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23 May 2007
Hong Kong
Children may inherit good looks and personality from their parents, but when it comes to bequeathing our worldly goods, we’re more likely to share our assets according to how much a child needs the money. In addition, about nine in 10 of the world’s netizens think that it is ‘very or somewhat important’ to leave wealth to the off-springs and seven in 10 consider it ‘very much or somewhat’ a duty for parents to do so, yet nearly half do not think children have a right to expect it from their parents.
The Nielsen Company surveyed 25,408 internet users in 46 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East about their attitudes to inheritance and their commitment to passing on their worldly goods to their children.
According to the survey, men the world over apparently take a stronger ownership with 41 percent think it is very important to leave wealth behind for their children and 30 percent consider it is very much a parent’s duty, significantly higher that that of women’s. Only 42 percent deny it is a children’s right to expect an inheritance, again significantly lower than that of their women counterparts (51%).
In Hong Kong, 27 percent of men think it is very important to leave wealth to their children, six points higher than that of women although majority do not think that it is a parent’s duty to do so.
The Nielsen survey also uncovered a huge gap in expectations and perceptions about inheritance between young people/adults and those in their mid forties and over. “When it comes to inheritance and who should get what, attitudes differed depending on whether you’re a bestower or a likely receiver of one, and thinking definitely changes as one gets older. The younger respondents were more likely to consider inheritance to be their right, and a duty of their parents, while the older respondents were less inclined to think so,” said Ms. Fanny Chan, Managing Director, The Nielsen Company Hong Kong.
By geography, Latin Americans (96%) lead the world in agreeing to the importance of passing on wealth to the next generation, followed by Europeans (90%) and Asians (88%). Although Latin Americans also lead the world in the sentiment toward the obligation to leave wealth to their off-spring and whether children have a right to expect an inheritance of wealth from their parents, the level of concurrence drops across the region.
Filipinos (98%) ranked the world’s second most likely to consider it important to leave wealth to their children. Indians, Indonesians and Thais (each at 97%) were the other Asia Pacific countries making it into the world’s top 10 in this regard. Opinion split when it came to whether it is a parent’s duty to do so, leaving India and Thailand the only two Asian markets in the world’s top 10 where a respective 87 percent of people agreeing to such a mindset.
On the other end of the scale, 24 percent of people interviewed in Hong Kong do not think it is important to leave wealth to the next generation, among the world’s highest.
Chart 1
 Similarly, over half (53%), the world’s forth highest, deny it is parents’ obligation to leave properties to their children and 55 percent do not think children have a right to expect it from their parents either. Others who are in similar denial include people in the Pacific, Japan and Singapore.
Chart 2
It’s interesting to note that while more than half the Internet users in China deny it is a parent’s duty to do so, seven in 10 think that their children have a right to expect an inheritance from their parents!
Will favouritism plays a role when it comes to bequeathing our worldly goods? According to Nielsen, 40 percent of global netizens would consider leaving more wealth to the child who treated them best in life, led by people in Latin America. Taiwan and China top the Asia list with respectively 71 percent and 67 percent share the same view, presenting a major contrast with people in Hong Kong where a majority (73%) denied the likelihood of leaving more wealth to the one child just because that child treated them best in life. Further, Hong Kong people would consider whether one child is struggling more than the other as they make such ‘allocation’.
Chart 3
Nevertheless don’t count on the family jewels and other worldly goods to see you through just yet. Half of all respondents said they would not put off doing enjoyable things in retirement to maximize the amount they could leave their kids. This was more strongly felt the older the respondent, from 31 percent of 15 – 17 year olds, to more than 70 percent of those over the age of 50.
Globally, 84 percent of Danes said they wouldn’t put off doing enjoyable things in retirement to maximize their children’s inheritance, followed closely by three quarters of the Japanese (75%). Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, Australians (69%), Hong Kongers and Kiwis (67%) were among the world’s least likely to compromise the quality of their retirement for the size of their children’s inheritance. Hong Kong ranks fifth in the world in their ‘un-willingness’ to hold off from doing enjoyable things in their retirement in order to leave more wealth to their children.
Chart 4
“There was a general consensus among respondents around the idea of ‘living for today’, which will be good news to manufacturers and service providers targeting the cashed-up Grey Generation, who don’t appear in any mood to curtail their spending to set aside any nest eggs for their children,” added Ms Chan.
On the contrary, 77 percent of Indians and Filipinos, and 74 percent of Indonesians and Vietnamese were quite prepared to hold off from enjoying their retirement to maximize what they could leave to their children.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company has more than 42,000 employees and is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
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