★ Lee Jin-woo, Vice President of Sampro TV, strongly recommends former Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-gu.
★ Im Mi-jin, CEO of Long Black, praises Goran, CEO of YouTube's "Algoran."
★ The first book by reporter Han Ae-ran, who published the newsletters 'Ants Lab' and 'Deep Dive'

From interest rates, exchange rates, stocks, real estate, and coins to future industry trends.
A practical economics class to cultivate your "money-making instincts" from an economics journalist with 23 years of experience.
A fundamental answer to readers who ask, “Then what should I buy?”

It even includes President Lee Jae-myung's 100-day press conference!

From the 2002 credit card crisis to the pandemic crisis, economic journalist Han Ae-ran has written over 4,000 economic articles for 23 years, and has observed market trends from the forefront of the economy by publishing the stock information newsletter 'Ants Lab' and the economic trend newsletter 'Deep Dive'. She has published an introductory book on the real economy that condenses only the core economic knowledge that can be immediately applied to investment by concentrating the in-depth insights and vast knowledge she has accumulated over the years.


This book provides a comprehensive overview of everyday finance, such as savings, insurance, loans, and credit cards, as well as macroeconomics, such as interest rates, exchange rates, and prices, investment in stocks, bonds, and ETFs, real estate, virtual assets, and global industry trends, such as electric vehicles, AI, and the Internet of Things. It cultivates an economic sense that allows you to see through all the trends shaking the market with a single perspective.


The core message of this book is clear.
The author emphasizes, “Don’t invest blindly based on what others say without knowing much about it,” and emphasizes that developing “economic literacy”—the ability to read and judge the flow of money—is the surest way to financial success.
This economics textbook is easy and friendly, yet not shallow, practical and profound. It can be read by everyone from those in their 20s and 30s who find economic articles difficult, to office workers in their 30s and 40s who are just starting out with financial management, and even to experienced investors who lack confidence in investing.

This story is from over 10 years ago.
At the time, I entrusted 150 million won, which was a huge amount of money for me, to a ‘value’ fund of a famous asset management company.
The company's slogan, "Korean-style value investing," was attractive.
Past performance has also been excellent.
I believed that since I was going to make a long-term investment of more than 5 years, it was right to trust and entrust it to the best experts.
I was busy with work and childcare, so I didn't have the time or confidence to invest directly.
I didn't even look closely at the fund management report that the asset manager sent me, using the excuse that I was busy.
The amount received by redeeming the fund after 6 years was 155 million won.
After deducting the separately paid commission (2.25 million won), the profit was only 2.75 million won.
The six-year cumulative return was 1.8%, and the annual average return was 0.3%.
It was an incredibly poor performance.

--- From "Introduction: To read the flow of money, you must first develop economic literacy"

Whether it's a bank employee, a securities firm's PB, a fund manager, various experts, YouTubers, bloggers, friends, siblings, or even parents, there's no one you can completely trust and rely on when it comes to financial planning.
It's not because they're scammers.
Because investing is your own responsibility and no one else can do it for you.
No matter how much you listen to lectures from the best instructors in the country, whether you do well on the test or not ultimately depends on you.

--- From "Introduction: To read the flow of money, you must first develop economic literacy"

The pension savings plan that broadcaster Song Eun-i signed up for at a bank in 1993 became a hot topic.
This is because the annual interest rate was revealed to be a whopping 20%.
The 20% annual interest rate is so great that even if you deposit only 1 million won in the first year and don't make any more deposits, after 10 years it will grow to 6.2 million won, after 20 years it will grow to 38.34 million won, after 30 years it will grow to 237.38 million won, and after 40 years it will grow to 1.46977 billion won.
This is thanks to the 'magic compounding effect' where interest is added to interest.
(Omitted) These days, even if the interest rate on a time deposit is 3% per year, it is considered high interest.
Of course, deposit interest rates may rise further depending on market interest rate fluctuations, but it is difficult to expect the return of the double-digit interest rate era of the 1990s.

--- From "Economic News Insight: Can the Era of Double-Digit Deposit Interest Rates Return?"

Interest rate is 'the value of money = the value of money'.
When you borrow money from someone, the price you pay for it is interest.
The concept that money, like other commodities that can be bought and sold, has a price tag may seem a bit unfamiliar, but let's keep this in mind.
Then it is much easier to understand when interest rates fall and when they rise.
Because, like the prices of all other goods, interest rates are determined by supply and demand.
When the supply of money exceeds demand, that is, when there is an overabundance of money in the market, the interest rate, which is the value of money, falls.
Conversely, if the demand for money exceeds the supply, that is, if there is a shortage of money in the market, the interest rate, which is the price of money, rises.
Capitalism is a world of money, and the value of money, or interest rate, is the absolute standard for capitalist economic activity.

--- From "Interest Rates, the Only Standard for All Economic Activity"

Exchange rates are a very difficult topic.
There is a famous story about this.
Einstein died and went to heaven.
God gave him a job to do.
To determine the occupations of those who enter heaven.
Einstein interviewed new arrivals at the entrance to heaven.
I asked the first person who came in.
“What is your IQ?” he answered.
“It’s 200.” Then Einstein said, “Then study the theory of relativity.”
The next person had an IQ of 150.
Einstein gave him the task of “predicting the world economy.”
Finally, a man with an IQ of 60 appeared.
Einstein said this:
“Then why don’t you try predicting the exchange rate?” This doesn’t mean that even people with low intelligence can predict the exchange rate.
Quite the opposite.
The exchange rate is going to be wrong no matter how you predict it, so it doesn't matter who does it.
--- From "The Lie of Predicting Exchange Rates"

Investing in stocks is buying a business.
So which company should I buy?
A sound, profitable company that pays generous dividends? A fast-growing company with a promising future? While all of these are valid arguments, the most crucial criteria are missing.
The point is that you should buy ‘companies with cheap stock prices.’
To put it precisely, a stock that is cheap compared to its value is a good stock to invest in.
This is why you shouldn't invest in a company just because it's successful, big, and makes a lot of money.
Investing because others have invested heavily or because I like the company's products is not the answer.
No matter how good a company is, you can't make money by buying it when the stock price is high.
In other words, ‘good company = good stock’ is not the same.

--- From "The Age of Stocks Has Opened"

There are nearly 1,000 ETFs listed in Korea.
(Omitted) Which of these would be the best choice? (Omitted) These days, transaction volume is a more important criterion than cost.
If you are looking for similar products, you should choose an ETF that is actively traded.
Otherwise, there is a risk that the ETF price will not properly track the index.
In technical terms, this means that the spread (the difference between the ETF market price and its net asset value) is increasing.
Furthermore, when trading volume is too low, it can be difficult to sell ETFs. Because ETFs are easy to create, there are many phantom products that are listed but rarely sell, so caution is advised.

--- From "ETF, the new trend"

In fact, the government has no legal authority to set an upper limit on LTV. Banks are ultimately free to decide what LTV to set.
However, the Financial Services Commission sets the LTV upper limit under the name of ‘administrative guidance’, and all financial institutions follow it.
This is because there is no major financial company that would go against the will of the Financial Services Commission, which has the licensing authority.
So why would the government want to regulate LTV? The purpose or justification for LTV regulation is "financial stability."
If the apartment price bubble is too severe, banks may lend less than the value of the house, in case the house price (collateral value) suddenly falls later.
In other words, LTV regulations were originally not intended to control housing prices, but rather as a device to protect banks.

--- From "You need to know finance to buy a house"

Gold is a very safe asset, but it may not be a strong asset for long-term investment that can be passed down from generation to generation, as is commonly thought.
Why? As explained earlier, gold doesn't pay dividends or interest.
In other words, you cannot expect a ‘compounding effect’ from gold.
(Omitted) Gold does not grow if left alone.
There is no interest or dividends.
So Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is a famous gold hater.
If you could choose between two assets: A = all the world's gold (170,000 metric tons at the time) or B = all the farmland in the United States and 16 ExxonMobiles (the American oil giant)? Warren Buffett argues that investors should naturally choose B.
According to him, gold is an asset that “produces nothing.”
--- From "Gold, the Safest Asset"

I have been writing the economic newsletter 'Deep Dive' since September 2022.
Topics range from domestic shipbuilding stock price outlook to Argentina's economic policy.
It covers almost every industry, from artificial intelligence to the steel industry.
So, I get asked this question a lot.
“Where on earth do you find such items?” Some even asked seriously, asking if he had informants planted all over the world.
It seemed like he thought there must be some kind of secret recipe of his own.
Of course there is no such thing.
There is really only one way to find items, that is, to find accurate information about real-time trends in the economy and industry.
I read and search a lot.
So what exactly do you read? It's information I don't usually share, but I'll share it with readers of this book.

--- From "Going Out: How to Get High-Quality Economic Information for Free"