AXA Insurance Singapore released the results of the inaugural AXA Better Life Index 2019, which looks into how Singaporeans define a better life: their purposes, goals, struggles, progress towards their goals, and their sense of fulfillment. Among those who say they have life goals, one in two are dissatisfied with their progress towards their short-term and long-term goals. Overall, 41% of Singaporeans are not happy with their lives currently, and 50% feel fulfilled in life.
The AXA Better Life Index is based on a survey of 1,008 Singaporeans across four generations: Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. It is the first index to evaluate the overall journey towards a better life among Singaporeans, taking into account three components based on the concept of a life journey: Realisation, Empowerment, and Achievement. The overall Better Life Index score is calculated from the weighted sum of the three components, with 100 as the maximum score and 0 as the lowest possible score. The survey was commissioned by AXA and conducted by Nielsen.
Overall, Singaporeans have a Better Life Index score of 50.4, which indicates that most are still some distance away from their ideal lives. Millennials (54.8) appear to be the most driven to achieve their goals and purposes in life, having scored the highest among the four generations.
“Self-belief fuels one’s journey in life. That is why we strive to play a part in helping our customers feel confident that they can achieve their goals. With the AXA Better Life Index, we want to understand Singaporeans’ progress towards achieving their better life, and how they can be encouraged as they work towards it ,” said Jean Drouffe, Chief Executive Officer, AXA Insurance Singapore.
Key concerns: financial struggles
Finances seem to be the greatest obstacle for Singaporeans to achieve their purposes and goals in life. Across all four generations surveyed, wealth-related goals ranked high for both short-term and long-term goals. When questioned about the struggles faced in reaching goals, money-related matters such as the increasing cost of living and the inability to save enough money come up as the most common concerns. More than half of those surveyed said that the increasing cost of living is an obstacle they faced.
Realisation
In this section, AXA asked Singaporeans to identify their purposes in life, and then questioned if they had set both short-term and long-term goals in order to achieve their life purposes. Overall, the score for the Realisation sub-index was 58.5, with Millennials (63.8) showing the highest awareness of their life purposes and goals among the generations .
The survey found that while a majority of Singaporeans have set short-term (78%) and long-term (56%) goals, at least three in ten have not set a clear timeline in which to achieve them. The younger generations tend to have a higher regard for money as part of their life goals, while the older generations are more concerned about their health in the long run. On the other end of the spectrum, only one in 10 Singaporeans consider community engagement to be a goal in their lives.
Empowerment
The questions in this section delved into whether Singaporeans feel they are capable of achieving their “better life” and the struggles they face in realising their goals. The score across all generations for the Empowerment sub-index was 47.8, again led by Millennials (52.5), the only generation with a score higher than 50 for this sub-index. Baby Boomers scored the lowest, indicating that they are the age group that needs the most support.
While 71% of Singaporeans know what they need to do to reach their short-term goals, only 59% are confident of succeeding in doing so. Just as the majority view the increasing cost of living as an obstacle they face, most of those surveyed believe that saving habits are key to being able to achieve their goals.
Achievement
For this section AXA aimed to understand the progress of Singaporeans in actualising their goals. With a score of 45.0, “Achievement” had the lowest score of the three sub-indices. When asked about whether they are fulfilled in their achievements, relationships, and other aspects of life, Baby Boomers were found to be the most fulfilled, while Generation Z were the least – 57% vs 40%, respectively, said they were fulfilled.
Generation Z were also the most dissatisfied with their achievement of short-term (64%) and long-term goals (74%) of the four generations. Only 35% have progressed towards achieving their short-term goals, and even fewer (28%) have made any progress in reaching their long-term goals.
Infographics by AXA
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