How did you balance savings accounts vs. ETFs as a new grad?
I’m a new grad who started working in March this year. My monthly take-home pay is around 2.8 million KRW, and right now I’m splitting it into 500,000 KRW for a savings account and 300,000 KRW for cash reserves.
Lately I’ve been hearing a lot from people around me that I should buy ETFs, even in small amounts, so I’m torn. But since I have almost no investing experience, I’m worried about whether I can handle seeing my principal fluctuate.
I’m curious what allocation ratio those who started around the same time used during their first 1–2 years. If there are any useful benchmarks, I’d appreciate it if you could share them.
10 answers
If you're saving 50 a month, you're doing well enough, fr
I joined in March too and had similar concerns, but my conclusion was “emergency fund first.” If you make 2.8 million won a month, saving 500,000 won might be a bit tough, so I recommend keeping a separate living-expense account, building 3–6 months’ worth of emergency savings, and then getting into ETFs. After building a 3 million won emergency fund, I’m putting only 100,000 won a month into a recurring ETF. Since the amount is small, I don’t worry much even when it fluctuates.