It is no surprise that his best and worst personal investments were both related to Asia. He earned a substantial profit from a Hong Kong property investment but was burned by a Japanese equity fund.

Like many insurance executives, he has several policies offering protection for his family. But he has not yet bought one from Sun Life. The Canadian insurer has operations worldwide, and in Hong Kong is one of the top 10 insurers with 2,400 advisers and 400,000 customers.

What are your goals in your new role?

Sun Life will expand in life insurance, pensions and medical insurance products. We have a strong life insurance business because we have multi-sales channels.

These include a strong sales agency force, a banking partner - Citic Ka Wah Bank - and independent financial advisers. We have a strong MPF business, as we offer pension plans for companies while we also provide administrative services for other MPF providers.

Do you think the current volatile market will hurt Sun Life's expansion plans in Hong Kong? Do you need to change your product line to meet changing investor risk appetites that may be more cautious?

The current market is ideal for Sun Life because investors like to invest through strong brand companies during a volatile market. Sun Life offers a lot of different products through our investment-linked life policies and MPF. We have our in-house fund products and carefully chosen fund products by other companies.

What about your personal investments? What's in your portfolio?

I invest in funds, stocks and property. Like a lot of people, I bought shares in a big Hong Kong bank, which performed pretty well. I have also invested in funds and stocks in my home country, Australia.

Recently, I purchased a property in Hong Kong for my own use and as an investment.

Overall, are you happy with the performance of your personal investments?

I have never met people who are happy with their personal investments. The markets go up and down all the time. We are happy when the market goes up, but when the market goes down it makes investors lose sleep.

Overall, I would say my own investment portfolio's performance has made me pretty comfortable.

You were chairman of Hana Life Insurance in South Korea before taking your current job in Hong Kong. How do you compare the investment markets in Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea?

The investment attitudes of Hong Kong and South Korea have a lot of similarities in that people tend to be speculative and they are looking for short-term gain.

For many Hong Kong investors, three to six months are long-term investments. The Hong Kong market has advantages. A lot of mainland companies with a high growth potential are listing here and that provides a lot of investment opportunities for investors.

In Australia, most people invest through their pension plans, which are for the longer term, and they do not take their pension contribution until they retire many years later. This has provided a huge amount of long-term funds in the market.

In Hong Kong, the MPF is heading in the same direction. People are starting to build up a longer-term pension investment. But, since the mandatory contribution levels are small, the pension accounts have not yet accumulated too much money. As a result, many people are not yet taking their MPF accounts seriously. They will change their attitudes in future.

What is the best investment decision you ever made?

I have just purchased an apartment in the Mid-Levels, which went up 15 per cent before I settled the deal.

This is probably my best investment. I bought the property for myself, as I plan to work in Hong Kong for a long time. The property market in Hong Kong at the moment is a bit nervous, but I think it will do well for the long term.

What was the worst investment you ever made and how did you get out of it?

I have not yet gotten out of my worst investment, which was a Japanese equity fund I purchased three years ago. I read a lot of analysis and reports, and they all said that Japan's economic cycle should bounce back and the market should go up. But, in fact, the fund has gone down by more than 20 per cent in the past three years. I should have put the money into something else to achieve a better return.

Fortunately, I have not invested too much money in it, so I will just keep the fund and wait and see.

What lesson did you learn from it?

Don't believe in Japan.

How many insurance policies do you have? Do you purchase the traditional policies or the investment-linked policies?

I have purchased six insurance policies. Most of them were purchased in Australia a long time ago. I have not yet bought a Sun Life policy, but I will do so.

I bought mainly the traditional policies, which offer a higher protection value than investment value. This is because I bought the policies mainly to protect my family and my two children.

Can you describe your personal financial style? Are you a saver, spender, speculator or long-term investor?

In terms of investment I am a long-term investor. In term of personal expense I tend to spend too much, but I always try to save money.

There is no point to just saving money, as you never know what may happen tomorrow. I save money but, at the same time I also spend to enjoy life. I pay a premium to make my life comfortable, so you can call me a spender.

Do you think you are rich or poor?

I think I am very lucky and I am comfortable with what I have. Hong Kong is a rich city in terms of a global standards, and we cannot deny the fact that we are richer than many other people in other parts of the world. For me, I think I am not rich by Hong Kong standards, but in terms of a global standards, I am lucky and rich.