子女外國升學篇 (上): 兒子跟老豆說: 「送我上大學你要花十萬元, 我選擇留在家中你給我五萬就成.」

近來有些公司客戶, 在公事上私底下主動問個人的儲蓄的計劃, 原來她有個兩歲的小朋友, 希望將來有能力送他到外國讀書, 意識到是時候要開始計劃.

李嘉誠如是說: 人找生意很難, 生意找人很容易. 推銷員整天找人買十個也沒有人一個, 遇上心情不好的人覺得你超煩, 但有人找推銷員買, 表示本身也有需要, 推銷員最後做不成生意也只能怪自己表現不足, 機會永遠是最有價值的東西.

當然我很開心, 不是因為有新生意, 而是有客戶主動找你, 是代表你在一個行業的信譽開始有了, 得到接納及信任.

在保險業內已經四年多一點, 愈來愈深感信任是所有商業原則的第一位, 這很多人都已經意識到, 但建立信任並無捷徑可走, 我想商人也不需要特別做些甚麼去搏除別人的信任, 要不是就顯得太假, 結果就是有些人跟你合作, 大家都不是在很實在的基礎上建立, 最終也不能長久, 更甚者在合作期間大家也是提心吊膽, 總是不知道對方是否在騙自己. 真正的信任不需太做作, 每天做好一點點事, 不好整天想做好這些事對我有甚麼眼前的好處, 十個跟你接觸的人總有一個一天有需要, 想想找誰的時候, 其實腦中就是在比較所認識的人中, 誰比較信得過.

因為不是第一次, 我很快就發了些資料去, 主要都是分兩類, 第一類是無風險的傳統儲蓄, 好處是回報有保證, 達標很有信心, 但回報不會太高, 第二類是有風險的投資儲蓄, 好處是潛在回報比較高,供小一點就可以, 但回報沒有保證, 選得好基金回報可能很好, 選得不好可能很差, 甚至連本金也有損失.

可是更上進的業務員, 不會只希望提供客戶的基本需要, 也希望了解需要的本質, 例如:
送子女到外國讀書的實際所需, 計劃不能只說我要儲一筆錢, 要包括這筆錢要多少? 是否值得? 是否在承擔的能力內? 有甚麼風險? 等一千條問題.

我找了幾個朋友跟同事聊聊, 其中一個送了自己的兒子到英國牛津大學讀書 (自己跟兒子都有能力, 可是很自豪的啊!), 也不是故意聊, 聊天跟常識跟信任一樣, 不需太做作, 每天的生活問身邊人一點點就學習得到.

但第一個遇到的問題反而不是需要多少錢才可以出國, 而是是否需要送出國.

如搞笑漫畫所示, 兒子跟老豆說: 「送我上大學你要花十萬元, 我選擇留在家中你給我五萬就成.」

有些父親想, 我把兒子出國讀大學的錢儲起來, 或供樓, 當他20歲時已經有一筆錢, 或一層樓, 沒有必要在外國花掉, 外國的風氣太開放, 搞不好他一學壞, 錢又沒有,兒子也沒有, 雙失, 更差者他最後跟本沒有能力, 連希望都消失, 花了這麼多氣力最後像個白癡一樣. 

另一類的父母不是從錢看, 他們是想香港的大學也不是差, 沒有必要花氣力送他出國.

當然也有一種是父母很有心, 但子女打死也不願出國, 跟本不需國民教育, 香港就是家.

最後一種是父母跟子女都很有心, 就是沒有力, 經濟客觀條件不容許.

在處理如何(How) 出國的客觀條件前, 必須處理為何(Why)先. 當然不同人有不同的主觀看法,要不是太無良, 看法都是需要尊重. 但出國與否是對子女有實際影響的, 花的錢和心血是否有價值, 我想沒有父母真的是「不求回報」, 要是花了這麼大力氣, 子女回來有破壞沒建設, 除了聖人沒有父母可以吞下這口氣.

 對我自己來說, 因父母自幼管教極嚴, 自小就已經極度渴望出國, 出國對我來說是自由的實際行為, 所以當父母決定送我出國的時候, 我不單沒有反對, 反之希望第二天就可以離開家庭, 當然實際是甚麼一回事, 是另外的題目, 不會在這裡談了.

整體來說, 客觀比較, 外國 (英美西方) 的教育是比香港好, 要不是推行國民教育的政府官員, 也不會自己一方面推, 一方面又送自己的子女到外國讀書, 很明顯他們也對香港的教育「改革」很沒信心, 這荒謬程度就像一位推銷員一面推銷自己公司的產品, 自己私下卻用另一間公司的產品, 所以他們失敗是有跡可尋的.

但以我第一身的經驗看來, 在不同外國不同國籍的多元化衝擊下,  留學的真正價值是在見識. 香港是彈丸之地, 所謂有獨立思考也是自欺欺人, 大家都接受差不多的資訊, 看一樣的電視, 意識形態也沒有不同, 要是沒有填鴨式教育, 出來也只不過是尺寸不同, 樣子都是一樣的. 但在完全不同的環境生活下, 再自我再自閉的人, 他的世界觀也是會受到影響的.

有人說交流也可以達到目的, 不需花4-6年的時間, 但本質上也有不同, 交流就像旅行, 你不會融入當地的文化中, 就像你去迪士尼3個月, 也不會變米奇老鼠. 但如果你是在一個地方生活, 你必須融入當地的文化, 交的朋友, 說的語言, 你是沒有得選擇的. 有人問過我, 在哪裡上堂學英文最好, 我說哪裡也不好, 你去外國生活, 英文自然會好, 因為在香港, 你學英文只不過是為興趣, 在外國, 學英文是為生存. 交流生有特別照顧, 很多生活上的問題都不用面對, 而且是人們關注的焦點, 大把人會對你好. 留學生卻不是這樣一會事, 所有的生活細節都要自己面對, 出來的結果是很不一樣的.

下一篇我的會寫寫子女外國升學的實施需要, 這篇的結論是如果有能力, 最好給子女廣闊眼光的機會, 他們不一定會多謝你 (人有時都很賤), 但對他們跟他們將來建立的社會都有好處.

P.S. 第一張圖是巴斯 (Bath), 巴斯大學 (University of Bath) 剛剛升上被評為英國第三最好的大學, 只在劍橋(Cambridge)跟牛津(Oxford)之下,當然大家都是極興奮, 因為巴斯大學只有46年的歷史, 已經得到如此地位, 的確神乎奇技, 但相比已有千年根基的劍橋牛津, 還是在不同的層次.

僱員自選安排 Employee Choice Arrangement (ECA)

尊敬的客戶和朋友，

我寫信給你，是因為俗稱強積金「半自由行」的僱員自選安排（ECA）將於今年11月1日實行。政府已通過法律，允許所有在目前強積金計劃下公民，將能夠自由選擇自己的強積金服務供應商。

根據最近由香港大學舉行的民意研究計劃，有超過六成半的公民不是很清楚有關安排的細節，所以我覺得我應該為我的客戶解釋這一安排，使你們可以作好準備。

根據現有計劃，雇主和僱員都必須作出為僱員的有關入息的5％的供款，僱員可以挑選的基金選擇, 必須是根據雇主的強積金服務供應商。僱員自選安排啟動後，員工允許每年最少一次切換自己的供款，到您最喜愛的強積金服務供應商。

新的強積金安排的第二個重大變化是，當僱員離開公司60日後，其「供款帳戶」將自動成為一個「保留帳戶」。僱員自選安排生效後，「保留帳戶」將改名為「個人賬戶」，如其所名，個人帳戶是用來積累僱員你自己的利益。員工將可以自由選擇在香港一個任何合法的強積金服務供應商申請自己的「個人帳戶」，每年至少一次從自己公司的供款帳戶，轉移到其個人帳戶。為可以更好的解釋，請參閱下表。

以此為契機，宏利正在推廣宣傳活動直到今年年底.
如果你在2012年8月1日至10月31日間在宏利申請「保留帳戶」, 或
將你的強積金累算權益從其他強積金服務供應商轉到宏利，
只要轉移資產超過5萬港幣，會有最多5000元的一次過紅利單位回贈。

如果您想了解更多的細節，隨時在辦公時間內聯絡我。

最好的問候,

嚴天浩 (保險代理登記號碼: 08190273, 強積金中介人註冊號碼: 074240)

Dear Clients and Friends,

I am writing to you regarding to the “Employee Choice Arrangement” (ECA) will commence on 1 November 2012. The government has passed law that allow all the citizen who are currently under the MPF scheme, will able to choose your own MPF service provider for your own contribution after this arrangement is launched.

According to a recent Public Opinion Programme held by The University of Hong Kong, there are over 65% of the citizen isn’t quite clear about the arrangement’s details, thus I feel I should write to my clients to explain this arrangement in order for you to be well prepared.

Under the current scheme, both employer and employee must contribute 5% of the employee’s relevant income into their accounts for retirement, and the fund choice the employee can pick must be under the employer’s MPF service provider. After ECA is launched, each year employee is allowed to switch your own part of contribution to your favourite MPF service provider.

The second major change of the new MPF arrangement is that, currently after an employee have left a company 60 days, its “contribution account” will converted to “preserve account” automatically. After ECA is effective, “Preserved Account” will be renamed to “Personal Account”, which suggest by the name it is a personal account for the employee, which allow them accumulate their own benefit. Employees will be able to choose to open their own “personal account” at any legit MPF service provider in Hong Kong freely, and transfer from their own contribution account to their personal account at least once a year. For better visual explanation, please see the table below.

For this opportunity, Manulife is running a promotion campaign until the end of this year

If you open a new preserve account between the 1^st of Aug and the 31^st of Oct, 2012, or

Transfer your MPF accumulated benefit from other MPF service provider to Manulife,

As long as the transfer asset is more than HKD$50,000, you will be given an extra bonus for $5000 max.

If you would like to know more details, feel free to contact me during the office hours.

Best regards

Calvin Yim (Insurance Agent Reg. No.: 08190273, MPF Reg. No.: 074240)

 

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 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 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:

http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-hk/

http://www.facebook.com/turkishairlines

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：

http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-hk/

http://www.facebook.com/turkishairlines

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

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

中場休息

波德萊爾說：女人們倦於愛戀，而男人們倦於寫作．

特別是純粹興趣沒有實質回報的時候，這和保險這份工作真的是南轅北轍．也實在很久沒有寫東西了，一半是懶，另一半也是懶，曾經打算一共寫365篇，兩年完成，現在已經三年半，目標一半也未達到，哈哈．

今天在這裡留一筆，希望很快可以從新開始寫作工作．