Malaysia Leads Asia In Formal Legacy Planning, Yet 8 in 10 Fear Their Wealth Will Not Last

05 Oct 2026

Sun Life Asia survey finds 37% of Malaysians have fully documented and communicated their plans, the highest among six Asian markets.
 

• 37% of Malaysian respondents have fully documented and communicated their legacy plans, up from 15% in 2025
• Among Malaysians intending to leave financial assets or wealth, 80% worry it may not survive beyond the next generation, compared with 70% regionally
• Market volatility is Malaysia’s leading wealth-preservation concern at 54%, followed by beneficiary preparedness at 49%
• Education is Malaysians’ most commonly selected legacy priority, ahead of wealth and family traditions

Kuala Lumpur, 5 October 2026 – The proportion of Malaysians with fully documented and communicated legacy plans has more than doubled in a year, rising from 15% in 2025 to 37% in 2026, according to Legacy Planning survey from Sun Life Asia.

The increase gives Malaysia the highest share of fully documented and communicated plans among the six markets surveyed, while the proportion of respondents with no legacy plan has fallen from 23% to 10%. Yet greater formalisation has not brought the same level of confidence: among Malaysians intending to leave financial assets or wealth, 80% worry it may not survive beyond the next generation, compared with 70% across the region. Only 23% say they feel fully prepared for their legacy today.

The findings come from Sun Life Asia’s latest Passing the Torch: When Legacy Means More Than Money report, which surveyed 3,073 people across Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. The Malaysia sample comprised 506 respondents.

Ho Teck Seng, President and Country Head of Sun Life Malaysia, said: “Malaysia has made clear progress in formalising legacy plans, with more families putting their intentions in writing and discussing them with the people involved.

“The continuing concern about whether wealth will last shows that documentation is only one part of preparedness. Families also need to consider what they want their wealth to achieve, whether those intentions are understood and whether future beneficiaries are ready for the responsibilities they may inherit.”

Market volatility leads Malaysians’ wealth-preservation concerns

Among Malaysians concerned that their wealth may not survive beyond the next generation, market volatility ranks first at 54%, followed by beneficiary preparedness at 49% and family conflict at 47%. A further 37% point to possible legal, regulatory or tax changes. Across the wider regional sample, the order shifts, with beneficiary preparedness first at 52%, narrowly ahead of market volatility at 49% and family conflict at 44%. Preparedness has nevertheless improved alongside the increase in formal planning. 58% now feel fully or somewhat prepared for their legacy, up from 47% in 2025, including 23% who feel fully prepared compared with 19% a year earlier.

Millennials combine high concern with optimism about their legacy

Concern about whether wealth will endure is particularly pronounced among Malaysian Millennials. Among Millennials intending to leave financial assets or wealth, 90% worry it may not survive beyond the next generation. That concern is also high among Gen Z at 82%, while 71% of both Gen X and Baby Boomers share the same worry.

Millennials are also the most optimistic about the long-term impact of their wealth. 69% believe it will have a positive impact for generations to come, compared with 47% of Gen Z, 53% of Gen X and 48% of Baby Boomers. This combination of high concern and high optimism makes Millennials the clearest example of the tension running through the Malaysia findings.

Education sits at the centre of Malaysians’ legacy priorities

For many Malaysians, what they leave behind is closely tied to what it can make possible for the next generation. Educational opportunities are the most commonly selected legacy priority, with 51% ranking education among their top three. Wealth follows at 49%, while 44% identify family traditions.

Financial assets remain an important part of those plans. 83% intend to leave financial assets or wealth, with 53% wanting it invested for long-term growth, 52% wanting it used to support family members during their lifetime and 50% wanting it to fund education. Together, the findings show that Malaysians are thinking about what they leave behind and what those assets can enable for families.

Family conversations remain incomplete

More formal planning is also being accompanied by more structured conversations within families, although communication remains incomplete. 66% of Malaysian respondents say older generations in their family have communicated at least some aspects of their legacy plans, while only 32% say those plans have been communicated fully.

Formal family meetings are the most common setting for these conversations at 51%, followed by informal discussions at 40%. Professional advisers are playing a greater role as well, with communication through financial advisers rising from 16% in 2025 to 31% in 2026. Overall, 45% of Malaysian respondents have already sought professional legacy-planning advice and another 35% would like to do so in future.

Families nevertheless continue to see themselves as central to the process. When asked who should take the lead in legacy planning, 32% choose parents or guardians, compared with 18% who choose financial advisers or wealth professionals. Among those seeking professional support, 57% prioritise trustworthiness and integrity when choosing an adviser, followed by expert knowledge at 50%.

Responding to this gap, Sun Life Malaysia has introduced the innovative Distribution Settlement Option (DSO), which allows payouts to be made over time instead of as a lump sum, providing clients the fleixbility to plan how and when the funds are distributed to loved ones. Included in its latest suite of products, DSO offers structured payouts without requiring a separate trust arrangement and potentially significant trust fees, with plans to extend the feature across more products.

These arrangements can sit alongside wider family conversations about what a legacy is intended to achieve and how responsibilities should be carried forward. Clearer nomination and distribution arrangements can help translate those intentions into a plan that beneficiaries can understand and families can review as circumstances change.

Ho added: “Putting a plan in place is an important step, but families also need to keep the conversation going so that everyone understands what the plan is intended to achieve and how it should work as circumstances change. Features such as DSO can make structured legacy planning more accessible to Clients across all income segments, while professional advice can help families work through the financial, legal and protection considerations involved.”

As more Malaysians formalise their legacy plans, the next challenge is ensuring those arrangements are understood and can work as intended when families need them. The research also points to communication as an important part of ensuring a documented plan can be carried forward.

The full report is available here.

About this survey

This is Sun Life Asia's second annual legacy planning survey, following 2025's Passing the Torch: Building Lasting Legacies in Asia. Fieldwork was conducted in August 2026 across six markets – Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam – gathering responses from 3,073 people across wealth levels and generations.

About Sun Life Malaysia

Sun Life Malaysia (Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad and Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad) is a 
joint venture by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
 
As a life insurance provider and a family takaful operator, Sun Life Malaysia offers a comprehensive 
range of products and services to Malaysians nationwide and is committed to helping Clients achieve 
lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Sun Life Malaysia distributes its products through a 
range of channels, including bancassurance and bancatakaful, agency force, direct marketing and 
telemarketing, corporate and government business and e-distribution.
 
Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada is a principal operating life insurance subsidiary of Sun Life 
Financial Inc., a leading international financial services organisation providing insurance, wealth and 
asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number 
of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, 
the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda.  
As of December 31, 2025, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.60 trillion. For more 
information, please visit www.sunlife.com.
 
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock 
exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

For more information, please visit www.sunlifemalaysia.com.