YouTuber who saved W100m at 24 now has net worth of W400m — and two apartments

A YouTuber in her 20s who made headlines for saving 100 million won in four years on a monthly salary of around 2 million won ($1,410) has announced she has now reached a net worth of 400 million won.

Kwak Ji-hyeon, 27, appeared on the YouTube channel "Y Street" on Monday and said she had hit a total net worth of 400 million won — saving her first 100 million won in four years, then another 100 million won in two years, and a further 100 million won in just one year after that. "In the past I focused heavily on frugality and penny-pinching strategies, but these days I combine that with investment and real estate," she said.

Kwak first became well known in 2022 when she appeared on SBS's "Masters of Living" and revealed that she had saved 100 million won in four years at the age of 24. At the time she was working at a small and medium-sized enterprise and drew widespread attention by saying she had done it "through labor and savings alone, without spending even 10,000 won on food." She also shared a range of everyday money-saving tips, including keeping a household ledger, splitting her salary across multiple bank accounts, participating in promotional events, collecting receipt points and buying and selling secondhand goods.

Kwak, who is still working a full-time job, cuts her food costs by bringing her own dosirak for lunch and earns extra income after work as a pet sitter and freelance video editor. She said she puts that side income "mostly into savings accounts or investments."

Kwak said she began investing in earnest in January 2024. She now channels more than 90 percent of her income into investments, making monthly installment contributions to the US S&P 500, the Philadelphia Semiconductor NASDAQ, cryptocurrency and fractional share trading.

"After saving 100 million won, I felt like I needed to start investing," she said. "I started with just 50,000 won a month, with no knowledge at all, and two years later my return had exceeded 78 percent. That's when I thought, 'If I want to grow my money faster, I need to be in stocks.'"

She also said she had managed to buy an apartment by combining her savings with a loan. She and her boyfriend pooled their money and bought an apartment in Seongnam in April, making it her second property. Kwak had previously revealed in 2022 that she had won an apartment subscription lottery — saying she had visited properties and looked into subscriptions before unexpectedly winning a first-time buyer special supply unit for single-person households.

Her short-term goal is to reach a net worth of 500 million won before she turns 30, while her long-term goal is to create a space that serves as both an office and a lecture room for gatherings. "I hope to become rich not only financially but also in spirit," she said.

"I wasn't a good student, and my family didn't have money," Kwak said. "A high school graduate working at a small and medium-sized enterprise saved 100 million won in four years and now has 400 million won." She added that she would work even harder "to earn the title of 'master of investing' to go along with 'master of frugality.'"