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Global Sentiment Survey

The changing landscape: Hong Kongers' sentiment and financial habits

In a world of constant change and uncertainty, how do Hong Kong people's emotion well-being and financial habits fare?

The annual Global Sentiment Survey conducted by Fidelity International reveals that Hong Kongers are becoming more optimistic, confident and hopeful about the future. However, rising costs of living, concerns about economic prospects, and inadequate retirement savings remain the biggest worries for Hong Kongers.

Charlotte Chan, Head of Workplace and Personal Investing, Hong Kong at Fidelity International, said, "Fidelity's latest survey found that preparing for retirement is a long-term financial goal for almost every Hong Konger. Despite the increasing cost of living, more Hong Kongers are increasing their retirement savings. We recognise that taking an important step towards active financial planning is key to achieving an ideal retirement life."

The survey focuses on four key areas:

Well-being

Understanding the emotional intensity and evaluating well-being across finances, health, work, and life.

Financial habits

Assessing financial and investing confidence, as well as current habits related to spending, saving, and debt.

Retirement

Determining retirement timelines and understanding employees’ approach to financial planning and advice.

Work

Understanding employees’ needs from their employers regarding compensation, benefits and support.

 

Let’s take a closer look at the key findings in Hong Kong:

 

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Well-being: Optimism in the face of uncertainty

According to the survey, there has been a significant improvement in the emotional well-being of Hong Kongers. Nearly 70% of the respondents are optimistic about the future in the next six months, while only 20% feel pessimistic. When it comes to different aspects of their lives, 46% of those interviewed are positive about their "day to day finances," "health," "work," and "work-life balance" respectively.

However, over 60% of the respondents expressed worries about “the cost of living”, “saving enough for retirement”, and “the statement of economy”.

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Financial habits: Increasing savings, decreasing debt

In terms of expenses, the survey found that 38% of the respondents, especially the older workers, have overspent in the past six months due to increased household expenses and transportation costs. However, when it comes to savings, one-third of the respondents have increased their savings in the past six months, mainly due to "taking a higher-paying job" (38%) and "reducing spend on extras" (32%).

Additionally, the financial habits of Hong Kongers have improved, with at least 26% of the respondents reporting a decrease in debt.

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Retirement: More Hong Kongers growing a bigger nest egg

The biggest concerns for Hong Kongers in retirement are still "health problems," "retirement savings will be used up earlier," and "unexpected events". Specifically, 42% of middle-aged workers are worried about depleting their retirement savings too soon.

In addition, 30% of the respondents increased their retirement contributions in the past six months due to the awareness of inadequate retirement funds.

More significantly, the proportion of early retirees increased to 27%, with a higher representation of women.

Learn more about Fidelity’s Retirement Savings Guidelines to calculate your income replacement rate.

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Work: Overall job satisfaction

35% of the respondents are satisfied with their current jobs, with over half saying that they have no intention of changing jobs in the next six months.

The proportion of those considering a job change was less than 30%, primarily due to inadequate compensation and a lack of career development opportunities.

Meanwhile, over 20% of the respondents expressed a desire for employer support in areas such as "short-term illness", "preparing for retirement", and "layoff assistance”. 
 

* Younger workers, aged 20-38; Middle-aged workers, aged 39-54; Older workers, aged 55≥.

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Understand Financial Wellness

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Retirement Savings Guidelines

Rules of thumb that make retirement planning simple

About Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023

The data collection, research, and analysis in regard to global employees and was completed in partnership with Opinium, a strategic insight agency. Data collection took place in July 2023. The sample consisted of 26,000 respondents with the following qualifying conditions: aged 20–75; either they or their partner were employed full-time or part-time; not all regions were asked about sexual orientation or gender identities (individuals that did not identify as either as male or female did not represent a statistically significant sample size and are not presented within this piece); a minimum household income of: Australia: AUD $45,000 annually; Brazil: BRL $1,501 monthly; Canada: CAD $30,000 annually; China: CNY ¥5,000 monthly; Denmark: DKK Kr.100,000 annually; France: EUR € 20,000 annually; Germany: EUR € 20,000 annually; Hong Kong: HKD $15,000 monthly: India: INR₹55,001 annually; Republic of Ireland: EUR € 20,000 annually; Italy: EUR €15,000 annually; Japan: JPY ¥1.5m annually; Mexico: MXN $4,500 monthly; Netherlands: EUR € 20,000 annually; Saudi Arabia: SARر.س.س4,000 monthly; Singapore: SGD 2,000 monthly; South Korea: KRW₩1.0m monthly; Spain: EUR kr€15,000 annually; Sweden: SEK kr200,000 annually; Switzerland: CHF CHf20,000 annually; United Kingdom: GBP £10,000 annually; United Arab Emirates: AEDإد.إ5,000 monthly; United States: USD $20,000 annually.