The majority of South Korea’s wealth creators picked land and property investment as one of their top financial goals. (image: Yongin City Office)
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean wealth creators accumulate an average of 1.57 billion won (US$1.4 million) through savings and investment, a recent study revealed.
Standard Chartered Bank Korea Ltd., the local unit of Britain-based banking giant Standard Chartered PLC., joinly conducted a survey of 1,000 wealth creators in Seoul and Busan.
They designated wealth creators who make between 4 and 10.3 million won (US$3,400-8,900) each month as emerging affluent, those who make over 10.3 million won as affluent, and those holding assets of more than $1 million as high-net-worth individuals.
They assumed that South Koreans reach peak wealth at age 60, and used local market interest rates, gross domestic product and housing price inflation data to forecast how the economic value of the assets might grow.
Based on these assumptions, the wealth expectancy of South Korea’s wealth creators turned out to be US$404,000 for the emerging affluent, $819,000 for the affluent and $2,986,000 for high-net-worth individuals.
Overall, the average wealth expectancy among all wealth creators in South Korea was $1,403,000.
The majority of South Korea’s wealth creators picked land and property investment as one of their top financial goals.
Other goals included funding for children’s education (25 percent of the emerging affluent), property investment (22 percent of the affluent), and saving for retirement (29 percent of high-net-worth individuals).
To meet their financial goals, both the emerging affluent and affluent relied heavily on simple saving products, while high-net-worth individuals used various investment products to generate better returns.
The emerging affluent acquired financial information through online bank/financial institution platforms, while 38 percent and 39 percent of the affluent and high-net-worth individuals respectively sought professional advice from investment experts and financial planners.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
