TAIPEI, April 17, 2019 –
Today, The Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc. (Prudential of
Taiwan, POT) launched its 2019 Financial Wellness Census Whitepaper on
Taiwanese people’s financial health, along with a tailor-made financial
wellness program for Taiwan-based companies and associations ― in a bid to
proactively help Taiwanese families improve their financial lives.
Immediate and long-term financial concerns ranging from managing
day-to-day expenses to saving for retirement are the most common sources of
stress, worry and anxiety among Taiwanese people, according to The State of
Financial Wellness in Taiwan, the company’s Whitepaper based on a
first-of-its-kind survey in Taiwan conducted in collaboration with the US-based
parent group Prudential Financial Inc. The survey suggests that 46 percent of
Taiwanese people are concerned about whether they can save or invest enough to
achieve their long-term financial goals, while 68 percent of those surveyed
agree that financial education resources provided by employers will help them
improve financial literacy, which is pivotal to achieving financial well-being
and can have significant payoffs for employers as well as the larger society.
POT President and CEO Dylan Tyson commented that:
“The State of Financial Wellness in Taiwan suggests that the
majority of Taiwanese people are struggling with widespread financial stress.
We want to help replace financial stress with Financial Wellness. That’s why we
are working with leading companies and associations to bring a program for
Financial Wellness to Taiwan.”
Financial stress is the biggest source of stress Taiwanese people
face (34%). This is followed by stress at work (27%) and health-related stress
(21%). The top reasons for financial stress include paying bills (57%), saving
for retirement (49%) and paying the mortgage (25%). Such stress can be
overwhelming and impact not just employees and their families but also
workplace productivity.
Respondents, despite feeling positive about their current financial
situation, are worried about their future finances. For example, although most
respondents (61%) feel they are financially stable, only nine percent believe
they are financially secure. A lack of confidence in reaching long-term
financial goals is also distinct. Nearly half of the respondents (46%) are
concerned about whether they can save and invest enough towards achieving
personal financial goals. Additionally, while 88% and 86% of those surveyed
view preparing for future healthcare costs and long-term care needs as
important, only about one third of all respondents feel they can save enough
for these purposes (respectively 32% and 27%).
Turning now to the general impression that the Taiwanese are good at
saving money, the report reveals a surprising fact that one third of them have
not prepared any emergency savings, while almost half of the respondents (49%)
indicate they could not maintain their lifestyle longer than a year in the
event of loss of regular income.
Fortunately, the majority of Taiwanese people are interested in
improving their financial health. Over half of them would like to gain access
to financial education resources, while 68 percent of all respondents point out
that having their employers as providers of financial wellness programs would
be helpful.
Financial Wellness programs: Bringing employees’ well-being to new
horizons
To respond to Taiwanese people’s needs, POT is bringing a program
for Financial Wellness to Taiwan. This program leverages the proven success of
Prudential’s U.S. Financial Wellness program and customizes that program to
meet the specific needs of Taiwanese people. -The result of these efforts is a
Financial Wellness educational series for Taiwanese companies and associations
that has the four core modules including financial planning, risk planning,
investment planning and retirement planning. Featuring a practice-based
approach and covering all the leading financial concerns of Taiwanese people,
the program provides a well-structured learning roadmap in addition to readily
accessible smart tools to help users gain the financial literacy skills
required for managing day-to-day financial affairs and developing a financial
plan for long-term goals towards financial wellness.
Tyson called on companies and organizations to jointly and
systematically enhance the financial literacy of their employees or members. In
light of the effect of institutional support and collaborative learning
networks on improving personal financial health, Tyson suggested that Financial
Wellness education initiatives should be built into employee benefits programs.
“Better knowledge about financial matters will make managing personal finances
less stressful and decrease at-work distraction. This brings two benefits: it
makes maintaining personal financial well-being easier for the employees while
improving workplace productivity,” Tyson explained.
SEI joins hands with POT to help inspire a social movement that
helps Taiwanese become the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of their own lives
To promote Financial Wellness awareness in deeper ways, POT will
collaborate this year with Social Enterprise Insights (SEI), the most
influential social enterprise information exchange platform for
Mandarin-speaking communities worldwide to invite social entrepreneurs across
Taiwan to help increase the Financial Wellness of all Taiwanese people. To
engage others, SEI will work with Prudential to organize a series of events
designed to expand perspectives on issues of relevance – for the shared goal of
building financial safety nets for Taiwan. With great anticipation to this
partnership, SEI CEO Sunny Lin (林以涵)
remarked:
“Financial Wellness is the nexus between
financial literacy and financial inclusion. I am most delighted to see that
POT, a corporation known for its strong sense of social responsibility, has
taken the initiative to share its resources and experience in this area. SEI
feels privileged to work with POT in promoting financial wellness in Taiwan. We
will pave the way for Taiwanese people’s secure financial future together.”
Prudential has been committed
to delivering financial security and peace of mind to individuals and families
since 1875. POT earnestly invites all companies and organizations to join its
Financial Wellness education program to enhance employees’ financial literacy
-- to take them forward towards financial well-being in a rapidly changing
world. With the guidance from the program, employees will be able to assess
their current financial situation and identify solutions to take steps to
achieve their financial goals. For more information about Financial Wellness,
please go to http://finwell.prulife.com.tw.
The State of Financial Wellness in Taiwan is based on the survey conducted for POT by Nielsen Taiwan, among
representative sample of 1,002 Taiwanese adults aged 20 to 70. Data was collected
using an online survey for those under age 55 and face-to-face interviews for
those over age 55. To ensure that the results are representative of the market,
data was weighted using age, gender, region, and annual household income. The
survey was fielded between November 27 and December 10, 2018. The margin of
error for this study is +/- 3.1%.