Why in general Most SIngaporeans are POOR

[Ice-Man88]

Published on Dec 30, 2011 Straits Times

Drumming up retail buzz in SGX

This is evident in Hong Kong, where about 35 per cent of the adult population dabbles in the stock market and in the United States, where 50 per cent of households own stocks.

Based on comparative data provided by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), as of 2009, only 12 per cent of Singapore's population owned shares either directly or through mutual funds.

If we use Singapore's total population as 5 million , only 600k Sporeans invest in shares or mutual funds.
If we use Singapore's total population as 3.5 million, only 420k Sporeans
invest in shares or mutual funds.
We start to wonder how Sporeans plan for retirement
Happy 2012 to all.

[Dennis Ng]

Published on Dec 30, 2011 Straits Times

Drumming up retail buzz in SGX

This is evident in Hong Kong, where about 35 per cent of the adult population dabbles in the stock market and in the United States, where 50 per cent of households own stocks.

Based on comparative data provided by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), as of 2009, only 12 per cent of Singapore's population owned shares either directly or through mutual funds.

If we use Singapore's total population as 5 million , only 600k Sporeans invest in shares or mutual funds.
If we use Singapore's total population as 3.5 million, only 420k Sporeans
invest in shares or mutual funds.
We start to wonder how Sporeans plan for retirement
Happy 2012 to all.

My observation is that most of them save their money through Insurance companies, saving in Endowment plans (annual returns 2% to 3%); Whole Life Insurance plans (annual returns 2%) and Investment-linked Plans (high charges and invest in average-performing Unit Trusts)...

Actually, an average person who does NOT know how to invest likely to do better by Regular Investment into ETF.