[Person人] I Am an Ant

Purpose of Securing Jeonse Deposit and Living Expenses
Safe Trading Mainly in Large-Cap Stocks
Defending the Index Against Foreigners
Increasing Smart Overseas Investment Through Information Exchange in Group Chats

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] I am a ‘Joorini (stock + child)’. As an ordinary office worker, I have been diligently saving my salary for over 10 years since graduating from university. I believed that saving was the best financial strategy. I thought stocks were complicated and not something to dare touch because a friend who invested in stocks ended up losing half of their deposit for a jeonse lease. However, as interest rates dropped too low, I began to wonder if it was really possible to save enough money to buy a home this way. House prices soared sky-high, but my bank balance couldn’t keep up with that pace. I had to raise the jeonse deposit immediately, but loans were not easy to get, so I suddenly thought about trying stock investment. These days, all the news articles are about stock investment, so even a novice like me couldn’t avoid hearing about it. I bought several books on stock investment at a bookstore and read them thoroughly, and also watched stock-related YouTube videos to gradually learn about stocks. I started trading mainly large-cap stocks and have been making decent profits. In this low-interest era, as someone without a home, it seems that stock investment is the only way to grow my money.

I am a livelihood-type ‘Gaemi (individual investor)’. I run a beer pub near a university, but due to COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting business after 9 PM, I have not been able to open my store for two months. I used to invest in stocks a little, but since I couldn’t run my business, I have almost become a full-time investor these days. I have experienced losing a large amount of money in stock investment in the past, so safety is my top priority in investing. I set a target rate of return for a certain period and act accordingly. Of course, I don’t set the target return too high. When I got greedy, I often ended up with losses. By sticking to my principles, although I don’t earn as much as when running my business, I am making some profit. However, since the stock market has been overheated this year, I am worried about how to continue investing.

I am a housewife Gaemi. After getting married and becoming a full-time housewife, I was indifferent to earning money as I spent my husband’s salary. But gradually, living on a single income became difficult. When it was just my husband and me, it wasn’t a big problem, but after having a child, the situation changed. We had to move to a bigger house, and the expenses for the child were considerable. I started by cutting down on my own spending. In the past, I used to buy expensive clothes at department stores without hesitation, but these days, I even tremble when buying a single T-shirt at an outlet. Since we searched for a house within our budget, we ended up moving to the Gyeonggi Province area. My husband’s commute takes over three hours round trip, but I told him to use public transportation because gas costs are too high. Meanwhile, when I met friends after a long time, they talked about stocks, which piqued my interest. They recommended stock investment to me, who was complaining about many expenses like living and education costs but no income. My friends said they had invested in several stocks and made money. At first, since I didn’t know much, they advised me to buy mainly large-cap stocks. I bought shares of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Company, which I encounter daily through home appliances, smartphones, and cars. Thanks to that, our household finances have become a bit more comfortable recently.

I am a ‘Seohak Gaemi’ (overseas individual investor). (During the COVID-19 crash, when foreign investors sold off heavily, individual investors defended the index by net buying, which led to the term ‘Donghak Gaemi’ likened to the old Donghak Peasant Movement, and individual investors investing in overseas stocks are called ‘Seohak Gaemi’.) I have been interested in stock investment since university and have invested steadily, but a few years ago, I started looking overseas. The first reason I became interested in overseas stock investment was Apple. Using an Apple phone and reading many articles about Apple made me want to invest in the company. Later, I also invested in familiar companies in Korea like Tesla, Coca-Cola, and Facebook, achieving high investment returns. Since I invest in U.S. stocks, I often suffer from severe lack of sleep, but considering the profits, I think I have to endure that. I regularly study with people I met in overseas stock investment cafes and exchange information consistently through group chats to broaden my knowledge of overseas investment. The number of Seohak Gaemi like me is rapidly increasing over time. In January this year, domestic investors’ net purchases of overseas stocks amounted to $5.213 billion (about 5.8 trillion KRW), which is a 99.1% increase compared to the previous month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.