A winner of the prestigious Ten Outstanding Young Persons Selection award has incurred wrath for her comments on personal finances and property-buying in Hong Kong.
Fonia Wong Yeung-fong, an investment manager at Sun Hung Kai-owned wealth management specialist SHK Private, attended the awards ceremony on Sunday — where she shared her thoughts on garnering personal wealth and climbing the notoriously challenging property ladder, reports Apple Daily.
“What other people achieve in 20 years, you have to figure out if you can get the same done in five,” Wong told reporters.
“I bought a property at 27, and had paid it off by 29.”
She advised young people to “give up their interests” and “sacrifice fun” in order to chase their dreams. “Over a period of 10 years, I had been to fewer than five movies and five concerts,” she was quoted as saying. We’re guessing we’re supposed to be impressed by that.
She is said to have a net worth of over HKD10 million, with multiple properties under her name, the paper said.
Wong was subsequently criticised for her remarks, with some netizens questioning why she had been chosen as a Ten Outstanding Young Persons Selection winner.
“To my understanding, the Selection picks people who have great contributions, not someone who has managed to buy a property or whatever… You’re a money-making machine. Don’t talk like you’re a great person. Bitch,” one wrote.
“What she does is called surviving, not living. I’m poor, but I’m happy,” said another.
Some were slightly sympathetic, however. One netizen wrote, “Miss Wong is successful for a reason… A lot of people can’t handle her ego, and that’s why it’s being talked about.”
The Ten Outstanding Young Persons Selection has been run annually by non-profit Junior Chamber International since 1970.
It awards Hong Kong people aged between 21 and 40 who have made significant contributions to the community.
No word if she’s in the running for an award for being the least fun person to hang round with at parties though.
