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Money
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Korea's ISA Loss Set-Off - There Is an Order, and Fees Come Off Too
Gains on listed Korean shares are not taxed, yet the losses are allowed into the set-off.
A Korean ISA Is Not Locked for Three Years - Withdrawals Come Out of Principal
Take out anything up to what you paid in and nothing happens - the Decree orders it that way.
Korea's EITC Household Types - Both Spouses Working Is Not the Test
The statute asks for 3m won from each — a spouse who earned 2.5m leaves you a one-earner household.
Korea's EITC: the Statutory Formula and the Amount Paid Are Different Numbers
The table prices each band at its favourable end and rounds up — so it always pays more than the formula.
Spending an HSA on Something Other Than Medical Care — the 20% and Age 65
At 65 the 20% goes away but the income tax does not — it is not free from there on.
The Dependent Care FSA — the 2026 Limit Is $7,500
Same name as the other FSA, 2.2 times the size — and the lower earner's income is the ceiling.
What Unused Annual Leave Is Worth in Korea — Ordinary Wage and the 209 Hours
“Unused leave gets paid out” is half true. The statute's default is that it lapses and payment is the exception — and the number you divide by, 209, appears in no statute at all.
Leaving After Exactly One Year in Korea — When One Day Decides Fifteen
You counted on “a year worked, so fifteen days” and eleven arrived. It is not an error: finish exactly one year and the fifteen days never come into existence.
Korea's 20m Won Financial Income Threshold — Crossing It Can Cost Nothing
Twenty million is not the line where the rate changes but where the method does. The statute runs two calculations and keeps the larger — and with no other income the withholding side wins up to 77.61m won.
Seoul's Policy Loans Cost 2.65% After the Subsidy — and the Subsidy Is Where Banks Differ
A policy loan brochure quotes two rates: what the bank charges and what the city pays. The borrower carries the gap, which nothing publishes.
Korea's 40% DSR Is Not in the Statute — the Three Documents That Set It
The Banking Act carries no figure, the regulation pushes it into a table, and the arithmetic is delegated again to the supervisor.
Fixed or Variable — One Point Is About 60,000 Won a Month per 100 Million
Don't choose on a forecast. You can answer whether you could pay two points higher — and that answer is about 120,000 won a month per 100 million.
Korea's ISA — How Much Tax It Saves, How to Open One, and What Changes in 2027
On a 6 million won gain an ordinary account is taxed 924,000 won; a low-income ISA, 198,000. The savings in figures, whether the principal is protected, how to open one, and the 2027 reform bill.
Splitting Your Accounts — The Law Only Fixes Two Things
Korea's deposit protection cap is ₩100 million, not ₩50 million (amended 29 Jul 2025). And “15.4%” is not a figure in the statute.
Emergency Fund — One Month First, and Where It Is Actually Safe (2026)
No agency source for ‘three to six months’ turned up, and the line a US regulator drew was one month. Meanwhile the same ‘CMA’ sits in both the protected and unprotected column.
Korea's Parental Leave Benefit — 23.1m Won for a Year, How to Claim It, and Your Protections
Past an ordinary wage of 2.5m won the total lands at 23.1m either way. Dismissal is barred by statute, service keeps accruing, and claims open one month in.
Korea's 6+6 Dual-Parent Leave — Not a Doubling, a Rising Ceiling
The provision never says “months used in common.” The ceiling turns on how many months each parent used, and a parenthesis states outright that the periods need not overlap. It also applies during pregnancy.
Pay Down the Loan or Keep the Deposit — 4.74m Won Over Five Years (2026)
A deposit rate above your loan rate still loses after tax. Breaking even needs 1.182 times the loan rate, and no such pairing exists in today's market.
How to Choose a Korea-Listed ETF — Fees, Price Gaps, Fund Size
By law an ETF must permit redemption — which is why divergence cannot widen indefinitely. It may also hold up to 30% in a single security, which sits awkwardly with “an ETF means diversification.”
US-Listed ETFs vs. Korea-Listed Foreign ETFs — Tax Decides
The ₩2.5m allowance for overseas shares comes from Article 103, not the foreign-asset provisions. One allowance across all “shares etc.”, separate from property — and unused, it simply lapses.
Korean ETF Tax — 0 to 1.65m Won on a 10m Won Gain, by Type (2026)
Not every Korea-listed ETF is exempt. Bond and commodity ETFs are taxed 15.4% as ‘other assets’, and the crossover against foreign-listed funds sits at 8.33m won.
Time Deposit or Installment — and the Trap in “Best Rate” (2026)
We worked out the exact multiple behind “an installment plan pays about half the headline rate”: an n-month plan yields (n+1)÷2n — 13/24, or 54.17%, over twelve months, converging on 50% as the term lengthens.
Deposit Protection at ₩100m — The Principal That Fits Is Not ₩100m
The cap covers principal and interest together, so at 3.5% the ceiling is ₩96.62 million. The higher the rate, the less principal fits.
Korea's Annual Paid Leave — 15 Days, a 25-Day Cap, and the Procedure That Cancels Your Payout
Knowing “one year, 15 days” gets you halfway. The statute sets the counting rule, the expiry condition, and the written procedure that lets a company owe you nothing — in three separate places.
Dismissal in Korea — Three Things “I Gave 30 Days' Notice” Does Not Settle
Just cause, written notice and 30 days' notice live in three different provisions. Only the written notice is tied to legal effect; the notice period can be settled with money.
Workplace Harassment in Korea — What the Law Punishes Hardest Is Not the Harassment
The scheme carries exactly one criminal penalty: disadvantaging someone for reporting. Everything else draws an administrative fine, and the definition requires all three of its pieces.
US HSA vs FSA Explained — Tax-Advantaged Health Accounts (2026)
HSA grows and invests with triple tax-free; FSA is use-it-or-lose-it pre-tax. Plus 2026 limits.
US Credit Scores — Free Reports, 30 vs 45 Days, How Long Marks Stay
One free report a year from each of the three bureaus — and a dispute filed after it gets 45 days, not 30.
US Health Insurance Terms — Four Kinds of Money on Four Different Layers
The deductible marks the start, the out-of-pocket limit the end, and the premium sits outside. Taken verbatim from the Department of Labor's Uniform Glossary.
Youth Future Savings (2026) — What the Official Source Actually Says
Korea's Youth Leap Account closed in Dec 2025. We read the two FSC press releases on its successor: three income bands, not two — and no interest rate anywhere.
Korea's Exchange Fee — 2,500 Won per $100, Where It Goes, and How to Pay Less (2026)
About 25 won per dollar on US cash. That is 75,000 won on $3,000, or 7,500 with a preferential rate. The rate printed large at the top of the app already had the fee in it.
Sending Money Abroad — The Question Isn't “What's the Fee?”
Scattered costs collapse into one line: exactly how much will they receive. And you still have thirty minutes after sending.
Reduced Working Hours for Childcare — Two Benefit Layers, and the 2026 Caps Rose
The first 10 hours a week are covered at 100%, anything beyond at 80%. And two pages on the same site show different numbers.
Refinancing — The First Question Is Not the Rate Gap but How Long You'll Hold It
Halve the rate gap and the payback period doubles. The CFPB handout has no break-even formula, so we ran one.
Korean Prepayment Penalty: The Break-Even Is 24 Days
137,500 won of penalty versus 24 days of interest. Where the line actually crosses.
What Is an ETF? Start With How It Differs From Stocks and Funds
An ETF is a fund on the inside that trades like a stock — and the price of that convenience is a market value that can drift from what it holds.
The Monthly-Dividend Trap — Covered Call and Leveraged ETFs Explained
From a US SEC investor alert: over four months an index gained 8% while a 3x ETF lost 53%. Leverage sells you time; covered calls sell you upside.
What a Credit Score Is Actually Worth — Korean Bank Disclosures (2026)
What a credit score is worth depends on the bank. Some charge the same rate at 950 points and under 600.
Compounding and the Saving/Investing Line — CFPB's Example Ends at Year Two, Worth $2.50
Run the same conditions for thirty years and it becomes $1,821. Tax takes close to half of that.