Thousands of young people who tested a written exam for public servants at a middle school in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s young, single-person households are focusing on their savings, contrary to previous expectations that they would focus on consumption, influenced by the YOLO — You Only Live Once — culture, a report showed Monday.
KB Financial Group Research Institute conducted a nationwide survey of 2,000 male and female one-person households between 25 and 29 years of age, 42 percent of whom said they work multiple jobs.
As for why, they wanted to make surplus or emergency funds (31.5 percent), spend more of their free time (19.4 percent), or make more money to sustain their livelihood (14.1 percent).
Consumption took up an average of 44.2 percent of their total spending, down by a whopping 13.4 percentage points from a previous survey two years ago.
The savings rate (44.1 percent), however, jumped by 9.8 percentage points.
More than half of single-person households in the 20s age group (56.3 percent) said they try to spend less than what they earn or carry out periodic checks on their assets to cope with the changing financial environment (51.4 percent).
Sorted by the types of financial assets they hold, liquid assets (cash, cash management accounts) were most common at 41.8 percent, followed by savings (26.7 percent), and stocks/exchange traded funds/futures/options (19.1 percent).
More than half of single-person households in the 20s age group (56.3 percent) said they try to spend less than what they earn or carry out periodic checks on their assets to cope with the changing financial environment (51.4 percent). (image credit: Kobiz Media/ Korea Bizwire)
Many of the respondents were holding onto a liquid asset acquired from closing a financial product following the pandemic to make new investments.
At 88.7 percent, the vast majority of the respondents had subscribed to insurance policies, up by 13.4 percentage points.
The minimum nest egg they expected to need for retirement was 770 million won (US$538,870) on average.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
