Chan, a busy 40+ year old telecoms executive and Kevin 38 a very successful restaurateur have been domestic partners for more than ten years. Both are high earners. Chan receives large bonuses each year when times are good, and Kevin’s restaurant is now at the point where it’s generating significant profit on a monthly basis, even after he draws a modest salary.

They’ve done well in the Hong Kong property market buying a flat whenever they could and until recently had nearly ten properties they had made for investment purposes. But in the past few years, since the rules for obtaining mortgages in Hong Kong have changed, they’ve liquidated most of their properties, and are now in a very enviable position of having close to USD 4 million in cash.

Because they are bullish about the property market, having done so well in Hong Kong, they wanted to seek out other opportunities, also in real estate. They know that London is a preferred investment destination for others looking to build wealth through real estate. Since they figured that the Hong Kong market had overheated, and was set for a correction, the UK property market became their target.

Chan and Kevin decided to leverage as much as possible, so their London properties were bought with small down payments, and were mostly mortgaged from the bank. Their intention is to rent the property out through a professional UK estate agency while they remain in Hong Kong where their friends and most of their family are.

They also want to commit around one million USD to the equity markets and leave it there for at least five years, but still have access to liquidity if anything comes up. Although they are both financially savvy, neither has the time, knowledge or inclination to make initial and ongoing investment decisions around their own portfolio.
The men together and separately completed a risk profile questionnaire and are eager to take an aggressive approach. They feel that equity markets are still in a bull phase, and will continue to be so for the next several years. Not everyone takes this sanguine approach to equities right now though – nothing risked, nothing gained.

Their investment was established on a joint life second death basis for tax purposes and is initially diversified across 20 individual holdings. When the Credit Suisse LGBT Equality Portfolio becomes available in Hong Kong, they will move the lion’s share of their investment into that fund. Currently their holdings are closely monitored by the Portfolio Management Team who are appointed to act as discretionary managers in line with Kevin and Chan’s long term objectives which are reviewed on a quarterly basis with their Discretion Wealth Management consultant.