Indians most upbeat about life

Are Indians over-optimistic? A study by insurer AXA Asia Life has revealed that 82 per cent of the “mass affluent”—the top 25-35 per cent of the population—in India have neither started planning for, nor taken care of their retirement needs.

For Indians, career is the first priority followed by health, family and retirement, in that order. Further, 85 per cent of Indians are satisfied with their lives, the highest for any country. The regional average is 49 per cent.

The survey shows that Asians are not willing to sacrifice their existing living standards to achieve an earlier retirement, with the exception of India and the Philippines, where the need for some trade-off is more readily accepted.

Then, 76 per cent of Indians are concerned about the rising costs of their children’s education. Despite this, however, only 1 per cent of Indians have actually invested in education plans. The survey polled 2,400 respondents, aged between 25 and 50 years, across eight markets in Asia-China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It identifies current life satisfaction levels and forecasts the level of optimism and outlook towards life across Asia.