My journey to six-figure passive income and financial freedom.
This week: U.S. payrolls fell 23,000 in July while May and June were revised down a combined 103,000, the ISM Services Prices Index climbed to 70.3%, and AMD’s data center revenue more than doubled to $6.7 billion.
My National Pension adjusts for inflation every year. My personal pension accounts don’t. I ran the math on what a fixed $1,000 payment is actually worth after 20 years — and it explains exactly why I never stop buying the index.
A 30-year government bond fund has sat in my pension account for two years and I never asked what actually moves it. The Fed held rates steady on July 29 — and long-term bonds moved anyway. Duration is the one number that explains why.
A coworker sent me an 11% dividend yield. The funds I actually own pay 2-3%. Here is why the smaller number is the one I keep buying — and the year-13 crossover that explains it.
In July the Korean market had its third-worst month on record and, eleven days later, its best single day ever. Leveraged ETF holders lost in both directions. So did a $45 billion AI hedge fund holding the same stock — and the mechanism was identical.
Every Saturday I go back through the week’s economic news the same way I’d go back through a machine’s inspection
My balance fell in July while nothing I own fell. Tracing why led me through three things I had wrong: that rates move stocks in one direction, that the Fed sets “the” interest rate, and that textbook theory explains currencies. It does not.
The Fed held rates at 3.5-3.75% on July 29, 2026 – but three of the twelve voters wanted a hike. Here is what the FOMC actually is, how its vote works, and how the decision reaches a pension account in South Korea.
This week: June retail sales grow but barely clear the statistical noise floor, mortgage rates tick back up to 6.58%, and Tesla’s Q2 earnings show record deliveries colliding with shrinking margins.
Every month I take an honest snapshot of where I actually stand — the real numbers, what moved, and the