Singapore's biggest spenders charitable, spend modestly: Study

SINGAPORE – Singapore's biggest spenders are not only family-centred, they are also charitable, according to the Visa Affluent Study 2013.

The study, conducted across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, looked at affluent consumers’ spending habits, priorities, optimism about the future and indexed their propensity to spend on discretionary items in the future. 

China, followed by India and Indonesia, are the countries with the most positive outlook on the economy which in turn led to them stating that they were planning to spend more on discretionary items over the coming year; while Japan, where they are more pessimistic about economic growth, ranked the lowest in terms of future discretionary spending.

However, in markets such as Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, the affluent plan to spend modestly despite their lack of confidence in the economy.

In Singapore, it was found that big spenders spent the most money on having a night out, family holidays and fine dining.

On the other hand, Singapore's affluent seemed to place less significance on buying personal designer items. Nearly 72 per cent of the affluent also make charity donations an average of five times a year.

According to Visa, 73 per cent defined 'affluence' as having the opportunity to help others. As many as 81 per cent also defined 'luxury' as having more free time available

“In Singapore, the affluent are driven by more meaningful experiences such as spending more time with the family during a holiday or over a good meal," a Visa spokesperson said.

"Things like material goods, power and influence were found to be of lesser importance. Another unique observation is the increasing sense of social obligation. Charity was seen to be highly important to well-off Singaporeans, with 72% making an average donation of $500, five times a year.”

Family holidays, donations to charity and evenings out have emerged as the top drivers of future discretionary spend across the region.

Family holidays emerged in first place in all markets except Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they chose to spend more on charitable donations, and China and Hong Kong, where they chose to spend more on evenings out.

Uniquely, Indonesians rated buying a new car and jewellery among their top five discretionary spends and also showed a greater tendency to spend on impulse.

The study also revealed that more than four out of five respondents believe that sharing a full life with their family and friends is what matters most to them, with only half saying that owning the best brands defined luxury for them.

Furthermore, unique experiences with personalised services rated highly with the affluent in India (83 per cent) and China (80 per cent).

James Lim, Head of Consumer Products, Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Visa, said: “The Visa Affluent Study suggests that there is a strong correlation between the expectation of positive economic performance and therefore, the likelihood to spend more on discretionary items.”

Mr Lim said: “What is perhaps more surprising is that most of the affluent agree that wealth is not about physical status symbols such as the latest designer handbag or flashy watch, but about experiences and enjoying life to the full with friends and family.

"They are also increasingly motivated to assume greater responsibility towards helping others, which is reflected by the average affluent respondent making five charitable donations last year,” he added.

The meaning of affluence and luxury was also generally agreed upon across the regions with one exception; China. The top earners in China believe that affluence creates influence (81 per cent).

In other countries, affluence is perceived as insurance, providing certainty in an uncertain world (73 per cent) and as a means to give back to society (71 per cent).

Respondents also believe that affluence brings both greater responsibility and allows them to build a legacy (both 70 per cent), with responsibility weighing in at 92 per cent in Indonesia. Only 66 per cent overall agreed that affluence brings with it the expectation that one will build more wealth.

 The Visa Affluent Index was calculated by asking respondents whether they plan to increase or decrease their discretionary spends in the coming year compared to the previous year. This is how each country measured up.

[[{"fid":"782482","view_mode":"media_original","type":"media","attributes":{"height":299,"width":614,"border":"0","class":"media-element file-media-original"}}]]