Homework Before Switching: How to Use the MPF Service Comparison Platform

This article is a rewrite of a report from November 2012.

The same MPF comparison platform tells different people different things. Some read fund counts; others read service — the focus of this 2012 report: service is subjective, and beyond fees and returns, how a trustee treats you matters. (The original report was published incomplete; this covers the surviving content.)

What services can you compare?

Records, switching, support — three things. The MPFA’s trustee service comparison platform lines up account management, fund-switching arrangements and customer service side by side. Service isn’t as objective as fees or returns — some need 24-hour phone support, others want everything online. The platform lets you compare by your own needs.

How should you read fund counts?

Twenty-six isn’t automatically better than ten. Manulife Global Select and Standard Chartered Comprehensive topped the field at 26 funds each. But AXA’s Lee Ping-hei cautioned: fit is what counts. Young and aggressive? Bond-heavy feels wasteful. Near retirement? Equity-heavy feels reckless. Counts are a starting point, not the answer.

What’s the biggest cost of switching?

Six to eight weeks of doing nothing. Every trustee change brings a six-to-eight-week investment gap — the most concrete cost of switching, which no perk or rebate repays. That’s why the comparison platform matters before you move: don’t discover the service doesn’t suit you after switching.

What is the lesson from 2012?

2012 taught workers: switching buys service, not cheapness. The fee platform compares prices; the service platform compares treatment — together they make a complete MPF comparison. Years later, that remains mandatory homework before any switch.