Moonlight clan

"Moonlight clan" is a relatively new Chinese neologism to describe young workers who spend their salaries faster than they earn it.

Members of the Moonlight Clan who earn a relatively high income tend towards economic materialism.

People earning a relatively high income are usually brand-loyal consumers who pursue pleasure-seeking and luxurious lifestyles.

This group of people struggle to meet basic needs, thus having a lower standard of living in comparison to Type 1.

Lower-income consumers spend mostly on necessities and rent as they are burdened by the rising cost of living.

With reference to the 2011 Population Census in Thematic Report: Youth, the median income monthly of teenagers aged from fifteen to twenty-four remained at HKD $8,000 unchanged for 10 years since 2001.

The median monthly income of the whole population had increased to HKD$9,000 over the past ten years.

The lower income group could hardly afford the progression of standard of living of the society.

As a result, the high cost of living leads to an increase in the number of Moonlight Clan members.

[6] Being bombarded by commercial advertisements, people with relatively high incomes feel compelled to pursue personal wellbeing and happiness through material possessions.

An easy access to a variety of entertainment and activities may be the reason for the increase in consumerism for Moonlight Clan as they tend to spend and enjoy the present instead of saving for the future.

In Hong Kong, the credit card rates are rising and the debt they are carrying is 30% or above for annualized interest.

This may affect their financial discipline and foster overspending behavior, becoming one of the underlying causes of compulsive or obsessive consumerism.

[10] These people constitute the main part of the moonlight clan of the low income group.

[11] In 2012, MassMutual Asia Ltd commissioned the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong to conduct a telephone survey about post-80s and post-90s.