Hong Kong Savings Council Survey: The average monthly savings amount of Hong Kong people “broke 10,000” for the first time and reached a new high

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Hong Kong Deposit Protection Commission has conducted a survey on Hong Kong people's “savings security” index for the eighth year in a row. According to the latest survey, the average monthly savings amount of Hong Kong people “broke 10,000” for the first time, reaching HK$10,100, an increase of 3% over last year, and a new high since the survey. The interviewees said that over 60% of people have savings habits, similar to last year. Savings methods are still mainly bank current or time deposits, and the ratio is as high as 75%. The survey also showed that more than 20% of respondents with savings habits set savings goals for the year, with an average amount of HK$279,000.

Another result showed that 89% of young respondents aged 18 to 29 had savings habits. Among them, 32 percent set savings goals, the highest among all age groups, showing that young people are very motivated to save. Furthermore, 50% of respondents think they can achieve their goals; while about 40% of respondents with savings habits say they are saving to “meet unexpected needs” (37%), followed by “preparing for retirement” (31%).

Meanwhile, this year, Hong Kong people's ratings for bringing a “sense of security” to existing savings rose from 53.5 points last year to 54.3 points this year, the highest in nearly four years. Among them, 76% of respondents scored a savings “security” score of 50 or more, a slight increase of about 2 percentage points from last year; while 16% of respondents scored 80 points or above, similar to last year.

The survey also showed that in terms of maintaining a one-year standard of living, Hong Kong people think they need to have an average of HK$1.02 million in savings or working capital this year to have sufficient “security”, which is similar to HK$1.03 million last year.

Following 2020, this year's survey once again conducted an in-depth survey of Hong Kong parents (with at least one child aged 10 or under) to compare changes in savings habits in this group. This year's survey found that the proportion of parents with savings habits was nearly 80%, an increase of about 3 percentage points over 2020; the average monthly savings amount per parent was HK$12,100, a sharp increase of 40% from HK$8,600 five years ago; the average requirement to have HK$1.16 million in savings is sufficient to have sufficient “security”, which is 14% higher than the overall Hong Kong people (HK$1.02 million).

The survey also found that 60% of parents said they had additional savings for their children. On average, they needed to save an additional HK$2.26 million for each child to feel at ease; this was mainly used for education expenses (77%), including “studying locally” (66%) and “studying abroad” (27%). The parents surveyed mainly saved their children by “opening a bank account to save” (48%), followed by “purchasing savings insurance” (45%). In addition, more than 50% of parents encourage their children to establish savings habits. The most common methods are “regularly allocating pocket money to children” (29%) and “asking children to save their own money to buy” (22%).