How I Saved 60 Million Won in 3 Years on a 2.5 Million Won Salary
It's not a special method—I just stopped mindless spending. Spending money without a goal, whether for housing or anything else, was my biggest enemy.
Here's the breakdown:
1. As soon as I get paid, I transfer 1 million won to a savings account.
2. Keep living expenses within 1 million won as much as possible.
3. When the year-end bonus comes, save the entire amount no matter what.
4. Instead of going all-in on stocks, I invest small amounts regularly in ETFs.
Honestly, doing this helped me save about 60 million won, including emergency funds, in 3 years. Of course, hearing about how much more my friends earn makes me envious, but I think a small salary doesn't mean you can't save.
4 answers
Yeah, mindless consumption is indeed the biggest enemy, lol.
I also managed to save 50 million won over four years on a monthly salary of 2.6 million won, and this method really works. Especially, saving right after receiving my paycheck was important. Limiting living expenses to 1 million won definitely reduced spending, and consistently investing in ETFs through regular contributions added up nicely later on. However, I couldn't save my entire bonus either. That seems to depend on the company's situation.
The math seems a bit off? If you save 100 a month, that's 3,600 over 3 years, so the other 2,400 is from bonuses and ETF returns? So you're saying you got a bonus of 800 each year?
Honestly, it's a feasible number, but living on 1 million won for living expenses can be tougher than you think. If just rent and fixed costs exceed 600,000 won, it's really hard. And there's no guarantee you'll get the full bonus every year. Saving habits are good, but you should recognize that this isn't a universally applicable method.