There have been a noticeable number of books on how to prepare for retirement and how to find a second life after leaving one’s job. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — As times are changing, the concept of a “lifetime workplace” is no longer true.
Unlike the older generation, who had only tendered their resignations in their hearts for their entire lives, the younger generation now boldly chooses to retire.
Retirement-related content is also gaining popularity, with subscribers flocking to SNS communities offering various lecture programs for office workers who want to quit their job.
People can also get a glimpse of the trend in bookstores as well. There have been a noticeable number of books on how to prepare for retirement and how to find a second life after leaving one’s job.
According to Internet bookstore Yes24, the number of books published under the theme of quitting work has been increasing rapidly since 2017, and sales are also on the rise.
Among them, people who are tired of their work life are empathizing with essays of office workers on a trip that unfolds the values and emotions of life that they have learned from their departure.
The best-selling books included many containing post-retirement travel, such as “When You Need a Time to Rest,” which tells the story of a full-time employee of the Financial Supervisory Service who started work as a high school graduate, but recorded the world he met while traveling to 44 countries in six continents over a period of 28 days.
The readers who were most interested in these books turned out to be in their 30s.
Currently, the top bestseller at major bookstores is Kim Young-ha’s essay “Why Travel.” The book contains the insights on life, the human condition, and the world that the writer felt while traveling.
The book is not directly related to quitting work, but it can be interpreted as gaining sympathy from readers who want to stop working for a while and seek a new way of life in that it allows them to reflect on the meaning of life through travel.
Kim Tae-hee, director of Yes24’s travel division, reported, “Retirement is emerging as a new social trend, and post-retirement travel is considered a natural procedure to prepare for another start. Retirement travel has become a new keyword for travel essays.”
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
