Only 55 percent of Korean said their financial life was stable. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jun. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Koreans who consider themselves middle-income earners have unrealistically high expectations about their post-retirement lives, even as they save little.
According to a survey conducted by AIA Group on 2,500 individuals from Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan who consider themselves to be middle-income earners, Korean respondents answered that they would plan to retire if they had 4.2 billion won (US$ 3.77 million) in savings.
However, the average monthly income of the polled Koreans was 7.1 million won (US$ 6,375) and their average asset holdings, excluding real estate, was a mere 300 million won (US$ 269,000).
Chinese respondents answered that they would retire if they had 2.01 billion won (US$ 1.80 million), while Hong Kong and Taiwanese respondents said that 1.94 billion won (US$ 1.74 million) and 1.03 billion won (US$ 925,000) would be enough for their retirement, respectively.
Koreans saved the least amount of money among those polled, at 653,000 won (US$ 586) monthly for retirement, while Hong Kongers and Chinese saved 1,348,000 won (US$ 1,210) and 1,140,000 won (US$ 1,024) respectively. Taiwanese saved 813,000 won (US$ 730) monthly.
The polled Koreans were also the least content with their life in general, and only 55 percent said their financial life was stable, while 76 percent of Chinese respondents and 70 percent of Hong Kong respondents said so.
Koreans also gave the smallest monetary support to their parents among the overall respondents, while 68 percent of the Koreans thought that their children’s lives would be much harder than their own.
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
