Protection, savings, retirement, education, property and tax, arranged by life stage

Definition: the object of planning is cash flow and responsibility, not products

Life-stage wealth planning is a method that recalculates a household's finances at each stage of life. It converts income, spending, debts and family duties into six numbers: the protection gap, the emergency fund, the retirement gap, the education reserve, debt capacity and tax deductions. Only after those numbers exist does the method ask which tools fill them, and in Hong Kong the statutory tools already define most of the menu. The site uses five stages (single, newly married, with children, pre-retirement, retired) because the trigger for a recalculation is a change in responsibility, not a birthday.

The six modules and the Hong Kong rules behind them

Protection gap: two methods

The needs method subtracts available resources (liquid assets, existing sum assured, MPF accrued benefits, the present value of a spouse's income) from future outgoings after the event (living costs times years, outstanding debts, education, one-off costs). The multiple-of-income method multiplies annual income by 5 to 10; the Insurance Authority's 2021 study found the average Hong Kong gap equal to 5.7 times annual income. The needs method gives a term, which allows the gap to be met with term life insurance; the multiple method has no term and serves only as a check. Critical illness is usually sized at two to three years of expenses plus self-funded treatment; the medical gap is the difference between private hospital charges and insurance limits; the income gap is monthly expenses less savings and MPF early withdrawal on total incapacity.

Liquidity: emergency fund and four savings layers

The emergency fund is monthly essential expenses times a number of months (three to six for a salaried single, six for a two-income couple, six to twelve for a single-income family, twelve to twenty-four as a drawdown buffer in retirement). It sits in current accounts and short time deposits, split across banks above HK$800,000. Other savings are layered by purpose: layer one for emergencies, layer two for one- to three-year goals (time deposits, money market funds), layer three for three- to ten-year goals (the guaranteed part of savings insurance, bond funds), layer four for ten years and beyond (equity funds, TVC, QDAP). An upper layer never borrows from a lower one.

Retirement: MPF, deductible products and drawdown

MPF contributions are 5% each from employer and employee, capped at HK$1,500 a month each. Employee mandatory contributions deduct up to HK$18,000 a year. TVC and QDAP premiums share a HK$60,000 annual cap; at the 17% top marginal rate the saving is at most HK$10,200. TVC is locked until 65; a QDAP needs total premiums of at least HK$180,000, a payment period of at least five years, an annuity period of at least ten years starting at 50 or later. The offsetting arrangement was abolished on 1 May 2025, the eMPF Platform completed onboarding of all 24 schemes on 30 April 2026, and phase one of full portability is targeted for 21 December 2026. From 65, benefits can be taken as a lump sum, in instalments (the first four each year free) or left invested. The HKMC Annuity Plan (age 60 or above, HK$50,000 to HK$5 million) and the Reverse Mortgage Programme (age 55 or above) are the public tools for longevity and property-rich, cash-poor retirees. Public hospital charges since 1 January 2026 carry an annual cap of HK$10,000 excluding self-financed items.

Education, property and tax

An education reserve is a year-by-year spending table less expected grants, discounted at a conservative return to a monthly saving. Local degree tuition is published through 2027/28; overseas costs should be taken from each institution's current fees with exchange-rate assumptions stated separately. For property, the four numbers are LTV (70%, or 80% to 90% with mortgage insurance), DSR (50%), a self-imposed rate-rise scenario now that the stress test is suspended, and cash for the deposit and stamp duty (HK$100 on properties at or below HK$4 million since 26 February 2025). Life cover should match the mortgage balance and term. For tax, the 2026/27 allowance increases come from the 2026-27 Budget and are reflected in the IRD's August 2026 table, subject to enactment; deductions include home loan interest or domestic rent at HK$100,000 (HK$120,000 when living with a child born on or after 25 October 2023), self-education at HK$100,000 and charitable donations at 35% of income.

Who the site is for, and what it does not do

The site is for readers who want to run the numbers themselves at any of the five stages, including Mainland residents who plan to insure or buy property in Hong Kong and need the compliance notes: policies must be signed in person in Hong Kong with the Important Facts Statement for Mainland Policyholders, cross-border funds are subject to Mainland foreign-exchange rules, and Hong Kong deductions matter only to those with Hong Kong assessable income. The site recommends no products, cites no illustrated returns, gives no investment or tax advice, carries on no sales activity in Mainland China, and defers every figure to the issuing authority's current document.