A new study from credit card brand Visa suggests Hong Kong’s domestic consumption will hold strong in the near future.
A focus on career advancement and annual income, coupled with an interest in recreational activities, personal development and physical fitness, points to a healthy majority of Hong Kong’s affluent hoping to maintain or increase their discretionary spending in the near future, the study concluded.
This is just one of the many findings reported by the 2015 Visa Affluent Survey, an annual study of credit cardholders aged 18 through 55 conducted across the Asia Pacific region. Based on an analysis of the demographics, priorities, spending habits and economic optimism of affluent consumers in eight Asia Pacific markets, the study indexes their propensity to spend on discretionary and luxury items in the year to come.
Visa says the average age of the affluent in Hong Kong is 35, with an annual household income of around HK$990,510. With the lowest marriage rate among all markets surveyed (57 per cent), Hong Kong’s affluent are for the most part young, self-motivated, hard-working and focused on their careers and finances. Increasing personal income remains a key financial security goal (52 per cent), followed by maximising savings (48 per cent) and planning for retirement (37 per cent).
While the vast majority set aside a monthly average of $6600 per month for discretionary spending (84 per cent), including nights out (89 per cent), family holidays (79 per cent) and fine dining (77 per cent), they maintain that as much as 45 per cent of their income currently goes into savings.
In light of these priorities, the continuing struggles of Hong Kong’s affluent to ‘switch off’ during personal time and maintain a healthy work-life balance is not surprising. The study indicated the majority of those surveyed work over the weekend an average of six to eight hours per month (60 per cent), with an even greater proportion handling work-related tasks during holidays (70 per cent) and checking email during personal time with family (79 per cent). Moreover, many of those who reported working at least one weekend a month (40 per cent) claim to be busier now than in the previous year, and do not foresee their situation changing any time soon.
Still, the study revealed that the vast majority of these individuals have gone on at least one family holiday in the past year (79 per cent), with many of them travelling abroad three times. It also showed that one in four continues to value personal development outside of work (23 per cent), of which almost half have taken related courses over the past year (45 per cent).
Most of those who have sought personal development in formal coursework are motivated by career advancement (65 per cent), followed by personal interest (54 per cent) and seeking a challenge (33 per cent).
Commenting on the Study, Tom Tobin, country manager of Visa Hong Kong and Macau, said: “Hong Kong’s affluent are young, energetic and focused on career advancement. That said, they place great importance on quality time with family, spending a monthly average of $6600 per month on discretionary spending for ‘nights out’ and ‘family holidays’.”
Finally, and despite the ongoing struggle to maintain a work-life balance, the study also revealed that fitness and health remains a top priority for many (69 per cent), with half of them doing some form of exercise at least once a week (50 per cent), one in four using a personal fitness coach to help them reach their goals (24 per cent), and the more tech-savvy downloading personal fitness and food consumption tracking apps (38 per cent).
Visa Affluent Index Rankings
The Visa Affluent Index was calculated by asking respondents whether they plan to increase or decrease their discretionary spending as well as their spending on luxury items within the next 12 months. This is how each country measured up: