As a rule, celebrities are not successful, or at least not very successful, as fund managers. This has been shown by practically all the analyses that have been carried out every few years. But such comparisons are always only valid at a certain point in time. Sometimes, active fund managers go through a poor phase, but then impress with their performance. It therefore is only fair to take another look at celebrity funds, using the figures from the Morningstar database.

However the result is sobering. Neither tech investor Frank Thelen, who became famous through the TV programme „Höhle der Löwen“, nor Professor Max Otte, nominated by the AfD as a candidate for the office of Federal President in 2022, nor „Mister Dax“ Dirk Müller are convincing as fund managers.

The physician, Professor Dr Dietrich Grönemeyer, has not achieved an above-average performance as an advisor to a healthcare fund, at least not so far. The only person you can rely on is Leonhard „Lenny“ Fischer, but he is also a seasoned executive, who once headed up investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Fischer is also Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Future Fund, which was founded in 2017. Together with his friend Kai Diekmann, the former editor-in-chief of the tabloid newspaper Bild, Fischer wanted to revolutionise the investment world. He failed, and the volumes invested in the product remained low, though the performance of the mixed fund managed by experienced fund manager Volker Schilling has been good.

Frank Thelen is a different story. In view of the totally disappointing performance of the technology fund „10XDNA - Disruptive Technologies“ launched by Thelen in 2021, one would like to shout out to him: „Franky boy, what are you doing?“ The issue price of 10XDNA was 25 euros per share, but is now trading under 15 euros. With a performance of minus 16.7% per year over three years, Thelen is 17% p.a. behind comparable technology funds, and 28.6% p.a. behind the category index (in each case over three years), according to Morningstar. The figures alone speak for themselves.

We do not know why the AfD nominated economics professor Max Otte as a candidate for Federal President. As expected, he had no chance and was not elected. The funds managed by Otte have also failed to impress over the past five years, although Otte's performance has been far less poor than that of Thelen. For example, the mixed fund PI Vermögensbildungsfonds has lost 3.4% p.a. in value over three years. Over five years, the multi-asset product has achieved a plus of 2.8% p.a. However, according to Morningstar, Otte's performance is significantly below that of the funds in the peer group and the category index.

As a fund manager, „Mister Dax“ has not been a wealth creator in recent years either. Incidentally, Dirk Müller is known as „Mister Dax“ because he sat in front of the Dax board on the trading floor for many years, and was often shown when the Dax board was scanned in TV reports. However, the long-term performance of Dirk Müller Premium Aktien Euro is not convincing either. The performance of the mixed fund over five years was minus 2.7% p.a. This puts „Mister Dax“ well behind the Morningstar peer group. Another feature of Müller's fund is its low risk strategy, so at least the volatility of the product is very low.

With a performance of -3.5% p.a. over three years, the Grönemeyer Health Fund has not yet been convincing either. But you have to give fund advisor Dietrich Grönemeyer credit for one thing: He has a brother who writes great songs. That's something.