Female Painter Former Accountant, "Earning More" Reveals Monthly Income

Changed Career from Accountant to Painter in the US
Worked as an Accountant until Just Before Giving Birth after Graduating from Sungkyunkwan University
Started Painting Job after Quitting for Childcare... "Earns Over a Thousand a Month"

A story about a woman who changed her career from an accountant in the United States to a painter has become a hot topic.

Choi In-ra, who graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in Business Administration, worked as an accountant in the United States, and is currently working as a painter after taking parental leave.
[Photo by YouTube 'Moneymentary']

In March, a video titled "A woman who quit being an accountant after graduating from a prestigious university and paints every day at construction sites" was uploaded on the YouTube channel 'Moneymentary.' The video became a sensation, recording 260,000 views.

The protagonist in the video is Inra Choi, who graduated from the Business Administration Department at Sungkyunkwan University. After graduating from college, Choi worked as an accountant at INK and KPMG in the U.S. until just before giving birth to her first child. As a result of her hard work, she was recognized in the industry to the extent that she transferred to a French-affiliated company. However, after childbirth, she started a full-time housewife life to focus on childcare. Since 2019, she has been working as a painter and is actively working to this day.

Choi revealed that her monthly income is 10 million won. She said, "I do my own construction work, the company makes a margin, and I charge expenses separately. I earn 250,000 won per day."

Regarding the reason for changing careers from an accountant to a painter, she asked, "How much do you think an accountant with 10 years of experience earns?" and said, "The net income is a little over 6 million won. When I was working at the company, I happened to see the net income of a senior accountant. She was really good at her job and was invited from various places, but her net income was only about 6.2 million won. It was not as much as I thought."

She continued, "My younger sister had a febrile seizure when she was young, and my parents were both working. If my mother had been by her side then, my sister would have gone to the hospital quickly and would not have had a lifelong disability. I still feel sorry about that. My mother's philosophy was 'a child should be raised by the mother.' Anyway, I was doing my job well, but because there was pain in the family, I quit working. Family is the most important value, so the decisive reason for my resignation was my child," she mentioned.

Choi In-ra, who graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in Business Administration, worked as an accountant in the United States, and is currently working as a painter after taking parental leave.
[Photo by YouTube 'Moneymentary']

Regarding job satisfaction, she said, "I am very satisfied, but it is hard." She added, "Yesterday, a post titled 'These days, all the commercial districts are dead, so I am thinking about working as a painter' was posted on an online community. After seeing that post, I thought a lot. I hope people don’t say, 'I’ll just do this because it’s hard.' If you do something wrong, you might not be able to do anything else." She continued, "I was good at being an accountant too. I am not doing painting because I couldn’t do accounting. Whatever it is, if you say something is not going well, it feels like that person hasn’t understood the mechanism of making money, whether it’s their attitude or something else," she sharply criticized.

Choi said, "(Painting work) is really hard. There is a lot of dust and it is tough," and added, "But if you like it, even those things become interesting episodes. If you think, 'I have to do this to make money or to survive,' the world becomes really tough and sad."

Netizens who came across this story responded with comments such as "She is really amazing," "You can just see that she has high self-esteem," "She seems cool and strong," "A person who is talented and capable chooses to work as a painter and sweat physically because she likes it," and "She is a typical strong woman style. Amazing."