The ambitious project of Seo Yu-seok, chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, known as the Didim Fund, is maintaining a solid performance despite the chaotic market atmosphere as it marks three months since its launch. The Didim Fund is a retirement pension product that pursues medium risk and medium revenue, and it has been found to slightly outperform the Target Date Fund (TDF) in terms of revenue since its introduction.
The Didim Fund is a retirement pension product that limits the stock allocation ratio to less than 50% and pursues market-neutral performance of around 5%. It was introduced according to Seo Yu-seok's intention that a more stable 'catfish' product is needed in the domestic retirement pension market, which is almost dominated by TDFs that adjust portfolios according to retirement timing. The brand name 'Didim' is reported to be directly created by Seo.
According to fund evaluator Zero-In on the 24th, the average revenue rate of the 25 Didim Funds officially launched on September 25 this year is 2.75%, based on the closing price on the 19th. Considering that the KOSPI index fell by 6.18% from 2,596.32 to 2,435.93 during the same period, this is quite a satisfactory performance.
Among the 25 Didim Funds, 23 are showing positive (+) revenue rates, while 2 are displaying negative (-) revenue rates. The fund with the highest revenue rate among them is Samsung Asset Management's 'Samsung Didim Mil-Dang Squirrel Global EMP', which recorded 7.91%. This product flexibly adjusts the investment ratio of global stocks and bonds based on an economic phase model developed by Samsung Asset Management.
Conversely, the fund with the lowest revenue rate is IBK Asset Management's 'IBK Didim Income Vanilla EMP', which is currently at -3.66%. This product is a fund that diversifies investment in global income-generating assets.
The target revenue rate that the Didim Fund aims for (around 5%) falls in between principal-protected products and the expected revenue rate of TDFs. However, looking at performance alone since its launch, the Didim Fund is indicated to slightly surpass TDFs. According to Zero-In, the revenue rate for 186 types of TDFs released in Korea after September 25 is an average of 2.73%.
However, when considering the highest revenue rates by product, TDFs lead. The top TDF revenue rate is recorded by Korea Investment Trust Management's 'Korea Investment TDF Gold 2080', which stands at 10.70%. This product is designed for long-term investment with the retirement timing set for 2080. Its feature is to increase the stock ratio while also incorporating gold, which has a low correlation with stocks, thereby improving the risk-return ratio.
Before the launch of the Didim Fund, there were pessimistic forecasts regarding its success potential. Although a balance fund (BF) that pursues medium risk and medium revenue already exists in the market, it failed to thrive. Concerns were also raised regarding the fact that banks, the largest sales avenues for funds, do not handle Didim Funds. Many were uncertain whether asset management firms would invest in the Didim Fund, which inevitably competes with their own existing retirement pension products such as TDFs. In reality, while the funds flowing into the Didim Fund are modest compared to TDFs, its operational performance is not lacking.
The Korea Financial Investment Association stated that the Didim Fund aims to attract principal-protected retirement pension subscribers rather than TDFs. A representative from the association noted, "The Didim Fund diversifies investments in stocks, bonds, and alternative assets similar to the national pension, providing stability comparable to deposits while offering higher revenue rates than deposits. There is certainly demand among conservative subscribers who want to protect their retirement funds and hope for revenue rates above bank interest rates."