Asians face retirement savings shortfall: survey

[SINGAPORE] A retirement savings shortfall of an average of six years looms in key Asian countries, as most pre-retirees are either not planning at all or planning too late.

Even portfolios do not seem to be invested optimally. The Manulife Investor Sentiment Index (MISI) finds that as much as 40 per cent of assets are sitting in cash. The MISI is a quarterly survey of investors' views across seven markets in Asia.

The retirement portion of the survey finds that Asians expect they have to depend on retirement savings for an average of 19 years. But the amount they expect to have saved by the time they retire will cover only 13 years.