Many people in Singapore do not believe that their financial wellbeing is as important as their physical one, with 33% not involved in investing at all, a survey by Singapore bank OCBC found.
The study asked 2,000 working adults aged between 21 and 65 about their savings, investments, retirement planning and debt – 1,120 were male and 880 were female.
Over a third (34%) said they see investing as a form of gambling and do not engage with it at all.
Similarly, 37% said that they save but don’t know how to grow their wealth.
And when it came to savings and planning, even more people were unprepared. The OCBC found that 73% are not on track with their retirement planning and 65% are behind when it comes to saving enough to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement.
Short-term concerns seem to take precedence, as 40% of respondents admitted they were worried about their finances the week in which the survey was conducted.
Gender gap woes
Following a worldwide trend, women were more averse to investing.
Nearly 40% had no investments compared to 31% of men; 43% didn’t know how to grow their wealth, with 32% of men in the same situation.
This led the Singaporean bank to claim that, on average, people in the Lion City engage with their money to a certain extent but are behind and don’t have all the right provisions and processes in place.
