Social and psychological barriers to private retirement savings in Hong Kong

Kee Lee CHOU, Kar Ming YU, Wai-Sum CHAN, Alfred C.M. CHAN, Terry Y.S. LUM, Yuefeng ZHU

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Using a phone survey conducted among Hong Kong workers, we examined the association of institutional, social, and psychological factors with engagement in both private retirement savings and the total amount of savings. Alarmingly, this study demonstrates that approximately 42% of Hong Kong workers do not save privately for their retirement. We found that age, education, number of children, support from spouse and friends, social regulation, perceived financial knowledge, and financial management capacity are associated with engagement in private retirement savings. Among those who saved, age, education, perceived financial knowledge and financial management capacity are related to the amount of savings. Measures that could increase the social support for retirement savings as well as enhance their financial knowledge and management ability should be developed and implemented so that more workers engage in private retirement savings. A promising policy option for the Hong Kong government is to offer a tax incentive to promote additional savings for old-age income protection. Copyright © 2014 The Haworth Press.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)308-323
JournalJournal of Aging and Social Policy
Volume26
Issue number4
Early online dateJul 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Citation

Chou, K.-L., Yu, K.-M., Chan, W.-S., Chan, A. C. M., Lum, T. Y. S., & Zhu, A. Y. F. (2014, July). Social and psychological barriers to private retirement savings in Hong Kong. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 26(4), 308-323.

Keywords

  • Chinese
  • Hong Kong
  • Private retirement savings
  • Working adults

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