Making people save for their retirement is more popular than increasing taxes, raising the retirement age or cutting pensions to fund aging populations, according to the largest international survey of attitudes to aging and retirement carried out by HSBC.

The survey of 21,000 people in 20 countries published by HSBC Group on 26 April 2006, revealed that 37 per cent favoured governments financing the growing retirement burden through enforced additional private savings, while 24 per cent wanted later retirement, 13 per cent a rise in taxes and seven per cent lower pensions.

With an aging population, increasing life expectancy and declining fertility rates, retirement planning is becoming a major issue in Malta as in the rest of the world. The HSBC survey shows global support for some form of compulsory savings for retirement. Exception to the global findings were Singapore and Japan, where people preferred a higher retirement age, and China and Sweden, where tax rises won support.

The survey suggests that people want governments to help them. Some might see compulsory savings as another form of taxation but the difference is that they are controlled by individuals. This aging future is going to need more self-reliance.

The finding that respondents were attracted to compulsory private-sector saving accords with economists who have found people are happier and savings rates higher if they are automatically enrolled in savings schemes with the option to leave. Research has shown that if people have the option of acting on impulse, they save less and are ultimately more disgruntled with their lot.

The HSBC survey, carried out for a second year by Harris Interactive, the market research company, found low confidence in the governments’ ability to support people’s retirement. While 30 per cent of people world wide thought governments should bear their retirement costs, only 21 per cent believed they would.

More than 40 per cent thought individuals should carry most of the cost, through savings or by working later; 20 per cent said the cost should be borne by their children or family members; and five per cent said it should be down to employers.

The survey also questioned 6,000 companies for the first time – 72 per cent said people should be able to carry on working beyond traditional retirement if still capable. Most said they were as reliable, loyal, flexible and motivated as younger workers, or more so. Nearly half saw the retirement of older workers as a loss of valuable skills and experience, although 40 per cent said it made room for younger workers.

However, only a minority of employers offered older workers new kinds of work or the opportunity to work fewer hours – two things people said they would most like to be able to do in their later working life.

Further in-depth analysis and supporting material can be found on HSBC Malta’s website: www.hsbc.com.mt. or on the HSBC Group website: www.thefutureofretirement

.com.