This article first appeared in Personal Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on May 2 - 8, 2016.

There are more prudent savers than fun-lovers in Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries, according to a survey released by GfK, the Germany-based, fourth largest market research organisation in the world. Within the region, 27% of Hong Kong online consumers surveyed said they “disagree completely” with the notion of “enjoying life today and worrying about savings and investments later”, and a further 27% said “disagree somewhat”, which logged the highest level among all countries surveyed globally.

At the other end of the scale among APAC countries, however, 38% of Chinese online consumers agree overall with the “enjoy life today” mindset, Australia and South Korea came next with 33% and 32% respectively.

The survey asked over 27,000 internet users aged 15 and above across 22 countries to say how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the statement “I want to enjoy life today and will worry about savings and investments later”.

APAC countries covered in the survey were Australia, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan. Other countries surveyed were Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the US.

According to the survey result, globally, 38% of participants have a “save and invest now” mindset, 14% “disagree completely” and 24% “disagree somewhat”, slightly outnumbering 34% of participants who have a “enjoy life now” mindset — 12% “agree completely” and 22% “agree somewhat”.

The survey result shows that 40% of women internationally disagree with “enjoying life now and worrying about savings and investments later” while 33% “agree” to the notion. Men are more evenly divided with 36% agreeing and 35% rejecting the statement.

Globally, 41% of online consumers aged 20 to 29 agreed with living for today, followed by 37% of teenagers (aged 15 to 19) and 36% of those aged 30 to 39.

The survey results also found that the “save now” mindset increases fairly as the age increases globally. This starts at 34% of both teenagers and 20-to-29-year-olds, followed by 38% of 30-to-39-year-olds and 37% of 40- to-49-year-olds. The number peaks at 43% of online consumers aged 50 to 59 agreeing with the notion.

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