Taiwanese may face challenges in maintaining a quality retirement life, as they might not be able to save enough to meet their expectations for a comfortable lifestyle, a survey conducted by Citibank Taiwan Ltd (花旗台灣銀行) said yesterday.
The bank’s Fin-Q survey found that Taiwanese may need NT$78 million (US$2.47 million) in savings to be able to live in comfort after retirement. The survey, conducted by Citibank in October last year, covers five economies in the Asia-Pacific region.
The figure represented a sharp 62.5 percent increase from the NT$48 million target that Taiwanese respondents set in last year’s survey, and was nearly triple the NT$27 million set in 2012.
“Setting a high financial standard for retirement living may partly reflect a lack of sense of security among Taiwanese respondents,” Citibank Taiwan consumer banking business manager Yunny Lee (李芸) told a media briefing.
In line with Lee’s remarks, the survey showed that only 45 percent of Taiwanese respondents were confident of maintaining a quality retirement living, much lower than the average of 60 percent for the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition, only 19 percent of Taiwanese respondents said they have an official plan to finance their retirement living, lower than the average of 24 percent for the region.
Although most Taiwanese said their assets increased last year compared with a year earlier, with the assets of all respondents on average rising to a five-year high, the pace of increase still lagged behind their rising financial demands for retirement living, posing challenges ahead, Lee said.
Overall, the survey, which measures the financial quotient of Taiwanese consumers, saw its benchmark index rise to a record-high of 52.1 for last year out of a possible 100 points, rebounding for the second consecutive year and reflecting the modest growth in people’s assets.
Also, 22 percent of polled respondents said they have added yuan-based investments into their assets, with 48 percent planning to increase their yuan-denominated holdings over the next six months, the poll showed.
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