Investing is a lifetime matter. All of us need to invest to have funds for the future, our children's education, our retirement and for a rainy day. Because we are investing our savings, we must understand what we are buying, why we are buying, what risks we face and what our investment objectives are.

In fact, we all make savings and investment decisions all the time: whether to make a bank deposit, buy insurance, buy a house, or buy stocks, bonds, or unit trusts. Because we can face loss if we make the wrong decision, we have to be careful when making each decision. In making investments, it is easy to make mistakes. But not investing for the long term can also be a mistake, where one could face retirement without sufficient savings. Hence, we must all learn to invest wisely.

We in the SFC believe strongly that the quality of our market depends on the quality of our investors. And "learning by doing" is probably the best form of investor education. Good investor education will help retail investors invest wisely and protect themselves as markets inevitably move up and down.

Here,we introduce to you an investor education column hosted by "Dr Wise". Dr Wise is not a single person and different people within the SFC will write the column each month. We hope, through this column, to chat with you in plain language about key issues of investing and to explain regulatory issues in increasingly complex markets.

Why do we use Dr Wise? The reason is that the SFC is an organization and not a single person. We have many market specialists who can bring you different market perspectives. Hence, as a fictitious character, Dr Wise helps you to make more sense of investing and to invest wisely.

As a regulator, we cannot give investment advice on when and where to invest, or how much you ought to set aside for investing. This is the job of investment professionals. However, we can offer generic advice, help you get the key facts, and share with you the pros and cons of different financial products and services.

We cannot normally comment on individual or specific cases because we are subject to secrecy laws. However, we will monitor trends and draw your attention to potential issues. We appreciate your feedback, and when you write to Dr Wise, we will try to answer you through this column - not every single letter, but where the question is of wide interest.

You are always welcome to write to Dr Wise by email at InvestEd@sfc.hk.