Malaysian Business: Saving that Spare Cash
Was reading a copy of Malaysian Business (June 1-15) when I came across an interesting article called “Saving that Spare Cash”. The article delve into a few aspects of Malaysian consumer confidence and spending trends, but one survey that I’d like to highlight was this one:
How Malaysians intend to spend their spare cash (May ‘09):
Putting into savings - 69%
Paying off debt/credit cards/ loans - 41%
Holidays - 37%
Investing in shares/ stocks/ mutual funds - 32%
New clothes - 24%
New technology - 20%
Retirement fund - 16%
Out of home entertainment - 15%
Home Improvement / decorating - 13%
I have no spare cash - 6%
The index is based on the latest Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Survey which covered consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits across 24,140 Internet users across 50 countries.
What is interesting to note that Malaysians put a high priority in savings, and secondly, settling outstanding debt. Credit card debt is definitely on the rise as a worldwide trend, even more so here in Malaysia, so the habit of saving is definitely a good habit. That being said, Malaysians are still spending with holidays, clothes and tech toys high on the list.
What is important to note from the survey too, is that Malaysians are rank no. 3 in the world in terms of saving money, after Hong Kong (75%) and Singapore (74%).
Unfortunately ‘investing in property’ did not appear on the list.
