KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 6): Mass affluent Malaysians need an average retirement savings of RM3.9 million to retire comfortably, based on recent findings from the HSBC quality of life report.

The survey is based on mass affluent Malaysians — those with investable assets of between US$100,000 to US$2 million (RM400,000 to RM9 million) — in a comparison of nine markets including Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK, the US and Mexico.

About 57% of mass affluent Malaysians surveyed said that they are concerned about retirement, with the top concern being decline in physical health, followed by higher healthcare costs and inflation eating into the value of their retirement savings.

“Malaysia’s mass affluent aspire to retire early at 57 years of age — three years shy of the mandatory retirement age in Malaysia of 60 years,” it revealed.

The country’s aspired retirement age was also the lowest among the nine markets surveyed, with the UK having the highest aspired retirement age of 62 years, four years shy of the UK state pension retirement age of 66 years.

Malaysia's mass affluent individuals surveyed were also divided on plans to work after retirement, with 44% saying they will work after retirement, another 44% saying they will not, and the remaining 12% are undecided at this point.

“To retire comfortably, the respondents said that they would need an average retirement savings of around RM3.9 million, which was lower than Hong Kong (RM5.2 million) and Singapore (RM4.4 million), but higher than the UK (RM3.6 million) and the UAE (RM3.3 million),” it noted.

In addition, millennial respondents (age 25-39 years) in Malaysia said they need an average of RM4.86 million to retire comfortably. Meanwhile, Gen X respondents (age 40-54 years) said they need RM4.53 million, and Boomer respondents (age 55-69 years) said they need RM2.57 million.

"Respondents cited personal savings, followed by retirement savings schemes and individual stock fund and bond investments as the top sources of income that they would expect to rely on once they retire," it said.

Other key findings from the report found that out of 100, respondents in Malaysia scored 77 on the overall quality of life index which was higher than the overall score across nine markets of 75, but lower compared to UAE and India with both at 80.

The survey also found that the financially fit are 4.3 times as likely to score above average on the mental wellness scale, while those scoring above average on mental wellness are 1.9 times as likely to be financially fit than those scoring low on mental wellness.

"Malaysian respondents cited salaries and wages as their top source of wealth, followed by dividends, inheritance, profits from businesses and property rental," it added.