It's Not Stocks or Real Estate... What Is the No. 1 Personal Finance Choice for 83% of Office Workers?

Survey on Personal Finance Methods Among Office Workers
Most Common Method: "Savings"
"Made a Profit" 60%... "Broke Even" 24%

Nine out of ten office workers in Korea are engaging in investment activities, and among them, 60% have actually made a profit. The most common method of investment was not stocks or cryptocurrency, but "savings." In this era of high interest rates and high inflation, stable assets continue to hold the top spot.

"A Salary Alone Is Not Enough"... 9 Out of 10 Office Workers Are Investing

Office workers are boarding buses on their way to work at the Yeouido Bus Transfer Center in Seoul.

On November 4, HR tech company Incruit announced the results of its "Investment Methods for Office Workers" survey, conducted with 383 office worker members. According to the results, 92.2% of respondents said they are investing, with savings (83.0%) being the most common method. Stable assets remained the most preferred. This was followed by ▲domestic stocks (63.5%) ▲overseas stocks (43.9%) ▲funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) (37.4%) ▲cryptocurrency (30.0%) ▲commodities (19.0%) ▲real estate (18.1%).

There were clear differences by age group. Those in their 20s were most active in ▲savings (92.6%) and ▲overseas stocks (63.0%), while those in their 50s showed a strong preference for traditional assets such as ▲real estate (29.6%) and ▲funds (37.8%). In particular, those in their 40s had the most diversified portfolio, with ▲real estate (21.4%) and ▲commodities (17.1%) being evenly distributed.

There were also significant differences depending on marital status. Both single and married respondents selected ▲savings (single 88.5%, married 77.1%) and ▲domestic stocks (single 61.7%, married 65.3%) as their main investment methods, but real estate investment was more than three times higher among married respondents (28.2%) compared to singles (8.7%).

Survey Results on 'Investment Methods for Office Workers'. Incruit

Half of Office Workers Invest During Work... Main Purpose Is to Secure Large or Extra Funds

As many as 49.6% of respondents said they invest during work hours. Among them, ▲very frequently (7.4%) and ▲occasionally (42.2%), indicating that nearly half of office workers engage in investment-related activities while working. Outside of work, the time spent on investment was mostly ▲less than 30 minutes (51.0%) or ▲30 minutes to 1 hour (31.4%).

The main purpose of investing was ▲to secure large or extra funds (49.6%). This was followed by ▲preparing for retirement (30.3%) and ▲buying a home (12.5%). Regarding investment performance, ▲making a profit was the most common response at 60.1%, followed by ▲breaking even (23.8%) and ▲incurring a loss (16.1%). Notably, 72.2% of those in their 20s said they made a profit, while among those in their 50s and older, 28.6% said they incurred a loss, the highest percentage for that age group.

Among those who said they do not invest (7.8%), half cited "lack of spare funds" (50.0%) as the reason. Those in their 20s and 30s mainly pointed to "not knowing how," while those in their 40s and 50s cited "lack of funds" as the main reason. This survey was conducted from October 16 to 29, with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±4.74 percentage points.