KDI School alumnus Hyung-Ho Kim (MAM 2006) recently published a book titled Bond Investment Note, providing all the proven analyses and tactics for bond investments.

With his 20 years of experience and know-how from Yuhwa Securities, Chohung Investment Trust Management Company, Tongyang ITMC, and currently as the Executive Director at Investment Trust Management, Kim presents a straightforward approach to understanding the basic nature of bonds and the fundamental principles of bond investments within the context of the capital market.

The book is offered to professionals in the financial investment sector as well as ordinary individuals interested in bond investments. "Generally, people believe that bond investments are extremely complicated and prefer to invest in stock markets instead. From my experience, investing in bonds is at least ten times easier than stocks. When my colleagues in the bond investment industry heard about my book publication, they all were amazed about the length of my book because for them just around ten pages of written document is enough to explain the entire process of bond investment. That’s how simple bond investment is in reality. Instead of writing ten pages, I wrote almost 300 pages to provide step-by-step explanations so that it is easy to understand and apply." Kim had a lecture at the Korea Fixed Income Research Institute the evening before the interview and he had a number of other scheduled lectures coming up. "Knowledge regarding the stock market has flourished nowadays. Individuals are active in the stock market, people talk about it everyday, and there are a lot of books about it. However, people are not too familiar with bonds as of yet. I am doing my best to change that and broaden knowledge regarding bond investments in general. I hope this book can contribute to the same purpose." Although the office building had a peaceful view facing Yeoido Park, it was possible to feel the tension inside Kim’s private office.

Piles of documents and texts, three monitors full of charts and numbers, constant phone calls, and the sounds of the Bloomberg Financial News were more than enough to understand how busy Kim was. Nevertheless, Kim spent over an hour on this occasion to share his expertise and knowledge. He also shared some of his experiences and thoughts regarding the KDI School. "I have remarkable memories from my experiences at the KDI School. It was a great educational challenge and I am extremely proud of my Master’s Degree in Asset Management.

A lot of the materials I learned in class have been included in the book. The professors and the textbooks provided me with an additional perspective other than the ones that are regularly practiced in the investment business." When asked for a word of advice, especially for general applicants, he strongly recommended all students take full advantages of the resources provided at the KDI School. "The professors at the KDI School really are the best of the best and the programs are very well-structured. Students devotion to their field and some optimism will allow everyone in KDI School to achieve great things after graduation. I am certain of that."

By Jun Hyun PARK (2009 MPP, Korea)