Rich people with over 1 billion won in spare money, open their newspapers first when they open their eyes.

Person A, a professional in his 50s, wakes up at 5:30 a.m. He drinks a glass of warm water, sits at his desk, flips through a paper newspaper, and organizes his thoughts. He does yoga while watching home training videos, and after taking a shower, he checks ‘what to do today.’ I eat squeezed juice, Greek yogurt, and health supplements before going to work.

Like Mr. A, rich people in Korea appear to be spending their mornings diligently by eating, reading newspapers, and exercising. Even if it means cutting back on sleep, I am continuing my ‘morning routine’ of waking up early every day, reading newspapers or the news, doing exercise such as walking, and then not missing a meal.

Hana Bank’s Hana Financial Management Research Institute published the ‘2024 Korea Wealth Report’ report containing these contents on the 25th. This is a compilation of an online survey and in-depth interviews with about 2,600 people, including the domestic rich (holding more than 1 billion won in financial assets), the general public (holding less than 100 million won in financial assets), and Hana Bank PB Center customers.

According to the report, breakfast was the most popular morning routine among wealthy people at 61% (multiple responses). Reading newspapers and news was the second highest at 33%, followed by morning exercise and household activities at 30% each, scheduling (14%), and listening to music (13%). Although 55% of the general public also had breakfast as part of their routine, only half of the rich respondents cited reading newspapers and news and exercising in the morning. The economy (50%) ranked first among the news areas of interest to the rich.

Rich people also read a lot. Rich people read about 10 books a year, ahead of the general public (6 books). The ‘super rich’, who have financial assets of more than 10 billion won, were found to read about 20 books every year.

Hana Financial Management Research Institute analyzed, “No matter how busy the rich are, they do not neglect reading newspapers and reading. A characteristic of the rich is that as their assets grow, they read more newspapers and news.” Although information delivery media such as video and short form have become more diverse, rich people who are good at financial investment develop their perspective on the world and obtain investment information through ‘print’.

Rich people are closer to being ‘morning people’. The average waking time was 6:44 am and going to bed at 11:30 pm. Sleep time was 7.3 hours on average, 30 minutes shorter than that of the general public.

It was found that rich people plan to maintain their existing asset composition and watch the market this year. Last year, the rich reduced the proportion of real estate in their total assets from 55% the previous year to 50%, and increased their financial assets from 43% to 46%.

Among financial assets, the proportion of deposits was increased, and other assets were invested in real assets such as gold and art. However, this year, 70% of respondents said they would not adjust their asset composition.

The reason rich people said they would maintain their asset mix is ​​because they believe the economy will not be good this year. The respondents who predicted this year’s real economy and real estate economy negatively were 63% and 67%, respectively.

If they were to make additional investments, the most common response was that they would do so in real estate (24%), but there was also great interest in deposits (22%), a representative safe asset. Among real estate properties, preference was highest for small and medium-sized apartments, followed by land and small buildings. In particular, young rich people in their 30s or younger showed the highest intention to purchase overseas real estate, second only to apartments.

On the other hand, the number of respondents who had ‘no investment plans’ was 16%, more than three times the number of the previous year (5%). Hana Financial Management Research Institute said, “This is in line with the high number of responses saying that there are no plans to adjust asset composition this year, and it appears that they believe that no clear positive news can be expected in the market.”

[임영신 기자]