'Samsung, SK Hynix went up — was that my skill?' PB warns of investor illusions in the Kospi 9000 era

From income strategies to semiconductor-led growth stocks — demand for wrap accounts and private equity funds grows

Semiconductor supercycle reshapes private banker consultations: 'Adapting matters more than picking the right stock'

Investors who sold leading stocks too early have regrets: 'Responding to change beats predicting it'

Ji Su-young, branch manager of Yuanta Securities Korea's sales division, speaks with The Herald Business at the company's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. [Yuanta Securities Korea]

"In the Kospi 9000 era, adapting to market shifts matters more than picking the right stock."

As the Kospi breaks through the 9000 mark, high-net-worth investors are rethinking their strategies. Those who sought bonds and income-focused approaches as recently as last year are now pivoting to semiconductor-led growth stocks or turning to professionally managed products such as wrap accounts and private equity funds. On the front lines of private banking, the consensus is clear: responding to market change has never been more important than trying to predict it.

Ji Su-young, branch manager of Yuanta Securities Korea's sales division, manages 250 high-net-worth clients with 250 billion won ($162 million) in assets under management. In a recent interview, Ji said income strategies were effective when markets lacked direction, but the landscape has shifted. "We are now in a semiconductor supercycle led by South Korea," she said. "A flexible management strategy that adapts to market changes has become more important than chasing individual stocks."

The first thing to change was the questions clients were asking. "Their biggest concern is no longer what to buy, but when to buy and when to sell," Ji said. "The longer a bull market runs, the more complicated investors' psychology becomes."

According to Ji, a growing number of clients who bought Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares years ago and then forgot about them have been coming in for consultations. After the semiconductor rally, investors who had not checked their accounts in years found that holdings worth tens of millions of won had grown to hundreds of millions. Their first question was not "Should I buy more?" but "When should I sell?"

There were also plenty of investors with regrets — those who had sold Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix too early. After deciding the major semiconductor stocks had risen enough and locking in profits, many switched into small- and mid-cap stocks that had lagged behind, only to watch the leading stocks climb again. Ji said a significant number of those clients came back expressing a sense of relative deprivation.

"If you assume that what has risen must fall and what has lagged must catch up, you will easily miss the trend," Ji said. "The longer a bull market continues, the more important it is to respond rather than predict."

That dynamic is driving more investors to entrust their assets to professional managers rather than timing individual trades themselves. "Public funds have limits on how much they can allocate to any single stock, but wrap accounts and private equity funds can invest more flexibly in specific sectors or names and adjust their weightings as market conditions change," Ji said. "In a market led by a dominant theme like semiconductors, that operational flexibility becomes a real advantage."

She added that seasoned investors tend to focus less on short-term returns and more on how a manager navigated both bull and bear markets before committing additional capital to those with a proven track record.

The numbers bear this out. Yuanta Securities Korea's discretionary investment assets grew roughly 68 percent, from 1.7396 trillion won in the first quarter of last year to 2.9301 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, and total wrap account balances surpassed 2.5 trillion won as of April 20.

Ji identified "illusion" as the single biggest risk investors face in the current market. "Many people see their holdings rise in a good market and mistake that for their own investment skill," she said. "The moment you confuse lucky gains with genuine ability, investing becomes much harder. In the Kospi 9000 era, adapting to market change matters more than picking the right stock."

hajun825@heraldcorp.com