About Compass Rose
A Practice Built on Patience and Clarity
We are a Hong Kong-based education practice that helps mature investors think carefully about currency — without pressure, speculation, or jargon.
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Founded to Fill a Gap That Most Institutions Ignore
Compass Rose was established in 2017 by a small group of educators and financial professionals who had spent many years working with Hong Kong's expatriate and cross-border communities. What they kept observing was the same gap: investors in their 40s and 50s who held assets in several currencies, who knew those currencies mattered, but who had never been given a framework to think about them clearly.
Most financial education in Hong Kong was either too introductory — aimed at first-time savers — or too product-focused, steering participants toward specific investment vehicles rather than genuine understanding. There was very little in between that treated currency as a subject worth studying on its own terms.
The practice was set up to occupy that space. It operates from a small suite of rooms on Wellington Street in Sheung Wan — chosen partly for its history as one of the city's older commercial streets, and partly because it sits at a comfortable distance from the financial district noise. The programmes run in small cohorts, the materials are written in plain English, and no one at Compass Rose holds a licence to sell financial products. That independence is deliberate.
Since opening, Compass Rose has run programmes for several hundred Hong Kong residents — returning expats planning retirements across borders, professionals rethinking their savings mix, and families navigating properties or education costs in multiple currencies. The focus has remained the same throughout: careful thinking over quick conclusions.
Our Mission
To provide Hong Kong investors with structured, honest, and product-neutral education about currency — so they can make considered decisions about their multi-currency assets, savings, and retirement plans without relying on advice coloured by commercial interests.
Our Values
- Clarity over complexity. Currency topics can be made more complicated than they need to be. We aim for the opposite.
- Independence above all. We do not sell products, manage money, or accept referral arrangements. Our only interest is in participants understanding what they are learning.
- Patience as a method. Long-horizon thinking cannot be rushed. Our programmes are designed for people who are comfortable working through ideas carefully.
Where We Are
8/F, The Wellington, 198 Wellington Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
+852 2172 6938
The Team
The People Behind the Programmes
Margaret Chan
Programme Director
Margaret spent fourteen years in corporate treasury before moving into financial education. She leads curriculum development and oversees all three programmes, with a particular interest in how currency exposure interacts with retirement planning for cross-border families.
Richard Kwok
Senior Educator
Richard's background spans fifteen years in private banking and a decade in adult education. He facilitates the Currency Basics and Multi-Currency Savings programmes, and writes most of the worked examples used in course materials.
Sonia Lam
Research & Materials
Sonia manages the research underpinning course content, ensuring historical exchange-rate examples remain accurate and that references to Hong Kong financial regulations are kept current. She also coordinates programme scheduling and participant enquiries.
Standards
How We Maintain Quality
Currency education is only useful when the underlying information is accurate and the context is relevant. These are the standards we hold ourselves to.
Annual Curriculum Review
All course materials are reviewed each year against changes in Hong Kong's regulatory environment, updates to HKD peg conditions, and shifts in the regional financial landscape.
Commercial Independence
Compass Rose accepts no referral fees, commissions, or advertising arrangements. Educators are salaried; there is no financial incentive to steer participants toward any product or provider.
Small Cohort Sizes
Programmes are capped at twelve participants per cohort. This allows facilitators to address individual questions and ensures discussion remains grounded in real situations rather than abstract scenarios.
Data Privacy
Participant information is held only for the purposes of programme delivery and is not shared with third parties. We comply with Hong Kong's Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486).
Historical Examples Only
All exchange-rate examples used in courses are historical and clearly dated. No speculative projections or market forecasts appear in course materials.
Post-Programme Feedback
Each cohort completes a structured review at the end of their programme. Feedback is used directly in the following curriculum update cycle and shapes how sessions are facilitated.
Our Approach
Currency Knowledge as a Long-Term Asset
Hong Kong's position as an international financial hub means that multi-currency exposure is almost an inevitability for residents with meaningful savings. Pensions may be denominated in pounds or Canadian dollars; properties may be valued in renminbi or Australian dollars; children's education costs may fall in US dollars or Singapore dollars. The HKD peg adds a further layer: understanding what it means for purchasing power when spending elsewhere is something many residents have never had the opportunity to work through carefully.
Compass Rose was designed around the observation that most of this knowledge is available — in scattered form, across textbooks, bank publications, and financial journalism — but rarely assembled in a way that allows a thoughtful investor to see the whole picture. Our programmes do that assembly work. They bring the relevant concepts together in a logical sequence, illustrated with real historical data and worked through in the context of the decisions participants are actually facing.
The result is not a set of trading rules or investment recommendations. It is a more informed and confident way of reading one's own financial situation — one that holds up over years rather than weeks.
Speak with Us Before You Enrol
We are happy to answer questions about the programmes or suggest which course fits your situation. There is no obligation involved.
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