China retirement readiness falling: How to stay on track

Retirement is something that needs to be on the minds of every adult, not just those who are nearing their golden years. In fact, planning ahead for three decades or greater is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to ensuring that your financial future is healthy and bright. However, for those in the Middle Kingdom, there has been bad news recently regarding China retirement readiness. Here, Pacific Prime China examines the news and its implications for future China retirees, as well as the areas you should focus on when considering your own personal retirement plans.

China retirement readiness falling

Tsinghua University has released an updated index on retirement readiness that shows China’s rating falling from 6.51 out of 10 in 2015 to 6.0 in 2016. Similarly, in 2015 20% of people reported that they felt they were well prepared for retirement, which dropped to 15.3% of people in 2016. This index takes many factors into account in order to come up with this number, including people’s retirement plans, preparations and expectations. Additional factors include current retirement savings, knowledge of financial issues and financial planning, and awareness of retirement responsibilities.

So what is the reason that China retirement readiness is taking a step backward? There are many factors contributing to this trend, but perhaps the biggest and most obvious general reason is that the Chinese economy and stock market have not been doing so well as of late. Cultural feelings about personal responsibility also seem to be a factor, as only 9% of Chinese citizens feel that retirement financing should fall solely on them. Neighboring territories in Asia, including South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, see this number come to 40% of their respective citizenries. Meanwhile, 63% of citizens believe that the onus of China retirement readiness should fall to the government. This number also sits at 40% in the other territories mentioned.

These feelings may be mirroring the current state of retirement savings in China, where the major vehicles for saving is a government run pension plan. However, there are also voluntary savings plans participated in by both employees and employers, as well as private savings plans and commercial retirement savings plans. The latter products are of negligible popularity in China at the moment, but the Chinese government is promoting such commercial savings vehicles to try to offset providing for an aging population.

Savings and investment

So how should one go about organizing their retirement savings? One of the best ways for people who already have a significant amount of savings is to invest their money. Utilizing capital to create capital is a great way to build up a nest egg and ensure that you can maintain a certain quality of living well into your golden years. Once you have your investments set, and factor in other sources of income like government subsidies for the elderly that you will be eligible, you can create a retirement budget and see if you will have enough money to achieve your desired lifestyle and China retirement readiness goals. Of course, you are going to want to have extra savings available each year so that you can address unexpected costs that arise.

Health insurance

Any retirement planning should start not only with an overview of your financial health, but also your physical health. After all, planning for the future is not strictly about dollars and cents, but also being healthy enough to enjoy your hard earned nest egg. For this reason, factoring in the cost of your future healthcare is important. Of course, one of the best ways to addressing these costs is to make sure that you have a comprehensive health insurance plan in place to avoid the costs that can come along with the major ailments that tend to occur more commonly later in life, such as cancer, stroke, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, etc.

When you are planning your medical insurance there are some common exclusions that come up time and again that you should be aware of. Namely, these are maximum age limits and pre-existing conditions.

Maximum age limits

Many insurers impose maximum age limits on their policies. This is because as people age, insurance underwriters have to consider if the medical costs of the average individual or a certain age will be greater than the premiums that the individual would pay the insurer. An insurance company cannot operate running on a loss, so they institute maximum age limits to avoid insuring the people that are most at risk of costly medical conditions. Generally this limit tops out at 70 years of age, although some plans go as high as 80. Still yet, there are plans available out there with no maximum age limit on them. As with health insurance at any age, though, the riskier a person is to insure, the higher their premiums are likely to be, so people of advanced age will likely have to pay a hefty cost to remain insured. This can make planning ahead for inflating insurance costs somewhat daunting.

Pre-existing conditions

Another risk factor that insurers are always on the look-out for is pre-existing conditions. This is simply when you have an ongoing medical condition that was present before you obtained your current health insurance policy. In most cases, where not prohibited by law, a private health insurance plan will exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions. This means that, while an insurance policy will provide benefits for many illnesses, the specific pre-existing conditions will not be eligible to be covered. Sometimes pre-existing conditions can be covered after the ailment in question has not occurred for a particular period of time – usually a number of years.

To ensure that you never get stuck with having excluded pre-existing conditions, you can simply obtain a policy with a particular insurer, and maintain continuous coverage for as long as possible. However, this can limit your choice of insurance provider. If you develop a condition while on an insurance plan, you will be disincentivized from switching providers, because a new insurer is likely to count the condition as pre-existing.

Life insurance

While it won’t necessarily help you enjoy your retirement, when it comes to planning for the end of your life, life insurance is a must to make sure that your family is well taken care of after your passing.

Other similar insurances to ask your insurance agent about that can help in dire circumstances include critical illness insurance, personal accident insurance, permanent disability insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.

While we will leave the savings and investment to the financial advisers of the world, Pacific Prime China can certainly help those that need assistance in obtaining comprehensive insurance to address medical concerns, as well as avoid burdening their families with financial hardship following a hospitalization or death. Contact us today to be put in touch with a knowledgeable insurance advisor that can answer any questions you may have about China retirement readiness, and provide you with free insurance plan comparisons and price quotes. As a broker we compare prices from a number of the world’s best insurers; saving you the trouble of tracking down multiple quotes from multiple sources.

Disclaimer: Pacific Prime China solely represents, operates and manages locally regulated insurance products and services in the territory of PR China. Any references to Pacific Prime Global Company or Group, the international services, insurance products or otherwise stated written or verbally, is for introduction purposes about our overseas network only as each entity is fully independent.