The Sandwich Generation often bear the financial responsibilities that come with caring for children and parents. Steffanie Yuen, Endowus’ Head of Hong Kong, encourages this demographic to clearly define their various obligations, to plan out the respective investment strategies required to achieve each goal. Family members should also have open and transparent conversations to align on financial expectations and to plan intentionally for their collective future.

Steffanie Yuen, Head of Hong Kong at Endowus, discussed how Gen Zs and Millennials can start building their retirement nest egg. She encourages them to start investing as early as possible, taking advantage of the longer time horizon to learn, make mistakes, and find a suitable investment approach. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and young investors should define long-term needs before making any financial decisions. They should also aim to save 20% of their annual income from the age of 25.

The Endowus Wealth Insights Report found that inflation and the increase in the cost of goods and services remain the biggest financial concern in 2023 among respondents in Singapore and Hong Kong. Over 40% of Hong Kong people are “not at all confident” in having sufficient funds for retirement, even though the majority stated that they invest regularly.

The 2023 Endowus Wealth Insights report has revealed that Hong Kong-based individuals are much more confident of economic recovery compared with those in Singapore. One of the main reasons for this boost in confidence is the reopening of China’s economy after the extended lockdown. Hong Kong respondents are also anticipating an increase in consumer spending to further boost the economy.

Hong Kong investors are significantly more optimistic (53%) about their financial health in 2023 than those in Singapore (39%), according to the Endowus Wealth Insights Report 2023. Singaporeans are also much less confident of economic recovery compared to respondents in Hong Kong, with a comparatively smaller risk appetite. More Hong Kong respondents (54%) are willing to take on some risk to grow their capital this year, as compared to Singaporeans (41%).

Steffanie Yuen, Head of Hong Kong at Endowus, discussed key strategies to ride out market volatility. Firstly, investors should clearly define their purpose for investing and long-term goals. Then, investors should adopt a dollar-cost-averaging approach instead of timing the market. Lastly, a well-diversified portfolio is also recommended to reduce investors’ risk while withstanding market highs and lows.

As generational wealth is shifting, Steffanie Yuen, Endowus’ Head of Hong Kong, discussed how wealth managers should cater to HNW and UNHW families by expanding their multi-generational offerings. The growing needs of the next generation of wealth have evolved beyond digital services into omnichannel experiences. Industry players must consider providing more value to end-to-end user engagements, while ensuring full transparency of their services to build trust among their clients.

Joyce Liu, Endowus Senior Client Advisor, shared tips for young working adults and how they should approach investing and financial planning. Young individuals who leave cash in saving accounts are not effectively growing their funds amid an inflationary environment. For those with short-term goals, cash management funds would be a good solution. Instead of timing the market and chasing trends, young adults should also do the necessary research and start investing early to enjoy the benefits of compounding.

Steffanie Yuen, Head of Hong Kong at Endowus, laid out the different fees involved in the investment process. Investors should understand their true cost of investing, as fees can eat into a significant portion of their eventual returns. Although it is tempting for investors to time the market to achieve optimal outcomes, it is impossible to monitor all investments while beating prices consistently. Hence, to maximise their returns in the long run, investors should adopt a diversified approach to ride out market volatility.

Hong Kong investors with investable assets as low as HKD10,000 can now start building single and multi-fund portfolios via the Endowus platform, which offers over 140 funds across different asset classes from over 40 of the largest global fund managers such as BlackRock or J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The company also offers private wealth services for accredited investors to gain access to alternative strategies such as hedge funds and other private market solutions from the likes of KKR and The Carlyle Group.

Hong Kong’s first fee-only, non-commission-based digital wealth management platform has announced the launch of its wealth services in the country. Endowus is the first to eliminate trailer fees and offers investors products at low, fairer cost to improve investment returns. Institutional and clean-share class funds are now available to all Hong Kong investors via Endowus Fund Smart and Endowus Private Wealth services.

Endowus Chairman and CIO Samuel Rhee was live on CNBC to share more about Endowus’ official launch in Hong Kong. Endowus is a fee-only wealth platform which introduces exclusive institutional-grade funds to retail investors in Hong Kong. He explains why the distribution of financial products in Asia is broken, with individual investors underserved by the lack of advice and high commissions embedded into the costs of investing.