Gold Passbook Value Rises; Mayor Lu Calls Her 20-Year Inaction the 'Stupidest' Investment

(CNA, by reporter Chao Li-yen, Taichung, 19th) The Control Yuan today released its latest property declaration, showing that the value of a gold passbook held by Taichung Mayor Lu Hsiu-yen and her spouse increased by over NT$4 million due to a rise in gold prices. Lu stated that the account has been untouched for over 20 years without yielding any interest, with gold prices only fluctuating in the last two years, calling it the 'stupidest investment method.' According to the Control Yuan's latest property declaration, Lu and her husband filed on December 15th last year, with total deposits of NT$8,319,941, a decrease of NT$302,329 from the previous declaration. The couple holds a total of 3006 grams in a gold passbook, the same as the last declaration. However, the declared reference price of gold rose from NT$2,790 per gram to NT$4,353, causing the total value of their gold to increase from its original NT$8,386,740 to NT$13,085,118. The Taichung City Council held a regular session today, where Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) City Councilor Lin Chi-feng noted that Lu is skilled at financial management. Although her savings decreased, the price of gold has soared, and he asked Lu to share her investment strategy and whether it could be applied to municipal governance. In her response, Lu pointed out that hers was the 'stupidest investment method.' When she was a legislator on the Finance Committee, the government introduced the gold passbook, and she followed the government's lead and bought some to try. It has not been touched for 20 years, and gold prices only began to fluctuate in the last two years. She said that the gold passbook does not pay annual interest and has been frozen there for 20 years. If a sum of money has to wait 20 years and isn't even guaranteed to appreciate, she exclaimed, it is the worst investment method. (Editor: Hsieh Ya-chu)