A Civil Servant with a Monthly Salary of 2.1 Million Won Becomes a FIRE Member... Earned 1.7 Billion Won from 'This Asset', What's Next?

[The Financial News] The story of a former civil servant who invested most of her salary in overseas stocks while in office, achieved a net worth of 1.7 billion won, and changed her career path to become a 'professional investor' is drawing attention.
The YouTube channel 'Single Fire' introduced the story of investment blogger 'Padoldaek' on the 18th with the title, "No Regrets After Quitting as a Civil Servant... A FIRE Member with 1.7 Billion Won in Net Worth Who Went All-In on U.S. Growth Stocks."

In April 2022, Padoldaek began investing with an initial capital of 50 million won, targeting promising overseas stocks such as Nvidia Corporation, Starbucks, and Palantir Technologies.
The beginning was not easy. During the first year and three months, she experienced losses of up to 25 million won. Shares of Snowflake Inc., purchased at $240, dropped to $140, and her investment in Nike, Inc. also resulted in losses of several million won.
She remained patient despite the losses. As a result, she achieved approximately 600% returns from Nvidia Corporation and, after four years of investing in Palantir Technologies, earned about 670 million won in profits.
Padoldaek stated, "Now, I sometimes lose as much as 200 to 300 million won. But it doesn't affect me much," adding, "After watching stock prices fall and rise again over four years, I've developed a strong mentality."
After reaching 1.7 billion won in assets earlier this year, Padoldaek left her public office job of 11 years to become a full-time investor.

Padoldaek did not accumulate wealth solely through stock investments. She explained that her ingrained frugality allowed her to invest even on a modest civil servant’s salary. Her saving methods were unique.
"I turn off the Wi-Fi at night before sleeping," and "I don’t keep rice warm but portion it and store it in the refrigerator to reheat later"—these were just some of her everyday habits. She has been married for 12 years and does not own a car, and even when her child was young, she used public buses with a stroller.
Her husband was just as frugal. He packed his lunch every day and commuted before 6:30 a.m. to receive a 20% early-bird discount on public transportation. His monthly allowance was 300,000 to 400,000 won, most of which was invested. Padoldaek’s own monthly allowance was 50,000 won.


She also shared her reasons for choosing overseas stocks.
She explained, "It’s a market where many people around the world invest, and investing in dollars offers the added benefit of currency gains, so I thought there were more opportunities." She continued, "I read posts by foreign investors on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, and for company earnings announcements, I used summaries provided by ChatGPT or Google Gemini."
Regarding her rapid increase in assets from 50 million to 1.7 billion won, she emphasized, "Anyone else can do it too."
Padoldaek said, "Whether it’s real estate or stocks, you need to invest in both to grow your assets. When your own money is at stake, you develop self-control and improve your money management skills."
She also shared her investment plans.
Padoldaek stated, "Once I reach my target amount with growth stocks, I plan to sell and switch to dividend stocks." She also mentioned domestic financial stocks as one of her investment targets and cited PepsiCo, Inc. among overseas stocks.
Finally, she advised, "If you ever feel like you want to try investing, I hope you give it a shot. That way, you can learn about your own investment style and clarify your investment goals. You will definitely learn something in the process."
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter