Flowers are temporary, stocks are for investment!
Romance in South Korea have taken a rather financial turn as instead of buying flowers or chocolates for each other, young couples are now gifting blue-chip stocks for their significant others in order to woo them. As reported by Insider, the trend started after Korean-based securities brokerage and investment banking company Shinhan Investment Corp started listing ‘stock gfit cards’ on the immensely popular KakaoTalk mobile app’s ‘Kakao Gift’ late last year.
A Tesla stock gift card sold in South Korea.
The move made purchasing stocks a lot more accessible for South Koreans. So instead of purchasing a Starbucks drink for their girlfriend or boyfriend, young South Koreans are actually purchasing Starbucks stocks for them using the gift cards. Furthermore, more expensive stocks are more popular, including Apple stock gift cards which starts at around RM91 each or Tesla stock gift cards starting at RM108.
The introduction of this stock gift cards allows for the recipients to create a brokerage account and simply register the gift card’s code without having to meet a financial advisor.
For illustrative purposes.
Moreover, these stock gift cards have been incredibly popular with more than 20,000 sold since 24 December 2020. The most popular buyers were among customers in their 20s and 30s. According to local media outlet Straightnews, the most popular stocks for gift-giving is Tesla, followed by Apple Starbucks and Netflix.
The popularity of Shinhan Investment Corp’s stock gift cards offering prompted another stock provider, KB Securities to make a similar offering, starting from just RM37. This stock gift card offering is more flexible, whereby it can be used to buy a variety of foreign stocks instead of just a specific company’s stock.
An advertisement for stock gift cards.
KB Securities’ offerings become incredibly popular since its launch in 29 March 2021. A whopping 3.4 million gift cards of varying amounts have been sold within the first 20 days alone!
What do you guys think of this new trend in South Korea? Would you purchase stocks for your boyfriend or girlfriend? Or do you think you’d stick to something a little bit more conventional? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Also read: China Man Shamed For Dating Ad, Shares How Men Must Be “Rich & Handsome” To Date
