Young adults more likely to take on side hustles to meet savings targets: AsiaOne survey

Lim started her part-time job as a swim coach as a university student for her monthly expenditures. Now, she works full-time as a human resources manager but continues her coaching job every weekend.

Speaking to AsiaOne, the 24-year-old laments her busy schedule that often extends into 10-hour work days. Despite that, she has never thought of quitting her side hustle, which makes up about five per cent of her current pay, to get more rest and time for her personal life.

"I use [income from coaching] as spending money so that I don’t have to touch my main salary."

As a young adult without any significant financial commitments, she gives a portion of her full-time salary to her parents as monthly allowance and puts a majority of the remaining balance into her savings.

Side hustle culture among Gen Z

Lim, who declined to give her full name, is just one of many young adults with side hustles to support their income.

To better understand the saving and investment preferences of its readers, including young adults, AsiaOne conducted a survey which received 1,190 valid responses.

The survey found that among young adults like Lim, doing a side hustle is one of the most common means to meet one’s saving targets (25 per cent of respondents aged 35 and below).

Five per cent of the younger respondents (aged 35 and below) fit into this category. 

Setting up automatic transfers to a savings account (31 per cent) and cutting back on non-essentials (46 per cent) were other common ways for Gen Z respondents to bolster their savings. 

"The amount I earn per hour is worth the amount of effort I put into the job," said Lim.

She doesn't mind giving up her Saturday mornings in exchange for the extra income, which gives her additional leeway for spending on non-essentials like cafe-hopping and shopping.

Notably, there was a stark difference between younger and older respondents.

Cutting back on non-essentials was the most common strategy for respondents across all age groups.

However, to reach their savings targets, respondents over 35 were less likely to employ a range of other methods, such as keeping to a spending budget, tracking their progress or sharing their progress with others.

Only 10 per cent of respondents aged 35 to 64 would engage in a side hustle. 

Higher income earners more likely to set aside savings

Lim doesn't have specific savings targets every month but actively keeps track of her expenses every month and tries to be mindful of her spending habits instead. 

Twenty-eight per cent of respondents surveyed by AsiaOne were in a similar boat and did not have intentional savings targets.

Compared to respondents earning monthly incomes below $5,000, respondents with monthly incomes above $5,000 were more likely to have specific savings targets — this could be due to the latter having a higher disposable income after taking care of essential expenses. 

Sixty-three per cent of respondents with incomes of $5,000 and above had monthly saving goals above $1,000.

Brand loyalty and savings accounts

Choosing the right savings account is also a key factor to maximising one's savings.

AsiaOne found that a majority of respondents (57 per cent) had one or two savings accounts.

Having three or more accounts was more prevalent among higher income earners. Out of the respondents earning $10,000 and above, 67 percent had more than three savings accounts.

A large percentage of our respondents owned savings accounts at market leaders in Singapore such as DBS, OCBC and UOB.

Compared to older respondents, a higher share of respondents aged below 25 hold accounts in the other banks such as Bank of China, MariBank and GXS Bank.

Maximising interest earned on savings

Interest rates also vary according to each savings account, and our survey found that a majority of respondents are earning below four per cent per annum on their savings.

Thirty per cent of respondents are earning between 0.05% and 0.1% p.a.

Surprisingly, 14 per cent of respondents were not aware of the interest rates they were earning on their savings accounts. This was more prevalent among younger respondents and those in lower income groups.

Females (19 per cent) were also more likely than males (12 per cent) to not know.

In order to maximise interest rates earned, the most common activities that respondents do are to credit their salary via GIRO into their bank accounts (31 per cent), maintain a minimum balance in their savings accounts (31 percent), and pay their bills through the account (29 per cent).

Respondents aged 35 to 54 were also more likely to carry out more activities with their banks, likely due to a greater availability of financial knowledge and resources.

Edmund Chua, who heads AsiaOne's consumer insights and analytics group, said that the results of this survey showcase the major differences in Gen Z's attitudes towards saving and banking as compared to older generation — Gen Zs have a greater willingness to engage in side hustles to bolster saving.

This is in part enabled by their availability, due to having lesser family commitments. Their health also offers them the stamina needed to manage having two jobs.

"With age leading to increased family commitments and decreased stamina, we might see changes in Gen Z's lifestyle choices with respect to side hustling and expenditure to conform to patterns that we see among the older age groups," said Chua.

"However, we cannot discount the possibility that Gen Zs might increasingly opt to delay setting up a family so that they can have the time and energy to continue side hustling to enjoy their desired quality of life while seeking to achieve FIRE (financial independence retire early).

"This remains to be observed over the coming decade as Gen Zs transition into the next life stage."   

At AsiaOne, communications is both an art and a science. We conduct polls 24/7 to understand our users' perception and opinions towards social issues, as well as their consumer preferences.

Want more insights on Singaporean's attitudes and perceptions towards social issues? Get in touch! Contact us at sales@asiaone.com to explore opportunities to undertake meaningful research.

[[nid:703950]]

dana.leong@asiaone.com