“Bought Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, now working weekends at Coupang” ... Office workers give up dining out and flock to ‘beggar rooms’

[Financial News] As South Korea’s stock market has plunged, office workers who have suffered heavy losses on stock investments are making extreme cuts to their living expenses. With real incomes squeezed by persistently high prices and interest rates, losses in the value of financial assets have added to the strain. A pattern of “deleveraging”—reducing debt and tightening spending—has spread into everyday life, with people cutting back on dining out and other spending and making up the difference with weekend part-time jobs.

On the 29th, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ “Nowcast indicators,” credit card spending at restaurants in the second week of October (3–9) was down 8% from the same period last year. The year-over-year decline appears to have become entrenched since late July.
The stock market decline and its “reverse wealth effect” are seen as a major cause of weaker consumer sentiment. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plunged about 40% in four months, falling from a record high of 9,114.55 on June 22 to 5,469.47 on October 26.
Among people in their 20s and 30s, who have been hit especially hard, the “no-spend challenge”—cutting variable expenses to zero while covering essential fixed costs such as rent and maintenance fees—is spreading.

A 26-year-old office worker surnamed Kim recently set a weekly living-expense limit of 20,000 won. “I lost an amount equal to two months’ pay when share prices plunged,” Kim said. “I’m packing my lunch and getting by on coffee from the office pantry, determined to save every little bit and reduce my losses.” Use of online open chat rooms known as “beggar rooms,” where members monitor one another’s spending, and “beggar maps,” which share information about low-cost restaurants, has surged.
There is also a clear rise in people taking on extra work to make up for investment losses, beyond simply cutting spending. A 31-year-old office worker surnamed Kim, who bought large-cap semiconductor stocks at their peak and recently sold them at a loss, said, “With the burden of mortgage principal and interest payments already weighing heavily on me, my investment losses added to the strain, so I gave up my day off last weekend and worked a one-day shift at a logistics center.”
The risk of financial distress is becoming more apparent, particularly among young people who use leveraged products or borrow money to invest in stocks.

According to data obtained by the office of Kim Hyun-jung of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Policy Committee, margin-loan balances among people in their 20s and 30s surged 2.4-fold in just 18 months, from 1.7607 trillion won at the end of 2024 to 4.1943 trillion won at the end of June. An analysis by financial authorities of individual investor accounts in March this year also found that the loss rate among margin-loan users in their 20s and 30s was about 18%—more than 2.5 times the rate among nonusers (about 7%).
Losses on high-risk derivatives have also ballooned. According to data the Financial Supervisory Service submitted to the National Assembly, trading losses on single-stock leveraged exchange-traded products (ETPs/ETFs) at 10 securities firms had already reached 2.3242 trillion won as of August 14.
A 29-year-old office worker surnamed Park, who lost a large part of their principal investing in leveraged ETFs, said, “I know that cutting my living expenses won’t make up for the losses, but controlling my spending is the only thing I can do right now.” Experts warn that excessive borrowing to invest amid high interest rates could set off a vicious cycle of worsening household financial health and weakening private consumption.
[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter