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Manage your own MPF portfolio or miss out on the Hong Kong stock market bull run, say advisers

An equity fund managed by Haitong International returned 50pc last year, the best performer in the city’s compulsory pension scheme, which gained 20.6pc on average

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The bull run shows how important it is for Hongkongers to keep abreast of market developments and take a more aggressive approach to managing their own portfolios. Photo: Felix Wong

Hong Kong’s stock market bull run has spilled over into gains for the city’s pension funds, making winners out of savers who put their hard-earned savings in equities.

An equity fund managed by Haitong International Asset Management returned 50 per cent to investors last year, the best performer among the 481 choices in the city’s HK$780 billion (US$100 billion) Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), which gained 20.6 per cent on average, according to Thomson Reuters Lipper’s data. Conservative money-market funds, which invested in bank deposits, were the biggest losers, with no gains in 2017.

The bull run illustrates how important it is for investors to keep abreast of market developments and take a more aggressive approach to managing their own portfolios, investment advisers said.

“The better the markets, the more important it is for employees to manage their own MPF investment portfolio, as the returns would be very different during a market bull run,” said Elvin Yu, the principal at pension consultancy firm Goji Consulting. “Employees should be ready to take reasonable risks in their MPF investments, or else they will miss the bull run.

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SCMP Graphics
Hongkongers have made the smart choice overall, with 42 per cent of the MPF’s investments allocated to equity funds, according to data from the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority. That has put them in the best position to enjoy the 36 per cent gain by the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.
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