Almost 8 in 10 affluent Hong Kongers struggle to maintain work-life balance

They still keep checking emails during family time.

A focus on career advancement and annual income, coupled with an interest in recreational activities, personal development and physical fitness, points to a healthy majority of Hong Kong's affluent hoping to maintain or increase their discretionary spending in the near future.

According to a release from Visa, this is just one of the many findings reported by the 2015 Visa Affluent Survey, an annual survey of credit cardholders aged 18 through 55 conducted across the Asia Pacific region.

Based on an analysis of the demographics, priorities, spending habits and economic optimism of affluent consumers in 8 Asia Pacific markets, the Study indexes their propensity to spend on discretionary and luxury items in the year to come.

Here's more from Visa:

According to the Study, the average age of the affluent in Hong Kong is 35, with an annual household income of US$115,450 (around HK$990,510 ). With the lowest marriage rate among all markets surveyed (57 percent), Hong Kong's affluent are for the most part young, self-motivated, hard-working and focused on their careers and finances.

Increasing personal income remains a key financial security goal (52 percent), followed by maximizing savings (48 percent) and planning for retirement (37 percent). While the vast majority set aside a monthly average of HK$6,600 per month for discretionary spending (84 percent), including nights out (89 percent), family holidays (79 percent) and fine dining (77 percent), they maintain that as much as 45 percent of their income currently goes into savings.

In light of these priorities, the continuing struggles of Hong Kong's affluent to 'switch off' during personal time and maintain a healthy work-life balance is not surprising. The Study indicated that the majority of those surveyed work over the weekend an average of 6-8 hours per month (60 percent), with an even greater proportion handling work-related tasks during holidays (70 percent) and checking email during personal time with family (79 percent).

Moreover, many of those who reported working at least one weekend a month (40 percent) claim to be busier now than in the previous year, and do not foresee their situation changing any time soon.

Still, the Study revealed that the vast majority of these individuals have gone on at least one family holiday in the past year (79 percent), with many of them traveling abroad three times. It also showed that one in four continues to value personal development outside of work (23 percent), of which almost half have taken related courses over the past year (45 percent).

Most of those who have sought personal development in formal coursework are motivated by career advancement (65 percent), followed by personal interest (54 percent) and seeking a challenge (33 percent).

Commenting on the Study, Tom Tobin , Country Manager of Visa Hong Kong and Macau , said: " Hong Kong's affluent are young, energetic and focused on career advancement. That said, they place great importance on quality time with family, spending a monthly average of HK$6,600 per month on discretionary spending for 'nights out' and 'family holidays'.

With a wide range of products and services, including local and overseas shopping and travel privileges as well as complimentary health club access for premium cardholders, we strive to be their ideal companion for helping them maintain a healthy lifestyle and achieve their goals."

Finally, and despite the ongoing struggle to maintain a work-life balance, the Study also revealed that fitness and health remains a top priority for many (69 percent), with half of them doing some form of exercise at least once a week (50 percent), one in four using a personal fitness coach to help them reach their goals (24 percent), and the more tech-savvy downloading personal fitness and food consumption tracking apps (38 percent).