88% would keep working even after achieving financial freedom, survey finds

Eight to nine out of 10 Koreans say they would continue working even after achieving financial freedom and passing the legal retirement age, a new survey shows.

Research firm PMI conducted the survey from June 11 to 17, polling 1,000 adults aged 20 to 59 nationwide on their perceptions of "financial freedom" — broadly defined as having already earned enough to live comfortably for the rest of one's life.

When asked what they would do with work upon achieving financial freedom, only 12.4 percent said they would quit entirely.

The remaining 87.6 percent expressed a continued desire to work: 34.6 percent said they would reduce their hours but keep working, 27.9 percent said they would continue as before, and 25.1 percent said they would switch to work they actually wanted to do.

Among those who said they would keep working, "maintaining a regular daily routine" was the top reason, cited by 33.9 percent. The response was particularly pronounced among respondents in their 50s, at 44.6 percent, suggesting that for older age groups, work functions more as a rhythm of life than a source of income.

Respondents in their 20s, however, more frequently cited "still needing income" (23.5 percent) and "a sense of achievement" (18.4 percent) — indicating that even within the shared answer of "I would keep working," motivations differ sharply by generation.

On the question of whether financial freedom is realistically attainable, 38.7 percent said it would be difficult, while 29.5 percent said it was possible.

Respondents in their 30s recorded the highest rate of pessimism across all age groups. Notably, however, they were also the most active in pursuing financial freedom: their savings rate (45.6 percent vs. the overall 43.9 percent), financial investment rate (39.0 percent vs. 35.9 percent) and spending-reduction rate (35.5 percent vs. 29.3 percent) all exceeded the overall averages.

Among the 387 respondents who said financial freedom would be difficult to achieve, the top reason was "insufficient current income," cited by 33.1 percent, followed by "no special opportunity to build assets" (21.0 percent) and "uncertainty in the economic environment" (13.1 percent).

However, even within the "difficult" camp, the reasons varied by gender. Women cited "insufficient income" at 36.9 percent — 8.0 percentage points more than men at 28.9 percent — while men cited "lack of asset-building opportunities" (25.9 percent) and "worsening wealth polarization" (11.1 percent) roughly twice as often as women.

PMI researchers said the findings suggest women tend to locate the source of difficulty in their current circumstances, while men are more likely to attribute it to a lack of structural opportunity.

The survey also detected a notable shift in how people seek out investment information. YouTube (37.4 percent) and financial news (35.5 percent) ranked first and second, but AI services such as ChatGPT came in third at 15.6 percent — edging out brokerage research notes at 14.6 percent.

By generation, respondents in their 20s used AI for investment research at twice the rate of those in their 50s, indicating the shift is being driven primarily by younger users.

Jo Min-hee, chief executive of PMI, said the survey confirmed that the meaning of financial freedom is converging less around asset accumulation and more around "a state of freedom from anxiety." She added that the finding that 87.6 percent would continue working even after achieving freedom "plainly illustrates a shift in perception — for Koreans, financial freedom means not the end of work, but a redesign of it."