Gaining Insight into people’s understanding, attitude and preferences on wealth management / legacy planning — Questionnaire
Are you aware of legacy planning?
What does legacy planning mean to you?
How do you think you can preserve wealth? (what are people aware of?)
When do you think it might be a good time to start legacy planning?
What would be a desirable amount of money you would like to accumulate during your lifetime? (WM)
In terms of asset allocation, how would you manage your assets such that you could achieve maximum returns with minimal downside risk?
As a consumer / distributor of financial products, what are the ways we can understand / advise on legacy planning better?
Currently, what would be your opinion on legacy planning / wealth management?
(What’s holding you back from legacy planning?)
Focus group, one-on-one interviews
In the process of collecting data for the infographic, I interviewed my colleagues as well as strangers at Synergy about wealth management / legacy planning. Here are some of the responses:
Dwayne // HP: 91442980
Legacy planning is about leaving money to your children, but unsure of how important it is.
Don’t find the need to.
Leaving money in the bank / property / investments
When they are planning to have kids (late 20s to 30s)
300k / head for 2 kids
Allocation — Equities at a younger age (80/20 equities v fixed income)
Getting a universal life and pledging to liabilities
Making the money work for you (wealth management) goes hand in hand AKA portfolio management
Relative youth, no need for kids (hard to visualise) + stigma of getting something you don’t need.
Alfred // HP: 9220 9489
Not really.
Leaving something for your dependents
Banks — “safe” investments — fixed deposit or UL (higher payout and higher accumulation)
Early 40s, kids are growing up
1-2 million, one child
Education: risk management
Understanding the needs of the consumer when doing tax planning / estate planning / universal life
Stigma: Will writing
Asset lockdown, expensive
I also carried out a focus group discussion. Some of the things that were pointed out were:
Legacy planning is the “distribution of wealth” so that your legacy lives on.
One should consider legacy planning the moment one enters the workforce, or once “career is solid”, in about 10 years’ time when one has sufficient savings in their mid 30s.
On average, each individual is looking to amass about $1 000 000 for their children
In terms of asset allocation:
60% equity / 40% fixed income
40% / 50% / 10%
Estate planning, will writing and unit trusts / universal life go hand in hand and should be explained in detail to the clients.
Some of the stigma that is being faced:
Lack of knowledge
Taboo topic of death in Asian societies aka death denial
Lack of money to do planning
“Not relevant” — abstract idea of death
Interviews with strangers:
Most of the responses that I’ve gotten so far from a sample size of 15:
No, never heard about it.
It is something negative, because of the stigma of being accosted
Savings in the bank à let it grow interest
40 y/o is a good time to consider
$300 000 -500 000
Not sure.
Ask questions that make you think about the future
What are some of the current issues confronting our world today? Amongst them, what is of interest and a cause for concern to you?
Wealth Management
As Singapore grows into a global financial hub, there is a greater need for Singaporeans to put their money where money can grow. More often than not, foreigners that come to Singapore for work are also looking for solutions that can enhance their wealth. Wealth management firms are competing to provide the best end-to-end service for high net worth individuals to fund their next big purchase or retirement needs. These aforementioned services come in the form of asset management, tax planning, investment vehicles and insurance protection.
As the wealth of the Asian continent shows no signs of abating, steps should be taken to prevent rapacious hunting of wildlife for the sake of exotic collectibles or delicacies. With illegal animal parts being sold on the black market for high prices, it is no wonder that a lot of animals are facing extinction. With recent arrests of high profile kingpins in wildlife trafficking syndicates, this demonstrates governmental effort in tackling conservation at its core; demand and supply of illegal animals.
Admired by countries around the world for her stellar healthcare system, Singapore is no stranger to healthcare. The tier system of hospital wards allow the population to be segmented according to affordability, and Medisave / Medishield provide sufficient healthcare for the average Singaporean. However, according to a recent study done by the Straits Times, Singaporeans are still generally under-insured.
The biggest issue facing Singapore would be an ageing population. Just like the other 4 Asian Tigers, Singapore has become an Ageing Tiger. With that comes cause for concern, as with population growth comes lower productivity. Although the minimum retirement age has been raised again to 67, there is a limit on the lifetime productivity and output per head.
Legacy planning is a financial strategy that prepares a person to bequeath his or her assets to a loved one or next of kin after death.
After a person passes away, his or her wealth and possessions are passed on to next of kin or to people or charities specified in a will. If you don’t have a plan in place for your estate, its management might go against your wishes once it is passed on. Legacy planning is especially important for those with small businesses or other assets that require maintenance.
Even as the stock markets are rallying, retirement money can be wiped out in the dicey game of equity investments. However, that doesn’t mean you have to sell something to buy something else. Rather than unloading a winner (and having to pay tax on those gains), use cash that’s sitting on the sidelines from dividends or earned interest to buy bonds or laddered CDs — or just plain leave it alone. Strategies like readjusting your asset allocation from a 70/30 stocks/bonds mix to enter retirement with a 50/50 split will help reduce risk exposure to your portfolio.
Multigenerational planning:
In the U.S. alone, $30 000 000 000 000 USD is about to be passed on from the baby boomers to their heirs. If not handled well, things like estate taxes and probate court fees can take up a lot of money and time. Across developed countries, tax planning and setting up trust funds are some of the ways money can be kept within the family for generations.
The target audience will be based on 2 criteria: family nucleus and occupational income. For legacy planning to be effective, per capita income in the household should be more than $50 000. The ideal age range should be around 30-50, where couples would have started a family and have high earning capacity. They are likely to be either expats (Employment Pass holders) or Singaporeans in the STEM professions. Business owners and entrepreneurs are also included in this segment.
The needs of this demographic would be to look for legacy planning solutions for wealth preservation and transfer. As most of them would not have the knowledge or expertise to carry out tax planning, estate planning and setting a trust on their own, independent brokerage services can be offered to them to facilitate an end-to-end solution for their financial needs.
How has visual communication contributed to address the cause?
The infographic designed by Search3W is clear, instructive and formatted in a logical way. They chose to use an infographic because there is a lot of technical detail required in constructing a savings and investment retirement portfolio.
I like how the design firm used the concept of percentages to explain asset allocation. They also included appropriate graphics so that it would be easier to remember the detail. Included are also certain principles one should follow in order to get the optimal savings needed for certain goals: i.e. car, children’s education fund. I like the font as it is friendly and engaging, the colours also appeal as they are bright and flashy. In terms of clarity I can see where they put emphasis in e.g. Money needed at retirement: 75-80% of pre-retirement income.
The other infographic by Visual Capitalist lists down the key terminology used in stock trading. They succeeded in making the terms look less daunting and more accessible to the everyday man. I like the composition of the infographic, where they package each term and give it a little “story” and illustration to accompany the story. The colour and font is also bright, easily legible and friendly. There is also a colour pattern in terms of the trading card arrangement.
I couldn’t find the source for this poster by Kararfarin Advertising, but the concept is poignant and delivers a punch with simplicity. The analogy of saving / preparing for a rainy day is never better demonstrated than here.
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