On the 25th of every month, my credit card statement lands. Last month I caught myself staring at the total, thinking, “Where did all of this even go?” So instead of shrugging it off like usual, I opened my banking app and broke it down, line by line — me, my wife, and our seven-year-old … Read more
There’s a Korean word you should know: youngkkeul (영끌). It literally means “scraping together your soul.” It’s not some spiritual thing — it describes what people do to buy a home here. You gather every won you can, borrow every loan you qualify for, and put your soul up as collateral too. The joke stopped … Read more
Three years ago, I signed a jeonse (전세, “key money”) lease on my apartment in Seongnam for 410 million won — roughly $300,000. I handed that entire amount to my landlord. Not as a down payment. Not as a purchase. Just to rent the place. Today, that same apartment’s jeonse deposit has climbed to 570 … Read more