“Work Hard‧Play Hard”is our culture

The establishment of A Club is to bring work-life balance to colleagues and their family members by organizing various social and charity activities.

All you can eat-and-drink coupled with exciting games and fabulous lucky draw, everyone has spent an enjoyable and crazy night!

The exciting riddles, Bingo, crazy games and lucky draw were finally back to the Spring Dinner after 3 years of suspension due to pandemic. Yeah Yeah Yeah!!

Together, let’s raise funds to revive our corals and protect our precious coasts.

A Club has invited Lawrence Li, the professional coach, to deliver a sharing section on the use of resistance band which can help alleviate muscle pain. Better health, better productivity!!

Partnering with Playright’s Play and Playwork hub, the kids were engaged in tailor-making their own unique yet interesting playing space and toys. We were all impressed by their incredible creativity and team-work.

The day tour to Sha Tau Kok countryside, walled villages, farmhouses and ancient temple has given us a valuable opportunity to feel the unique and chill countryside vibe.

“The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.” This is one of the most famous quotes from Benjamin Graham, the mentor of Warren Buffett and who is also considered as “father of value investing”.

While these few sentences may appear to be very simple, however, it is difficult to put into practice. The investment markets are always filled with different information and investment opinions from different “experts”. Those “noises” often influence investors’ emotions and beliefs. For example, the contentious U.S.-China relationship, ongoing conflicts between Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine and the uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rate hikes. These factors have brought market volatility and affect investors to make rational investment decisions.

Before formulating a financial or investment plan, it is important to understand that none of us have a crystal ball, and it is impossible to make accurate predictions of the future. However, we may still be able to "follow the macro trend” and make relevant investments. Currently, the market is full of uncertainties, but as inflation remains high, the high interest rate environment will likely continue in the near future. Some short-term bonds with good credit ratings can still provide good yields with low risk. For example, 1- to 2-year U.S. Treasury bonds with current yields ranging from 5-5.4%. Given the extremely low risk of U.S. Treasury bonds, it is believed they can offer relatively stable and fixed returns.

Of course, many investors are not satisfied with only investing in short-term bonds for stable but not very attractive returns. In fact, in addition to short-term item, a comprehensive financial or investment plan should also include investment options with long-term growth, such as equities in the information technology, healthcare science, renewable energy applications sectors.

Those investment options are often related to some irreversible macro trends with high-quality investment value. However, since they are the investment darlings of most of the investors, their valuations are sometimes pushed to levels that are far from reasonable, resulting in higher price volatility. Take the Nasdaq Composite Index, which is dominated by technology stocks, as an example - although it has risen by more than 22% from the beginning of this year to the end of October, it is still nearly 20% below its peak in November 2021. For those asset classes with long-term investment value with high volatility, the best investment method is believed to be dollar-cost averaging, by investing at regular intervals with discipline to average out the overall investment cost and reduce the risk of entering the market at high levels.

A lumpsum investment in short-term, high credit quality bonds may be considered as the core investment portfolio to earn stable and fixed income. In addition, a regular investment in those asset classes with long-term growth potential can be combined as a satellite investment. It is believed that such investment plan may provide good defense as well as good growth potential in the future which readers may consider in the current investment cycle.

Disclaimer
The information contained is for general information only, without warranty of any kind. The information contained should not be regarded as an offer to sell, to subscription, or to provide any investment recommendation. Investment involves risks, past performance is not indicative of future performance. Readers should consult their professional financial consultant before making any investment decision.

Investment Services Department

“Caution! Bugs!”
In addition to the surprisingly large quantity of snow bugs discovered in Hokkaido in Oct, another wave of bed bugs attack has also been spreading to Seoul recently. These abnormal phenomena might possibly be connected to global climate change. In fact, Hong Kong could not escape from the adverse effect of the climate change neither. In the third quarter of this year, we experienced unprecedented rainstorms, resulting in severe flooding, landslides, tree collapses, broken glass windows, broken down of cars etc. For people who do not have insurance coverage, the losses can be devastating. But what about those who have insurance coverage? Let's explore the different kinds of insurance coverages under bad weather conditions.

Employees' Compensation Insurance
According to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, if employees suffer from an accident or death (during typhoons or black rainstorms) within 4 hours before or after working hours while traveling directly between their residence and workplace, it is considered to have occurred during the course of employment. In such cases, the employer is responsible for providing compensation as specified in the ordinance, and Employees' Compensation Insurance is applicable then.

Travel Insurance
For travelers whose trip is delayed due to bad weather, the insured person can possibly receive cash allowances, additional reasonable accommodation expenses, non-refundable deposits or fees, and additional expenses incurred due to itinerary changes (subject to the respective policy terms and conditions). Furthermore, if the insured person is required to cancel or cut short the trip due to a natural disaster at the travel destination, relevant coverage is also provided. However, it should bear in mind that Travel Insurance coverage does not apply if Hong Kong, rather than the travel destination, hoisted typhoon/black rainstorm warnings.

Motor Insurance
Hong Kong has recorded record-breaking hourly rainfall during the last attack of black rainstorm, resulting in numerous cars stalling or being submerged in flooded roads and parking lots. If car owners have purchased Comprehensive Motor Insurance and can demonstrate that they have made reasonable efforts to avoid and minimize losses or damages and have maintained their insured vehicles in good condition, they are likely to be compensated by the insurance company. The amount of compensation will be based on the actual repair costs for the vehicle. However, if the insurance company finds that the car owner intentionally puts the vehicle in a dangerous situation, they may reject the claim then.

Due to the higher premiums associated with Comprehensive Motor Insurance, many owners of second-hand cars will tend to buy Third-Party Liability Insurance. However, this kind of insurance only compensates for claims involving injury or death to third parties and does not cover losses or damages to the insured vehicle or property caused by natural or weather-related disasters. Therefore, if a car owner experiences vehicle damage due to flooding and has only purchased Third-Party Liability Insurance, the owner will be fully responsible for the related expenses. Nevertheless, if it can be proven that the incident was caused by negligence of the parking lot or property management company, the car owner may consider pursuing a civil claim for compensation.

Home Insurance
Following the numerous heavy rain storms, the number of Home Insurance policy has gradually increased. Since the terms and conditions, coverages, and limits of policies vary among insurance companies, customers need to pay attention to the specific provisions. Generally, Home Insurance covers losses to insured properties or third-party liabilities, such as damage to household appliances or renovation costs caused by water leaks or windstorms. However, damages to building structures such as walls, floors, ceilings, windows fall under the structural coverage of "Fire Insurance". It is worth noting that in the case of broken glass windows, the coverage depends on whether the windows are original or have been altered by the policyholder. The former falls under structural coverage while the latter falls under the coverage for household properties. If household properties are damaged due to wind and rain disasters, customers should take measures to mitigate the losses in a feasible and safe manner, retain the damaged items, and take photographs as evidence for future claims. As a friendly reminder, when renting out a property as a landlord, please don’t forget to switch the existing Home Insurance to Landlord Insurance. As a tenant, it’s also highly recommended to purchase Home Insurance to protect your own properties.

There’s an incident worth sharing as related to the recent attack of black rainstorms - - a colleague received a call from a client early in the morning on September 8th, informing him of severe flooding in the house and there’s an urgent need to relocate to a hotel. The client was so eager to understand the coverage of his Home Insurance Policy that the colleague immediately contacted the General Insurance Department to follow up. Very promptly, the insurance company has also arranged surveyors for site-visit for inspection and assessment and very shortly has settled the claims then.

In fact, during and after rainstorm strikes, our financial consultants, staff from both General Insurance Departments and insurance companies will get themselves ready early to respond and assist clients in emergency situations. Therefore, while it is important to have an insurance coverage in advance, it is equally important to find a responsible and dedicated financial consultant who can provide prompt assistance when needed.

Source: Sing Tao Daily, Ta Kung Pao, Oriental Daily, HKET