Earn money from stocks and retire in your 40s… 2030’Fire tribe’ surge

“Except for the salary, the house price and stocks all went up. I think the labor value is falling, so I focus on investing in stocks rather than working at the company.”

This is the story of Minah Kim (29), an office worker in her 20s. He made a negative bankbook last year and invested 80 million won in stocks, including the money he saved, earning a profit of 24 million won (30%) in one year. He said, “It’s hard to concentrate on business as much as I used to because I’ve made money from investment.”

More and more 20 and 30 households are turning their eyes to asset income such as stocks and real estate rather than salary. This is because asset prices are soaring, and there is a widespread perception that it is impossible to accumulate wealth by collecting only monthly salaries through deposits and savings. This is not an unfounded idea. According to KB Kookmin Bank, the ratio of house prices in Seoul to income as of November last year (PIR) was 15.6 years. In Seoul, this means that a middle-income household (in the order of income, the income of the middle-aged household) can only buy a house without spending a single penny and earning more than 15 years.

On the other hand, earned income is a turtle step. It even decreased in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). As of the third quarter of last year, the average monthly earned income of households with two or more people nationwide was 3477,000 won (Statistics Office), down 1.1% from a year ago (3515,000 won). In particular, looking at the rate of income growth by generation, it is possible to understand the concerns of the 20s and 30s. According to The Generation of Inequality, written by Lee Chul-seung, a professor of sociology at Sogang University, the income of generations born in the late 1960s rose 53% from the early 1990s to the late 2000s. Those born in the late ’70s’ income increased by 26% from the early 2000s to the late 2010s. However, for those born in the late 80s, income increased only 7.6% in the early to late 2010s.

The stock market is where young people turn their eyes as earned income soaring and house prices soaring. In fact, the number of newly created securities accounts created by the 20th and 30th generation at Kiwoom Securities last year was 1.17 million, a nearly five-fold increase from the previous year (250,000). Kwan-ju Son, a 28-year-old office worker, puts 70-80% of his salary in his stock account. Mr. Son said, “There is no lifelong job and I am always anxious because my salary does not rise,” he said. Yang Mo, 30, who works at a foreign company is a so-called’impoor (a person who gave up the executive). He complained, “Because of the widening gap in assets with friends who bought a house because of the soul (together with the soul), the heart became hurried and there was no room to worry about promotions.” Stock investment is what he found as a way to make money quickly. Since last year, it has rolled 20 million won in stocks and funds. Here, 40% of their monthly salary is taken off and they are buying more stocks.

There are also’Financial Independence Retire Early’ families who dream of early retirement beyond’impoor’. It is a new term for a person whose goal is to retire in their early 40s at the latest through economic independence. During the 2008 global financial crisis, it spread mainly among the young, highly educated, and high-income groups in the United States. If they tried to raise money for retirement through’savings’ that fasten their belts, the Fire tribes of Korea turned toward making retirement funds through stock investment.

Hair designer Choi, 30, aims to retire by collecting 400 million won in 10 years. After that, it plans to invest in high dividend stocks of 5-6% or more per annum so that living expenses of about 2 million won can come out every month. For this, retirement funds are also being raised through stock investment. Since 2017, 75% of monthly income has been poured into securities accounts and invested mainly in inexpensive (undervalued) and high dividend yield stocks. Over the four years, the total operating capital has increased to 100 million won. “I want to live by investing in companies run by competent executives with the money I have earned until I am only 40 years old,” he said. Jeong-woo Koo, professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University, said, “It is a social structural phenomenon that 20 and 30 generations are pursuing asset income rather than earned income these days. “I think it is” he analyzed.

There is a noticeable increase in the number of young people who are’debt-invested’ due to excessive investment fever. The money (credit loan balance) borrowed by securities companies under the age of 30 was 420 billion won as of the end of September last year, up 162.5% from the end of 2019 (160 billion won). It far exceeded the average growth rate (89.1%) of all age groups in the same period. In their debt-fighting procession, there is anxiety and impatience that’if you do not invest in debt, you will fall behind.’ A 30-year-old office worker said, “I took off half of the 34 million won I borrowed from a credit loan earlier this year and bought the stock.” .

In this regard, Seong Tae-yoon, a professor of economics at Yonsei University, said, “The number of investors who buy stocks receiving loans from the stock market is increasing recently.”

Reporters Ji-Hyun Yeom and Sang-Eon Yoon [email protected]