Women are more likely to be rich: Yoo
Yoo Soo-jin, 42, celebrity asset manager and author, has earned popularity by giving “spot-on” lectures on becoming rich, especially for young female office workers, on local variety television shows.
Her book “Rich Sister, Rich Lecture: How an ordinary office worker can become rich,” first published in 2015 and whose 19th edition was released in June, has met with a strong response from young female readers. They say that thanks to her they started to have an interest in learning how money works and dreaming of getting rich.
It is certainly enticing to hear the success story of a young woman, whose life was as much, or more miserable, than the average reader, suffering from enormous debt and living life with no hope in sight, became a woman whose annual salary soared to 600 million won ($534,000).
In the era of low interest rates and high inflation, where putting money in banks is translated into losing money, Yoo said she wanted to consult for young women, not those with big pockets and older clients, because she feels sorry to see those young adults lose their luster due to poverty.
“When I was their age, I was in despair feeling trapped in an endless maze. But, no one told me how to get out of the maze,” says the author in her book.
Born to a middle-class background, Yoo had to work many jobs after her father underwrote other people’s debts, before she joined Samsung Life Insurance in 2005.
As an asset manager, Yoo used to earn 600 million won a year but she also lost a great deal of the money she earned. She established an asset consulting company called Ruby Stone and runs a blog with nearly 10,000 members. Instead of pinpointing where her clients should place their money, Yoo urges clients to change their lifestyle to become rich.
Yoo’s 272-page essay-like book is full of catchy words and simple how-to-dos, targeting those who have heard of stock investment, investment funds and national bonds, but have very limited knowledge about them and don’t know to where to begin with their asset management.
The first chapter is devoted to motivating young women to get involved in asset management. Reading some parts written under the chapter “Don’t waste your good senses,” which says women who have better listening skills are better placed in asset management but many waste their talent, readers may furiously nod their heads in agreement.
As for the current “healing” trend that has hit young people, the book describes a typical case of a young salaried worker, who gets tired of the same aimless working days, suddenly shouting, “I need some time for healing” and gets on the airplane to Jeju Island. “What greets her, after such instant healing, is a credit card bill and a life that is no different from before,” she says.
“Unlike rich people, who set goals and find satisfaction in that, ordinary people try to find satisfaction from social activities and play, putting all their time and energy to it. This physiological limitation prevents them from becoming rich,” says Yoo.
The second chapter is more specific. It suggests how to separate investment accounts from your account for daily expenses, small-target methods to make saving a habit, and how to make 100 million won seed money.
The third chapter explains why traditional ways of asset building, which worked for our older generations such as installment savings and buying a house by getting a mortgage, cannot work in the new economic environment, as well as how the world can affect your assets in easy-to-understand words.
“The old investment techniques are not valid anymore, and making an investment has become crucial. Parents have to teach their kids about how to invest like how they would teach their kids to ride a bicycle,” says the author.