

So I am not sure how these numbers were computed - more information would certainly be helpful!

Actually i never believe in saving for retirement. It should be saving for investment for retirement. Then what?

Saving in cash will only be considered as saving ?

I think the reason why Singaporean does not have enough savings for retirement or not saving for retirement is due to the fact that the savings have to be deployed/depleted at certain stage of your life (e.g. Buying a property when getting married, having kids etc.). With the high cost of living, it is no wonder that people have little money left for either savings or investment for retirement. Also on the topic of investing for retirement, it could be that people are not comfortable or knowledgeable enough to invest on their own. Having say that, i think that the only way to have a sufficient amount for retirement is to invest early. For the average person with no interest in researching for individual stocks, they can do index fund investing as recommended by Warren Buffet who say the following: “Most investors, both institutional and individual, will find that the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund that charges minimal fees".

For those who are interested to know more about index fund investing, a good article would be: http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Simplified...ndex_Funds
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