If You Had Followed, You'd Have Doubled Your Money... Presidential Fund Returns Revealed

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

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According to the financial investment industry on April 27, the returns on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) purchased by President Lee Jaemyung have nearly doubled. During his candidacy last year, on May 28, President Lee pledged a "KOSPI 5000" and purchased 20 million won each of Samsung Asset Management's KODEX 200 and KODEX KOSDAQ150 ETFs, both of which track the KOSPI and KOSDAQ150 indexes, respectively. At that time, President Lee also announced his intention to invest 1 million won per month in Mirae Asset Global Investments’ TIGER 200 ETF for five years.

Now that the KOSPI index has surpassed 5,000 and reached 6,500, President Lee's returns have risen sharply as well. According to Fun ETF, as of April 22, after President Lee's purchase, KODEX 200 has yielded a return of 171.94%, while KODEX KOSDAQ150 has returned 68.53%. A simple calculation shows that he has earned a profit of approximately 49.1 million won over the past year.

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Assuming a lump-sum investment, the return on TIGER 200 is also high at 174.42%. If 1 million won had been invested monthly for a year, as per President Lee's plan, the estimated profit would be 11.37 million won (95.6%).

Successive presidents have invested in various fund products in line with their policy directions. Former President Moon Jae-in joined the "Pilseung Korea Fund" by NH-Amundi Asset Management, which invests in domestic materials, parts, and equipment companies, in August 2019 when Japan imposed export restrictions on key semiconductor materials. From that date to April 22, the fund has posted a staggering return of 567.14%. With the original principal of 50 million won invested at that time, the net profit alone amounts to approximately 288.78 million won. In a YouTube video released in February, former President Moon responded to a question about whether he still held the fund he joined during his presidency, saying, "I still have it."

In January 2021, President Moon redeemed only the profits from the Pilseung Korea Fund and reinvested the amount, adding extra funds, into the "Korea New Deal Fund." He invested 10 million won each in the following products: TIGER BBIG ETF (then 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 have varied. From the point of investment to 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. On the other hand, ETFs such as TIGER BBIG (-37.00%) and HANARO Fn K-New Deal Digital Plus (-25.03%) suffered losses. Whereas actively managed funds benefited from the manager’s expertise, passive ETFs simply tracked index fluctuations, resulting in divergent returns.

Former President Lee Myung-bak, in response to a sluggish stock market during the 2008 global financial crisis, invested in index funds to encourage stock investment. Since his investment, the lump-sum returns for Kyobo AXA Power Index Derivatives 1-A and IBK (then Kieun SG) Grand Prix KRX100 Index A [Stocks] have reached 788.39% and 718.85%, respectively. However, it has been reported that former President Lee used a systematic investment plan at the time, and whether he has redeemed these funds is unknown.

The late President Roh Moo-hyun, concerned about excessive capital flow into real estate, invested 10 million won each in eight equity funds with a high proportion of KOSDAQ stocks in July 2005. The specific products are not known. At that time, the KOSDAQ index was around 520, and as of market close on April 23, it had risen to 1,174.31, suggesting an approximate 225% growth.

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

Although the funds invested in by former presidents have delivered high returns, experts caution that simply "following their investments" is risky. An asset management company official stated, "Responsibility for investment lies with the investor, so one should not make blind investments. It is important to assess whether the product matches one's investment profile. Equity funds can rise significantly in a bullish market, but may also incur losses depending on market conditions, so simply buying because a president did is not in line with sound investment principles."

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