Cost of living, healthcare and ageing parents top financial concerns: AIA

THE top three financial concerns among Singaporeans are the increasing costs of living and healthcare as well as the financial strain of caring for their ageing parents, according to AIA.

In its report on financial challenges and priorities facing Singaporeans, 85 per cent cited increasing cost of living as a concern, 63 per cent said increasing healthcare costs, while 57 per cent pointed to the financial strain of caring for their ageing parents.

The independent study commissioned by AIA Singapore included a sample size of 524 Singaporeans aged 25-45, with annual incomes between S$60,000 and S$600,000.

The study, conducted in the first quarter of 2016, also showed married couples do not see eye-to-eye on the management of finances. Some nine in 10 married individuals disagree with their spouse 50 per cent or more of the time on this.

The three key issues couples argue about are often related to holiday expenses, purchases of big ticket items such as a car, as well as the allocation of investments and savings.

"In fact, different approaches to financial portfolio management may be a potential cause of tension for married couples,'' AIA said in the report.

The study showed that men are more inclined to invest, while women prefer to save for their future. On average, women are allocating more of their financial portfolio to savings (41 per cent) compared to men (35 per cent), while men tend to allocate more to equities (32 per cent) compared to women (25 per cent).

Amid key concerns over the escalating cost of living, men's top deterrents to investing are worries about how market volatilities will affect their investments, followed by the risks involved in investing and insufficient funds to get started.

As for women, they are most deterred from investing because they worry about the risks involved, how market volatilities will affect their investments and how investing is too complicated for them to understand.

That said, both men and women (61 per cent and 65 per cent respectively) would be most motivated to invest if they had some form of guaranteed returns, AIA noted.