Almost
one in six pre-retirees (15%) have not started saving for their retirement –
that means 85% of working-age people in Malaysia have started saving for
retirement.

Of those who have started, 44%
have either stopped or faced difficulties, it said. And pre-retirees in
Malaysia now expect to save for four years longer than their predecessors
for their retirement, according to new research from HSBC.

Based on the views of over
1,000 people in Malaysia, the current generation of retirees started saving
for their retirement at 33 and retired at 56, saving for an average period
of 23 years, HSBC said in a statement today.

However, the report shows that
working-age people in Malaysia now begin to save four years earlier, at
age 29, but expect to retire like their predecessors at 56, meaning they
face on average 27 years of retirement saving – four years more than
current retirees.

According to the research, the gap is most marked in China (14 years),
the United Arab Emirates (12 years), Australia (11 years) and France (11
years), where working people now expect to save for more than a decade
longer than current retirees did.

“Despite beginning to save for
retirement earlier, many working-age people still don’t think they are
saving enough.”

Over two in five (44%) retirees
would have started saving for retirement at an earlier age given the
opportunity to do something differently and over half (53%) of
pre-retirees would do the same.

Pre-retirees around the world
have different approaches towards how they will fund their retirement and
the expectations of pre-retirees differ from the reality experienced by
retirees.

Cash
savings/deposits (50%) are the most common funding method for retirees.

Fewer pre-retirees expect
another employer pension scheme (12%) or stocks and shares (17%) to help
fund their retirement.

The report, Generations and
Journeys, is the latest in HSBC’s long-running ‘The Future of Retirement’
series.