Five percent of Saudi youth fail to plan for future

A recent study carried out by the kingdom’s Prince Salman Youth Center showed that five percent of Saudi youth have not planned for their future. It also revealed that 45 percent continuously plan for their future, 24 percent plan only days or weeks ahead, 18 percent plan months ahead while only eight percent plan years ahead.

The study showed that 74 percent of respondents believed that planning for the future requires certain understandings and awareness, while the rest believed that planning for the future is easy and attainable.

The study included business owners, students, and employees and it concluded that those who write down their plans are more committed to implementing them. Nearly 20 percent of males are committed to executing their plans, against 18 percent of females. The study showed a lack of planning skills and the lack of a strong motive to plan for the future are the main obstacles people face.

Some 7 out of 10 business owners said they had completed 50 percent of their plans, and 60 percent said that they learned to better manage their time from social networking users. Nearly 52 percent said that they publish their experiences on social networking sites.

The study also showed that 30 percent of employees have landed a job through careful planning, and that 29 percent of employees spend their monthly salaries before the end of the month, while only 40 percent have savings accounts.