Survey reveals amount Hongkongers want to save up for future immigration plans

| 09 Nov 2021

A recent survey by ESDlife, commissioned by Hong Kong digital life insurer Blue, found that more than 40% of its respondents revealed they plan to immigrate from Hong Kong, while 59% said they have plans to leave the SAR in five years.

The survey also found that Hongkongers save around HK$5,000 per month on average, accounting for nearly 25% of their monthly income.

But as we all know, migrating to another country is not cheap. According to the survey, 71% of the respondents who wish to move believe that they need at least HK$2.5m or more to immigrate. Based on an average monthly saving amount of HK$5,000, the total savings Hongkongers will accumulate after five years is HK$300,000, which is far from achieving the target immigration budget amount identified.

According to the findings, if Hongkongers want to immigrate in five years, they will need to save more than HK$41,000 per month, otherwise it will take them more than 41 years to reach just the lower threshold goal of HK$2.5m.

According to the survey, the main obstacles to saving money were mortgage payment or rental expenses (37%), followed by meal costs and entertainment expenses (30%) and shopping expenses (29%).

Those who were single agreed that cravings for food and entertainment, shopping and travelling were the three main factors that hindered their savings. However, the survey also indicated that nearly 60% of married respondents with children (57%) thought that their children's education fund was the most important factor affecting their savings behaviour.

Additionally, nearly 40% of the respondents said they would start saving only when they have surplus funds. The most interesting part of the survey results was that 16% of the respondents thought they would start saving when they had to give money to their parents, and 14% of them even thought they would only start saving when they were in a relationship.

There were also 12% of respondents who never thought of starting a savings plan. Additionally, the survey results revealed that many Hongkongers did not understand the importance of savings, and thus did not have a specific personal savings plan to ensure they could live securely.

Many have lost money, but still looking for high-return savings tools

The survey found that 72% of the respondents had once lost just under HK$100,000 due to investments. And despite the low-interest rate environment, 50% of respondents said they would still choose bank deposits as a savings tool, followed by investment in stocks, funds and bonds (17%), savings insurance (11%), time deposits (9%), and storing at home (6%).

Even though many respondents had suffered investment losses, nearly 80% of them still considered high interest return rates as the primary factor in choosing a savings plan.

The remaining four criteria included the ability to get back the fund and interest when they surrender the policy (58%), the right to surrender at any time without any charges (52%), entry load (47%), and flexible tenure (45%). The survey showed that although most Hongkongers preferred less risky savings methods, such as low-interest bank deposits, they would still consider high-yield savings measures to increase their wealth.

total of 598 Hongkongers aged between 20 and 49 were interviewed through an online questionnaire. The objective of the survey was to gain insights into people’s saving habits and the reasons why they were unable to save money, as well as investigating their estimated budget for immigration.