“I won’t invest now, even with a knife at my throat” ... Hwang Hyun-hee’s remarks from three months ago resurface amid market downturn

[Financial News] As South Korea’s stock market has continued to fall, remarks by former comedian turned personal finance expert Hwang Hyun-hee warning people not to invest in stocks now have come back into focus. He made the remarks about three months ago.
Last July, Hwang appeared on the YouTube channel ‘Lee Hong-ryeol TV.’ Asked how he would use 100 million won in spare cash that he could leave untouched for three years, he replied, “You shouldn’t even consider entering the stock market right now.”
At the time, he warned, “A market where stocks rise 7% in one day and fall 8% the next is not for novice investors,” adding, “It’s just an arena for so-called ‘pros’ skilled at short-term trading, and it’s far too risky for ordinary individual investors with day jobs to respond to every move.”
Hwang said he, too, was holding cash and watching from the sidelines, adding, “I wouldn’t invest in a market like this even with a knife at my throat.”
He described himself as a ‘cycle investor,’ saying he only considers entering the market when a correction of at least 30% from the previous high occurs.
He was also reported to have mentioned the possibility that concerns about an ‘AI bubble’ could emerge in the U.S. market around year-end, prompting a full-fledged market correction.
Rather than simply waiting, however, he suggested staggered buying as an alternative. The approach is to split 100 million won into five installments of 20 million won, make the first purchase after a 15% drop from the previous high, and then mechanically add to the position each time the market falls by a further 5%.
Hwang, who helped lead KBS 2TV’s ‘Gag Concert’ during its heyday, went on to work as a personal finance expert after stepping away from comedy, studying corporate economics at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of Economics. He grew his assets through investments in real estate, stocks and crypto assets, and was sometimes called a ‘financial whiz.’
[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter