“Don’t Pick Stocks” ... How Gangnam’s Wealthy Build Their Assets, Revealed by a Finance YouTuber with 1.28 Million Subscribers

[Financial News] Experts say the key to building wealth is to cut spending on consumer goods and steadily accumulate assets with a long-term perspective.
According to Newsis on the 4th, writer Park Dong-ho, who runs the YouTube channel Park Gomhee TV with 1.28 million subscribers, said recently on his channel, “All assets eventually go up,” adding, “Rather than trying to rank assets, you should think about buying even one more.”

Park began by describing how he used to be absorbed in buying consumer goods that offered short-term satisfaction, such as luxury wallets, expensive watches and the latest IT devices. He said he felt a sense of accomplishment from saving a few hundred won on each meal while collecting expensive items.
But after joining the Gangnam branch of Daewoo Securities and dealing directly with high-net-worth clients, his perspective changed completely.
Park said, “I used to think that earning money meant wearing nice clothes and driving a luxury car, but the wealthy people I actually met were far more modest than I expected.” He added, “They all had one thing in common: they used the money they earned from working to buy and accumulate things whose value rises over time, such as bank deposits and installment savings, stocks and crypto assets.”
He went on to say that “the rich built their wealth not so much by generating large sums of money through some special skill, but by persistently buying and accumulating real and financial assets that make money.”

Park identified ‘changes in price over time’ as the criterion for distinguishing assets from consumer goods. By his definition, items whose value declines over time are consumer goods, while those whose prices gradually rise are assets.
He noted that the essence of investing should likewise be viewed not as ‘simple trading profits’ but as ‘a structural process of converting income into assets.’
He cited the declining value of money (inflation) as a reason to hold assets for the long term. Park said, “When the value of money falls, it feels as if asset prices are rising in relative terms,” adding, “Asset prices may fluctuate in the short term, but historically they have trended upward over the long term, and they will continue to do so.”
He also continued to warn against short-term trading aimed at timing the market.
Park stressed, “There’s no way to know how to make money from short-term market movements, but long-term investing is a sure way to build wealth.” He added emphatically, “If stock investing is a matter of personal choice, long-term investing through pensions is essential for retirement.”
He also emphasized that taking action to lock up money that would otherwise be spent on consumption by putting it into assets should take priority over trying to predict whether stocks or real estate will yield higher returns.
Park added, “It is extremely difficult to compare assets and identify the best one,” and said, “Rather than trying to be overly selective about what to invest in, it is important to become someone who steadily accumulates whatever assets they can.”


[email protected] Mun Yeong-jin Reporter