Apartment complexes in Seoul are seen from Lotte World Tower, April 19. Yonhap
HONG KONG — As his 8-year-old son blew out the candles on his birthday cake in February, Choi Nam-joon gave him a present he hopes will keep growing long after the party ends: three shares of Samsung Electronics.
The shares, worth a total of about 500,000 won ($331) at the time, were added to the boy’s brokerage account, part of a plan the 42-year-old Korean office worker sees as the most realistic way to help his son build wealth.
Choi’s family cannot afford to buy a home in one of Seoul’s most sought-after districts. Nor does he want to buy a cheaper property outside the capital, which he believes is exposed to long-term decline.
“I try to get my son interested in the stock market by doing this together,” Choi said. “It’s a way to help your child build assets through the magic of compounding, while also saving on tax.”
Across East Asia, parents and grandparents are beginning to rethink what kind of wealth is most worth passing on.
For decades, property and savings were the dominant answer, especially in China. But as populations age and confidence in real estate weakens, more families are seeking to diversify their wealth beyond property and savings, turning to stocks, funds and insurance products for long-term asset building and inheritance planning.
In Korea, that shift is already visible in children’s brokerage accounts. Shinhan Securities reported a 272 percent year-on-year increase in accounts held by underage clients in the first quarter of 2026. Samsung Electronics was the most actively traded stock among minor investors, it said.
In China, as the property market remains embroiled in a multiyear downturn with no end in sight, analysts say its middle class may pivot toward equity investments, but it may take several generations for such assets to take hold nationwide.
Meanwhile, across the whole region, discussions around inheritance are starting earlier than in the past, they added.
For years, the Korean government has sought to shift household wealth away from real estate and into capital markets, arguing that excessive reliance on property weighs on productivity growth. One policy offers tax benefits for investment funds gifted to minors, with gifts of up to 20 million won exempt from tax every 10 years.
With Korea’s stock market rallying this year, those efforts appear to be gaining traction. The benchmark KOSPI index has risen by roughly 103 percent so far this year, making it one of the best-performing major equity indices among G20 economies.
“Recent increases in household stock ownership, broader participation and higher expected returns suggest changing constraints on Korea’s wealth effect,” the Bank of Korea’s research team wrote in a May 7 report.
Dealers work at Hana Bank in Seoul, Monday, as the benchmark KOSPI hits a record high of 8,788.38. Yonhap
Putting more in stocks
Koreans are not alone in gravitating toward capital markets for legacy planning.
For decades, property was seen as one of the safest ways to build family wealth in Asia. Owning homes represented not only security and social status, but, for many families, was also seen as a pathway to marriage and stability for the next generation. Analysts estimate that about 65 percent of household wealth in Korea is tied up in real estate. In China, the figure is estimated at between 70 and 80 percent.
That confidence is now beginning to crack. Ajay Mathur, managing director and head of consumer banking group and wealth management at DBS Hong Kong, said his customers — most of them Chinese — have increasingly preferred liquid assets amid market uncertainty.
Hong Kong has long been a destination of choice for Chinese families seeking to grow their assets and plan for succession. But Mathur said wealthier Chinese families have accelerated their move into more diversified portfolios over the past five years.
“Bank deposits will remain and property will remain. But wealth is becoming more diversified through specialized investment products and insurance products,” Mathur said.
A passerby stops to take a picture of a stock market indicator board in Tokyo, May 25. EPA-Yonhap
Japan presents a variation on the trend. The country went through its property adjustment decades earlier, after the collapse of its asset-price bubble pushed households away from real estate and into cash and deposits.
Policymakers have long worried about “old-to-old inheritance,” in which assets pass from elderly parents to heirs who are themselves already aging, slowing the transfer of wealth to younger, higher-consuming generations.
To address the issue, Japan’s tax system allows an annual gift-tax basic exemption of 1.1 million yen ($6,917) per recipient. At the same time, the Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) offers a tax-exempt investment channel designed to support individual asset building.
Together, these rules create a framework in which parents and grandparents can transfer modest sums during their lifetime, while younger generations invest the money over the long term.
According to Japan’s Financial Services Agency, holders from teenagers to people in their 30s accounted for 12.6 percent of all NISA accounts at the end of 2014. By the end of 2024, that group’s share had climbed to 29.5 percent.
“Junior NISA effectively depends on the financial capacity of parents and grandparents. This could accelerate the decline in cash and deposits held by those aged 60 and over,” wrote Kang Young-sook, head of the advanced economy department at the Korea Centre for International Finance, in a January 2025 brief.
China tests new path
Equities could offer households a relatively accessible route to diversification. But whether such a shift can spread systematically to China’s middle class remains an open question. While analysts say it is likely, achieving nationwide appeal may take some time.
“Would the government want a shift from homes to a booming stock market? 100 per cent,” said Anthony W. D. Anastasi, an assistant professor of economics at the Sino-British College in Shanghai. But in the short term, he said, such a shift remains unlikely because China’s equity market is still underdeveloped and heavily reliant on government support.
China’s stock market has not historically been a primary vehicle for asset management or intergenerational wealth transfer, largely because of its performance record, said Wang Yi, chief investment officer at Hong Kong-based CSOP Asset Management.
Wang noted that the national average home price stood at less than 2,000 yuan ($294) per square meter in 2000, but had risen to more than 10,000 yuan per square meter in 2021, a fivefold increase.
“In contrast, the Shanghai Composite Index only around doubled over the same time frame and has yet to surpass its peaks in 2007 and 2015,” Wang said. “China currently has no inheritance or gift tax, so wealth-transfer decisions are driven primarily by long-term value.”
Still, Wang said investors have taken a more positive view of the market’s long-term potential since 2024, driven by the technology boom and rising expectations that equities could play a larger role in intergenerational wealth planning. On May 13, China’s tech-heavy ChiNext Index reached an all-time high, reaching 4,038 points by market closing.
Beijing is also trying to build a more credible capital market.
In January 2025, Beijing unveiled an implementation plan aimed at channeling more medium- and long-term capital — including insurance funds, pensions and mutual funds — into the stock market.
Under the measure, state-owned insurers are required to allocate 30 percent of new premium income to A-shares from 2025 onwards, while public funds have been instructed to increase equity holdings by at least 10 percent each year.
China’s so-called national team of state-backed institutional investors, led by Central Huijin Investment, China Securities Finance and the National Social Security Fund, has stepped in during periods of market volatility to support equities.
At the same time, regulators have sought to improve investor confidence by encouraging stronger corporate governance, higher dividend payouts and share buy-backs, according to Wang.
“Diversification is becoming more common in China and is, in our view, both a natural trend and a necessary development,” Wang said.
A man pulls a child across a frozen pond in Beijing, Jan. 18. AP-Yonhap
Passing on the tools
For families, that shift is not only about seeking higher returns. It is also becoming part of a broader effort to equip the next generation with more flexible financial tools, as traditional routes to security become less assured.
“Younger generations are facing high housing costs, weaker expected returns from property, and greater economic uncertainty, which is encouraging a search for alternative ways to build wealth,” Anastasi said.
Mathur of DBS said discussions around inheritance are starting earlier than in the past. Parents are increasingly involving their children in financial planning and setting aside assets for specific life goals — money to access at 18, funds for university education, a first home or even assets intended for future grandchildren.
In April, DBS surveyed 800 parents in Hong Kong and other Greater Bay Area cities who had liquid assets of HK$1 million ($127,688) or more and children aged 16 or below. Sixty-nine percent of parents cited resilience as their top aspiration for their children, followed by financial independence at 57 percent.
Financial literacy is also being seen as a critical foundation. According to the survey, 94 percent of parents said it was crucial to a child’s upbringing, while two-thirds believed financial literacy education should begin by the age of 13 or earlier.
Mathur said wealth management and legacy planning will no longer be limited to the ultra-rich, as investment vehicles become increasingly “democratized” through a growing range of online products.
“Wealth planning is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity,” he added.
