The 6 Figures Dream
Chasing a 6-Figure Dream —
One Honest Step at a Time
I’m Steve, a 40-something engineer documenting my real journey from $96,000 in savings to six-figure passive income. No hype. No shortcuts. Just the honest numbers, shared as they happen.
Where I Stand Today
$113,779
Current savings, in my retirement account
$174 / mo
Avg dividend income, last 12 months
$100,000 / yr
The goal: six-figure passive income
My Real Monthly Dividend Income
Actual dividends received, trailing 12 months (Sep 2025 – Aug 2026).
Total ≈ $2,086 · Average ≈ $174 / month · updated monthly
$150
$178
$240
$135
$222
$200
$113
$112
$196
$112
$109
$319
Sep’25
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan’26
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Each month is converted at that month’s average exchange rate.
Where My Money Is Invested
A snapshot of my retirement-account portfolio by asset type — the whole pie is my total. Updated monthly.
Cash here includes un-invested deposits and a short-term Treasury fund I use to hold dollars. Not financial advice.
Follow the Journey
I share what’s actually working, what’s failing, and the real numbers behind building passive income in your 40s. If you’re walking a similar road, I’d love the company.
Read the BlogStart Here
Sixteen of my posts that explain how I invest, what I got wrong, and how the Korean and American systems actually differ. Everything here is arithmetic you can check yourself.
Start here — the basics
- What Is the S&P 500?
A plain-English guide for absolute beginners. - What Is an ETF?
The simple tool I quietly buy every month. - The Rule of 72
The only compound interest math I actually use. - Index Funds vs. Picking Stocks
I picked for fifteen years. Here is what made me stop.
How I actually invest
- Dollar-Cost Averaging
The boring habit that quietly built my portfolio. - Why I Still Buy the S&P 500
What I do when tech stocks crumble. - Dividend Yield vs. Dividend Growth
Why the bigger number is not the better one. - The 30-Year Bond in My Pension
Duration is the one number that explains it.
Korea and the US, side by side
- The Secret Weapon Behind 401(k) Millionaires
And why it is harder to copy from Korea. - My Pension Does Not Adjust for Inflation
What a fixed payment is worth after 20 years. - The Same Tool, Two Different Markets
What Korea’s leveraged ETF month proved. - Everyone Calls It “Super 301”
It is not. Here is what is actually happening.
Understanding the machine
- What Is the FOMC?
Twelve people, one vote, and why three said no. - Stocks, Rates, Currency
An engineer’s map of the machine that moves my money. - Gold Hit $4,400. I Own None of It
The reason is not the price, it is the yield. - Korea’s “Value-Up” Program
And why my dividends still come from America.
Latest Posts
I try to keep a steady schedule here, aiming for two or three posts a week. Here are the most recent.
- Korea Just Hiked Rates Twice in a Row for the First Time in Years — Here’s What a 3.0% Base Rate Actually Does to My Monthly BuyWhen the Bank of Korea hiked rates twice in a row for the first time in years, I ran the actual math on what a 25 basis point move does to a savings account, a mortgage, and a monthly S&P 500 contribution.
- I Thought I Was Dollar-Cost Averaging. I Was Averaging Down.I bought two AI theme funds, watched them fall, and bought more on every dip — telling myself it was dollar-cost averaging. It was averaging down, which is close to the opposite. Here is the Gartner Hype Cycle I had never seen, what the 1840s railway boom and the dot-com bust actually cost their shareholders, and why knowing the curve would not have saved me.
- Where I Stand — August 2026: My Monthly Money RecapAugust 2026: savings reached $113,779 and trailing dividends $174 a month — but in won the same accounts fell 2.5 percent. Here is the change broken into its parts, why the two currencies disagree, and the taxable account that just entered these numbers without earning a cent.
- Growth Stocks Have Duration Too: What Friday’s Kosdaq Sidecar Taught Me About Interest RatesA Kosdaq sidecar and a 19-year high in Treasury yields taught me that growth stocks carry hidden interest-rate duration too, so I ran the present-value math to see exactly how much they lose.
- My “Safe” Bond Fund Just Took a Hit — What a 19-Year High in Treasury Yields Taught Me About DurationMy long-duration Treasury fund dropped the week 30-year yields hit a 19-year high of 5.33%. Here’s the duration math behind it, and why it’s a small slice of my portfolio, not the core.
- Bitcoin Has Been Stuck in a Box for Weeks. My Passive Income Portfolio Still Owns Zero of It.Bitcoin has been flat for weeks while my dividend funds keep paying anyway. Here’s the arithmetic on what a zero-yield asset actually costs you — plus how Korea’s newly confirmed 2027 crypto tax changes the after-tax math.
- Everyone Calls It “Super 301.” It Isn’t. Here Is What Is Actually Happening — and What It Does to My AccountSuper 301 lapsed in 1990, so the thing everyone is naming is not the thing that is happening. After the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs in February, the whole program was rebuilt on Section 301 — Korea is at 12.5 percent, and the excess-capacity tariff proposal is due this month.
- Index Funds vs. Picking Stocks: I Picked for Fifteen Years. Here Is What Made Me Stop.I picked individual stocks for fifteen years and lost money doing it. In 2024 I stopped and started buying the whole index instead. Here is the arithmetic on what a 1% fee costs over 30 years — and what the data says about people who keep trying.