“Is Anyone’s Life More of a Disaster Than Mine?”... 30-Something Bank Employee Despairs: “400 Million Won Saved Over 10 Years Shrunk to 100 Million in a Month”

[Financial News] The story of a bank employee in his late 30s who lost 300 million won after concentrating his 400 million won in net assets—saved diligently over 10 years of working—in products including 2x leveraged products tied to semiconductor stocks is drawing a strong response online. It is a case of someone who, driven by the pursuit of high returns and fear of being left behind in a rising market (FOMO), put a large sum previously managed mainly in safe assets into high-risk derivatives and suffered massive losses.
On the 15th, according to financial industry sources and Blind, an anonymous online community for workers, a post titled “Is Anyone’s Life More of a Disaster Than Mine?” was uploaded on the 11th. The author, A, who introduced himself as a 39-year-old unmarried male bank employee with 10 years of experience, confessed that his net assets of 400 million won, accumulated steadily in safe assets such as term deposits, had recently plunged to around 100 million won after failed stock investments.
The turning point in A’s investment approach came in May, when a term deposit in the 300-million-won range matured. Previously, A had managed only around 100 million won in individual stocks. He put all his assets, including the matured deposit, into SK hynix common shares and a leveraged product that tracks twice the stock’s daily return.
At first, he made profits several times trading SK hynix. He bought shares in the 300,000-won range and sold them in the 500,000-won range, then bought in the 600,000-won range and sold in the 1-million-won range. After building up a string of successful trades, he continued ultra-short-term trading as the share price surged, buying at 1.5 million won and selling at 1.51 million won. But as large-cap semiconductor stocks continued their steep rally in May and June, so-called FOMO set in.

A said, “In a market where you could get high returns just by investing in SK hynix instead of analyzing all kinds of stocks, I started to think semiconductors were the defining spirit of our time.” He explained that he expected corporate valuations to be reassessed, or rerated, in line with long-term supply agreements (LTAs), along with an influx of investor demand.
The decisive turning point came in the last week of June, when Micron Technology, Inc.’s strong earnings were followed by the release of the U.S. consumer price index (CPI). Convinced that prices would rise further, A bet a large sum on a 2x leveraged product. But after semiconductor stocks subsequently corrected, his losses snowballed.
Because leveraged products track the underlying asset’s daily percentage moves by a multiple, losses can mount sharply in a falling market. When prices move sideways or repeatedly rise and fall, a “negative compounding (volatility drag)” effect can also cause the principal to melt away. A lamented, “With leverage, losses can exceed 40% after just three days of declines, so it was hard to decide to cut my losses as I would with ordinary stocks. I missed the right time to sell because I hoped that even a small rebound the next day would help me recover.”
The huge loss of assets took a toll on his daily life and mental health. A confessed, “I stayed in such a daze that I couldn’t even take in what customers were saying at work, and I even had thoughts of doing something drastic because I felt that 10 years of living diligently had gone to waste.” He eventually sought care at a psychiatry clinic starting last week and began medication treatment for depression and anxiety disorders. “I might have been able to hold on if I’d owned the ordinary shares, but it’s so painful to watch my assets melt away through the negative compounding of leverage,” he said, expressing deep regret.
People online who read his story offered encouragement, saying, “Take comfort in the fact that this wasn’t ‘debt-financed investing’—borrowing money to invest—and try to pull yourself together,” and “You can start over, since you still have 100 million won in seed money and a stable job.” Financial investment industry officials also stressed, “Leveraged products tied to individual stocks are extremely volatile and fall into the realm of short-term trading,” and “Putting retirement funds or long-term savings into them all at once can lead to devastating losses, so thorough diversification and risk management are essential.”


[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter