How to Choose an MPF Scheme: Service, Choice and Fees

Over tea, Ah Chik’s old schoolmate Ka Lam mentioned her company now offers two trustees’ MPF schemes to choose from — and she had no idea how to pick. An mpf comparison across trustees, Ah Chik says, should weigh three things: service quality, fund choice and fees.

How do you pick the right MPF scheme?

Compare trustees’ service scope and standards first, then check the fund menu suits your taste. Members should assess service quality on several fronts: transparency of fund information, time needed to switch funds, frequency of fund fact sheets and annual benefit statements. Answers live in sales documents, member guides and brochures — or just ask the trustee. Then consider fund choice: like picking a restaurant for its menu, different trustees offer different line-ups, so find one matching your risk appetite.

How do you compare fees fairly?

Remember “you can’t compare oranges with apples”: only compare within the same category. Fees directly affect investment returns, covering trustee and management fees, investment management, administration, plus audit, legal and transaction costs — and special charges like guarantee fees. Within one scheme, fees differ by fund: equity funds generally cost more than MPF conservative funds because equity managers spend more on research. So always compare funds in the same category — never an equity fund against a conservative fund.

What tools help you shop around?

The fee tables in sales documents, and the MPFA’s fee comparison platform. Check individual fund fees in scheme sales documents, and use the MPFA website’s comparison platform for fund expense ratios (FER) across fund types. A little homework before choosing pays off over decades.

To compare charges and returns across MPF funds, visit MPF fund comparison.