Endowus Wealth Insights Report 2025: Over 50% of Hong Kong investors prioritise long-term investment goals such as retirement, yet they tend to adopt short-term strategies and desire better understanding from their financial advisors

• Over half (56%) of Hong Kong investors prioritise retirement as their main investment goal. However, their investment decisions are primarily driven by short-term factors like projected returns (58%) and market trends (48%), indicating a significant disconnect in their investment approach.
• In contrast, Singaporean investors are more aligned with goal-based investing, prioritising retirement (61%) and weighing decisions based on fees (52%), projected returns (47%), and suitability to financial goals (42%).
• Despite high overall satisfaction with financial advisors (82%), only 2 in 5 investors feel their advisors genuinely understand their investment goals or can clearly explain how recommended investments align with those goals.
• The findings underscore a clear need for financial client-advisor relationships to evolve, emphasising greater interest alignment and transparency to better serve investors' long-term objectives.

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HONG KONG, 24 JUNE  2025 – Endowus, Asia’s leading independent wealth advisor, has released the 2025 edition of the Endowus Wealth Insights Report: Improving Investing Success (“the study”). Now in its fourth year, the study takes a deeper look into investor behaviours and preferences of mass affluent individuals in Hong Kong and Singapore, and how advisory relationships can profoundly influence investment decisions. 

Even as investors today enjoy broader access to financial solutions, the current investment climate—marked by prolonged volatility and inflationary pressures—has made it more challenging to stay on track. Against this backdrop, the study reveals persistent gaps between investor intentions and actions, highlighting how access alone is not enough to achieve successful financial outcomes.

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Q. What objectives do you aim to achieve with your investments?

According to the study, Hong Kong investors list generating additional income (57%) and retirement (56%) as their top investment goals. This reflects a balancing act between short-term financial needs and long-term retirement planning. However, only 31% of investors make investment decisions based on these financial goals, revealing a significant disconnect between intention and execution.

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Singaporean investors, in comparison, demonstrate a more goal-oriented approach. Over 2 in 5 (42%) cited “suitability to financial goals” as a key investment consideration, indicating a stronger commitment to long-term planning and goal-based investing.

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Q. What key factors do you consider when deciding if an investment is right for you?

While Hong Kong investors acknowledge retirement as a top goal, they continue to make decisions based on short-term metrics such as projected returns (58%), fees (51%), market trends (48%), and risk levels (45%). This reveals how short-term noise may distract investors from long-term objectives. Notably, among investors aged 55 and above, 80% said they prioritise projected returns, highlighting a stronger inclination towards immediate performance over longer-term growth.
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These patterns may stem from both investor psychology and industry practices, including the use of headline-grabbing yields on marketing materials. Such messages may distort perceptions of performance, even when accurate in most cases, and lead investors to prioritise short-term gains, often at the expense of consistent, long-term value creation.

So Sin Ting, Chief Client Officer at Endowus, commented, “The study exposes a paradox between what investors claim to prioritise and the actual actions taken. Advisors must shift the conversation from just discussing investment features like past returns or liquidity to framing these elements in service of long-term financial wellbeing. That’s where their real value lies: in guiding clients to make decisions that are not only informed, but aligned with their future.”

Many Hong Kong investors make frequent portfolio changes, which inadvertently affect their long-term goals 

Q. How frequently do you make changes to your investment portfolio (excluding rebalancing, autobalancing, or other automated adjustments)? Please select the answer that best applies.

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The report also revealed that 24% of Hong Kong investors adjust their portfolios at least once a month, a frequency that can have negative consequences. Data shows that over a five-year period, 89% of US active equity funds underperformed the S&P Composite 1500 Index. Over a one-year timeframe, 60% of such funds underperformed. Even professional fund managers cannot consistently get it right.

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Frequent trading also compounds various fees, especially those on transactions and commissions. While 58% of investors say fees are a key concern, the impact of these charges is magnified by frequent changes. Furthermore, the study highlights a lack of awareness of investment fees, 29% of Hong Kong investors either do not understand or have never discussed fee structures with their advisors.

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This contradiction between fee sensitivity and fee transparency signals a key opportunity for improvement in the client-advisor relationship. Advisors should clearly disclose fee structures to avoid any potential conflict of interest, and more should be done to educate investors to pose the right questions.

Trust in financial advisors is strong, but alignment needs work

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Trust is foundational to effective financial advice, and 82% of Hong Kong investors expressed satisfaction with their advisors. Investors cited financial professionals as their most trusted sources, followed by licensed institutions, business publications, and other reputable sources.

However, many investors also turn to informal networks as the most useful sources of knowledge, including peer referrals, investment clubs, and professional communities, to act on this information. This suggests that while credible, formal sources of information play a role in informing, the influence of personal connections in decision-making is more pronounced. 

Q. Which of the following do you think your financial advisor/relationship manager has a clear understanding of, before giving you financial advice or product recommendations?

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Despite this high level of satisfaction, fewer than half of Hong Kong investors felt that their financial advisors had sufficient knowledge of their investment needs. Only 40% and 39% of investors said their advisors understood their short- and long-term goals, respectively. Additionally, only 36% felt their advisors understood their portfolio composition and performance. 

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Even fewer felt their advisors proactively supported goal attainment. Only 34% believed advisors clearly explained how investments suited their goals, and a mere 22% strongly agreed that their advisors actively helped them achieve those goals.

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Steffanie Yuen, Managing Director and Head of Hong Kong at Endowus notes, “While Hong Kong investors place high trust in advisors’ financial knowledge, their true value lies in the emotional and behavioural coaching — the human guidance needed to stay focused on goals. The 2025 Endowus Wealth Insights study highlights critical areas to improve client-advisor alignment and drive better investment outcomes for investors, particularly regarding long-term goals, rather than merely chasing short-term performance.” 

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Refocusing on goals to drive better financial outcomes

The study findings affirm a strong baseline of trust in both Hong Kong and Singapore, but also signal a need to evolve client-advisor interactions toward greater meaning and alignment.

Financial advisors play a pivotal role in anchoring investors through market shifts. As trusted fiduciaries, they should help clients stay grounded in the ‘why’ behind each investment. This role becomes more vital as digital investment tools make self-directed investing easier, increasing the need for hybrid advisory models that blend human expertise with tech-enabled access. 

Ultimately, responsibility for achieving long-term goals rests with both parties. More investor education should be done to empower investors to stay engaged and ask the right questions. Advisors need to connect investment choices to a broader financial plan that is focused on eventual goals.

“Investors must take an active role in understanding how each decision supports their long-term journey,” said Gregory Van, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Endowus. “When both clients and advisors focus on goal-setting, the quality of interactions will improve, and this shift will enable a transition from product-led selling to holistic wealth advice that considers the full breadth of the clients’ needs and aspirations.”