Yunwoo is studying when people start.
I study how people decide when to start, and build the systems that help them.
- i bought my first shares in eighth grade. the first year was a loss.
- i held on, and kept asking whether starting early had helped me, or whether i was just lucky.
- i think the best time to learn about money is before your first decision about it.
- i think AI can suggest, but people should decide.
- i think a good system makes the helpful thing the easy thing.
Ask
Ask about Yunwoo
Featured research · Curieux Review (accepted, forthcoming Oct 2026)
The Effect of Age at First Investment on Long-Term Wealth
Median net worth climbs from about $39,000 for U.S. households under 35 to about $410,000 for those aged 65 to 74 (Federal Reserve, SCF 2022). Life-cycle saving explains much of that gap. My paper asks how much of the rest comes from when people start investing.
I combined published survey data with compounding calculations and a review of existing models, and separated two channels:
- Time. Extra years in the market let compounding do more work.
- Learning. Early investors also get more years to build financial knowledge, adjust their attitude to risk, and form saving habits.
Limits I name in the paper: most of the evidence is observational, and income drives both early investing and later wealth. Malmendier & Nagel (2011) show that people who live through bad markets take less risk for decades, so starting early can also mean being scarred early.
Where it left me: if timing matters, who decides when people start? Often it is an employer choosing when workers are enrolled in a plan.
Try it · $100 a month until 65
Illustration only. The paper's calculations use a nominal 7% return; the real figure subtracts roughly 2.5% inflation, which shrinks the gap.
Where the question came from
First shares, eighth grade
Bought with allowance money after reading news and company reports. The early loss turned into the research question.
Running an organization · Aug 2026
Secretary-General, 2026 UN Youth Future Summit (YMCA)
I ran a 150-participant conference end to end. It was a small organization, and I had to handle every function of one.
Every résumé looked alike, so I hired through interviews. I asked how candidates would handle a clash of viewpoints, and whether they understood the summit was an educational program first.
Delegate (Yonsei MUN, Dalton MUN, SOLEIL MUN · Position Paper Award) → Secretary-General
Designing incentives · S.P.A.R.K.
Making kiosks easier for older customers
400+shops
Campaign materials: S.P.A.R.K. “물어보세요 프로젝트” (Order with Dignity). The five-step guide (click to enlarge) and, inset, the sticker participating shops displayed.
At a cinema I watched an elderly customer pick a film and a seat, then freeze at the payment screen. I helped design and hand out pamphlets for a campaign to fix that. Shops that used them got a certification sticker, and more than 400 joined.
Some refusals came from part-time staff who said it would be a hassle. The sticker's benefit went to the owner; the extra work fell on the employee. That is the kind of problem I want to study.
Co-Founder & Vice President, S.P.A.R.K. (Student Participating in Action, Reform, and Knowledge), 2025–present
Writing
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Founded my school's chapter of Vox Mundi, a student editorial journal network across 10+ schools, and direct its editorial content. Also a JoongAng Student Reporter.
12th Economic Speech Contest · 2026
“Is my AI assistant helping me, or spending me?”
Recommendation systems are the strongest digital nudge there is, so data privacy is a question of economic freedom. Once, when an AI analysis did my research for me, I deleted it, kept only the references, and did the work again.
Competitions & recognition
Competitions and recognition
- Korean Business Competition — 2nd place, team leader
- Dalton Business Competition — 3rd place
- YMCA President's Award — Youth International Policy Forum (cultural property and soft power)
- Position Paper Award — 1st SOLEIL Model UN
- AP Scholar with Distinction
Beyond the desk
Athletics and music
- Volleyball — KAIAC Cup 3rd · JV Rookie of the Year
- Volleyball — MS MVP · All-KAIAC Team
- Fencing — Korea Incheon Championship 5th · 7th
- School Orchestra — percussion
Say hello.
yunwoojeong2027@daltonschool.kr
Korean · English · Spanish