Age for starting savings for pension drops in China

The average age for starting saving for a pension dropped sharply in China from 38 to 35, according to a survey on the prospect of China's elderly care released by Fidelity International and Ant Fortune on Tuesday, the Paper reported.

Perceptions on and behaviors for retirement planning continue to improve when China's personal pension policy landed as a third pillar to support the country's pension system with the basic endowment insurance as the first pillar, and the enterprise annuity as the second.

But the survey also shows that many people don't regard pensions as a continuous process across their whole life, and their understanding of pension investment after retirement is insufficient.

As per the survey, pensions reserve reached 27 percent of total incomes. Younger generations (age 18-34) spend up to 1,940 yuan ($274.86) on a monthly average this year, compared to 1,624 yuan last year. Meanwhile, the perception on old-age financing among the public has started to change from savings to investments. The share of preferring to long-term investment for their pension rose from 10 percent to 15 percent from last year.

The annual survey this year is the fifth since 2018. More than 170,000 people have been interviewed, and over 10,000 this year alone.