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%).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In this radio interview, Steffanie Yuen, Head of Hong Kong at Endowus, introduces the fundamentals of different assets classes, with the three most common being Equities, Bonds, and Cash. Cash is the safest of the three, but yields minimal returns. Bonds ensure fixed returns and hence provides more security than equities.

Steffanie Yuen, Endowus Head of Hong Kong, shares how one can begin their investing journey early on in their career. She likens investing to exercise; success is closely tied to a clearly-defined goal and having a plan to achieve that goal. Steff encourages young adults to establish their unique wealth goals and adopt goal-based investing, to start investing as early as possible into a diversified portfolio, even if starting out with a small sum of money.

In this commentary, Endowus Head of Hong Kong, Steffanie Yuen, debunks stereotypes about female investors and how more can be done to motivate women to invest and take control of their financial wellness in terms of building wealth, family finance and retirement planning. She also highlights the importance of financial literacy in empowering women at large.