Most millennials put flexible lifestyle before high salary

Nine out of 10 Hong Kong millennials think a balanced lifestyle is more important than a high income, according to a survey commissioned by British wealth management company St James’s Place Asia.

That does not mean they do not want money. The same survey showed 91 per cent of them saw wealth as something that would make them happier, compared with 87 per cent of their older peers.

The survey of 1,360 Hong Kong people aged 25 to 64 with annual household incomes of between HK$400,000 and HK$1.5 million was carried out in February and March.

“Millennials want a balanced lifestyle over income,” said Oliver

Wickham, CEO of St James’s Place Hong Kong.

“They are taking a much more personal approach, and they want to have the money to invest in their ambitions while at the same time trying to achieve a work-life balance and staying on track to meet their retirement goals and even retire early if they can.”

The survey showed millennials – defined as those aged between 29 and 39 in the survey – were slightly less keen on hard work than their older peers, preferring to work shorter hours.

Some 69 per cent said they believed they should work harder while they were younger so they could enjoy the fruits of their labour later in life, compared with 73 per cent of those aged 40 or above.

The Covid-19 pandemic led many companies to ask their staff to work from home. That might have resulted in the younger employees focusing more on their work-life balance, Wickham said.

As millennials take a more flexible approach to accumulating wealth, Wickham said financial planning could help them plan ahead to accumulate wealth built around their personal goals of buying property, starting a new business or spending on their children’s education.

“For the millennials, their wealth planning will need to be smarter and more personalised if they really want to have worklife balance and retire early,” Wickham said.

A separate survey by HSBC earlier this month showed millennials wanted to retire earlier than the older-age groups.

Just over half wanted to finish work by the age of 56, while only 28 per cent of their older peers expected to opt for early retirement. Members of the older cohort expected to work until they turned 62.

The rise of the gig economy – in which jobs are largely based on short-term, freelance contracts – and online trading may also encourage young people not to chase higher-paid jobs.

“In recent years, we have seen a growing trend of youngsters seeking gig jobs and more flexible lifestyles,” said Benjamin Quinlan,

CEO and managing partner of Quinlan & Associates.

“The emergence of online brokers such as Futu Securities and Robinhood Markets has also enabled young investors to dip their toes into the global stock market.”

Social-distancing measures led to a surge in demand for online trading from retail investors. In Hong Kong, the number of retail investors rose to 4.2 million in 2021 from 2 million in 2019, according to Quinlan, citing data from the Securities and Futures Commission.

Quinlan said a lot of millennials saw strong investment returns during the market bull run in 2020 and 2021, making them less interested in earning a stable salary.

“However, the tide has turned this year amid the market downturn and rising interest rates,” he said. “Many big tech companies offering more flexible careers that appeal to Generation Zs [aged up to 25] have laid off tens of thousands of people globally, which has spillover effects on consumer demand, including the demand for gig workers.

“Millennials and Gen-Zs will be starting to think much more about the importance of job security, given they can no longer rely on lofty returns from equity and crypto markets to build wealth.”