The three great Asian economies have one enticing characteristic in common for hungry financial services companies, even though in other ways they are as different as chalk and cheese. All have a raft of workers with a large chunk of money that they will need to invest wisely in the coming years to avoid a wretched retirement.

However, local financial services companies that are trying to attract these savers are resorting to very different techniques for each country. But investors should be careful what they wish for, as they might just get it – from their broker. Some analysts are extremely sceptical, for example, that the income-focused investment trusts being sold in droves to Japan’s baby boomers about to retire are really all that suitable. A number of experts see a gulf between how investors should be preparing for their retirement in Japan, India and China, and how they are in fact doing so.