Few Thais save for the future, NESDC finds

Jinanggoon Rojananan, NESDC’s deputy secretary-general, said a Stock Exchange of Thailand study shows that Thais usually invest in savings schemes when they are 42 years old, compared to Americans, who start saving from the age of 30.

“Meanwhile, only 2.2 per cent of Thai households start investing, while most Thais have a high level of debt,” she pointed out.

Household debt in the third quarter of 2020 stood at Bt13.77 trillion, accounting for 86.6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

“Many households cannot save because they have to repay debts, especially the Generation Y, which spends 69 per cent of its earnings on luxury goods,” she said.

Also, some 70 per cent of people in this generation have either sought bank loans or used credit cards to fund their love for luxury goods, she said.

Hence, she said, the government should come up with new ways of tackling the ageing society, such as developing labour skills in line with digital disruption, encouraging students to enter the job market more quickly as well as extending the retirement age from 60 to 63.