Sun Life Hong Kong Survey on Retirement Planning of “Slashers”
Close to 70% of Respondents have no Clear Retirement Plans.
Working as a “slasher” has been the new trend in recent years. However, due to the resulting unstable income for those who dabble in multiple (slash) professions, and lack of the employee benefits provided by employers while also considering retirement a far distant future concern, slashers find planning for retirement to be a truly daunting endeavour. With this in mind, Sun Life Hong Kong Limited (“Sun Life Hong Kong”) today announced the results of its latest survey on the Retirement Planning of Slashers. The data showed that 70% of survey respondents had no clear vision for retirement planning, with the average expected age to start retirement planning to be 40. Due to this late preparation for retirement, 35% of those who start retirement planning late would need to minimise their daily expenses, and 34% said they would continue to work after retirement to help compensate for insufficient funds.
Commissioned by Sun Life Hong Kong, the survey was conducted by Cimigo Limited. 305 working adults aged 18-40 with more than one income source were interviewed. This cohort chose jobs based on personal interests as well as professional capabilities strengths, and included jobs in same field over the past year. The interviews were carried out from mid- to late- June 2021 via online and in-depth interviews.
The average age of the interviewees was 30, with a personal income median of HK$21,950. The results of the survey revealed that about 70% of the interview respondents had no clear vision about their retirement planning, and considered retirement “too far away” in the future for them to worry about it now. They tended to be more focused on the short-term outlook, rather than a long-term view of retirement, with many considering it too early to even think about.
The survey results also indicated that the expected monthly retirement expenditure of the interviewed slashers without retirement planning was HKD15,675. 35% of those who start retirement planning late would need to minimise their daily expenses, and 34% said they would continue to work after retirement if their retirement savings couldn’t cover expenses.
Those slashers with retirement plans in place, said they started planning at age 28 with monthly savings of HK$6,835 on average, mainly invested in bank savings, insurance policies, as well as various retailed funds, and stocks. And the share of MPF investment is about 6%. Those who set up early retirement plans reckon their expected retirement expenditures would increase by HK$2,800 to HK$18,443, compared to those without retirement plans.
Rainbow Pan, General Manager for Wealth & Pensions at Sun Life Hong Kong Limited, said - “This survey clearly indicates that slashers have to be more aware of the importance of early retirement planning. Due to unstable incomes and the lack of financial protection a full-time job affords, it becomes essential to plan early and more comprehensively for retirement. Otherwise, the later one starts preparing for retirement, the lower amount there will be of retirement savings. This will, indeed, seriously affect the quality of one’s retirement life, and will make it difficult to meet the heavy medical financial burdens that inevitably come with old age.”
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