(Yicai Global) Sept. 12 -- China's young adults born in the 1990s are shifting their ideas about prosperity to include softer values such as good family ties and fulfillment of personal dreams, according to a British multinational bank's report. Most consider real estate to be their largest financial asset.

Some 62 percent of those aged below 29 considered property to be their largest source of wealth, which was about 12 percentage points more than in other age groups, HSBC China's white paper on Chinese wealth management shows. The findings were largely explained by the fact that most respondents are single children and will thus are likely to inherit one or more apartments.

The Shanghai-based lender's survey covers 4,600 respondents from 14 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. The groups were divided by decades of birth.

The survey found a significant gap between what parents hope to pass onto their children and what the kids expect to receive. Parents wanted to leave their real estate assets as the main inheritance, whereas millennials had more diversified wealth goals, including harmonious family ties (50 percent), pursuing personal dreams (46 percent), gumption (40 percent), and social networks (36 percent). This shows that youngsters who grew up in an era of moderate material prosperity increasingly widened their focus to spiritual needs.

However, some 60 percent of those aged below 29 as of today were still dependent on financial aid from their parents. Almost half of them and those born in the 1980s said that a suitable time to start teaching their children about how to take care of their finances is the age of 12, which was almost three years earlier than what those respondents who are older than 48 years as of today said. Some 51 percent these well-off families said they will open independent accounts for their children, mostly before they turn 12.

The respondents also appreciated digital banking and expected more artificial intelligence tools for their wealth management. Most anticipated smart feedback for investment returns, as well as wealth management schemes (58 percent), recommendations for suitable products (54 percent), and tracking services (45 percent).

Editor: Emmi Laine