Mok Dae-gyun, head of KCGI Asset Management, is releasing a new book that contains more than 20 years of investing experience and decision-making principles.
KCGI Asset Management said on the 21st that Mok's new book, "To buy, to sell, or to hold," will be published on the 27th. Rather than forecasting the market's direction or promising stocks, the book addresses what criteria investors should use to decide whether to buy, sell, or hold in a market of sharp swings.
Mok worked at the Daewoo Securities research center, handled global management at Mirae Asset Global Investments, and is now CEO of KCGI Asset Management. Based on more than 10,000 choices made while investing in the market for over 20 years, the book includes not only success stories but also misjudgments and failures.
It also presents what decisions were actually made and what was missed at key market inflection points such as the 2008 global financial crisis, the 2011 European debt crisis, the China and commodities markets, and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on the basis for decisions at the time and the subsequent review process rather than simple tales of investment success.
The book organizes investment decisions into the process of "hypothesis → falsification → execution → outcome → misjudgment analysis → next choice." It says that before buying, investors should confirm the possibility that the investment hypothesis is wrong, and while holding, they should check whether the initial investment thesis remains valid rather than focusing on price.
Mok stresses in particular that surviving to bear losses and seize the next opportunity is more important than getting the market right. In the book, he said, "It is not prediction but survival. Compound returns work only if there is survival."
Endorsements come from 11 figures in the financial investment industry, including former KB Financial Group Chairman Yun Jong-gyu, former Korea Financial Investment Association Chairman Hwang Young-gi, Meritz Financial Group Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom, and KCGI Chairman Kang Sung-bu.