88 per cent of Singaporeans are setting aside at least 10 per cent of their salary for savings, and the average Singaporean saves a good 27 per cent of their paycheck. More Singaporeans are confident they can accumulate sufficient funds to overcome a crisis this year (53% vs 51% in 2020) and sustain themselves financially for six months if they lost their jobs (54% vs 52% in 2020). More Singaporeans are now better able to manage their debts, with fewer Singaporeans having unsecured debt compared to last year (24% vs 30%), and more able to pay off their housing loans (69% vs 62%).

Despite the lingering economic impact of Covid-19, better financial habits and debt management have resulted in fewer Singaporeans feeling worried about their financial health this year (39% vs 41% in 2020). Half of Singaporeans also feel confident that the economy would improve in the next 12 months, compared to 43 per cent who felt this way in 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions on free movement accelerated digital adoption among Singaporeans. With many having to turn to digital apps for everything from food delivery to workouts, Singaporeans’ usage of digital banking and money management tools proliferated, too.

Close to half of Singaporeans (46%) have used some form of digital financial tools to monitor and track their budgets, expenses or investment portfolios, or plan and track their financial goals like retirement, buying a home or their children’s education.

Singaporeans who are digitally savvy are also more invested across all investment product types, including foreign stocks, REITs, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, bonds and structured deposits, than those who are less digitally savvy.

The huge run-up in the markets from the stock market crash of February 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck markets hard resulted in millennials jumping on the investment bandwagon to benefit financially. Millennials in their 20s recorded a 22-percentage point jump in those invested (86% vs 64% in 2020), the biggest change from last year compared to other age groups.

Millennials’ investments in Singapore stocks fell to 40 per cent this year from 43 per cent last year, while their unit trust investments fell to 29 per cent from 31 per cent last year. At the same time, 35 per cent of millennials invest in foreign stocks and 22 per cent invest in cryptocurrencies; these are higher than the average Singaporeans’ investment of 29 per cent and 16 per cent in foreign stocks and cryptocurrencies, respectively.

Millennials demonstrated their digital investment savviness, with more millennials investing via robo-advisory platforms compared to Singaporeans from other age groups. Overall, 15 per cent of Singaporeans leverage robo-advisory platforms to invest and grow their funds, while 21 per cent of millennials do so.

Even with the keener interest in investing to grow their wealth, millennials in their 20s are not seeking professional financial advice enough, resulting in less of them achieving their investment targets. Fewer millennials rely on financial advisors (30%), seminars by financial institutions (18%) and bank analysts (19%) than those who turn to online articles (61%), family and friends (52%) and YouTube (54%).

Fifty-three per cent of the millennials in their 20s who do not use any digital investment tools, but who seek professional financial advice, are on track with their investments. Millennials who seek professional financial advice coupled with using digital investment tools do even better – 64 per cent are on track with their investments. The group with the poorest performing investments is millennials who use digital tools but do not seek any professional advice – less than half (45%) are on track with investments.

Women, who had previously shied away from investments, showed marked improvement on this front. This year, 79 per cent of women have investments, compared to 60 per cent last year.

Previous surveys indicated how women prioritised their family ahead of their own financial needs, but with financial institutions focused on education and awareness around elevating women’s financial wellness, women have certainly taken heed.

Women are increasingly prioritising growing their wealth (56% vs 51% last year), and many are doing so through investments. Among the 39 per cent of women who rely on financial advisors or bank analysts for investment advice, more than half of them (55%) are able to achieve their investment targets. This is in stark contrast to the women who rely on friends and family (56%) or YouTube (35%), where less than half (46% and 43% respectively) achieve their investment targets.

For those who still do not invest, the most common reasons cited were that they found it too risky or too complicated and that they did not know where to start. Some also still felt that savings alone would be enough for them to retire comfortably.

The uncertainties of the global pandemic have motivated more Singaporeans to think of their future when they retire. More Singaporeans (51 per cent) listed retirement planning as among their top priorities compared to 45 per cent last year.

Out of all the respondents, 66 per cent had made a retirement plan, compared to 63 per cent in 2020. The biggest growth was among those in their 20s and 30s, who have started making retirement plans earlier to give themselves more time to build up their retirement funds. 64 per cent of millennials have started planning for retirement, compared to 57 per cent last year.

The realities of the pandemic may have made Singaporeans more prudent about their dream retirement lifestyles. Out of three retirement lifestyles they could pick based on broad considerations of dining out, travel, car ownership, homeownership and so on, more people picked the most basic lifestyle – requiring an estimated $2,300 – compared to 2020 (40% vs 36%).

However, while retirement planning is back on Singaporeans’ radar, it is still a neglected area in their overall financial wellness. Many Singaporeans (81% vs 78% in 2020) are still underestimating the amount needed for their chosen retirement lifestyle by 31 per cent (32% in 2020).