Funds are losing appeal as an investment option in Korea due to poor performance of underlying assets and returns, data showed.

According to a survey by Korea Financial Investors Protection Foundation on Wednesday, 33.8 percent out of 2,530 respondents aged 25-64 said they had money in funds as of December last year. A year ago, the ratio had been 35.3 percent.

At their heyday in 2008, investor ratio in funds hit 54.4 percent. The frenzy fizzled out from 2013 to hit the lowest 28.7 percent in 2014.

The number of accounts for the investment per person also has steadily decreased from 4.7 in 2014 to 4.5 in 2015, 4.3 in 2016, 4.2 in 2017, and 4 in 2018.

The majority of respondents – 81.8 percent – answered they would continue investment in funds, while another 11.8 percent were not sure whether to stay or not.

Concerns about losing money were the biggest reason for turnoff (26.9 percent), followed by memory about past losses (10.7 percent), poor returns (10.5 percent), and lack of knowledge about investment method (10.5 percent).

By Hong Hae-jin and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]