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Why longevity demands a new investment approach to retirement planning

We are living longer than any generation before us – but many of us are unsure whether our money will last as long as our lives. This is the new reality of longevity.

This potential shortfall underscores the need for a more adaptive, stage based investment solution designed to help close the gap and support financial freedom over an extended lifetime.

For instance, our 2025 Asia Care Survey shows that only 6% of people in Singapore seek a longer life span, whereas 25% want to remain active and enjoy themselves. Moreover, 43% of respondents expressed a desire to avoid prolonged chronic illness and grow old with dignity. These findings tell us something important: retirement today is no longer about reaching a number, it’s about sustaining the quality of life that matters to us, for as long as possible.

A new retirement reality is also emerging across Asia and globally, defined by longer retirement periods, a shift towards extended working lives and planned career breaks, also known as ‘mini retirements’.

We need to remember, though, that the key to unlocking quality years and funding an extended or mini retirement is financial freedom, and many people are still navigating the challenges of having enough money for retirement. Central to this is avoiding a gap between the life they want to lead and the life they can afford.

Investing to avoid a shortfall

In retirement planning, there is an increasing use of terms such as ‘healthspan’ and ‘wealthspan’. But what do they mean?

  • Healthspan is the number of years during which your health is good, and you can live a quality life free from medical issues.
  • Wealthspan is the number of years you have the financial means to support your desired lifestyle, health needs, and goals.

Our research has also revealed that the average shortfall between people’s healthspan and wealthspan is around 12 years. A 12-year gap doesn’t just mean less comfort, it can mean difficult choices about healthcare, dependence on family, or compromising on how and where we live. As such, it’s vital to focus on an investment approach that helps reduce this gap. If retirement is no longer a single moment but a multi-decade long phase of life, then planning for it cannot remain static. This is where a stage-based approach becomes essential.

Manulife Empower solutions1 – rethinking retirement

Traditional retirement planning focuses on a fixed retirement phase and prioritises savings and withdrawal strategies. These strategies are often static and milestone based.

On the other hand, stage-based longevity planning centres on your evolving life journey, integrating health, caregiving, lifestyle, and legacy factors. It supports quality of life across decades and addresses longevity risk, such as outliving your financial resources.

Manulife Empower Solutions is a stage-based investment approach that offers personalised planning, designed to evolve as your risk tolerance, time horizon, or income needs change. It encourages a more consistent financial strategy so you remain invested across market cycles. As your life changes, your investment approach changes with you, without requiring all-or-nothing decisions at key milestones.

A glide path to retirement

To support this evolution, a glide path approach provides a clear framework for adjusting asset allocation over time through planned reviews, typically allowing the portfolio to transition from higher‑risk to lower‑risk holdings as you move through different life stages.

The four building blocks of a glide path:

  1. A long-term growth engine
  2. A moderate core for steadier progress
  3. A conservative option for shorter time frames and the pre-retirement years
  4. An income-oriented sleeve for longer spending years

Think of the glide path as a stage‑based roadmap—one that can be reviewed and adjusted to help manage your investment exposure, so you remain invested without being overexposed as your priorities shift.

As a starting point, you may choose to use a baseline glide path framework, a pre-constructed, rigorously tested model, based on the number of years a typical investor has left until they retire. Over time, the allocation can be updated through periodic reviews to reflect changes in investment horizon and risk appetite.

For example, the baseline glide path allocation for a 40-year-old investor may be 80% in long-term growth and 20% in a moderate core. Then, at age 60, the allocation may be adjusted to 80% in the conservative option and 20% in income, depending on review outcomes and suitability.

Manulife Empower Solutions deploys active management to navigate longevity and shortfall risk in the lead-up to and throughout retirement. Simply stated, we design and select the best path for people to live longer while facing higher living costs.

The BEST elements of Manulife Empower Solutions

Benefit from top-class investment strategies that help build portfolios designed to endure multiple market cycles, supporting your financial resilience over decades, not just years.

Efficiently deployed capital so your wealth can better keep pace with your longer, healthier life without taking unnecessary risks.

Stay invested helps generate ongoing income while preserving growth, supporting financial independence for longer.

Thematic ideas that power long-term growth in a world that continues to change, allowing your portfolio to remain aligned with the future you’re living into.

Plan with purpose

Longevity is now a transition, not a conclusion – it’s about living better, not simply longer. Think ahead and consider the life you want to live and how much it will cost. Then start to plan with purpose.

Longevity gives us more life to plan for – but also more reason to plan well. By aligning your investments with your life stages, time horizon, and risk comfort, you can approach a longer future that supports your health, wealth, and lifestyle goals for years to come with greater confidence and clarity.

 

1 Refers to Manulife Empower Conservative Fund; Manulife Empower Growth Fund; Manulife Empower Income Fund; Manulife Empower Moderate Fund.

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