Even the rich in Hong Kong expect to work past retirement age, survey says

More people plan to work longer and ‘blend work, family responsibilities and personal aspirations’, Manulife Hong Kong CEO says

Wealthy Hongkongers now invest in a way that shows they do not have a fixed retirement age in mind, as most of them expect to work longer than their parents, according to a survey.

Some 58 per cent of high-net-worth individuals in Hong Kong expected to work beyond retirement age, with 32 per cent anticipating they would work five to 10 years past it and another 26 per cent assuming they would work as long as possible, said the survey, released by Manulife on Tuesday.

Hong Kong has no official retirement age, although many companies require employees to retire at 60 or 65.

“Hong Kong’s affluent are increasingly moving beyond the idea of a single, fixed retirement,” said Wilton Kee Wing-tao, CEO of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau. “Instead, many are preparing for multiphase lives that blend work, family responsibilities and personal aspirations.”

Among the 11 Asia-Pacific markets surveyed, Hong Kong had a relatively high number of rich people who expected to work five to 10 years beyond normal retirement age. The figure was lower in both mainland China and Singapore at 27 per cent, while Japan’s 37 per cent exceeded Hong Kong’s 32 per cent.

As people’s expectations for retirement changed, they also changed their investment approach, according to the insurer. Two-thirds of survey respondents said they were redesigning their portfolios to support a more flexible lifestyle rather than a fixed retirement date.

The survey was conducted in April and May with 1,000 respondents who had net worth ranging from US$3 million to more than US$50 million, including 250 in Hong Kong. The other markets surveyed were mainland China, Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.