In Vietnam, wealth is…

The Wealth Report March 2012

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This is not a report about who has money and who doesn’t.

This is not a study of High Net Worth Individuals and their

assets. This is a study about Vietnamese people and what

they think about wealth.

Is love more important than money? Are designer labels

important? And if they suddenly received a large amount of

money, what would they do with it?

We asked over 2000 people from our CimigoLive online

panel for their opinions on wealth.

To those of you who took part in the survey, many thanks.

And for everyone else, we hope the findings are interesting.

Please feel free to share this report with your friends and see

whether they agree with what we found.

Thank you.

The CimigoLive Team

Save, save, save! We are a nation of savers. When asked

what we do with money we have left over

after paying our bills, most of us strongly

agreed we would “Save it”. Only a few

people would spend it today and enjoy it.

Interestingly, it was people in HCMC

rather than Hanoi who most strongly

agreed with saving.

3

64

14

50

10

Save it

Spend it

Save it

Spend it

Save for the future, or spend & enjoy now? (%)

Love is more precious than gold

Most of us would rather be in love than be

wealthy, if forced to choose.

This is the same for males & females and

across cities. But it seems the older we get

the more important love becomes. Perhaps

we begin to discover that love is easy to

lose, but hard to replace.

Healthy & wise is a priority over wealthy

Across all types of people and geographies, there is overwhelming agreement

that health and education are more important than wealth. There is even more

agreement on this than there is on love. Perhaps we can say that the priorities

of the people of Vietnam are Health, Education, Love, and then Wealth.

Ha Noi

HCMC

56

61

69

63

18

18

16

17

25

21

15

20

15-19 yrs

20-29 yrs

30 yrs+

Total

Love is more important than Wealth (%)

Agree Neutral Disagree

78 10 13 Total

Education is more important than Wealth (%)

Agree Neutral Disagree

87 5 8 Total

Health is more important than Wealth (%)

Agree Neutral Disagree

We save a lot, but we‟d like to save even more Whilst 20% of our sample had no income, of those who did, 56% claimed to

save 11% or more of their income. When asked what their ideal savings rate

would be, 85% said it would be 11% or more.

4

12

33

36

14

6

0

14

60

20

5

Nothing

<=10%

11%-30%

31-50%

51%+

Actual vs Ideal Savings (%)

Ideal

Actual

Save first, don‟t borrow

When asked how we would like to

pay for an expensive new scooter,

the overwhelming preference

across all groups was that it is

better to save first rather than take

a loan and enjoy it now.

Saving for the big treat

The majority of us said we would

prefer to save for a big treat than

spend now on lots of small treats.

Out of all groups, women were

most likely to say they prefer

small treats, 20% agreed on this.

84

80

82

5

6

5

11

14

13

Lower Income

Higher Income

Total

Save & Buy Later vs. Borrow & Enjoy Now (%)

Save First Neutral Loan Now

80

73

77

8

8

8

12

20

16

Male

Female

Total

Save For Big Treat vs Spend On Many Small Treats (%)

Big Treat Neutral Small Treat

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But, we like the status of

“designer labels”

More than half of us said

designer labels are important,

only a third disagreed.

Perhaps surprisingly, there was

no difference in gender or age,

though HCMC residents were

keener on labels than elsewhere.

24

19

22

22

HCMC

Hanoi

Male

Female

Strongly Agree Labels Are Important (%)

37

39

41

42

47

47

49

51

51

55

56

71

77

Health Insurance

Smart Phone

New Motorbike

Pay a Debt

Fridge, Microwave etc

Education

Holiday

Camera, Computer etc

Charity

Clothes

Party with friends

Give to my family

Save it

I would „spend‟ VND20m on… (%)

So what if we won VND20m – what would we do with it?

77% said we would save some of this windfall, and we’d save 37% of it. Giving

to the family was the 2nd highest priority, and accounting for 17% of VND20m.

Partying with friends and giving to charity were also in the Top 5.

Saving is key, but sharing the luck is important too with family, friends, and

charities in the Top 5.

1

2

2

3

3

4

5

5

5

7

7

17

37

Health Insurance

Charity

Party with friends

Clothes

Education

Smart Phone

Pay a Debt

New Motorbike

Fridge, Microwave etc

Holiday

Camera, Computer etc

Give to my family

Save it

In these proportions... (%)

Wealth in Vietnam is… Across all age groups, incomes, and cities, saving is a priority for

Vietnamese people. 56% of people currently save 11% of their income or

more, but 85% would like to do so. We would rather save for a big treat than

spend now on small treats. We would prefer to save for a big item like a

new scooter, than to take a loan and enjoy it now. And, if we won a large

sum of money, saving it would be a priority.

That being said, health and education are paramount and if we had to

choose between being wealthy or being in love, most of us would choose

love. Furthermore, giving back to our families, sharing with friends, and

making a charitable donation all feature highly in what we would do if we

won some money.

In these modern days, it often seems that the pursuit of money is the main

focus. Of course we would like to have “designer labels” and feel good

about ourselves. We know that wealth can bring a degree of happiness that

comes from having financial security. However, Vietnamese people still

have a balanced view on their priorities. Love, family, friends, society,

health, and education are all very important. Wealth in Vietnam is not

everything.

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Share the wealth We hope you enjoyed these results.

Please do share them with your friends and see whether they agree

with what we have found.

Join in and express yourself At CimigoLive we regularly conduct fun surveys like this. If you

haven’t already, we would like to invite you to join in and have your

voice heard.

Please join for free at www.cimigolive.com

Win prizes for you… Taking part in our surveys is fun and you could win a

range of prizes, from video cameras to international

holidays.

…and support the community For many of our surveys, we make a donation to the

Vietnam Red Cross Society. Your participation supports

the community.

CimigoLive‟s promise to you… We are a professional market research company.

We will never try to sell you anything

We will never share or sell your personal

details

All results are anonymous

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About Cimigo… Cimigo is the largest independent marketing research

consultancy in Vietnam. From our own 10-storey HQ

in Ho Chi Minh City and through our other offices

across Vietnam we work to listen to the voice of the

consumer.

We can be found at… Add: 9, Nguyen Huu Canh Street, Ho Chi Minh City

Tel: +84 8 3822 7727

WWW: Cimigo.vn

Email: contact@cimigo.vn

We look forward to listening to you…