While 85 percent of Hong Kong respondents intend to pass on financial assets or wealth, only 10 percent have fully developed their legacy plans and discussed them with their heirs, exposing the gap between intention and action.
According to a Sun Life Asia survey released on Thursday, the proportion of respondents with no legacy plan at all dropped from 49 percent last year to 29 percent.
Even so, 45 percent have only partially completed their arrangements, underscoring that many families still have room to improve when it comes to putting concrete arrangements in place and discussing them with the next generation, the survey noted.
Meanwhile, the survey revealed that 34 percent of respondents worry about poor investment decisions by their heirs, 32 percent fear overspending, and 27 percent cite a lack of confidence among younger generations in managing inherited wealth.
These findings highlight that fostering financial literacy and wealth management skills has become a critical part of preparing the next generation.
The legacy readiness gap is even more pronounced among family businesses.
Among those intending to pass on wealth, 78 percent worry that their assets may not endure to the next generation, compared with 63 percent of non-family business respondents.
Hong Kong families are adopting more structured approaches to discussing transfer arrangements. The survey found that 67 percent of respondents said older family members have communicated at least some aspects of their legacy plans, primarily through family meetings at 42 percent and one-on-one conversations at 40 percent.
An increasing number of families are turning to professional advisors to facilitate these critical discussions, with the proportion utilizing financial advisors to communicate succession plans surging from 11 percent in the previous year to 39 percent this year.
