Insurance policies top the choice of wealth management tools among Taiwanese households, but nearly 50 percent of households do not have wealth management plans, a survey by CTBC Bank (中信銀行) showed yesterday.
About 52 percent of Taiwanese families have wealth management plans, with insurance policies ranking as the most often-used tool at 60 percent, followed by stock investments at 47.4 percent and time deposits at 46.8 percent, the survey found.
However, the survey — which polled 1,068 married adults aged at least 35 who are responsible for family finances — showed that 48 percent of Taiwanese do not manage their wealth and an overwhelming majority, 77.6 percent, cited a lack of extra money to manage in the first place.
“The findings suggest a lack of appreciation of the importance of wealth planning,” raising concerns given the nation’s fast-growing aging population, said National Chengchih University statistics professor Jeng Tian-tzer (鄭天澤), who led the annual survey.
Most respondents said they could maintain a comfortable living standard with NT$30,000 (US$998.27) a month after retirement, but government statistics put the amount at NT$40,000 a month, CTBC Bank senior vice president John Yang (楊子宏) said.
That forecast calls for NT$10.84 million in savings per person at retirement to cover assorted expenses for 19 years post-retirement, as most Taiwanese retire at the age of 61 and live until 80, Yang said.
It is a common mistake to equal wealth management to bank savings, which would ensure an inadequate money supply after retirement, given the nation’s low and stagnant wages earned by most people, he said.
The survey also shows that 63.7 percent of Taiwanese plan to pass assets on to their children, but 80 percent have yet to take any action, as most Taiwanese tend to wait until they are seriously ill at a late age before they do so.
Taiwanese parents like to leave their children real estate, but children prefer cash, the survey showed.
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