KCGI Asset Management announced that, according to a survey of 3,364 customers, the appropriate monthly pension amount after retirement for a couple was found to be 3.49 million won.
However, the realistically expected amount was only 2.21 million won, indicating a shortfall of about 1.28 million won.
Public servants and teachers, who generally receive higher public pensions, reported higher appropriate pension amounts, at 3.99 million won and 4.03 million won per month, respectively. There was a significant gap between the perceived appropriate amount among respondents before retirement and those after retirement. Respondents who had not yet retired considered 3.48 million won appropriate, while those already retired cited 4.05 million won, a difference of 570,000 won.
The gap between the appropriate and expected pension amounts was largest among corporate executives (2.94 million won), homemakers (1.59 million won), self-employed individuals (1.32 million won), and office workers (1.27 million won), in that order. This demonstrates the disparity between the desired standard of living in retirement and the actual anticipated financial capacity.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents evaluated their retirement preparations as insufficient, a figure that has increased by 10 percentage points compared to last year’s survey. The most common reason cited for inadequate retirement preparation was "insufficient income," chosen by 27% of respondents. This was followed by "the burden of children's educational expenses" (20%) and "not knowing how to prepare for retirement" (18%), indicating that the decrease in real income due to inflation is a significant obstacle to retirement planning.
By occupation, self-employed individuals (80%), office workers (79%), and homemakers (78%) were most likely to report insufficient retirement preparation. By income level, the lower the annual income, the more likely respondents were to feel unprepared for retirement. Among those with annual incomes under 30 million won, 90% reported insufficient retirement preparation, compared to 69% of those earning less than 100 million won, and 51% of those earning less than 150 million won.
The average retirement age from the workplace was 61.4 years, similar to last year’s survey. Among all respondents, 67% preferred pension savings funds as their private pension product of choice. The primary reason for this preference, accounting for half of the responses, was the expectation of higher returns from long-term investment.
In terms of investment preference, 51% favored medium-risk, medium-return products, while 28% preferred high-risk, high-return products. The most preferred investment vehicle was overseas funds centered on the United States, at 63.5%. This was followed by domestic equity funds at 45% and asset allocation funds such as target date funds (TDFs) at 21%.
A KCGI Asset Management representative stated, "As inflation continues and real income declines, more customers are finding it difficult to prepare for retirement," adding, "To address the pension shortfall, it is necessary to shift consumption toward investment and increase private pension preparation."
The survey was conducted from November 17 to 24 among 3,364 users of the KCGI website. The age distribution of respondents was as follows: 40s (37%), 30s (34%), 50s (14%), 20s (11%), and 60 and above (5%). The proportion of female respondents was high at 57%. By occupation, 67% were office workers, 18% self-employed, 5% public servants, 5% homemakers, 2% teachers, and 1% corporate executives.
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