21 February 2012: Legacy by HSBC

Due to the fact that I went to law school, my dad figured that I would be able to better appreciate the forum that HSBC sponsored yesterday. The forum was entitled "Legacy" and its tagline was Managing Wealth for the Future Generations. Honestly, I did not have high hopes for that day. Based on experience, I was usually the youngest in those kinds of things and the speakers were usually boring. I would always end up just sitting at the table, pretending to look interested and actually just staring blankly at the screen. And as to those times when food was served? Well, let's just say it's a good thing that I'm not that picky about my food. Haha. But I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out.

I was still the youngest in the room. And I still ended up just sitting at the table. But the speaker was quite interesting AND the food was pretty good. (Unfortunately, no pictures were taken as it didn't seem appropriate. It was a small room and a very small group. Too obvious.)

First, business before pleasure. It was a short talk, about an hour, give or take. The speaker spoke well, with a smooth and flowing rhythm. He even interjected humor at times. Taking into consideration the fact that his audience might not be well-versed with banker's lingo and the like, he would explain the concepts by means of visual and easy-to-understand diagrams. Personally, I don't think that I'll be able to apply what I learned to my own life, or at least not yet. But I know that it was interesting enough to catch my dad's attention. Who knew that a certain type of insurance policy could be a means of wealth accumulation? It was a different type of estate planning, one that would benefit one's future generations without sacrificing one's own standard of living.

Food was served throughout the talk. It consisted of 4 courses, with your choice of soft drinks, iced tea or water. The first course, the soup, was a smoked pumpkin soup. The second course, the salad, was my least favorite. And it was a bit confusing for me, dressing-wise. (My dad insists that the dressing was some sort of vinaigrette. For me, it tasted like some sort of Caesar.) But the accompanying walnut bread topped with goat cheese and a bit of tomato was yummy. The main course was steak with a red wine and mushroom gravy, accompanied by a creamy risotto and steamed vegetables. The dessert was a fruit salad mixture spread in between levels of a flaky pastry. The pastry was sooo good. But some of the fruits were on the sour side.

So my day was a full and productive one, for both my mind and my tummy. :p