Growing gap in financial confidence, risk appetite among Singapore's affluent: study

Oct 21, 2021

THE Covid-19 pandemic has widened the gap among the affluent in Singapore when it comes to financial confidence and risk appetite, according to a Standard Chartered study released on Thursday (Oct 21).

This means many have been held back from investing, the bank said, adding that more than a third (36 per cent) feel the pandemic has diminished their confidence in their finances.

While all affluent consumers across the wealth spectrum were found to suffer from the confidence gap, the emerging affluent were the most hit.

StanChart defines the emerging affluent as those with assets under S$150,000 and monthly personal income of between S$8,000 and S$15,999.

Over two-fifths or 41 per cent of the emerging affluent reported less confidence compared with 37 per cent of high-net-worth (HNW) individuals and 35 per cent of the established affluent.

The established affluent are individuals who have a monthly income of over S$16,000 or assets over S$150,000, while the HNW are those who have assets over S$1.35 million.

StanChart also noted that the affluent in Singapore are becoming more future focused when resetting their priorities. This includes ensuring a more comfortable retirement (43 per cent), improving personal health (42 per cent) and keeping up with rising lifestyle costs (40 per cent).

There is also a disconnect between current actions and future expectations, StanChart said. Although retirement is top of mind, 20 per cent of the respondents who have yet to retire have also not started saving for retirement - but 42 per cent of them are depending on investment income in retirement.

The report also found that the most common first-time investments or investment strategies tried in Singapore include investing in cryptocurrency (23 per cent), pursuing new strategies to make the most of the stock market (21 per cent) and investing in an exchange traded fund (20 per cent).

The bank's Wealth Expectancy Report 2021 covers over 15,000 affluent across 12 markets - Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, China, Pakistan, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK and the US.