Stuart Leckie's guest appearances

Stuart Leckie

Opalesque Radio

China Money Podcast - Audio Episodes

My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

SALT Talks

Winston Ma

Kevin Carter

Ted Seides

Raoul Pal

David Allen

Kyle Samani

Johnny FD

Kara Goldin

Adam Carroll

Kurt Andersen

Gary Vaynerchuk

Daniel Ramsey

Clayton Morris

Scott Smith

Stephen A. Smith

OwlTail

Stuart Leckie  is the Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association and was Chairman of the CFA Institute Advisory Council on Standards and Financial Market Integrity. He is the author of books titled "Investment Funds in China" and "Pension Funds in China".Hong Kong adopted the Mandatory Provident Fund in the 1990s that required residents to put money away monthly towards a retirement savings account. The Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association was created to address many of the questions surrounding the new program and offer guidance and expertise. —————————————————————————To learn more about this episode, including podcast transcripts and show notes, visit salt.org/talksModerated by Anthony Scaramucci. 

Stuart Leckie  is the Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association and was Chairman of the CFA Institute Advisory Council on Standards and Financial Market Integrity. He is the author of books titled "Investment Funds in China" and "Pension Funds in China".Hong Kong adopted the Mandatory Provident Fund in the 1990s that required residents to put money away monthly towards a retirement savings account. The Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association was created to address many of the questions surrounding the new program and offer guidance and expertise. —————————————————————————To learn more about this episode, including podcast transcripts and show notes, visit <a href="http://salt.org/talks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">salt.org/talks</a>Moderated by Anthony Scaramucci.

Stuart Leckie: Investments & Pensions in the Far East | SALT Talks #65

Stuart Leckie is based in Hong Kong and advises on investments and pensions in Hong Kong and Mainland China. He is the author of books titled "Pension Funds in China" and "Investment Funds in China". He was Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association, acts as an advisor or trustee to a number of funds and was the Chairman of the CFA Institute Advisory Council on Standards and Financial Market Integrity.   Stuart. Leckie worked in life insurance in the UK before moving to Hong Kong. He served as the Chairman of Willis Towers Watson (formerly Watson Wyatt) in Asia-Pacific and as Chairman of Fidelity Investments, Asia-Pacific. He has advised the Chinese Government on pension’s reform and advised the Hong Kong Government on the establishment of the Mandatory Provident Fund.   In this episode Stuart shares his worst investment ever story, investing £500,000 in an affiliate product he did not deeply understand which was actually offered by a trusted friend. Eventually, he stopped investing further after realizing he needed to do more due diligence into the person he originally trusted.    “Do not be afraid to ask information to people. If they do not like it, the investment is not for you.” - Stuart Leckie     What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? Tell us here!   Resources:   My Worst Investment Ever Book myworstinvestmentever.com  Pension Funds in China by Stuart Leckie Investment Funds in China. A new look by Stuart Leckie and Rita Xiao    Topics Covered:  00:44 – Stuart Leckie’s professional and personal background 02:33 – Stuart shares his worst investment ever story venturing into an affiliate product he did not understand 03:40 – Finding out that his trusted friend did not do his due diligence about the investment 04:28 – One of the personnel of the investment unaccounted the collected investment to the fund 06:11 – Availing the UK government grant for tax refund 07:16 – Lessons that Stuart learned from the experience 08:17 – The importance of reporting and transparency in any investment 09:42 – The circumstance that led him to invest in the fund his friend was offering him 10:40 – The different investment red flags Stuart encountered     Main Takeaways  Lesson 1: Do not touch things you do not understand. Get proper due diligence done. Performing due diligence will give you the necessary information that you need and it will help you vet out a possible investment. Lesson 2: Do not be afraid to push people especially those who are involved in your investment. If they do not like it that means that the investment is not for you. Do not be patient with people who seem to follow the time in the world and do what he likes about it.  Lesson 3: Importance of reporting and transparency in any investment.  Regularly sending the newsletter about the investment is important. Listing over the 9-parts bad news and the one-part good news. Financial reporting is important because people make their investment decisions based on the financial data of the company. Lesson 4: Never be afraid to tell bad news. You actually build a good reputation over time if you are the person that is willing to talk about it and say what you have learned from it.    You can also check out Andrew’s books  How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points    Connect with Stuart Leckie:  Linkedin Stirling Finance Limited    Connect with Andrew Stotz:  astotz.com Linkedin Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast 

Stuart Leckie is based in Hong Kong and advises on investments and pensions in Hong Kong and Mainland China. He is the author of books titled "Pension Funds in China" and "Investment Funds in China". He was Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association, acts as an advisor or trustee to a number of funds and was the Chairman of the CFA Institute Advisory Council on Standards and Financial Market Integrity.   Stuart. Leckie worked in life insurance in the UK before moving to Hong Kong. He served as the Chairman of Willis Towers Watson (formerly Watson Wyatt) in Asia-Pacific and as Chairman of Fidelity Investments, Asia-Pacific. He has advised the Chinese Government on pension’s reform and advised the Hong Kong Government on the establishment of the Mandatory Provident Fund.   In this episode Stuart shares his worst investment ever story, investing £500,000 in an affiliate product he did not deeply understand which was actually offered by a trusted friend. Eventually, he stopped investing further after realizing he needed to do more due diligence into the person he originally trusted.  “Do not be afraid to ask information to people. If they do not like it, the investment is not for you.” - Stuart Leckie What do you want to hear from the My Worst Investment Ever Podcast? <a href="https://www.facebook.com/andrewstotzpage/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Tell us here!</a> Resources:  <ul> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Worst-Investment-Ever-Andrew-Stotz-ebook/dp/B07C81PYP9" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">My Worst Investment Ever Book</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.myworstinvestmentever.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">myworstinvestmentever.com </a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pension-Funds-China-Stuart-Leckie/dp/9627762512" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Pension Funds in China by Stuart Leckie</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Investment-Funds-China-new-look/dp/9888151398" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Investment Funds in China. A new look by Stuart Leckie and Rita Xiao</a></li> </ul> Topics Covered:  00:44 – Stuart Leckie’s professional and personal background 02:33 – Stuart shares his worst investment ever story venturing into an affiliate product he did not understand 03:40 – Finding out that his trusted friend did not do his due diligence about the investment 04:28 – One of the personnel of the investment unaccounted the collected investment to the fund 06:11 – Availing the UK government grant for tax refund 07:16 – Lessons that Stuart learned from the experience 08:17 – The importance of reporting and transparency in any investment 09:42 – The circumstance that led him to invest in the fund his friend was offering him 10:40 – The different investment red flags Stuart encountered   Main Takeaways <ul> <li>Lesson 1: Do not touch things you do not understand. Get proper due diligence done. Performing due diligence will give you the necessary information that you need and it will help you vet out a possible investment.</li> <li>Lesson 2: Do not be afraid to push people especially those who are involved in your investment. If they do not like it that means that the investment is not for you. Do not be patient with people who seem to follow the time in the world and do what he likes about it. </li> <li>Lesson 3: Importance of reporting and transparency in any investment.  Regularly sending the newsletter about the investment is important. Listing over the 9-parts bad news and the one-part good news. Financial reporting is important because people make their investment decisions based on the financial data of the company.</li> <li>Lesson 4: Never be afraid to tell bad news. You actually build a good reputation over time if you are the person that is willing to talk about it and say what you have learned from it.</li> </ul> You can also check out Andrew’s books <ul> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Start-Building-Wealth-Investing-Market-ebook/dp/B00Y25765G/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=How+to+Start+Building+Your+Wealth+Investing+in+the+Stock+Market&amp;qid=1552861894&amp;s=digital-text&amp;sr=1-1-fkmrnull" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Worst-Investment-Ever-Andrew-Stotz-ebook/dp/B07C81PYP9/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=My+Worst+Investment+Ever&amp;qid=1552861947&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmrnull" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">My Worst Investment Ever</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Valuation-Mistakes-How-Avoid-Them/dp/1723884960/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=9+Valuation+Mistakes+and+How+to+Avoid+Them&amp;qid=1552861978&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmrnull" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Transform-Your-Business-Dr-Demings-Points-ebook/dp/B00U5SRHJ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1524026915&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=andrew+stotz" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points</a></li> </ul> Connect with Stuart Leckie: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-leckie-557b30" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Linkedin</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.stirlingfinance.biz/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Stirling Finance Limited</a></li> </ul> Connect with Andrew Stotz: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.astotz.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">astotz.com</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewstotz/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Linkedin</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/andrewstotzpage" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/andstotz/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/Andrew_Stotz" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/andrewstotzpage" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Youtube</a></li> <li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/my-worst-investment-ever-podcast/id1416554991?mt=2" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">My Worst Investment Ever Podcast</a></li> </ul>

Stuart Leckie – The Cost of Friendship: How your Friends Impact Your Investment Decision

In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Stuart Leckie, chairman of Stirling Finance, spoke to our host Nina Xiang.Leckie shared his views on how China's provincial pension funds should diversify their investments, and the possibility of China establishing more national level funds to manage its pension assets.Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast’s Youtube channel or Youku channel.Q: You have done a lot of work with the Chinese central government on reforming and restructuring the pension systems. Can you first give us a brief introduction on China's current pension system?A: You have to differentiate between people with urban and rural residence cards. The rural part is very tiny and backward in terms of pension provision.But the urban system is becoming more sophisticated. Part of it is unfunded. It's pay-as-you-go. The other part is funded, but very conservatively funded, typically in government bonds and cash deposits.Its returns have been equal or a bit ahead of price inflation, but have been way behind salary increases because salaries have been growing very rapidly in China in the past 20 years.Q: The government realizes this and is seeking to change the situation...Q: Yes, actually during the stock market crash in the summer, the government said that it would allow some provincial pensions to invest in the stock market.But back to China's urban pension system, all urban employees, whether employed by state-owned enterprises, private companies, joint ventures or foreign companies, should pay 8% of their monthly salary as contributions.Employers will pay around 20%. They are very high contribution rates, which is to pay off the "legacy" pensions from the old state-owned enterprise pension system.The so-called enterprise annuity in China is indeed a kind of corporate pension plan. They can invest up to 30% in equities. So they have much more flexible investment parameters than the state benefits have.Q: How big is the enterprise annuity plans now?A: It has been growing reasonably quickly. There are over 20 million people in China with enterprise annuity plans, but as a proportion of China's total work population, it's still very small.Q: The biggest pension fund in China, the pension fund of last-resort, is the National Social Security Fund (NSSF)...A: Well, the NSSF is generally classified as a sovereign wealth fund, not a pension fund. A pension fund should know who are the beneficiaries, but we don't know who will be the beneficiaries and how will NSSF's money be used.Sometimes, I am asked to comment on the diversification of the NSSF. My answer is that if you can tell me exactly the nature and duration of its liabilities, I will tell you if the diversification is good. But we don't know much about NSSF's liabilities.Q: The NSSF was able to achieve a 11.69% return for 2014, really not bad? A: Yes, the NSSF is able to hire Chinese returnees who have worked overseas for decades.But still, I remember a few years after it was established, it sent out a request for proposals, all in Chinese, to the international fund management community on the day before Christmas.But the document spelled out everything it requested, including the tracking error. At that time, nobody knew that the NSSF knew what a tracking error was.But they did end up awarding eight international investment managers for different international equity mandates. They went for the big names, understandably.Q: It's pretty impossible for any small alternative investment manager to get in the door with NSSF or China Investment Corp (CIC)? A: Yes, because these are monster funds. Their minimum investment will be perhaps hundreds of millions U.S. dollars.But the Chinese funds also bargain hard for fees.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Stuart Leckie, chairman of Stirling Finance, spoke to our host Nina Xiang. Leckie shared his views on how China's provincial pension funds should diversify their investments, and the possibility of China establishing more national level funds to manage its pension assets. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast’s Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: You have done a lot of work with the Chinese central government on reforming and restructuring the pension systems. Can you first give us a brief introduction on China's current pension system? A: You have to differentiate between people with urban and rural residence cards. The rural part is very tiny and backward in terms of pension provision. But the urban system is becoming more sophisticated. Part of it is unfunded. It's pay-as-you-go. The other part is funded, but very conservatively funded, typically in government bonds and cash deposits. Its returns have been equal or a bit ahead of price inflation, but have been way behind salary increases because salaries have been growing very rapidly in China in the past 20 years. Q: The government realizes this and is seeking to change the situation... Q: Yes, actually during the stock market crash in the summer, the government said that it would allow some provincial pensions to invest in the stock market. But back to China's urban pension system, all urban employees, whether employed by state-owned enterprises, private companies, joint ventures or foreign companies, should pay 8% of their monthly salary as contributions. Employers will pay around 20%. They are very high contribution rates, which is to pay off the "legacy" pensions from the old state-owned enterprise pension system. The so-called enterprise annuity in China is indeed a kind of corporate pension plan. They can invest up to 30% in equities. So they have much more flexible investment parameters than the state benefits have. Q: How big is the enterprise annuity plans now? A: It has been growing reasonably quickly. There are over 20 million people in China with enterprise annuity plans, but as a proportion of China's total work population, it's still very small. Q: The biggest pension fund in China, the pension fund of last-resort, is the National Social Security Fund (NSSF)... A: Well, the NSSF is generally classified as a sovereign wealth fund, not a pension fund. A pension fund should know who are the beneficiaries, but we don't know who will be the beneficiaries and how will NSSF's money be used. Sometimes, I am asked to comment on the diversification of the NSSF. My answer is that if you can tell me exactly the nature and duration of its liabilities, I will tell you if the diversification is good. But we don't know much about NSSF's liabilities. Q: The NSSF was able to achieve a 11.69% return for 2014, really not bad? A: Yes, the NSSF is able to hire Chinese returnees who have worked overseas for decades. But still, I remember a few years after it was established, it sent out a request for proposals, all in Chinese, to the international fund management community on the day before Christmas. But the document spelled out everything it requested, including the tracking error. At that time, nobody knew that the NSSF knew what a tracking error was. But they did end up awarding eight international investment managers for different international equity mandates. They went for the big names, understandably. Q: It's pretty impossible for any small alternative investment manager to get in the door with NSSF or China Investment Corp (CIC)? A: Yes, because these are monster funds. Their minimum investment will be perhaps hundreds of millions U.S. dollars. But the Chinese funds also bargain hard for fees.

Stuart Leckie: Chinese Pensions Should Allocate Assets Into Exchange Traded Funds