Task 1B: Exploratory Research:

Gaining Insight into people’s understanding, attitude and preferences on wealth management / legacy planning — Questionnaire

  1. Are you aware of legacy planning?
  2. What does legacy planning mean to you?
  3. How do you think you can preserve wealth? (what are people aware of?)
  4. When do you think it might be a good time to start legacy planning?
  5. What would be a desirable amount of money you would like to accumulate during your lifetime? (WM)
  6. In terms of asset allocation, how would you manage your assets such that you could achieve maximum returns with minimal downside risk?
  7. As a consumer / distributor of financial products, what are the ways we can understand / advise on legacy planning better?
  8. Currently, what would be your opinion on legacy planning / wealth management?
  9. (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

  1. Legacy planning is about leaving money to your children, but unsure of how important it is.
  2. Don’t find the need to.
  3. Leaving money in the bank / property / investments
  4. When they are planning to have kids (late 20s to 30s)
  5. 300k / head for 2 kids
  6. Allocation — Equities at a younger age (80/20 equities v fixed income)
  7. Getting a universal life and pledging to liabilities
  8. Making the money work for you (wealth management) goes hand in hand AKA portfolio management
  9. Relative youth, no need for kids (hard to visualise) + stigma of getting something you don’t need.

Alfred // HP: 9220 9489

  1. Not really.
  2. Leaving something for your dependents
  3. Banks — “safe” investments — fixed deposit or UL (higher payout and higher accumulation)
  4. Early 40s, kids are growing up
  5. 1-2 million, one child
  6. Education: risk management
  7. Understanding the needs of the consumer when doing tax planning / estate planning / universal life
  8. Stigma: Will writing
  9. 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:

  1. Lack of knowledge
  2. Taboo topic of death in Asian societies aka death denial
  3. Lack of money to do planning
  4. “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:

  1. No, never heard about it.
  2. It is something negative, because of the stigma of being accosted
  3. Savings in the bank à let it grow interest
  4. 40 y/o is a good time to consider
  5. $300 000 -500 000
  6. Not sure.
  7. Ask questions that make you think about the future
  8. NA
  9. No money