I was planning a trip to Hong Kong and figured I’d need some local currency, the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD). My first thought was, ‘I’ll just exchange my Korean Won at the airport or a bank before I leave.’ Seemed simple enough, right? Well, it wasn’t exactly like exchanging US dollars or Japanese yen. When…
It felt like everyone was suddenly talking about stocks and making a killing. The KOSPI was hitting new highs, and money was just flying into the stock market. I remembered thinking, ‘What about my savings?’ I wasn’t comfortable with the crazy ups and downs of stocks, but I also wasn’t thrilled with the tiny interest…
I needed to send some money to my family back in the Philippines last month, and honestly, it felt way more complicated than I expected. It’s not like sending money within Korea, where it’s pretty much instant with KakaoPay or Toss. This was a bigger amount, and I wanted to make sure I was getting…
I’ve been hearing a lot about how important it is to have a global portfolio, you know, not putting all your eggs in one basket, especially with how things are going in Korea. My initial thought was, okay, let’s look at some foreign stocks or maybe some ETFs that cover international markets. Simple enough, right?…
I’ve been dabbling in overseas investments for a couple of years now, mostly through some ETFs and a few individual stocks. It started as a way to diversify beyond just the Korean market, and honestly, to just see what else was out there. At first, it felt like a good idea to put money into…
So, I decided to consolidate my overseas stock accounts. I had some shares here and there, and frankly, managing two different brokerage accounts was becoming a hassle. I’d heard that some people move their holdings between brokers, and I figured, why not? My main goal was to get everything into one place, mainly because I…
I was looking at the latest trade balance figures for Korea, and the numbers for March were pretty eye-opening. Apparently, there was a huge surplus, something like 37.33 billion dollars. A big chunk of that seems to be from semiconductor exports really picking up, which makes sense. But what caught my attention was the breakdown…
I’d been hearing about ‘mokdon guligi’ – basically, growing a lump sum of money – for ages, and it always sounded so straightforward. Just pick a good investment, right? Stocks seemed too risky for the amount I had, so I started looking into bond funds. The idea was that they were supposed to be less…
So, I was trying to help my parents start investing in overseas stocks, specifically something like S&P 500 ETFs, and let me tell you, it was way more complicated than I expected. I figured, since I already have my own brokerage account, opening another one for them would be a breeze. I was wrong. The…
I’d been hearing about people investing in US stocks for a while now. My friend, who’s always a bit ahead of the curve on these things, kept saying how much easier it was to make money over there. So, I decided to finally look into it. I thought, ‘How hard can it be? It’s just…
Everyone around me was suddenly talking about overseas stocks. My friends were showing off their gains from US stocks, and even my parents were asking about how to buy shares in foreign companies. It felt like if I didn’t jump in, I’d be left behind. So, I decided to give it a try too. I…
Going to Taiwan for a short trip recently. It wasn’t a long vacation or anything, just a quick 3 nights, 4 days. I thought I had everything figured out, but money stuff always trips me up a little. Especially when it comes to foreign currency exchange. This time, it was the Taiwan dollar, or New…