[Korean Culture & Language] 빚투, 영끌


Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!

According to the financial sector on October 17th, 2021, the balance of home loans by the five major commercial banks in Korea reached around 706 trillion won (approximately USD 600 billion), which is a 5.32% increase in a year. So many young people today 영끌 to buy a house or a car because of the 하우스디바이드 phenomenon. No one wants to be left out or miss out on the investment opportunity. With FOMO, real estate prices have soared and more people are buying houses they can barely afford to ‘raise their social class’.

[그래픽] 5대 은행 주택담보대출 현황


영끌 is an abbreviation of “영혼까지 끌어모으다,” which means “to scrape everything together, even one’s soul”. You can interpret it as “Pulled together everything someone has and (maybe) more to afford something” or “Sell one’s soul to afford something”.


Ex) “너 돈 없다며, 여자친구 선물 어떻게 샀어? You said you were broke. How did you afford a present for your girlfriend?”

“영혼까지 끌어모았지… I pulled together everything I had”

“영끌” usually refers to pulling together things they already have. But some people even 빚투.


빚투 is an abbreviation of “빚을 내서 투자하다 Loaning money to invest”.

Borrowing money to invest is extremely risky because it increases the amount you’ll lose if the value of your investments drops. Regardless of how well your investment performs, you must repay the loan plus interest. 

However, the interest rate for personal loans lowered due to COVID-19, and return on risky assets has risen. As long as you make the right choices and invest smartly, investing with borrowed money can be a big win.

What do you think of 영끌 or 빛투? Would you do it?

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