Many families in Singapore, including those with children, are not recognising the risks of not having life insurance protection. More than half of all parents in Singapore (53%) who are surveyed do not have individual term life insurance despite having dependent children, according to a global study of attitudes to retirement and financial planning by HSBC.

Furthermore, among parents in Singapore who do have financial plans for their families, a quarter of them (24%) do not have any type of life insurance included in their plans. When it comes to gender differences in exercising financial decision-making, the survey also found that men in Singapore are generally more proactive than women in making financial decisions in the household concerning both retirement planning and household budgeting.

These findings have emerged from HSBC’s The Future of Retirement programme which is a leading independent study into global retirement trends.

HSBC’s new report points to a myriad of evolving financial needs as individuals and families go through various life stages. In Singapore, only 58% of respondents on average say they have a financial plan in place. Despite having made these plans, there still appears to be significant gaps in their financial planning throughout adult life.

In Singapore, nearly half (48%) of those respondents aged 30-39 say they have no short term savings. Only 30% of those married or living together aged 40-49 are protecting their assets. Despite life insurance being widely available and all working parents having a need for this kind of protection, 24% of parents do not have any life insurance policy. Of those aged 50-59, 34% do not have retirement plans while only 12% are undertaking tax planning. Eight in ten (80%) of all parents have not made a will.

Singapore women lag behind men in household financial decisions Men are taking the lead in decision-making across most aspects of financial planning. In Singapore, 70% of men say they make all or most of the financial decisions in the household, compared to 52% of women.

Men in Singapore are more proactive than women in making financial decisions in the household concerning retirement planning, with 38% of them assuming sole responsibility in this area compared to 21% of women.

In Singapore, only 28% of women take the lead in making decisions on managing the household budget compared to 32% of men. This means that men in Singapore still exercise more control than women in financial decisions on both retirement planning and household budget.

-Singapore Business Review / Financial Services (www.sbr.com.sg)