A Study of Financial Behavior Among Urban Older Chinese

Abstract

Older Malaysian Chinese has one of the highest mean incomes among the other ethnicity in Malaysia. As these individuals grow older, their savings and retirement fund will dwindle and are insufficient for their spending. As a result, these individuals will seek to earn extra income from investment so that they could save more for their children and lifetime care. However, investment is subject to risk. Thus, this study examines the effect of gender, age, financial satisfaction, financial knowledge, and bequest motives on older Malaysian Chinese financial risk tolerance. In this study, the target sample was those Chinese aged 50 or older residing in Selangor, Malaysia. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the purposive sampling method. As a result, the survey covered a sample of 263 completed cases. The multiple regression analysis shows that males with optimal financial knowledge, altruistic personality (unselfish and concern for other people), and variables positively influence older Malaysian Chinese’s financial risk tolerance (risk-taker). At the same time, ages and financial satisfaction variables are negative and significantly influence financial risk tolerance (risk- averse). Lastly, these findings may contribute to the relevant authority, such as retirement fund providers, to formulate a proper long-term plan to ensure Chinese older Malaysians’ individual and family financial stress during retirement.