Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024: 3 Key Insights About Singaporeans’ Financial Well Being
The Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024 was recently completed and released by Manulife to share findings on gaps in wellbeing goals and financial confidence among Singapore consumers.
We dived into the report from Manulife so that we can share some of the key learnings from the survey to share with our readers. And here are four key insights we learnt about Singaporeans’ readiness towards our financial goals from the Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024.
Singaporeans Lacking Confidence In Achieving Desired Future Well-Being
According to Manulife’s MyFuture Readiness Index, there’s still quite a gap between Singaporeans’ expected well-being and our desired well-being.
Source: Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024
Based on the survey, one of the reasons for the lack of confidence is healthcare cost. 81% of respondents put healthcare as the top few concern across all ages.
Source: Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024
Healthcare And Its Rising Cost Keeping Singaporeans Awake At Night Across All Ages
One of the key reasons for putting healthcare as the top few worries among Singaporeans is the rising cost of healthcare.
Statistically speaking, medical inflation is rising at 9.5% annually. This is in contrast to the general inflation rate of 3.5%.
Given that medical inflation is rising almost three times as fast as the general inflation rate, it is no wonder why healthcare is keeping Singaporeans awake at night.
Married With Children Think Rising Healthcare Is Biggest Threat To Financial Goals
Source: Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024
The issue of rising healthcare cost is especially prominent in the sandwiched generation, i.e. married couples with kids and also ageing parents to take care of. Around 82% of respondents that fall into this group think that rising healthcare cost is threatening their financial goals.
This is not surprising, given that having both young and old dependents can cause significant amount of financial stress if either of them fall sick.
Tip: Making sure that your dependents have the right medical insurance is one way to reduce your anxiety and stress from the rising healthcare costs. You may want to consider an Integrated Shield Plan (ISP) for them.
Younger Generation Concerned About Mental Health
Source: Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024
For the young, there’s a different set of healthcare concerns that they are worried about.
Among the younger respondents (age 25 – 29), more than 50% of them are worried about their mental health. Around half of the respondents are dealing with concerns of stress and anxiety. Some of whom are even experiencing sleep disorders.
Tip: The primary driver of stress and anxiety stems from work. Therefore, it is important to start thinking about how you can build your own passive income where you can sustain your current lifestyle even if you stop working. Investment planning is one way you can achieve that.
Keeping Healthcare Costs Affordable But Do It The Right Way
While healthcare costs continue to rise, there are actually ways that you can keep it affordable. And these methods can be inexpensive.
You can encourage yourself to exercise more so that you stay healthy. An additional day of staying healthy means deferring a day’s worth of healthcare spending. In addition to exercising, be sure to keep your diet in check. Watching your diet can be an inexpensive but useful way of staying healthy. And if you can combine both exercising and keeping your diet in check, that’s the best.
While trying to keep healthcare costs in reign, be sure that you are doing it the right way. It can be counter effective if you do it the wrong way.
For instance, delaying or skipping annual health checks to save on the cost of those checks is a move that will backfire. The purpose of annual health checks is to detect any potential health problems early on. Deferring your health checks will cause you to miss early signs of your health problems, which can lead to unwanted consequences.
Others try to cut healthcare costs by forgoing medical insurance. Since you don’t really use it, you find it a “waste of money”.
Tip: Changing your perspective of paying for medical insurance can help a lot. Maintaining medical insurance is like buying and holding a lottery ticket. There’s a very slight chance that you will need it (or win it in the case of the lottery). But if you ever have the chance to claim it, you will be relieved that you did.
Future Financial Wellbeing Starts With The Right Financial Planning
When considering future financial wellbeing, the common theme that we observe across the respondents is their consensus on the need to good financial planning.
Source: Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024
Among the young, 38% of them wished they have a regular review of their insurance policies. This seems to suggest that they currently do not have financial plans that are advised by professional financial planners.
Source: Manulife Asia Care Survey 2024
When we look at the group of married with kids respondents, a whopping 71% are in agreement that insurance and retirement plans are important. Also, 60% concur that having professional financial planning advice is necessary.
Tip: If you are one of those that do not yet have financial plans in place, or have a trusted financial advisor to give you sound advice, don’t hesitate to reach out to Moneyline.SG. Our team of competent and trusted financial advisors are ready to take on your financial wellbeing as our challenge.
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