KUALA LUMPUR: The inaugural HSBC Quality of Life report, has found that 57 per cent of mass affluent Malaysians, or those with between US$100,000 and US$2 million to invest, are concerned about retirement.
About 44 per cent said they would work after retirement, while another 44 per cent said they will not work, with 12 per cent undecided at this point.
The survey, which explores the concept of a good quality of life across different generations of mass affluent individuals in nine markets, found that the top three concerns for mass affluent Malaysians are a decline in physical health; higher healthcare costs, and inflation eating into the value of their retirement savings.
HSBC launched its inaugural Quality of Life Report, which surveyed 1,779 mass affluent individuals across nine markets: USA, Mexico, UK, UAE, India, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, on September 18, 2023.
In Malaysia, 200 mass affluent individuals with investable assets of between USD100,000-USD 2 million, were surveyed.
About 38 per cent of those surveyed were Boomers (age 55-69), while 32 per cent were Gen X (age 40-54), followed by Millennials (age 25-39) at 30 per cent.
To retire comfortably, the respondents said that they would need average retirement savings of around of RM3.9 million, which was lower than Hong Kong (RM5.2 million) and Singapore (RM4.4 million) but higher than the UK (RM3.6 million) and the UAE (RM3.3 million).
Malaysia's mass affluent aspire to retire early at 57 years of age— three years shy of the mandatory retirement age in Malaysia of 60 years.
It is the lowest aspired retirement age amongst the nine markets surveyed, with the UK having the highest aspired retirement age of 62 years, four years shy of the UK state pension retirement age of 66 years.
Millennial respondents (age 25-39 years) in Malaysia said they need an average of RM4.86 million to retire comfortably, Gen X (age 40-54 years) RM4.53 million and boomers (age 55-69 years) RM2.57 million.