This photo, from Sept. 14, 2020, shows office workers out for lunch in the central Seoul ward of Jongno. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Members of Generation X, or those between 37 and 46 years of age, have piled up assets at the fastest pace among all generations, data showed Tuesday.
The Seoul Institute, a think tank under the Seoul city government, analyzed the asset gap among generations using data from Statistics Korea.
Over the past nine years, those in Generation X increased their assets at the fastest pace among all generations, overtaking the assets held by the industrialization generation (those born between 1940 and 1954), the first baby boomer generation (1955-1964), and the second baby boomer generation (1965-1974).
In contrast, the assets of Generation Y, or those born between 1985 and 1996, grew at the slowest pace, failing to narrow the gap with the older generations.
Despite having the fastest growing assets, members of Generation X also came on top in terms of debt growth.
During the past nine years, the generation’s per-capita assets jumped from 193.2 million won (US$163,660) to 405.7 million won, while their per-capita debts grew from 35.9 million won to 105.8 million won.
Generation Y also marked steady growth in both net assets and debt. This is because the X and Y generations increased assets by actively using leverage, including loans.
When it comes to the operation of financial assets, they showed stronger preference toward direct investment than other generations.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
