Our recent HSBC Life +Factor Study1, which surveyed over 10,000 respondents, shows that physical health, mental wellness and financial fitness are deeply connected. And to reach your wealth ambitions, it's probably wise to take a holistic approach.
There is a strong correlation between physical fitness, mental health and financial wellness. Boosting one factor may lead to far-reaching improvements across the others2. At the same time, ignoring one of those factors could affect the others negatively.
When it comes to wellbeing, health and wealth go hand in hand. Most survey respondents believe that you can't truly enjoy your wealth if you're not physically and mentally healthy.
Long-term financial planning – including having adequate insurance coverage, making investments and having a comprehensive retirement plan – positively impacts physical and mental health.
The survey's results show that it's not enough to measure wealth in isolation. Rather, to secure a better quality of life – both at work and at home – you need to nurture all three forms of wellbeing.
At HSBC, we offer the financial tools and wealth expertise to help you attain total prosperity. Having a flexible, long-term wealth strategy in place will give you more opportunity to fulfil all your ambitions.
Ready to get your finances in fighting shape? Our personalised and adaptable solutions can help you develop a holistic strategy to achieve your multifaceted wealth goals.
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1 In March and April 2021, a 20-minute online survey was conducted amongst a total of 10,659 people aged 18 to 80 across four global markets: Hong Kong (n=2,016), mainland China (n=3,560), Singapore (n=2,059) and the UK (n=3,024). The study sought to assess how physical health, mental wellbeing and financial fitness are interconnected to achieve holistic wellbeing in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess the drivers of employee wellbeing.
Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to study the interconnected relationship between the various aspects of overall wellbeing – physical, mental and financial. A series of scales were employed to study responses to each individual variable. The Likert scale of 1-10 where 1 is 'Not Fit' and 10 is 'Extremely Fit' allowed respondents to self-report their physical fitness as Unfit (1 to 5), Moderate (6 to 7) and Fit (8 to 10).
Mental wellbeing was tracked using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale© ("WEMWBS"), respondents were given a mental health score ('very low', 'below average', 'average', 'above average'). WEMWBS was developed by the Universities of Warwick, Edinburgh and Leeds in conjunction with NHS Health Scotland. ©University of Warwick, 2006, all rights reserved.
Financial fitness was measured using the FinFit methodology previously developed by The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited https://www.hsbc.com.hk/finfit/ through which respondents are evaluated on 15 questions across 4 areas including financial habits, financial knowledge, financial planning, financial security.
The research was conducted by Engine Group. Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
2 The strong correlation between physical fitness, mental health and financial fitness was proven through a Pearson's correlation test at 95% confidence level.
