If You Had Invested in the 'President's Fund,' What Would Your Returns Be Now?

President Lee's ETF Returns 171% Since Last May
Moon's Fund Yields 567%... "Still Holding It"
Former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Roh Moo-hyun Also Invested

As the KOSPI continues to hit record highs day after day, the returns on financial products that former and current presidents have invested in are also soaring.

According to the financial investment industry on April 27, the return of the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) purchased by President Lee Jaemyung has nearly doubled. During his candidacy last year, on May 28, President Lee pledged a "KOSPI 5000" and bought 20 million won worth of KODEX 200 and KODEX KOSDAQ150 ETFs from Samsung Asset Management. These products track the KOSPI index and the KOSDAQ150 index, respectively. At the time, President Lee also announced that he would invest 1 million won per month in the TIGER 200 ETF from Mirae Asset Global Investments for five years.

With the KOSPI index now surpassing 5,000 and reaching as high as 6,500, President Lee's returns have risen sharply. According to Fun ETF, as of April 22, the return on KODEX 200 since President Lee's purchase reached 171.94%, while KODEX KOSDAQ150 stood at 68.53%. A simple calculation suggests that he gained about 49.1 million won in profits over the past year.

Assuming a lump-sum investment, the return on TIGER 200 was also high at 174.42%. If President Lee had invested 1 million won per month for a year as a regular savings plan, he would have earned an estimated profit of 11.37 million won (95.6%).

Successive presidents have invested in a variety of fund products in line with their policy directions. Former President Moon Jae-in, for example, joined NH-Amundi Asset Management's "Pilseung Korea Fund," which invests in domestic materials, parts, and equipment companies, in August 2019 when Japan imposed export restrictions on key semiconductor materials. From that date until April 22, the return on the fund reached a remarkable 567.14%. A simple calculation on the original principal of 50 million won invested at the time amounts to a pure profit of about 288.78 million won. In a YouTube video released in February, former President Moon was asked, "Do you still hold the funds you joined while in office?" and he replied, "I still have them."

In January 2021, President Moon redeemed only the profits from the Pilseung Korea Fund and reinvested the amount into the "Korean New Deal Fund." He invested 10 million won each in the following products: TIGER BBIG ETF (then known as TIGER BBIG K-New Deal ETF), Samsung New Deal Korea Fund, KB Korea New Wave Fund (then KB Korea New Deal Fund), Shinhan Beautiful SRI Green New Deal 1, and HANARO Fn K-New Deal Digital Plus ETF.

The returns on these products were mixed. From the time of investment until April 22, the Samsung New Deal Korea Fund (137.13%), KB Korea New Wave Fund (78.36%), and Shinhan Beautiful SRI Green New Deal 1 (94.00%) generated profits. In contrast, ETFs such as TIGER BBIG (-37.00%) and HANARO Fn K-New Deal Digital Plus (-25.03%) incurred losses. This is attributed to the fact that, unlike actively managed funds where the manager’s expertise is reflected, passive ETFs simply track the index’s movements, leading to divergent returns.

Former President Lee Myung-bak invested in index funds to encourage stock investment when the global financial crisis hit in 2008 and the stock market stagnated. After his investment, the lump-sum returns on the Kyobo AXA Power Index Derivatives Fund 1-A and IBK (then Kieun SG) Grand Prix KRX100 Index A [Equity] were recorded at 788.39% and 718.85%, respectively. However, it is known that former President Lee invested through a regular savings plan, and it is unclear whether he has since redeemed the funds.

The late former President Roh Moo-hyun, concerned about capital flowing into real estate, diversified his investments by subscribing to eight equity funds with a high KOSDAQ allocation in July 2005, investing 10 million won in each. The specific products are unknown. At that time, the KOSDAQ index was around 520, and as of the close on April 23, it had risen to 1,174.31, suggesting growth of about 225%.

Additionally, the late former President Kim Dae-jung reportedly joined the "Save the Economy Stock Fund No. 1" during the 1998 financial crisis and achieved a return in the 70% range after one year. Former President Park Geun-hye made a lump-sum contribution of 20 million won and donated 20% of her monthly salary to the Youth Hope Fund in 2015. This fund was a "public-interest fund," meant for donations rather than profit.

Although the funds invested in by successive presidents have generated high returns, some advise that simply "following their investments" can be risky. An official at an asset management company commented, "The responsibility for investment lies with the investor, so you should not make 'blind investments.' It is important to determine whether a product matches your investment profile. Equity funds can yield high returns in a rising market, but depending on market conditions, there may be losses. Simply buying because a president did so does not align with sound investment principles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.