Plain-English explainers: S&P 500, ETFs, dollar-cost averaging, compounding.
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.
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.
Update — 30 July 2026: what actually happened. The Fed did not raise rates at the July 28–29 meeting. It
I checked my phone this morning the way I do most mornings — half out of habit, half out of
I read two headlines back to back this week that didn’t make sense to me at first. One: a major
A new Fed chair testifies before Congress this week, with fresh inflation data landing the same day. Markets will parse every word. My monthly buy won’t — here’s why.
An ETF is like a basket: one item, but many things inside it. In my last post, I described how
On the 21st of every month, my phone buzzes with the same notification: my salary has landed. And within about
You keep hearing “just buy the S&P 500” — but what is it, really? A 40-something engineer explains the S&P 500 in plain English: what it is, how to invest in it, and the honest truth about its returns.