Everyone wants to enjoy their retirement life happily and without worries. But, how much do you know about the cost of living in the future? How much do we need to pay for the necessary living expenses when we become old? And, for which do we pay most?
According to an expenditure study conducted by the Consumer Council on the elderly people aged between 55 and 79 in Hong Kong, the average monthly consumption expenditures of the elderly people accounts for nearly 70% of their average monthly income. Among them, those aged between 55 and 64 have much higher academic qualification and monthly income, with monthly salary more than ten thousand in average. Their incomes mainly come from families or relatives, work or investment, etc. On the other hand, the incomes of those over 65 years of age fall to about six thousand which mainly come from families as well as from the Government. With regards to expenditures, the 55-64 age group with more income also spend more on average.
On the other hand, the survey also reveals that the elderly consumers, especially those aged 55 – 64, in Hong Kong are generally more active and value most on social life. Transportation, dining-out and communication (including internet and mobile phones) are their three main recurring consumption items. In addition, the three major non-recurring consumption items include entertainment / hobbies / leisure / refresher courses, festive / birthday expenses and other gifts. Such kind of expenses also account for an important part of their total expenditures.
It can be seen that retirees usually limit their expenses by their incomes. Today, if you wish to have more freedom and better choices for retirement life in the future, you’d better plan ahead and prepare for it now.
References:
Risk or Opportunity – A study on Building an Age-friendly Consumption Environment, by Consumer Council in 2018 – Please click here (as extracted on 8 April 2019)
The above information is for reference only.
(This is a translation only. The original article is written in Chinese and you may refer to the original version here for exact meaning)
