A sales representative speaks to a visitor in front of photographs of a London upmarket property development for sale, inside a luxury hotel in Hong Kong. (Photo : REUTERS)
A survey revealed that 30 percent of over 56,000 Hong Kong residents who own over HK$10 million in liquid assets are concerned about providing for children after retirement.
According to Wu Yanyi, Citibank supervisor of retail banking, said that it is unfair to say that the succeeding generation will be weak due to the so-called "NEET" phenomenon, referring to young people who are not currently engaged in education, employment or training.
Rather, the worry is due to the decrease in core family members and every family has only one or two children to support.
Wu Boxiong, vice professor from the Economics Department at Baptist University, predicts that the fortunes of Hong Kong's millionaires will peak at their golden age and then rapidly plummet.
This rich generation accumulates wealth easily through real estate speculation, and Wu sees less possibility that the young generation will be able to work their way to accumulating wealth.
Among those surveyed, 38 percent are also highly unsatisfied with Hong Kong's education system, with 57 arranging for their children to study in foreign countries or local international schools.
The Citibank-commissioned survey of the University of Hong Kong covered 3,400 respondents between ages of 21 and 79 with average assets of HK$49 million and with almost half retired.
The study also shows that the current number of multimillionaires sets a new high for the past three years, with the number of people possessing at least HK$1 million in liquid assets reaching as high as 701,000.
Most of those surveyed are satisfied with Hong Kong's overall environment and believe they have a stable level of security, good investment, living environment and favorable medical service.
