Having a happy family is top intangible goal in S’pore: survey

The traditional 5Cs that define wealth in Singapore are no longer that relevant today, according to a survey on what people in the city-state strive for in life.

Conducted by OCBC Bank, the survey showed that people living in Singapore prefer to pursue intangible goals in life such as having a happy family (70 per cent), travelling around the world (52 per cent), and be healthy at a ripe old age (53 per cent).

These intangible goals were deemed as more important than material gains such as owning a luxury car (about 12 per cent) or a country club membership (about 4 per cent), OCBC said.

The traditional Cs — cash, car, credit card, condo and country club membership — that people hoped to achieve in the past are now overshadowed by another set of new Cs made up of non- material possessions, OCBC said.

65 percent of OCBC Bank's respondents, who are also customers, rated Control, Confidence, Community, Can and Career as the new Cs. They found those more important compared to the rest of the respondents who prefer the traditional Cs.

The survey, which ran for a week between 1 to 8 October 2012, via Facebook and iPads installed on 50 taxis island-wide, was administered via a set of questions that asked respondents to rate, based on the old and new set of 5 'C's, the level of importance of each 'C' to them. A total of 2100 responses were collected.