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2014年7月17日 星期四

2014 Annual Letter to Clients and Friends 2014 致客戶及朋友的年度信

Dear Clients & Friends,

Another year has passed, if you are new to this, I wrote an annual letter to my clients around July every year, which is my career anniversary. I have joined this industry and Manulife on the 7th, July, 2008, so this is my completion of 6 years and the beginning of my 7th year.

In the past year, I have met many new friends; my knowledge and experience in financial planning have also growth exponentially, so I am quite happy with my progress here.

However in the beginning of 2014, one of my biggest business client have been “stolen” from an agent of my own company I do not know, it made me lost about 150 employee of that business client, although I haven’t met most of them, it is sad not because I have lost a business client, but I am disappointed with the company management, since they cannot see the value of the service I am offering, instead they only focus on low cost. On the bright side, it made me feel the great competition in Hong Kong, and the customers’ expectations are rising every year.

Over the years, I have helped many citizen (including friends and family) to settle a much more secure retirement planning, if we look at the Hong Kong in macro view, this city is expanding like crazy, and the chance of relying on our government’s support is very low, people need to take care of themselves.

On one hand, our local birth rate is decreasing, but with the new immigrants from China, we expect Hong Kong population will exceed 10 million in the next 15 years, talk about the space we will have!

On the other hand, the aging population also increasing, similar to Tokyo, Japan, Hong Kong has one of the city that have the longest average life span for both males and females, it puts an enormous burden onto our society.

In the old days, people used to be afraid of dying too early, but now it seems the tide have turned, many are afraid of they will be living too long. Retirement planning used to be for 50-60 years old, but now some of my young clients (30-40 years old) have already started their retirement planning, it worries me and makes me understand the importance of planning ahead.

On top of that, there are a lot of politic arguments in Hong Kong lately, it has created a lot of uncertainty for our future, I do not want to spend too much time to address politic issue here, yet I have to state that Hong Kong is a very unique city, it “survives” in-between the “gap” of western world and China, so we have to deal with the value difference, while establish our own life style. 

Never the less, I still have full confident in our future, and I keep encouraging my local clients and friends (both personally and business-wise) to be more open-minded, willing to take challenges, and achieve more in life. As for my foreign clients, I will continue to assist your business in Hong Kong so you can take full advantage of the uniqueness and economic freedom of this city.

Last but not least, we can forecast the medical expense in Hong Kong will follow USA and Europe to be much more expensive in the future, although quality and standard rise, so will the price. Through insurance industry, I have seen many people have been working hard for their families, yet spent most (if not all) of their saving when they get sick, health and critical illness insurance is the most cost effective way to hedge such risk. Therefore I advise you to sort out your personal medical insurance, before you go ahead with all these fantastic investment, business opportunities, retirement , do not rely on government nor your company, take responsible of your own life.

Yours Sincerely,

Yim Tien Ho Calvin (Insurance agent Reg. No.: 08190273, MPF Reg. No.: 074240)

16th of July, 2014



尊敬的客戶和朋友,

又一年過去了,如果你剛剛才成為我的客戶,我其實每年都會在七月左右寫年度公開信給我的客戶,因為7月是我職業生涯的週年。我在2008年7月7日加入這個行業及宏利,所以這是我完成6年,及第7年的開始。

過去一年, 我接觸了很多新朋友,我財務規劃的知識和經驗也倍增,所以我很高興在這裡的進展。

但在年頭,我其中一個最大的商業客戶,被同公司一個我不認識的經紀「搶」了,這讓我損失了大約150員工,雖然我還沒有見過大部分的員工,但可悲的不是因為我失去了一個企業客戶,而是我為公司管理層感到失望,因為他們看不到我提供的價值,相反,他們只專注於低成本。但正面去看,這讓我感到香港的競爭十分激烈,而客戶的期望每年都在上升。

多年來,我已經幫助許多市民(包括朋友和家人)確保一個更安全的退休規劃,如果我們宏觀地看看香港,這個城市正在像瘋了似的擴張,我們能夠依靠政府支持的機會是非常低的,人們需要自己照顧自己。

一方面,我們本地的出生率正在下降,但來自中國的新移民,我們預期香港人口未來15年將超過1千萬,談談我們將有空間!

在另一方面,人口老齡化也越來越嚴重,香港像日本東京,成為男性和女性最長平均壽命的城市之一,它為社會帶來沉重的負擔。

在過去,人們習慣害怕早死,但現在潮流已經轉向,許多人都害怕他們會活得太久。退休規劃曾經是50-60歲的事,但現在我一些年輕客戶(30-40歲)已經開始了他們的退休計劃,這讓我擔心,但也讓我更明白提早規劃的重要性。

最重要的是,近來香港有很多政治爭論,它創造了很多關於我們未來的不確定性,我不想花太多時間在這裡討論政治問題,但我必須指出,香港香港是一個非常獨特的城市,她「生存」在西方世界和中國兩者之間,;所以我們必須處理兩地的價值差異,而建立起自己的生活方式。

雖然這樣說,我對香港的前途有完全的信心,所以我一直鼓勵我的本地客戶和朋友(無論是個人上或生意上),能擁有更開放的態度,更願意接受挑戰,並實現更多的人生目標。至於我的外國客戶,我會繼續協助您的生意,令你可以充分利用這個城市的獨特性和經濟自由。

最後但並非最不重要的,我們可以預測,在香港醫療費用將按照美國和歐洲的步伐,在將來會更加昂貴,雖然質量和水平都會的上升,但價格也一樣。通過保險業,我看到很多人,花了很多時間為他們的家庭努力,但當不幸運生病時,就消耗了他們大部分(如果不是全部)的儲蓄,健康和重大疾病保險是最符合成本效益的方法來對沖此類風險。所以在開始你的美妙投資,無限商機,退休計畫之前,我建議你先處理好你的個人醫療保險,不好打算依賴政府或公司,為你自己的生活負責。

此致,

嚴天浩(保險代理註冊號:08190273,強積金註冊號:074240)

2014年7月16日

2013年8月7日 星期三

2013 Annual Letter to Clients and Friends 2013致客戶及朋友的年度信

Dear Clients and Friends,

Hello all, 5 Years is gone without a trace, I am happy I am still able to serve the majority of you, according to the statistic provided by government, businessman who can survive more than 5 years in Hong Kong is about 3%, that’s why you know how much I thank God to make me go this far.

Anyway, each year this time I will write to my clients (some of you are my long term friends) mainly for two reason, 1. Tell you I am still in the industry 2. Simply explain what I have learnt in the last year.

Life is full of uncertainties, I always thought I knew, this is such a common sense, but the longer I work as an insurance agent, the deeper I feel.

After I graduated and back from England in 2008, I have attended 23 wedding and 18 funerals in 5 years; it’s good to know life is winning over death. A lot of my friends I know for years have been married and have children one by one, as well as my elder relative or family friends are retiring, some such as my grandma have passed away. I visited her last year in USA, I had doubt whether I should go so far away, I thought maybe I should wait for her to visit Hong Kong instead, I am glad I did choose to fly in the end, because it was the last time I saw her, she passed away only a week after I left USA. This really taught me sometimes you cannot expect there is a lot of time to do things in life, because nobody can know what will happen, it also made me treasure what I have now more, not just focus what I might get in the future.

Thus I encourage you if you want to do something, whether it is a career move, visit someone you want to see, tell someone you care, be with your family, go travel, do it now, don’t try to wait because you are busy, after all, who will say: “I have all the time now to do whatever I want!” when we are too old to do anything?

In general I am quite happy in the last 5 years, I have learnt so much in term of human relationship and risk assessment, not to mention most of my clients have gain from their MPF or investment, because this is such a huge tropics in Hong Kong, many citizen have a very negative view towards the MPF system. I am glad none of my clients are one of them. One of my relatives transferred 100k to Manulife MPF 3 years ago after she retired, she has decided to withdraw the money out in July, without any further contribution, she have found out her asset have 24% gain, she was really happy.

But on the other hand, the sad news is one of my clients suddenly passed away in April due to heart attack, each year I said I will be extremely happy if none of my clients (so far about 270) need to make critical illness or death claim within my first 5 years of career, but it seems my “unbreakable record” has finally been broken just 2 months before it hit the target. He is my first client from mainland China, he have brought 3 million life insurance from me 3 years ago when he was only 40, unexpected he now have left his young wife and two children, the only consolation is that his family do not have to worry about their finance while grieving, and his two daughters can afford to continue their education in Hong Kong. This event have once again made me feel how unpredictable can be.

Last but not least, I wish you all healthy and happy life in the coming year.

Best regards,

Calvin
07/08/2013


親愛的客戶及朋友,

大家好, 5年眨眼就過去了, 我很高興我仍然可以繼續服務你們, 根據政府的統計數字, 在香港只有3%的生意可以生存5年以上, 可想而知我是如何感謝上帝令我可以走到這麼遠.

無論如何, 每年這個時候我都會寫一封信給我的客戶 (有些是老朋友) 是基於兩個原因, 一, 告訴你們我仍然在這個行業內 , 二, 簡單 解釋在過去一年我學到甚麼.

人生總是充滿不確定性, 我一直都以為自己已經知道了解, 因為這是很普通的常識吧, 但我在保險行業做得愈久, 我的感受愈深.

當2008年在英國畢業回港, 在短短5年我已經一共参加了23個婚禮18個葬禮; 可幸的是生命都是大終死亡. 身邊很多的朋友都已經一個個結婚跟生小孩, 同時我有些年長的親戚跟家庭朋友都開始退休, 有些像我的婆婆已經過身. 我上年到美國探望她, 我去之前曾經猶豫不定是否應該走這麼遠, 我想其實可以等她下次回港才探望她, 興幸我最後飛了去美國, 因為那是最後一次見到她, 婆婆在我離開美國後一個星期就去世了. 這次的經歷令我更深感到, 人生中你不能經常期望可以有很多時間做各樣的事, 因為沒有人可以知道將會發生甚麼事情, 這也令我更加珍惜我已經擁有的東西, 而不是只關心我將來可能得到的東西.

為此我鼓勵你如果你有甚麼很想做, 不論是事業上, 探望你想見的人, 告訴你關心的人, 跟你的家人在一起, 去旅行, 現在就行動, 不好說因為我很忙所以要多等一會, 說到底, 誰會在我們老到甚麼都做不到的時候才說: 「我現在有世界上所有時間做我想做的事情!」?

一般來說過去5年都算過得愉快, 我學到很多關於人際關係及評估風險的學問, 更不用提大部份的客戶都在他們的強積金及投資中獲利, 因為這在香港是個大題目, 很多市民都對強積金有非常負面的評價, 我很高興我的客戶不是他們其中一員. 其中一個親戚在3年前退休後將她10萬元的強積金轉入宏利, 她在7月決定提取, 發現在沒有供款的情況下, 資產淨增加了24%, 她當然很高興.

但同時也有傷感的事,其中一個客戶在4月突然因心臟病發過身了, 我每年都說如果在頭5年的保險生涯內, 沒有一個客戶(到現時為止有270個左右) 需要得到危疾或死亡賠償, 我就會十分開心, 可惜我的「完美記錄」在達標前2個月被打破了. 他是我的第一個大陸客戶, 3年前當他只有40歲, 他從我那裡為自己買了3百萬的人壽保險, 意想不到現在已經離開了他的年輕妻子跟兩個小孩, 唯一的安慰是他的家人在悲痛中不需為到經濟拮据而擔心,他的兩個女兒也可以在香港繼續學業.這件事令我更感到人生無常.

最後但並非最不重要的,我希望各位在未來的一年都是健康及快樂的.

最好的問候,

嚴天浩
2013年8月7日

2012年7月10日 星期二

Public Letter to Clients and Friends (July, 2012)

親愛的客戶和朋友,

希望你們都很好,這個月將是我在宏利第五年的開始。每年我都會寫最少兩封信給我的客戶,這封和在每年年底的年度信,很高興仍然可以給你寫信,因為根據統計,50%的保險代理人生存不了第一年,80%生存不了三年,因此,當你收到我的信時,這意味著我還在這個行業活著。我的其中一位朋友說,我應該開個派對慶祝一下,好主意! 但我想還是算了吧。

商業就如戰場,他們說最好的士兵,就是仍然活著的士兵。幸運的是,現實並不需要好萊塢風格的英勇 犧牲,人在工作中生存不了通常都是因為不同的原因。另一方面,許多人工作卻可以逆流而上,不停地到達一個更好的位置。你們中間有自己業務,或在競爭十分劇烈的行業內工作的朋友,都應該擁有相同的感受,而對於其他擁有一個正常工作的朋友,我相信你的生活也不會太容易。似乎生存永遠都成為我們生活的關鍵要素, 而且我們不都希望只是僅僅生存,我們都希望生活得更好,去到更佳更快樂的位置,無論是為自己或我們的下一代。

在生命的每一個階段,我們都渴望自己和我們愛的人安全。保險業正正提供這種服務,每當我跟一個潛在客戶談的時候,發現最後他們從我購買保險的原因,從來都不是因為我的銷售技巧,形象或說話方式,是因為他們信任我,感覺安全。​信任是很難在現代找到的​,特別在商業社會,我們都集中地談論包裝,第一印象和不同的技能,但成功的企業永遠都不能離開自古以來的基本原則:每一個真正的交易都必須建立在信任的基礎上。

我的職業生涯方向將保持不變,近來跟一個朋友討論:甚麼是生命中最幸福的時刻?我們得到一個結論,生命中最幸福的時刻,是當一個孩子被愛他/她的父母,放在一個環境之內, 在那裡他可以自由地跑動和隨意探索任何東西,而完全不需擔心會受到任何傷害,這正正是我想帶給客戶的東西。然而盡管我們的內心深處仍然有一個小孩子,這個 世界並不安全,有趣的是這也是保險的價值。很諷刺,如果這個世界是一個完全安全的地方,人也沒有任何一種重大危疾,意外事故,疾病或不幸事件的風險,這個世界就不需要保險。在一定程度上,我存在的價值和不斷增長的保險行業,就是一個有力證明,這些不確定性從來就未離開過我們。為我關心和愛護作最壞打算,將永遠是我在這裡做的事,這種想法總經常讓我的內心有一種不停被針刺痛的感覺,除非有一天我不再關心或愛任何人了。

最後,請容許我簡單介紹一下我能夠提供的服務, 我可以提供由旅遊保險到傳統儲蓄,從團體醫療到退休計劃。在財務規劃的角度,明智的你應該至少有一個合理的人壽保險,跟著是重大疾病或醫療保險,然後到意外或傷殘保險,再到短中期的儲蓄或投資(為自己儲蓄,教育基金等等),如果你已經幸運地擁有以上所有保障,可以考慮設立一個長期的退休計劃,這也是我最期 待的東西!因此如果您有甚麼需要,歡迎隨時與我聯繫。

最好的祝願,
嚴天浩(保險代理註冊號:08190273,強積金註冊號:074240)
2012年7月

Dear Clients and Friends,

Hope you all well, this month will be the end of my 4th year and the beginning of 5th year in Manulife. Each year, I write two letters to my clients, this one and another one at the end of each year, I am glad I still able to write to you because statistically 50% insurance agents cannot survive the first year, 80% cannot survive 3 years, so when you receive my letter it pretty much means I am still alive. One of my friends says I should throw a party to celebrate, good idea but I think I will let it slide.

Business is like a battlefield, they say the best soldiers are those who still remain alive, fortunately reality do not require Hollywood style’s heroic sacrifice, and people do not survive in work usually is due to many different reasons. On the other hand, many people are capable to work against the stream and keep moving to a better position. Those of you who run your own business or working in competitive position must feel the same way, and the rest of you who are living a normal working life, I believe your life isn’t too easy neither, it seems survival will always remain the key elements of our life, and we don’t want to just survive, we all wish to go to a better and happier position in life for ourselves and our offspring.

At each point of life, we craving for security, for ourselves and those we love. Insurance business is to provide such service, whenever I talked to a potential client, I found out at the end of the day, the reason they buy from me is never about my selling skill, or the way I look and talk, but because they trust me, they feel safe with me. Trust is hard to find in this generation when everyone in the commercial world focuses on packaging, first impression and different skills, yet successful business can never leave the basic principle since the ancient time: every real deal must base on trust.

My career direction has remained the same; I had a discussion with a friend: what is the happiest moment in life? We came up to a conclusion, the happiest moment in life is when a child being loved by his/her parents and he is placed on a field where he can run freely and feel free to explore anything he wishes without worry about getting injury, and this is exactly what I want to give to my clients. However as the little child we are all still remain deep inside, this world is far from safe, and funny enough this is also where the value of insurance is presented. The irony of my business is that there should be no insurance business if this world is completely safe, and men have no risk of getting into any kind of major diseases, accidents, sickness or unfortunate events, in some extend the value of my existence and the ever growing insurance industry is a strong proof that, these uncertainties have never gone away. Prepare for the worst for the people I care and love will always be what I need to do here, this idea always give my heart a consistent tingling and pricking sensation, unless there is a day I stop to care or love anyone anymore.

Lastly, please allow me to have a short introduction what I can offer, I can offer from travel insurance to traditional saving, from group medical to retirement planning. In financial planning, ideally you should have at least a reasonable size of life insurance, then critical illness and medical coverage, then accidental and disability coverage, then short-mid term saving or investment (saving for yourself, education fund, etc), if you are lucky enough to own all those above, you can consider to setup a long term retirement plan, which is something I look forward very much! So if you need anything, welcome to contact me anytime.

Best Wishes,
Yim Tien Ho Calvin (Insurance agent Reg. No.: 08190273, MPF Reg. No.: 074240)
July, 2012

2011年12月23日 星期五

2011 Annual Letter to Clients and Friends (Full uncut unedited version)

Dear Clients and Friends,

Season’s Greetings! Time flies and this month will be the end of 2011, maybe you have got insurance agents before, but you thought they are either a salesman or a better-than-salesman professional consultant, so you might be a little bit surprise to receive a personal letter from me.


In truth, I wrote to my clients and friends annually, these letters are not any kind of financial product promotion, nor requesting for referral, but a summary of a year from multiple perspective range from business, world events, health care, children education, relationship, and family to personal opinion.


With the newly joined company – Orange Sky Golden Harvest, my clients number have greatly increased to roughly 300 (the number of Sparta if you have seen the movie, I can almost shout: THIS IS MADNESS! haha), they (you) ranged from business owners, CEO, GM, financial controller of your company, general staffs, housewives, single mother, young ladies, family man, relative, friends, old friends, classmates from Hong Kong, classmates from England, even a woman not capable to read this letter due to lack of education (I helped her to obtain MPF after her retirement in August) and more.


This is one of the reason why I enjoyed this job, that I am able to meet different layers of people in the society, though we are different in terms of race, age, gender, language, religion, belief, political view, education, social status, background, interest, point of view, to me regardless all the difference, the desire of human nature has never been changed in our entire history.


Since the beginning, we were born to desire with the pretty much same thing, food, protection, cares, attentions and sense of belongings, when we grew up, woman hope to attract man that is capable to provide her needs, family, protection, love, while man might look for woman can carry his healthy offspring.


Back in the stone age, cave men fought over cave women physically, and for those women who are attractive and beautiful, they always having trouble to make the right decision who should they rely on, that able to please her and provide her every needs; when a couple get married, the man hope to join a tribe, that can show his ability to hunt, influence and power, also provide protection for his family, as well as earn respect among the rest.


In modern time, the packaging have changed, men might not fight over women literally, but we compete through skills, wealth, social status; we do not join tribes anymore, instead we look for career, jobs, company, corp., even various kinds of social clubs, religious groups, politic parties that can benefit ourselves and our family.


When we have children, we hope our children able to survive in the society, be a decent being, contribute to the society, and so get them the best education we can afford. And when we become old, we want to have good retirement life, and then the generation has served its purpose, either good or bad.


Our society is like iPhone, it seems that iPhone have upgraded from 3 to 4, from 4 to 4GS, but the core value always reminds the same, and so is our nature.


The Globe

After the economic crisis in 2008 due to the US credibility problem, this year we have a new “victim” - Europe, although the US creditability rating has been deduced, US market is not the major concern anymore, people are more worry about the debt few European countries are holding, and they even discussed the possibility of the end of Euro.

To me I never find it a problem, you got to have faith, faith in things that move forwarded cannot be reserved, when you think about how hard it is to get back with your ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend, esp. after you have married, it is how hard the Europe can return to the point when single currency do not exist. Like every financial crisis, not matter how big the public and "professional" (their advices are mostly useless) perceive the problem is, it will eventually go away. It happened in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2008 and now 2011.

In fact I have been keep buying my company stock Manulife (HKG: 945) in the last couple months when the market is full of bad news, if you do not have faith in the future, you might as well just die right here right now, because a life without hope is barely a life, besides, life is a cycle, so is the financial world. Keep that in mind so you don’t have to come bugger me every times your MPF or funds do not perform well.
Another big thing happened in 2011 is the death of the I.T. giant - Steve Jobs, I am not a big fan of apple product, and still have not own a single i-Product yet, but my artistic genes in my blood urged me brought his biography and finished reading it within 1 week. Apart from his mostly known motto: stay hunger, stay foolish! I have learnt 2 things in his life.

Pay attention to details: as the CEO and founder of an international corporation, the degree of details he pay attention to is insane, maybe over-the-line for many people, the things he care about ranged from the precise curve angel of the iPhone, to the setup of the sound system for his presentation. Many people believe if you are a big man, it is not important to care about the details, they say let the little men and women care about the details! They also claim, we the big guys, we only deal with the big business.


The reality turns out not to favor those who think that way, if a staff cannot handle little jobs, his boss won’t let him/her handle big project; if a fund manager cannot turn $1 into $2, mostly likely he cannot turn $1 million into $2 million; if a salesman cannot be serious about a small deal, no one want to discuss big deals with him. From various people I have met in my career life, I am pretty confident to say those who succeed in what they are doing; they always pay attention to fine details, so if you want to become successful in what you are doing, pay attention to details too.


Be focus and concentrate: before Steve Jobs, no one believes a single product (or idea should I say?) can beat multiple products, people believe in variety, choose, options, diversity, esp. in Hong Kong. The mainstream educates us (even my company): diversify! Do not put all the eggs into one basket.


The truth is, you can never succeed in what you do if you are not focus, look at all the great people you cannot find a single one who do not concentrate in his expertise, can you imagine Michael Jackson sing some pop song today, and go become a basketball player tomorrow? Vice vise I am sure we will have trouble imaging Michael Jordon trying to hold a music concert between his NBA careers.


Steve put all his resources into developing iPhone, iMac, iBook, iPod, while his competitors trying to do TV, mobile, computer, server, hi-fi all at the same time. His colleagues might have said to him: Steve, you are taking too much risk putting all your energy onto a single thing, you should diversify! I am glad he didn’t listen, so a better advice than diversify is given by the famous investor Warren Buffett: put all your eggs into the strongest basket, and then watch it carefully! Meaning: do what you good at, and then stick with it.


Hong Kong


You can only hear three things in Hong Kong consistently, money, politics and complains, which I hold no interest in all of them, however whoever I met, if he/she is still single, I always suggest they find someone and get marry; if he/she already got married, I always suggest they should have children; if he/she is a foreigner, I always suggest they go apply for Hong Kong citizen. And in most case, after becoming HK citizen, you can still keep your original citizenship; Manulife Hong Kong’s CEO Michael Huddart, whom is an Australian born British has also become a permanent resident of Hong Kong this year, top management always know where all the goodies are, so I guess it must have a lot of benefit to become one, haha.

Hong Kong is almost tax-free, if you have been working in other country, for example UK, the government charge you at least 30% for income tax, since Hong Kong has no army, thus no military expense, yet the freedom and safety we can enjoy is among one of the best cities in the world, I truly do not understand why some of the Hong Kong citizen still complain they lack of “freedom” and “democracy”, maybe they should go out and see more of the world and realize Hong Kong is so light-weight in everything.


The hottest topic of this year in Hong Kong is: who is the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong? But I don’t want to discuss that here, because who becomes the CEO of Hong Kong really doesn’t matter that much to me. I think most people cannot do well in their life is because they place their attention onto things like: who is the hottest singer? Who are the actors dating? Or which politician has spoken something stupid again? In fact knowing all this can never make your life better.


Put your attentions onto things that matters to you, your health, your family and your job. Those discussions should belong to the happy hours every Friday when you are with your friends. Never-the-less, more options will appear, next year all employee will able to pick their MPF service provider freely, more details will be update to you once the government policy has been confirmed.


The inflation is also a problem to us all, the inflation rate is reached as high as 6.5% this year, much more than what I have been taught in financial planning training, and they told me to assume inflation rate as 3%! It is never a bad thing to doubt everything you were taught in school.


Inflation increase hit us in all daily aspect, if your monthly salary is below $50k, your impact will be larger than those who earn higher than this water mark. If unfortunately you are having a bad luck, for example got sick, then I will be more worry since the latest government report show the medical expense has also increased greatly, they might consider setup mandatory medical insurance like MPF for retirement.


My mother told me when I was born (in 1982), she only needs to pay $150 to the hospital for everything, after 29 years, the expense on laboring might become as expensive as $50,000, I am afraid when I have my children, the medical expense will become as expensive as a flat.


My Clients 

Most of you are doing very well, esp. my corp. clients. Turkish Airlines is doing exceptionally well, Their Hong Kong office have expanded almost triple in a single year, which is always a good sign. Globally they have won multiple awards in 2011, which are 





  • Market Leadership Award - Air Transport World
  • World’s Best Airline Europe - Skytrax
  • World’s Best Airlines South Europe - Skytrax
  • World’s Best Premium Economy Seat - Skytrax
  • Best food onboard - Skyscanner


The magic happens when they start to sponsor two of my favorite and strongest football team, F.C. Barcelona and Manchester United officially (although I am a more Arsenal fan, haha), they also has the NBA star Kobe Bryant as its brand promotion ambassador and Caroline Wozniacki, the No. 1 female player in the 2010 and 2011 tennis season, has become the new face promoting Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines offer direct and indirect flights mainly to Europe cities, transact at Istanbul, Turkey, you can book tickets online through 
this link: http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-hk/
Or check out their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/turkishairlines



My another newly join corp. is Golden Harvest (stock no. HKG:1132), they offer movie distributions, advertising, cinematic experience around Hong Kong, they played a major role in becoming the first Chinese film company to successfully enter the western market for an extended period of time, especially with the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. They are still holding many classic Hong Kong movie titles I watched when I was still a kid. They now own a total 6 cinemas in Hong Kong and now mainly investing in China. You can also book movie tickets through this link: http://www.goldenharvest.com



And for the rest of my individual clients and friends, emotionally I am more attached to you, yet I cannot expose your personal secrets in a public letter *hehe*, so I will just conclude no bad things have happened under my watch yet. Both serious illness and death rate within my client base still remind 0% *woohoo! *.

Please help me keep it that way, by any chance any of you bump into a very low tide of your life, and you become so depress that even suicide thoughts have come across your mind, (esp. those who have history of mental disorder and depression), do contact me first before doing that, because I won’t let your stupid thoughts spoil my career record, remember that :)


My Job


Recently there is something meaningful happened in my career, it is not a million dollars deal, nor a fantastic business negotiation, it is so tiny no people ever pay attention to: basically a primary schoolmate I have known for more than 20 years ask me to check his MPF, it turns out his MPF is already well managed by himself, also it is already under Manulife, thus there will no need for asset transfer nor any kind of actual benefit attached, except one thing, his MPF account has no agent follow.

Under this condition I have asked him to assign myself as his MPF agent, this little action makes me re-think the value of insurance agency, since this is one of the best scenario to assess the necessity of existence of agents in this business, nowadays we have internet, banks, hotline service, brokers, insurance agents almost seems like an old sport no one pay attention to. No one want to waste our life in things that does not matter, so I asked myself, under this circumstances, what I can offer to my old friend to make the assignation make a different.
At the end of the day, the answers come clear; it is the relationship that holds the highest value among all, there are too many professional own better insurance knowledge than me, investment advisors is more intelligent, salesman with better selling skill, yet they can never replace the relationship I already established with my clients and friends.

That is important because human might need knowledge, professional advice and service, yet above more we desire good relationship between another human, people that can understand and concern, sometimes you hear women complain why they marry a man who is stupid, lazy with 10 thousands different shortcoming, but they do not regret, because deeply they know that man care about her more than rest of the men in the world, and that what is the most important thing. The name of the “game” of human relationship is: who care more?


Now do not be worry I will behave stupid and lazy, in business good relationship isn’t enough, because you need to solve people’s problem, though like Manulife’s slogan: Caring and Professional, caring always come first. This incident has reinforced the value of my job even more, neglect whether what I am going to face in the future, from no money service to a multi-dollar contract, the core value will always be the same for me.


Personal highlight


I tried to avoid it as much as I can, but I finally need to visit dentist this year, to re-do my canal treatment for one of my teeth, it cost me a big $18,400, but I have no insurance coverage for dental. I cannot help myself keep thinking on the dentist chair, why I did not listen to my mother brushing my teeth regularly, and why I listen to my father did that canal treatment in China because it is much cheaper over there (only $1000). Yet it turns out the dentist in China did such a bad job they only remove one of the three nerves out of my teeth, now the dentist in Hong Kong need to re-drill the fillings, re-do everything, and later will put a crown to make the treatment permanently.

Now I have to suffer twice because I did not take good care of myself, and because I ignore the importance of quality. It is always a good thing to keep health and never get sick, but if you do, quality is always important.


However the good news is I am getting better and better with my job, soon turn to 30 years old, traditional Chinese saying: when a man at his 20, he can still be confuse about his life, when he approaches his 30, he should already able to find a clear path and direction for his life, so when he turns 40, things should go very well there should not be anything to worry.


I would not consider myself as an optimist, actually I like to look at things from a slightly pessimistic point of view, since life is full of disappointment in many ways, it is always unwise to put one’s hope and expectation too high.


The following conclusion might not fit the expectation of the majority understanding to my business here (financial planning), many thinks I go around and ask people to plan this and that, buy this and that, which they get from many financial corp. advertising campaign.


The truth is I never believe in planning myself, from days to days people cannot expect what can happens in the future, the more mankind try to gain control of our future, and think we have succeed, the more future use different kind of events to surprise us.


What I believe is life is like a movie, you can never know what will come next, but if play your current role to the best, people will love to give you more important role in the next movie, and then good things will happen to your life.


Last but not least, wish you all will have a nice and warm holiday with your friends and family. I will see you in 2012, when I was a kid, I was told by some highly intelligent professors, there should be flying cars invented by then, obviously I was cheated, or should I say they have planned the world very badly :)


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!






Yim Tien Ho Calvin

Christmas, 2011

2011年12月20日 星期二

2011 Annual Letter to Clients and Friends (給客戶及朋友的2011年度信)

Dear Clients and Friends,

Season’s Greetings! Time flies and this month will be the end of 2011, with the newly joined company – Orange Sky Golden Harvest, my clients number have increased very close to 300. you include from business owners, CEO, GM, accountant of your company, general staffs, housewives, single mother, young ladies, family man, relative, friends, old classmates from Hong Kong, university colleagues from England, even an old lady not capable to read this letter due to insufficient education at her young age. This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed this job, that I am able to meet different layers of people in the society.

Most of you are doing very well this year, esp. my corp. clients. Turkish Airlines is doing exceptionally well, their Hong Kong office have expanded almost triple in a single year, which is always a good sign. Globally they have won multiple awards in 2011, which are
  • Market Leadership Award - Air Transport World
  • World’s Best Airline Europe - Skytrax
  • World’s Best Airlines South Europe - Skytrax
  • World’s Best Premium Economy Seat - Skytrax
  • Best food onboard - Skyscanner

Turkish Airlines is the official sponsor of two strongest football team in the world, F.C. Barcelona (my favorite!) and Manchester United, they also has the NBA star Kobe Bryant as its brand promotion ambassador and top female tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, has become the new face promoting Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines offer direct and indirect flights mainly to Europe cities, transact at Istanbul, you can check out their website and facebook page:

My another newly join corp. is Golden Harvest (stock no. SEHK:1132), they offer movie distributions, advertising, cinematic experience around Hong Kong, they played a major role in becoming the first Chinese film company to successfully enter the western market for an extended period of time in the 70’s and 80’s, especially with the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. They are still holding many classic Hong Kong movie titles that were extremely popular when I was young. They now own a total 6 cinemas in Hong Kong and now mainly investing in China. You can check out their website: http://www.goldenharvest.com

And for the rest of my individual clients and friends, emotionally I am more attached to you, yet I cannot expose your personal secrets in a public letter *hehe*, so I will just conclude no bad things have happened under my watch yet. Both serious illness and death rate within my client base still remain 0%, let’s keep it up this way!

Last but not least, I wish you all will have a nice and warm holiday with your family and friends. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


Yim Tien Ho Calvin
Christmas, 2011


親愛的客戶和朋友:

節日問候!時間過得很快,今個月是2011年的最後一個月份,連剛剛加入的橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司,我的客戶數目將非常接近300人。你們包括公司老闆, 企業行政長,主管經理,會計,一般員工,家庭主婦,單親家庭的母親,少女,愛惜家庭的男人,我的親戚,朋友,香港的舊同學,英國的大學同學,甚至其中一位 因為小時候得不到足夠的教育,所以看不懂這封信的婆婆。可以接觸到社會上不同階層的人,是其中一個原因為甚麼我享受這個工作。

你們大部人今年過得很不錯,特別是我的企業客戶。土耳其航空異常地好,他們在香港的公司一年內差不多擴張了3倍,這永遠是一件好事。環球性他們在2011年得到了多個獎項

  • 航空公司市場領導者獎項 -《世界航空運輸雜誌》
  • 世界最佳歐洲航空公司 - Skytrax
  • 世界最佳南歐航空公司 - Skytrax
  • 世界最佳豪華經濟艙座位 - Skytrax
  • 最佳飛機食品 - Skyscanner

土耳其航空是兩隊世界足球強隊,巴塞隆納(我的最愛!)和曼聯的官方贊助商,美國NBA一級球星高比拜仁,以及網 球一姐卡露蓮·禾絲妮雅琪也成為他們的品牌推廣大使。土耳其航空提供直航或轉航到歐洲城市,主要在伊斯坦堡轉飛,你可以到他們的網站及他們的 facebook看看:

今年另一個新加入的企業客戶是橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司(上市公司:1132),他們集電影製作、融資、發行及影院營運於一身,是全球最具影響力的華語電影 娛樂集團之一,他們成為第一家順利進入西方市場中國電影公司,尤其是李小龍,成龍的電影,在70年代和80年為香港電影業發揮了重要作用。他們仍然持有許 多經典的香港電影片名,很多是當我還是小孩子的時候已經非常流行。現在,他們在香港共有6個電影院,主要在中國投資。他們的網址 是:http://www.goldenharvest.com

而對於其他的個人客戶朋友,情感上我是和你們比較接近,但因為我不能在公開信內搬出你們的私隱(嘻嘻),所以我只會結論到現時為止,在我的看守下還沒有任何壞事情發生。在我的客戶群中,嚴重疾病和死亡率兩者都保持在0%,讓我們一起繼續這樣保持下去!

最後但並非最不重要,我祝你們和你的家人朋友有一個愉快及暖融融的假期。聖誕及新年快樂!


嚴天浩
2011年聖誕節

2011年7月13日 星期三

Public letter to Clients and Friends (3rd Year completion)

Dear Clients and Friends,

This month (July, 2011) is the completion of my third year in insurance business, I am very happy and glad to provide financial service on professional level, as well as provide help on personal level.

Like the beginning of any successful business, I have been taking my time to gain deep understanding of the nature of this business and avoid as many rookie mistakes as possible, for a slow and caution start I have gain much confident after 3 years and ready to step forward to the next level.

I am able to meet my personal target in the last 3 years, and am very proud of the fact that so far none of my investment clients' policy show negative numbers, it means clients who invest through me have 100% win rate and all show positive growth so far, and few of you have even gain return much higher than the average.

I am also happy among all of us, we come from different countries, e.g. local Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Africa... it has gained my vision and understanding of different cultures, it is very enjoyable and rare in this tiny land, which is also something I didn't expect from the first place. I am looking forward to meet more friends from different countries in the future.

Yet above all I mostly satisfy there is no complain or serious claim being made so far, after all, clients (you), agent (myself) and service provider (Manulife) all wish too see everyone is having a happy, healthy and fulfilling life. I hope all these good things will continue.

My vision is to provide boarder and deeper coverage in personal insurance, retirement security and MPF service to the people around me, esp. people I care about. This is the true passion behind of me doing this business.

Many business can earn money, but no business like insurance business in this world can get people connected and make them feel safe in a society this way. It acts as a protective shell when unexpected and unfortunate events happen in life, and secure people's retirement life after fighting for survival and family during their younger years, which is something they (and you) deserve.

I have chosen merely to work with Manulife over other insurance companies in Hong Kong, is because she shows better quality and excellence both in products and customer service than rest of the competitors esp. in term of personal insurance, retirement security and corporate service, put both clients' and agents' long term benefit up front, doing what an insurance company should be doing.

Since I have witness a lot of financial service providers have already left the track of their own business nature nowadays, providing services and selling products do not belong to their business segment, which might gain them short-term benefit, but cause damage to their clients and ultimately themselves in long run. Manulife did not follow their trend many years, also she has the most experience in underwriting (since 1887) and excellent claim history in Hong Kong. The longer I work in this industry, the more I observe, the more confident I gain that I have made the correct decision.

I have set a target to gain 100 new clients (both personal and corporate) in 2011. It is not an easy but achievable target with your help. If you yourself, your friends, relatives, colleagues, or anyone around you come across the needs of the services below, I will be gladly to assist them professionally.

1.Personal life/ critical illness/ health insurance protection
2.Protection specific for women/ children
3.Traditional target saving
4.Monthly investment saving/ Lump Sum Investment options
5.Retirement security
6.Children Education fund
7.Corporate Group Medical
8.Corporate MPF service
9.Personal MPF Preserved Account
10.General Insurance (e.g. private car, worker compensation, domestic helper, shop, travel, pleasure craft, house, pet insurance)

As the believe in the good service quality I am able to deliver, I am expanding my business, ultimately my vision is to create a healthy and sustainable business/ personal network, within this protected network we can find many trustworthy professionals, e.g. doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers, investors, different service providers, also many truth-worthy information on personal bases, e.g. eduction, health issue, discount, lifestyle, investment advices, in order to aid your needs in life,

As my personal target, I hope I will able to afford a house for my parents in the near future for their retirement, and get ready to start up my own family.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours Sincerely,

Tien Ho Calvin Yim13th July, 2011.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10


親愛的客戶和朋友,今個月(二零一一年七月)我將會完成在保險行業工作的第三年.我很高興在這三年內可以提供在專業層面的金融服務,和在私人層面的協助.

像所有成功的業務,我一直都是以深入了解這個行業和盡力避免「新手錯誤」的方向開始,經過漫長和慎重的三年,令我現在有足夠的信心向前踏上一個新的階段.

過去三年我都可以達到設定的個人目標,而且很自豪到現時為止,客戶所有投資相連的保單都沒有呈現負數,換言之過去所有透過我購買投資保單的客戶都擁有百分比百的勝出率和正增長,而且你們中間有小部份人得到的回報比預期的平均回報高出很多.

我也很高興在我們之中,有來自不同國家的人,如:香港本土,中國大陸,印尼,土耳其,非洲等等.你們增廣了我的見聞和對不同文化的了解,我十分享受在這個細小的香港得到如此稀有的經驗,是我一開始沒有可能想得到的.我期待未來會遇到更多不同國籍的朋友.

但在一切之上,最令自己滿意的是,到目前為止都沒有收到任何投訴,或嚴重的索賠.因為最终,客戶(你們),中介人(本人)和服務供應商(宏利)都是願望看到大家擁有一個快樂,健康和充實的人生.我希望這一切美好的東西都會保持下去.

我一直的願景是向身邊的人,特別是自己關心的人:提供更廣更深的個人,退休和強積金保障服務.這是一直推動我做這個行業背後真正的熱誠.

很多生意都可以賺錢,但世界上沒有一門生意有能力將人與人之間連繫起來到這個程度,而且能夠令生活在社會內的人提供安全感.保險就像保護傘,當不幸和不能 預期的事來臨時提供保障,而且牢固人們退休後的生活,特別是當他們完成在年輕時為生活和家庭奮鬥後,一個美好的退休生活,是他們(和你們)應得的.

我在香港僅僅選擇和宏利合作,是因為她無論在產品和服務,都顯示出比其他同行公司,宏利擁有更高的質素和更出色的服務,特別在個人保險,退休保障和商業服務方面,她都選擇將客戶和中介人的長期利益為重,做一間保險公司應該做的事.

我這樣說,是由於我目睹現時很多金融機構都已經離開了她們主要的商業本質,提供一些本來不屬於她們業務板塊的產品和服務,這樣做有可能會為她們帶來短暫的 利益,但長期卻會損害客戶,最終是她們自己的利益.宏利多年都沒有這樣做,而且她在香港擁有最長的核保經驗(自1887年),長期擁有良好的索賠紀錄.我 在這個行業工作愈長,見識愈多,愈有信心自己一開始的選擇是正確的.

我設立了要在2011年增加一百位新客戶(個人和公司)的目標.這是一個不容易但有可能達到的目標,如果有你們的幫助.如果你自己本人,你的朋友,親戚,同事或身邊有任何人需要以下的服務,我是十分愉快地提供專業協助.

1.個人人壽/危疾重病/住院保障
2.特別為女性/兒童而設的保障
3.傳統儲蓄
4.月供式基金/一次過投資
5.退休保障
6.兒童教育基金
7.公司企業團體醫療
8.公司企業強積金服務
9.個人強積金保留賬戶
10.一般保險(如:車保,勞保,家庸保,商店保,旅遊保,遊艇保,家居保,寵物保等)

由於相信已經有能力提供優質的服務質素,現在我開始擴展生意,我最終的目的是建立一個健康和可持續發展的個人/商業網絡,在這個受保護的網內,你們可以因 應需要,找到很多可信任的專業人士,如:醫生,工程師,會計師,律師,投資者,不同的服務業等,和得到很多可靠的生活資訊,如:教育,優惠,生活方式,投 資意見等.

而我自己的個人目標,是希望在不久將來有能力負擔一層樓給父母作為退休用,而且開始建立屬於自己的家庭.

多謝你的關注.

誠摯的謹啟,

嚴天浩 (Calvin)2011年7月13日.

「兩個人總比一個人好,因為二人勞碌同得美好的果效。若是跌倒,這人可以扶起他的同伴;若是孤身跌倒,沒有別人扶起他來,這人就有禍了。」 -傳道書4:9-10

2010年7月5日 星期一

24 months of service

Step into July 2010. I have officially came back to Hong Kong for 2 years, just like every story teller, I have never thought what I step into. I kinda know there is a rare type of people they know exactly what they want and pursuit their goal way from the start, some might succeed some might fail, however I have to say I have no place to fit in that sort of catalog.

I had extremely huge ambition since I was young, I dream of changing the world, building space shuttle, make poor people become rich, become owner of weapon factories those sort of ideas. I am also ultra sensitive to the best, no. 1, top of the world sort of character, born on the 10th, January, every birthday with or without celebration does not affect how I feel about my life, esp. the idea of each of the person only live once. this sort of ideas still clicks today but when I have experience more in life, different sort of point of views jumps around you.

my youth dream is to be a car designer in US, with my engineering background and artistic talents i pictures it will be amazing, before dreaming about anything you shall might prepare for the worst and which i have also done that. When i was 15 one day i was waiting for train at the station i asked myself what if all my "big plans" do not work out? that i might have to live the most ordinary life, what would i do? then i saw the train coming towards me, i said, "well, to be a train driver, the track is there, there is only one way in Hong Kong, all i have to care about is stop and go, not a bad job huh?" problem sorted, at least that's what i thought.

Now the world watched the automotive giants in US has collapsed, it seems people who love to plan always miscalculate something. When I was back to Hong Kong, I had to choose a job within insurance finance, investment bank or properties, those kind of job nobody expect a university graduate should do. With all the respect it does not mean these jobs are disrespectful, but the society expect people with above average education would able to contribute more.

the funny thing about any story of life is there is no such thing, after unwillingly step into the insurance industry, i quickly discover something i have never seen in my life. Initially I would prefer to join an investment bank, but my logics force myself to make a more suitable choice which insurance is a human business, and investment bank is a money business, i would prefer the earlier option despite the fact the later seems more "main stream".

once again thanks God for making me NOT follow my feeling, after 2 months of service in Manulife, the Lehman Brothers fell like the first tower in 911, then AIG become the second tower. when I looked back, i felt like I was blindfolded and walk across a highway, somehow two massive trucks just missed me by inch.

After two years it still felt like a dream, I have gained so much from this job it is an eye opener. I met quite a few people, break down different kind of stereotypes, trying to understand what human being really is.

It seems to me people always believe a better future, yet everyone has their own interpretation of "better", a lot of people looking for success, yet everyone has their own image of successful.

I have met some really rich people who are really successful according to the social standard, yet their children pay not respect to their reputation, some have not succeed in marriage, friendship, even the most basic integrity. they try to be perfect, improve, upgrade, by all necessary mean they might have changed how people talk about them, and the world who worship their "success" might not even care about their personal life.

When you look at people like Tiger wood, his sponsors, supporters, investors have no interested into his relationship, or moral value as long as he can still perform which also mean able to make more money.

But is it making 2 more millions in one's life is more complete than having a health family? I have to say a absolutely no to that. Human is made to be differ from animals, no matter how people talk about efficiency, effectiveness, yet somehow i discover the lowest life form is the most efficient being, while top of the food chain are usually less efficient. are we trying to downgrade ourselves so that we can be more like an single cell Amoebae.

This sort of seeing totally breakdown my previous dream of changing the world, this world do not need more space shuttles or super cars, consider them as bonus and enjoyment, but this world do need more caring and connection between people.

The other insight I got in this two years is the definition of perfect. We can easily pictures a perfect match for us, a perfect car, a perfect family, a perfect body, a perfect house, a perfect life. People want to invent different kind of ways to perfect our world, yet why the world get more separate while we are trying to be more perfect.

I like to categorize people, like men/woman, outgoing/withdraw, loud/quiet. Now i have a new kind of catalog i can use. The people who live in the past, in the present and in the future.

When I looked back from time to time after numerous conversation with different people including myself, anyone who had the experience of falling in love is not someone perfect, people who has flaws, imperfect, not complete even idiotic, once you are in love, everyone is perfect in your eyes. this world is perfect, the annoying children are perfect, the ugly bastard always accuse me has become perfect, the bird shit is perfect, the noise from your neighbor has the most beautiful sound.

This can apply everywhere, sometimes a woman give birth to the most annoying selfish screaming not considerate child, yet this child is still perfect in this woman's eyes.

This is rarely hard to explain to people who have not conducted to their emotional side, people who still pursuit their own "perfection" by getting a bigger house, better car, most expensive hardware. this is like explaining the different of having sex and making love. same action, different foundation.

When I first joined the insurance industry, I thought it is easy, i just need to wear a pair of headset, like those emergency center, there would be people calling, ordering life insurance. It turns out to be the biggest jokes in my current district now.

However I thank God for opening a door for me, the chance to explore different area of life, i did not know there are a lot of people knows insurance is a huge business, people who are wanting to get rich and know selling insurance can become so rich. I have to say so far I have no luck in money, yet i know i will be wealthy rich one way or the other. but the fact that the enjoyment having a honest conversation with few people might have find this job more appealing than anything else in this world.

Hard to imagine, but that's reality, always looks unrealistic before anything happens. When it happens, they all seems logical.