Letters | Hong Kong’s MPFA is invested in educating the public about the pension fund
- The authority takes a holistic approach to public education, making use of different media to disseminate messages tailored for different target groups
- Community outreach programmes, including workshops, talks and seminars, help scheme members make investment choices appropriate for them
The authority takes a holistic approach to public education, making use of different media to disseminate messages tailored for different target groups.
We offer a wide range of community outreach programmes, including workshops, talks and seminars, to help scheme members make investment choices appropriate for them. With a particular emphasis on early planning for retirement savings, the authority also provides various education programmes for prospective scheme members who are about to enter the work force.
The MPFA has rolled out different investment education initiatives, including videos and creative social media campaigns, to deepen public understanding of the specific investment objectives and risk levels of each MPF fund type. For example, equity funds and mixed assets funds have higher expected returns but at the same time carry a higher investment risk. In contrast, the MPF Conservative Fund, which is a type of money market fund, comes with a low investment risk but also low expected returns.
MPF returns are closely related to a scheme member’s choice of funds and the market performance, as well as the period of his or her participation and contribution in the relevant MPF schemes.
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Scheme members who do not have the time or relevant knowledge to manage their MPF can consider the Default Investment Strategy (DIS), which features “automatic de-risking”, a fee cap and a globally diversified investment approach. As at the end of April this year, the Core Accumulation Fund and the Age 65 Plus Fund under the DIS had net annualised returns of 8.8 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively, since their inception in April 2017.
Over the past 20 years, the total assets of the MPF System have grown to nearly HK$1.2 trillion as at the end of April, over HK$447 billion (37 per cent) of which was investment returns, net of fees and charges. As at the end of that month, the net annualised return of the MPF System since inception was 5 per cent, outperforming the inflation rate of 1.8 per cent over the same period.
Cheng Yan-chee, acting managing director, Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority
