My daughter, in her late 20s has a job, and I, in my late 60s retired, are having trouble making ends meet. We often talk about living together again to help cut costs.
Thank you for explaining this AKM, I had no idea. It makes me sad that so many children spend the bulk of their daily hours in schools, and that the parents miss out on happy retirement by spending so much money on having their kids spend all their waking hours in schools. There needs to be more enjoyment of life. More of just living. I'm impressed that you went through this education marathon too - you seem to be a very balanced and grounded human being. I hope for Koreans that in the future the system will shift to allow them more balance too, and make for happier lives of both children and parents.🙏💚
It’s sad, really. I understand why those in the 60-75 age range would think that once they aged out, their children would then take care of them because it was custom for so long. I don’t think anyone anticipated the culture and costs to change so much.
They did not have enough kids for that. Just doing what the government told them to do. War on babies. It is irrational growth. Even if seniors set aside income they would not be able to afford noodles today. A house is 10x what is was in the 80’s. They never let prices drop. Some are forced to move when redevelopment happens.
I agree with everything you said but I would add a few more factors contributing to poverty of the elderly. Primarily, Korean people are living much longer. By much longer, I mean in excess of 20-30 years longer than they did just a few generations ago. During my grandparents' time (people born late1800's - early 1900's) most people didn't live long enough to see their 60th birthday. It was such a rare event that a big party was thrown and the entire village would come to celebrate. Korea's industrialization meant lots of people from rural villages moved to big cities like Seoul. This urbanization is also a major contributing factor. It's much cheaper to live in the countryside than it is in the city. Most people owned some land and grew their own food. As you mentioned, most modern Korean parents spend too much on their children's education. This is a strange phenomenon to me because historically speaking only the wealthiest Koreans sent their children to school past elementary or middle school. There are many people from my mother's generation that couldn't even read. But in today's Korea somehow everyone is expected to go to college? Statistically it's impossible for an entire nation's people to be academically gifted. Here in the US only 30% of citizens have a college degree. And even then most have useless degrees. Finally, one of the sad realities contributing to this poverty is age discrimination. Korean firms have this bad habit of pushing older workers out before retirement age. So when a worker gets to be over 50 often times the company will push them out. So the money that could have been saved by working another 15-20 years just vanishes. Without good retirement plans and a robust social security system it spells doom for too many elderly. Here in the US, there is still social security payments for the current generation. Many government workers get pensions. And at least half the full time workers invest in their retirement through 401k or IRA. But many younger workers won't have the benefit of Social Security in their future because the elderly here are living longer as well and eating up gov budgets.
I agree with you on parents putting all of their money in to children education and not putting a side for their retirement with no guarantee that the children will take care of them. Myself and husband was told this by a college counselor let ur kids take out loans and be responsible. We did help ur last two with college. But we make sure retirement is not affected. I really feel sad for the elderly who are struggling.
Thanks for explaining that situation so well.I think people are too obsessed with education, there is a shortage all over the world of skilled workers and this needs to be promoted to the young people ,otherwise there will not be enough plumbers, carpenters, electricians etc
I wonder if the statistics accurately reflect how the children are taking care of the parents' needs. I know there are elderly people who really struggle to get by month to month, maybe even day by day. I hope it is not as high as the statistics say.
I had already heard about those long school hours, but I still can’t imagine what it’s like. Don’t those kids get overworked? I have two teenagers, and my daughter’s school schedule is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, she has Wednesdays off, and the other days are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the evenings, she watches TV, spends time on her phone, meets up with friends, or does something else. She occasionally has homework and spends 1 to 2 hours on it per week. Yet, she is still very tired and needs her rest because of the stress from school. How do teenagers in Korea manage to keep up? Do they secretly take breaks, or are they really studying all the time? Where do they have dinner? Doesn’t stress and exhaustion play a role in their lives?
Here in the US it's called 'keeping up with the Jones'. But it's not usually money spent on children but on silly things like cars, boats, or expensive things that aren't necessary.
I agree with everything you said. It is just a sad situation all over the world that will not change in a hurry unless something positive is done to help alleviate this crisis for the future. ❤❤
Hello Average Korean Man. Yeah, interesting to see the pattern, since the same is happening throughout the whole so called developed world, it does not matter if the country is western or eastern. When we see these statistics, we can understand partially why people are so reluctant to have kids. It is sad what is happening: everything costs more, people work longer hours, people have less time and money to help each other including the family. My parents can still take care of themselves, but I am starting to think about the future also. My brother and I will have to step up sometime not so far in the future. Have a nice Thursday.🙂
In Greece there is a similar system called frontistirio (φροντιστήριο) general name for evning tutoring school. Back in mid 1990th everyboby was allowed to aply for University There were central exams but they were so hard to pass that the frontistiria would provide for the knoledge to pass the medical, ingenieer, languages university access exams - so everybody whos parents were able to pay the tutoring schools, would have a much better chance to get one of the very limited University places... I never asked my costudents how expensive the tutoring was or who neded the tutoring to get the uni access, out of courtesy.
It’s interesting to me how material prosperity also has its downside. In this case, with the cost of living in S Korea being so high, both the elderly and younger people are struggling to make ends meet. I hope that as this generation pays into their pension plans that this will eventually solve the elderly poverty issue. I have a question: are there social service agencies in S Korea who help the poor with food, rent etc? Thank you again for another interesting video.
😅i watch a lot of videos concerning this situation in korea but is part of your culture it is unfortunately to late for the old generation but it seems that the new generation will make changes as they already started
this is very sad. Koreans work so hard during their work life for their family and themselves. also, as you said, it's not unusual for Asians to believe that what they provide for their children will come back to them with their kids caring for them in their senior/retirement years. tradition is gone.
This is interesting, I always thought that kids lived with their parents and took care of them. I have a question. Can the parents ask the children to pay them back the money they spent on them? This would cut down on the poverty level. Why aren’t the children living with their parents if they see them struggling and poverty stricken? Great video!❤❤
So can't parents just help their own children with their homework? I get going to an afterschool academy for subjects not taught at the local schools, but the basics should be things that parents can help with? Also MUCH better for the child/parent bonding.
No child should spend so much time in a classroom, not to mention the time spent studying and doing homework. There must be a lot of unhappy households. Kids are miserable and exhausted from overwork and parents have no family time with their children, not to mention the extra money they have to spend. Plus, there is no guarantee the children will benefit later on from so much schoolwork.
Average Korean Man's opinions expressed in his video have empirical support . Kang J, Park J, Cho J. Inclusive Aging in Korea: Eradicating Senior Poverty. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb 14;19(4):2121. One is free to Google that citation for additional facts, statistics, analysis, recommendations to read the Abstract and further details. Not only is the elderly poverty rate high but alarmingly so the suicide rate also mentioned in this academic article. Without blaming the victim, I would opine an inadequate preparation for retirement as a contributing factor.
My daughter, in her late 20s has a job, and I, in my late 60s retired, are having trouble making ends meet. We often talk about living together again to help cut costs.
Thank you for explaining this AKM, I had no idea. It makes me sad that so many children spend the bulk of their daily hours in schools, and that the parents miss out on happy retirement by spending so much money on having their kids spend all their waking hours in schools. There needs to be more enjoyment of life. More of just living. I'm impressed that you went through this education marathon too - you seem to be a very balanced and grounded human being. I hope for Koreans that in the future the system will shift to allow them more balance too, and make for happier lives of both children and parents.🙏💚
I also hope children these days don't go through such tough lifestyles.
You are so informative about South Korea versus America. Thank you.
It’s sad, really. I understand why those in the 60-75 age range would think that once they aged out, their children would then take care of them because it was custom for so long. I don’t think anyone anticipated the culture and costs to change so much.
They did not have enough kids for that. Just doing what the government told them to do. War on babies.
It is irrational growth. Even if seniors set aside income they would not be able to afford noodles today. A house is 10x what is was in the 80’s. They never let prices drop. Some are forced to move when redevelopment happens.
I agree with everything you said but I would add a few more factors contributing to poverty of the elderly. Primarily, Korean people are living much longer. By much longer, I mean in excess of 20-30 years longer than they did just a few generations ago. During my grandparents' time (people born late1800's - early 1900's) most people didn't live long enough to see their 60th birthday. It was such a rare event that a big party was thrown and the entire village would come to celebrate.
Korea's industrialization meant lots of people from rural villages moved to big cities like Seoul. This urbanization is also a major contributing factor. It's much cheaper to live in the countryside than it is in the city. Most people owned some land and grew their own food.
As you mentioned, most modern Korean parents spend too much on their children's education. This is a strange phenomenon to me because historically speaking only the wealthiest Koreans sent their children to school past elementary or middle school. There are many people from my mother's generation that couldn't even read. But in today's Korea somehow everyone is expected to go to college? Statistically it's impossible for an entire nation's people to be academically gifted. Here in the US only 30% of citizens have a college degree. And even then most have useless degrees.
Finally, one of the sad realities contributing to this poverty is age discrimination. Korean firms have this bad habit of pushing older workers out before retirement age. So when a worker gets to be over 50 often times the company will push them out. So the money that could have been saved by working another 15-20 years just vanishes.
Without good retirement plans and a robust social security system it spells doom for too many elderly. Here in the US, there is still social security payments for the current generation. Many government workers get pensions. And at least half the full time workers invest in their retirement through 401k or IRA. But many younger workers won't have the benefit of Social Security in their future because the elderly here are living longer as well and eating up gov budgets.
I agree with you on parents putting all of their money in to children education and not putting a side for their retirement with no guarantee that the children will take care of them. Myself and husband was told this by a college counselor let ur kids take out loans and be responsible. We did help ur last two with college. But we make sure retirement is not affected. I
really feel sad for the elderly who are struggling.
Thanks for explaining that situation so well.I think people are too obsessed with education, there is a shortage all over the world of skilled workers and this needs to be promoted to the young people ,otherwise there will not be enough plumbers, carpenters, electricians etc
I wonder if the statistics accurately reflect how the children are taking care of the parents' needs. I know there are elderly people who really struggle to get by month to month, maybe even day by day. I hope it is not as high as the statistics say.
A lot of reasons is the push for consumerism and credit cards. That's a problem world wide.
So many elders could go back to their hometowns where there is a family owned structure.
I had already heard about those long school hours, but I still can’t imagine what it’s like. Don’t those kids get overworked? I have two teenagers, and my daughter’s school schedule is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, she has Wednesdays off, and the other days are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the evenings, she watches TV, spends time on her phone, meets up with friends, or does something else. She occasionally has homework and spends 1 to 2 hours on it per week. Yet, she is still very tired and needs her rest because of the stress from school.
How do teenagers in Korea manage to keep up? Do they secretly take breaks, or are they really studying all the time? Where do they have dinner? Doesn’t stress and exhaustion play a role in their lives?
They go to convince stores during break times and eat something there.
Here in the US it's called 'keeping up with the Jones'. But it's not usually money spent on children but on silly things like cars, boats, or expensive things that aren't necessary.
yup, people forget a major factor is also laziness, over spending and lack of basic investing knowledge.
I agree with everything you said. It is just a sad situation all over the world that will not change in a hurry unless something positive is done to help alleviate this crisis for the future.
❤❤
Can this also be the reason that some couples prefer to not have children, as they must save for their own(couple) future?
Yes definitely. It costs too much to raise a child
Hello Average Korean Man. Yeah, interesting to see the pattern, since the same is happening throughout the whole so called developed world, it does not matter if the country is western or eastern. When we see these statistics, we can understand partially why people are so reluctant to have kids. It is sad what is happening: everything costs more, people work longer hours, people have less time and money to help each other including the family. My parents can still take care of themselves, but I am starting to think about the future also. My brother and I will have to step up sometime not so far in the future. Have a nice Thursday.🙂
In Greece there is a similar system called frontistirio (φροντιστήριο) general name for evning tutoring school. Back in mid 1990th everyboby was allowed to aply for University There were central exams but they were so hard to pass that the frontistiria would provide for the knoledge to pass the medical, ingenieer, languages university access exams - so everybody whos parents were able to pay the tutoring schools, would have a much better chance to get one of the very limited University places... I never asked my costudents how expensive the tutoring was or who neded the tutoring to get the uni access, out of courtesy.
This is very interesting data.
It’s interesting to me how material prosperity also has its downside. In this case, with the cost of living in S Korea being so high, both the elderly and younger people are struggling to make ends meet. I hope that as this generation pays into their pension plans that this will eventually solve the elderly poverty issue. I have a question: are there social service agencies in S Korea who help the poor with food, rent etc? Thank you again for another interesting video.
Thank you for bringing up the social care systems we have mostly in Europe. I wanted to ask the same.
There is are places which serve food for the poor but I'm not sure about the rent system.
😅i watch a lot of videos concerning this situation in korea but is part of your culture it is unfortunately to late for the old generation but it seems that the new generation will make changes as they already started
this is very sad. Koreans work so hard during their work life for their family and themselves. also, as you said, it's not unusual for Asians to believe that what they provide for their children will come back to them with their kids caring for them in their senior/retirement years. tradition is gone.
This is interesting, I always thought that kids lived with their parents and took care of them. I have a question.
Can the parents ask the children to pay them back the money they spent on them? This would cut down on the poverty level. Why aren’t the children living with their parents if they see them struggling and poverty stricken?
Great video!❤❤
Basically, supporting the parents when they retire was considered as paying back but it's disappearing these days.
Do children not get to play or when is time with family members if you don’t eat dinner at home? Where’s the balance?
There is no balance lol. Maybe during the weekends.
So can't parents just help their own children with their homework? I get going to an afterschool academy for subjects not taught at the local schools, but the basics should be things that parents can help with? Also MUCH better for the child/parent bonding.
Sad and unfair.
No child should spend so much time in a classroom, not to mention the time spent studying and doing homework. There must be a lot of unhappy households. Kids are miserable and exhausted from overwork and parents have no family time with their children, not to mention the extra money they have to spend. Plus, there is no guarantee the children will benefit later on from so much schoolwork.
Good morning from china
Average Korean Man's opinions expressed in his video have empirical support . Kang J, Park J, Cho J. Inclusive Aging in Korea: Eradicating Senior Poverty. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb 14;19(4):2121. One is free to Google that citation for additional facts, statistics, analysis, recommendations to read the Abstract and further details. Not only is the elderly poverty rate high but alarmingly so the suicide rate also mentioned in this academic article. Without blaming the victim, I would opine an inadequate preparation for retirement as a contributing factor.