Too many preserved accounts? How to consolidate them

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

Hong Kong’s preserved MPF accounts — also called personal accounts — had quietly grown into the millions. The more accounts you hold, the harder they are to manage: annual benefit statements arrive from different trustees, and switching funds means filing separate instructions with each one. Consolidation is not difficult; the key is first finding out how many accounts you have, then choosing how to handle them.

What is an MPF preserved account?

An MPF preserved account — also called a personal account — holds the accrued benefits from a former employer’s scheme after you leave a job, keeping them invested. To simplify your life, you can consolidate several preserved accounts into one chosen scheme, so you deal with a single trustee’s paperwork and statements instead of many.

Step one: track down your accounts

Trustees issue an annual benefit statement after each financial period; together with your member certificate, these are the best clues to how many accounts you hold. If a statement fails to arrive within three months of a period’s end, you may have moved house without updating the trustee — contact them promptly to update your address and request a reissue, so you don’t miss your chance to review the portfolio.

Three ways to handle them

1. Leave them where they are. If you are satisfied with your current schemes and trustees and can cope with multiple accounts, do nothing and let the benefits keep compounding. Still, consider whether your fund choices continue to suit your needs.

2. Move them into your new employer’s scheme. If you want simpler administration — or find the old schemes underwhelming — transfer past accrued benefits into your new employer’s contribution account, so one account shows the whole picture.

3. Move them into a scheme of your choice. Open a preserved account under a trustee you prefer and manage everything in one place, with fund choices and fees you have chosen yourself.

Before picking a scheme, the MPF education guides explain the characteristics of different fund types to match your risk appetite.